Rating: Summary: Tremendous! Teriffic! Lots of other T-words! Review: Some people are saying that the problem with this book is that it is too complex, or too many characters or plotlines or some other nonsense. Sure, there are lots of plotlines that the author switches between, and it may be too much for some people to handle, but that is what makes it great! I enjoy the complexity, the concurrent plotlines. It makes you use your brain while you read instead of sitting there like a vegetable. Others have complained that the author goes into excessive technical detail about various things. I only noticed this once, and even then it wasn't that bad, it was just that the rest of the story was so good I wanted to get back to it. :)I can't wait for the second book to arrive. In fact, I went out and bought A Second Chance at Eden so I could keep myself immersed in this fascinating universe. I hope that the end of this trilogy won't signal the end of this universe.
Rating: Summary: Spaceship yarn Review: Space opera to the core. By no means bad for what it is, but don't be expecting Iain Banks (like I did!) cos you'll be dissapointed.
Rating: Summary: Best series since the Ringworld Trilogy!!! Review: Finally! Another author capable of producing a rich, well developed universe of mind bending scale. Larry Niven's Ringworld is left far behind by this extraordinary space opera. A cast of literally hundreds is involved, yet keeping track is easy. Expertly crafted, you jump from ship to ship, planet to planet, mind to mind, every chapter leaves you unable to put it down. After reading this, I bought the following three volumes immediately. Sci-Fi like this is incredibly rare, there's something in this series for everyone, space battles, government & spy intrigue, love, sex, land battles, and high technology that's plausible yet nearly unfathomable. I bought it hook, line and sinker. Buy them all!
Rating: Summary: Utterly fantastic Review: A space opera of intricate detail with a plot like an avalanche. The book develops the characters in depth, without becoming ponderous, and as the first of six it leaves you wishing the other five were there in front of you. A first class recommendation.
Rating: Summary: Lame, juvenile rantings Review: This book might interest some, but I prefer stories with an actual plot. Seventeen page descriptions, in excruciating detail, of how a fictional weapon turns its muzzle exactly 8.47 degrees and fires a superwonky anti-porkino pulse for 843 nanoseconds at a crystalline phizmo matrix, (and other techo-wanking) do not constitute a plot. This book is to writing what a schoolboy's drawing of a spaceship crashing into a volcano is to art.
Rating: Summary: better than some would have you believe.... Review: what can i say?... the detail and scope of this universe has been rightly praised by other reviewers, and the sheer thickness of the book condemned. i don't personally have a problem with excessive wordage in a book, as the subplots do tend to be neatly interwoven and have some sort of eventual relevence. lots of people have condemned the levels of violence in this story. its interesting, but I, who has a fairly weak stomach and therefore tends to avoid blood-and-guts fiction, never even thought of the book in these terms before now. there is a lot of violence in there, but i for one think its generally justified and handled without the sick glee you might imagine. the overall storyline is off-the-wall enough to raise some eyebrows on these pages, but i at least think the author is sufficiently savvy to have something up his sleeve to bring it all together nicely. i've been disappointed before, mind you...
Rating: Summary: A high tech opera Review: Hamilton who stands out at the top of my best SF authors list really outdone himself with Reality Dysfunction. This huge saga unfolds stories of several characters that live their own lives, and yet manage to meet each other within a futuristic Confederation - the future of countries. As well as keeping a number of characters throughout the book, Hamilton manages to invent people, together with complete personalities and lives, that will be brutally mind-raped and killed only a few pages later. Simly brilliant. A must have for any SF reader!
Rating: Summary: buy this book! Review: Peter F. Hamilton is a genius. One word: brilliant! And to counter those people that think there's to much sex and violence, not at all, they are exaggerating. It's all part of an exciting, intriguing and compelling story. Just buy it.
Rating: Summary: An Evolution in Science Fiction ? Review: This series of novels are a deluge of exciting scenes woven with a montage of real characters , with an environment that is both believable and spiced to the brim with technology, gadgetry, tech and more. It brings all the facets of Science Fiction that I love together and I am also a fan of Douglas Adams, L Ron Hubbard and above all Frank Herbert. I loved the bitek constructs. I loved the weaponry. I loved the ideas of the Edenist culture. And in order to balance these praises, it should be contrasted with the niggling upsets that got to me. After all there is no perfect novel. With a novel of this calibre and a talent as vibrent and energetic as Peter Hamiltons, it really bothered me to see characters such as Capone and Elvis raise their heads. Capone was a central character to turn the plot over, sure but having him say "..an offer that they cant refuse.." made me query the authors use of his own obvious talent and the depth of his creativity. Another detraction was the briefest of descriptions of the Consensus interactions between the Edenists. Other facets of the story such as affinity, were given a treatment that was more intimate and I felt that Consensus should have been more fleshed out. Again, by contrast there were moments that really moved me like no other novel, such as the birth scene of the hawks and their captains-to-be and also the first detailed account of the absorption of an entity into the habitats awareness and the feelings of loss for those concerned. Similar accounts, with such detail and vivacity, are few and far between in contemporary Science Fiction and it is they that bring this book to the forefront of my shelf certainly and I am sure many other avid readers. Essentially, this series of books are un-put-down-able. They are a rapid montage of succesful masterful storytelling and well blended and thought out Science Fiction. I loved it and recommend it to any and all sci-fi addicts.
Rating: Summary: CRAZY SPACY, EXCELLENT Review: EXCELLENTLY WRITEN, THE REALITY DYSFUNCTION BROACHES BOTH THE TECHNOLOGICAL AND EMOTIONAL QUESTIONS OF THE FUTURE WITH BIG BALLS. A JOY TO READ. EDENISM IS ONE OF THE MOST EXITING SCI-FI CONCEPTS EXPLORED TO DATE, AND THE STYLE IS SPOT ON.
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