| The Reality Dysfunction (Night's Dawn Trilogy) | 
 enlarge | Author: Peter F. Hamilton
Publisher: Pan Books
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
Buy Used: £0.70
You Save: £8.29 (92%)
New (18) Used (26) from £0.70
Avg. Customer Rating:  112 reviews
Sales Rank: 3339
Format: Unabridged
Media: Paperback
Edition: Unabridged
Pages: 588
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.2 x 2.3
ISBN: 0330340328
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780330340328
ASIN: 0330340328
Publication Date: 1996
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
The term "space opera" has evolved over the decades. Originally it meant "hacky, grinding, stinking, outworn, spaceship yarn" (Wilson Tucker), but since then it has come to be (slightly) less pejorative, encompassing any sci-fi action story on an interplanetary or interstellar scale. The Reality Dysfunction rests firmly in the space- opera camp with its intense starship combat, roguish space captains and raw frontier planets, but Peter Hamilton keeps the formula fresh and up-to-date with an infusion of "modern" science fiction technology. His universe is digitally and nanotechnologically savvy, which opens up plenty of possibilities for new perils and plot twists. It is the late 26th century and humanity's thriving culture spans 200 planets. The usual squabbles and disagreements continue, but generally everyone gets along and lives well as humanity's outward expansion continues apace. On newly colonized Lalonde, though, a strange force emerges from the jungle, lobotomizing people and turning them into super-powered soldiers. At the same time, the story of Joshua Calvert emerges. He's the young captain of a trading ship, who innocently travels to Lalonde and becomes embroiled in the mysteries there. Both threads have plenty of action and exotic scenery. Peter Hamilton's descriptive prose, particularly in action sequences, is breathtaking (and scientifically accurate), creating a dramatic backdrop for a story where the stakes keep getting higher, the villains keep growing more evil and the heroes keep surviving--but only just. Space-opera fans will enjoy this deftly written and engaging novel. Those who feel they don't like the genre might give this example a try to see just how unhacky, ungrinding, sweet-smelling, and robust it can be. --Brooks Peck
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 107 more reviews...
 A vastly entertaining read. November 16, 2008
This is one of the most enjoyable novels I've read in a while, and I read constantly. Hamilton pulls no punches, and takes no prisoners with his characters or plotlines. Make no mistake, this is an adult read, not one for the kid's Christmas stocking. I found it to be riveting, exciting, thought provoking, darkly funny, and thoroughly entertaining.
I think it's quite telling that just about all the negative reviews here go on at length, about it's length. Yes it's a big book, but that's because it's got a large plot, set in a complex universe. The story takes time to tell, if the reader is to understand and enjoy it to the full. Having read it in it's entirety, unlike a lot of the negative reviewers, I don't feel there was a wasted word in the whole book, and I'm very much looking forward to reading more by this author.
If you like to get your teeth into something substantial and of quality, then I'd highly recommend this book to you. If you don't like a big read, then (obviously) steer clear.
 A slow burner....to start with, and a bit light on the "sci" of "sci-fi" October 17, 2008
It's been said before, and it'll be said again - this book takes a LONG time to get going. You will be a good third of a way into it before the scene-setting starts to ease up in place of some action.
Unfortunately, when the action actually gets going, the "science" in "science fiction" is thrown away, and the book becomes "futuristic horror". Or even just plain old "horror, set in the future sometime".
Even so, despite my disappointment at the mis-categorisation of the book, and the plodding beginning, I stuck with it, and a decently strong storyline emerged. As with any book of this type, there are hundreds of characters to try to remember, and inevitably there is a large degree of chopping around to keep up with them all. Hamilton usually leaves us with a vauge sense of "oh, but I wanted to see what happened to them next!", which shows he has talent as a writer.
And then, surprisingly soon considering the size of the tome, you're at the end: And it just stops dead... you will need to buy the second and third parts to get any hint of closure. And there, unfortunately, is where it all unravels.
Building to a crescendo across three huge books (there's well over 1500 pages in the paperback editions, and that's a lot), the third book ends with one of the worst "deus ex machina" (i.e. "magic bullet") endings I've ever seen - ranking right up there with "The wicked witch raised her wand....... but then suddenly and inexplicably turned into a frog, and they all lived happily ever after."
Buy Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained (by the same author) instead - they are far better books.
 Badly written August 3, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Maybe I've been spoiled by reading a lot of Iain M Banks lately but this novel is so badly written that I had to give it up after 300 pages, something I very rarely do. The tipping point came during a description of the Edenist habitat, "birds cheeped all around." " Cheaped?" Couldn't Hamilton come up with a better word than that? Does he even have a Thesaurus? A brain? This novel seems aimed at teenagers and people who read those Star Wars spin off books. If you like a bit of intelligence and maturity with your SF, avoid.
Reading Dysfunction July 10, 2008
Well I tried to read this novel. I gave it about 100 pages and struggled to understand what was happening in those 100 pages. The author mentions technologies that don't exist (obviously - its Sci-Fi) but doesn't really explain them fully...not really any point of reference to some of them.
I was really confused...so given the score from other readers I would say this is one of those books for "experienced" Sci-Fi fans only.
...I also asked my wife to read a few pages to see if it was just me (she is pretty smart, smarter than me) and she was completely confused.
Shame - I was looking forward to this.
Top class February 3, 2008
One of the best sci-fi series I have read for years. With a great story, characters and sci-fi it has everything that you could want! I much preferred this series to his later 'Commonwealth saga' (Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained), although they are still well worth a read.
|
|
|
