Rating: 
Summary: Not Very Good
Review: I loved the Night's Dawn and Mandel series and, so, was doubly disappointed with this book. My first disappointment was when I figured out that this book had nothing to do with those books' universe. But, the biggest problem with the book is that it reads a lot like some kind of dissertation on various political, economic, and social structures. The various characters will be running around killing each other and destroying each other's assets and, the next thing you know, they're standing around discussing how their society is organized and the benefits/disadvantages of that. And those discussions go on for a LOT of pages.The next biggest problem with the book is that there are really no "good guys." The main character, though he seems to be a nice, intelligent, educated, moral, caring person, is, for all intents and purposes, a pirate. All the space-faring corporations of Earth practice piracy as a standard business practice. Maybe Hamilton was trying for a "Dread Pirate Roberts" (The Princess Bride) or Frederick (Pirates of Penzance), but that's not what comes across. Instead, you left scratching your head wondering who you're supposed to be rooting for and what that apparent person is doing working for the people he does (regardless of his dreams). And then, there's the ending. For the first 600 pages, the book is hard Science Fiction. Then, out of the blue, comes what is essentially a fairytale. To explain what has been happening, Hamilton essentially waves his arms about and says "and then a miracle occurs." Extremely jarring and very disappointing. I've also got problems with the amount of sex in the book. Hamilton appears to have gone out of his way to introduce and develop characters just so his main character can have sex with them (oh, and discuss various wacko social, economic, and political theories -- for chapters on end). Since this book is FAR too long, Hamilton could have made it at least readable by pulling all the social dissertations, sex, fairy tales, and extraneous characters out. That would have left him with a couple of hundred pages to try to align his main character's personality with his actions.
Rating: 
Summary: Finally Hamilton Does it all in one Volume
Review: I only started reading Hamilton last year. I love the way he creates a believeable universe in the future. My favorite aspect of Fallen Dragon is that for once he develops the universe and delivers a great read in one book. After spending over 4000 pages digesting the fantastic Reality Disfunction and the books that followed I am psyched to see him create an equally compeelling tale in under 700 hardcover pages. Hamilton is coming into his own and is as good a writer in the "universe building" arena as there is. This is a great read, you will root for the good guys, and the bad guys, it is hard to choose exactly which characters are in the right. Enjoy this book. You will find yourself turning pages quickly
Rating: 
Summary: Hamilton slips badly
Review: I read the Neutronium Alchemist series and enjoyed them. Fallen Dragon was overblown, hard to follow, and the ending was senseless. Hamilton does describe some interesting technology and the battle scenes are well done. However the characterization and plot is extremely weak. Better luck next time Peter.
Rating: 
Summary: Not up to the level of Night's Dawn
Review: I started Fallen Dragon based on my enjoyment of Hamilton's Night's Dawn "trilogy." Unfortunately, the wild imagination and grand scope demonstrated in that series isn't present in Fallen Dragon. The only real drawback in Night's Dawn was the limited character development. Fallen Dragon addresses that with a vengeance. The combination of extensive life background and Hamilton's typical multiple storyline approach results in a book that comes across as painfully dragging on to a more or less inevitable conclusion. The Night's Dawn books were ones that I couldn't put down. With Fallen Dragon, the problem was picking it up. That's not to say that there aren't many interesting ideas in the book. It does, for example, do a wonderful job of painting a detailed and thought-provoking picture of a space exploration program succumbing to corporate cost management. At half the length and with a more linear storyline I think it might have worked. It would have been a pretty good read from many other authors. It's really not up to the level of Night's Dawn, though.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointing effort after Hamilton's Night's Dawn Series
Review: I was excited to see Fallen Dragon, having greatly enjoyed Hamilton's Night's Dawn series (issued as a trilogy in Britain but in six parts here). Night's Dawn showed tremendous invention and a wide scope; indeed, so wide that at times the main characters disappeared for hundreds of pages. Unfortunately, Fallen Dragon is much more limited. The main character is a soldier in a corporate army that is used periodically to loot worlds in order to fatten corporate profits. He has come to realize the futility of his life in a corporation where advancement depends in large part on having enough money to buy shares in the corporation. Promotions are for practical purposes sold as they were in European armies of the 18th and early 19th centuries. His hope is to find valuable treasure hidden by the colonists of the world his army has come to loot, and to steal it for himself. The weaknesses of the book are many. Anyone expecting the richness of ideas found in Night's Dawn will be disappointed. Moreover, the characters often act illogically, with people who are supposed to be intelligent actually being quite stupid. For example, although the soldiers are understandably met with riots when they land, and further alienate the colonists by placing explosive devices on people (including children) that will be detonated randomly if there is resistence, the army of occupation schedules a soccer game with the locals as a good will gesture. This makes as much sense the Germans playing soccer with the locals in the Soviet Union or Yugoslavia, where the Nazis were met with intense resistence. Similarly, at times the occupying army seems to be ready to behave with great ruthlessness, but never really does despite great provocation. This novel is too long by several hundred pages; unlike the digressions in Night's Dawn, which were interesting if somewhat off-point, here Hamilton's digressions merely seem to fill up space. Finally, if the ending of the Naked God seemed contrived, the ending here is far worse. Let's hope that Hamilton takes more time with his next novel.
Rating:
Summary: Complex, Plausible, Redemptive
Review: I wasn't bothered by a lot of the things other reviewers were apparently troubled by-- Yes, the book is cluttered, but I didn't find that a bad thing. At the risk of sounding stoned, life *is* rather cluttered, and if an author can manage to portray that without getting confusing, boring or annoying I say more power to him. I also found the flashbacks to Lawrence's childhood and the emotional elements compelling, rather than distracting. Lawrence Newton had a childhood dream of space exploration. When he feels as though he loses his home and family, this dream is the only one he has left and he doesn't count the moral cost of getting there. When he's sent by Z-B to Thallspring on an Asset Realization trip (Asset Realization being Corporate Piracy being taken to its logical conclusion) Lawrence realizes that perhaps he didn't have to lose his soul to accomplish his dreams. I found in Hamilton's vision of the future (as I have before in his writing) a quiet and powerful commentary on the standards and norms of the present. I think that he's a talented writer who consistently works above the normal quality level and that he will eventually be counted as one of the greats of the genre.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't excel, but doesn't disappoint.
Review: I would have liked to have gone 3.5 stars, as I didn't feel it was quite a 4 star book. I loved Hamilton's Reality Dysfunction series, but never could get into the Mandel stories. Fallen Dragon falls between the two. One of the things I think Hamilton does well is introducing technology to you. If it's something you're not sure of (like the i-i he refers to, or d-writing), he doesn't just come out and give you the definition. You learn it during the course of the story, which is more natural. But he does throw a lot at you, and it's sometimes a drawback. One of the bad things about this book is Simon Roderick, and how in the middle of the book, it seemed like Hamilton needed to throw something else into the mix that wasn't there before ... something to make the ending more dramatic. During the Reality Dysfunction, the beginning moves very slowly, I felt, and this isn't different. It took a while before I felt I was really engrossed in the book. In fact, I was probably 3/4 of the way through it. A lot of the book is in the past. As you read, you're not sure why you need all of this history, but it all makes sense as you near the end. The best part of the book was the resistance on Thallspring. That portion was well done. I still get chills when I think of Denise's dispatching of Jones. I would recommend the book, but suggest reading the Reality Dysfunction first, if you haven't already.
Rating:
Summary: More than just another Drop Troop yarn...
Review: I've been waiting for the US edition of this book since it was published in the UK last fall, and dove right in once it arrived. I don't think Hamilton's fans will be disappointed, newcomers should find plenty to like as well. Be warned that this is not his best, if you haven't gotten into the The Reality Dysfunction and the other books in the Night's Dawn trilogy, you may want to start there. The Bad: The story really builds at a solid clip, but the last few chapters seemed a bit inevitable, kinda like you knew roughly what would happen (though Hamilton still surprises in the details). Sometimes the socio-political discussions seem a bit forced, or awkwardly placed (like in a hostile zone just after a firefight!?! Forget that, I'd still be hauling ash right back to base!) The Good: There are some fantastic scenes with complex and interesting characters on all sides of this conflict. The tech didn't seem especially new, but was used very creatively, which is what really counts. There are multiple mysteries unfolding at the same time, and Hamilton drops just enough hints throughout the book to keep you constantly hooked. Best Line: "It's a biomech heart, Dennis, you just plug it in and switch it on." Actually, this sounds a bit glib out of context, but what follows is a pretty damn triumphant moment that had me standing up and verbally cheering, one of the best in the book, just read it and see... Overall: A nice mix of thumping action, and thoughtful narrative, I think there's enough here to keep the both the combat-freak and the plot-junkie happy for the duration. I would probably rate this book more as 3 1/2 stars rather than the full 4 since Hamilton has more distinctive titles in his canon, but still more enjoyable than a lot of others I've read recently from other authors (like "Battlefield Earth", UGH!) Hop to it!
Rating: 
Summary: move over Monty Python
Review: I've waited some time to write my first "review" in this format - for the good reason I wanted to start off with a book I'd recommend to anyone. I've read other books in the past that make me race to the finish but this one I could start all over again immediately. Hamilton's characters are so well-rounded, so full of questions they're ready to explore about what could be termed the 'meaning of life' that it was damn near impossible to put the book down. "Fallen Dragon" has enough cutting edge science fiction to engage even the most widely-read SF fan. In addition, the flow of the book slips with a delicate ease between points of view / situations / decades that I found myself almost saying "thank you" out oud at times. Concepts are raised that are answered in what I can only describe as "well, of course he had to put the book together in that order - it's the RIGHT order." In that fashion it resembles DUNE (the original by Frank Herbert, not the current dregs). I don't want to spoil the plot - suffice it to say there are concepts of starflight, nanotechnology, biomorphing, neural interfaces, etc. enough to keep anyone happy and explained most thoroughly. What appealed to me even more were the journeys through philosophy by the characters that fairly leapt off the pages. Thank you, Mr. Hamilton.
Rating:
Summary: Identifying Goals and Means
Review: If you assume we can have interstellar colonies, how do you keep mankind from simply creating its old problems on new worlds? In a world of nanotech, artificial sentience and customized genese, what's really important? Hamilton doesn't dodge the Big Questions in "Fallen Dragon." The book intertwines four stories: Lawrence Newton as adult, a pirate for a multi-national, interstellar corporation that engages in colonial piracy at an interstellar scale; the same Lawrence Newton as a youth, a child of the ruling class in one of those colonies, obsessed with interstellar exploration; Denise, a colonist on another planet, who tells children the most amazing stories and may or may not be more than she seems; and Simon Roderick, a director of the the corporate pirates that employ Newton. Each has a different view of his or her universe, each has a different set of goals and each has a different set of means to those goals. Who's right and what's right are the heart of this story, as well as what's a legitimate way to pursue those goals. Hamilton's concept of multi-national corporations whose shareholder return is based on a eumphemistic "asset realization" - simple piracy - of interstellar colonies is plausible, and has precedent in the British East india Company. The development choices made by the colonists on each of the colonies Newton visits to loot are imaginative; the colony of Santo Christo is especially interesting. "Skin" is the next obvious step after the armor in Heinlein's "Starship Troopers." And Hamilton does a nice job of tying the various plots together at the end, in a climax somewhat reminiscent of Iain M. Bank's "Use of Weapons." On the other hand, the lengthy expository sections, as other reviewers have noted, do bog the story down somewhat, and could have used some editing. It's not clear to me what the purpose of the extended steamy sex scenes is, either. Still and all, the story works, and works at several levels. Hamilton slyly hides a few cards until the last few pages, incuding the reason why Newton, apparently improbably, shifts sides near the end of the book, after hearing the story of Modrik. And I liked the ambiguity of the ending: you can't really be sure which solution is the "right solution," and perhaps there is neither a right solution nor a single right solution to the intractable problems that afflict mankind. Less palatable is Hamilton's implication that the only true virtue is selfishness. But it's a good yarn, and well told. Recommended, with a caution that it may be dangerous to skim the tedious parts.
| 
