The Reality Dysfunction (Night's Dawn, #1)

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The Reality Dysfunction (Night's Dawn #1)

4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 · rating details · 8,439 ratings · 341 reviews

In AD 2600 the human race is finally beginning to realize its full potential. Hundreds of colonized planets scattered across the galaxy host a multitude of prosperous and wildly diverse cultures. Genetic engineering has pushed evolution far beyond nature's boundaries, defeating disease and producing extraordinary spaceborn creatures. Huge fleets of sentient trader starship...more

Mass Market Paperback, 1223 pages

Published March 1997 by Pan Books (first published January 26th 1996)

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Apr 24, 2013 Megan Baxter rated it 3 of 5 stars

*sigh*

I wanted to like this. I did. And I liked parts of it a lot, many of the ideas were fascinating, several of the characters I really dug. But there were other issues that hampered my overall enjoyment, and they can't be ignored.

On a small, barely developed planet, some kind of ancient alien force is unleashed, taking over some of the colonists. And this alien virus spreads, the chance that it will disperse through the known worlds grows as well - and what do these "sequestrated" humans want...more

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Oct 11, 2010 Susanne rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: sci-fi fans who aren't afraid of a thousand pages of exposition

I'm on page 450 and I don't know if I can finish this one. So far we've had:

Awesome:
- Humans biologically bonded to technology: Because I can't wait for my own neural link into the internets.
- Space colonisation programme, settlers, frontiers, etc. = I always enjoy this sort of thing.

Not so awesome:
The protagonist is a tremendous Gary Stu: not only do his adventures all turn out all right, he also ALWAYS gets the girl. He's handsome! In a roguish way! And as soon as he smiles at any female in th...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Dirk Grobbelaar rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, books-i-own

A bit of investment required to finish this. The Reality Dysfunction is a monster of a book, boasting more than 1200 pages. It is also a somewhat distressing read. By the time the book hits one third there has been a multitude of uneasy things for the reader to digest. Rape; exploitation; satanic rituals; torture; murder and mutilation (where, in some cases, the victims are children); genocide; injuries inflicted to protagonists that will make the squeamish light-headed; demonic possession… to n...more

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Jan 17, 2011 Jonathan Cullen rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of New Space Opera

Awesome.

When I went through law school and then bar school I was forced to eject many vital tidbits of information that were taking up valuable space in my brain: my address, my year of birth, etc. I have no idea how Peter F. Hamilton holds all of this massive universe, its technology and characters in one noggin. He clearly does not remember his wife's birthday or his underwear size. We all have to make sacrifices.

The Reality Dysfunction is fun. Lots of fun. I flew through this book and forgav...more Awesome.

When I went through law school and then bar school I was forced to eject many vital tidbits of information that were taking up valuable space in my brain: my address, my year of birth, etc. I have no idea how Peter F. Hamilton holds all of this massive universe, its technology and characters in one noggin. He clearly does not remember his wife's birthday or his underwear size. We all have to make sacrifices.

The Reality Dysfunction is fun. Lots of fun. I flew through this book and forgave its flaws (there are some useless digressions but heck, I even enjoyed those). The action is incredible, the ideas are grand and the universe is relatively plausible. Hamilton's prose is not necessarily eloquent and sharp, but it is good. The story just powers through that.

I'll address most people's two biggest critiques of Reality Dysfunction. First, yes it's long. The edition sold in Canada is over 1200 pages. Second, some people are disappointed with what the spooky threat ends up being (hereinafter: the "Spolier Bit"). With respect to the length, I'm no editor, but I'm sure this could have been clipped a bit with only a positive result. However, a good story is a good story. I'm over that. With respect to the Spoiler Bit, it's a matter of personal choice. Some like it, some don’t. I know those two comments are not entirely helpful, but my point is that they should not detract from what is a kickass book.

In a nutshell, this is the first book in a huge space opera trilogy. It qualifies as "New Space Opera" with all the verisimilitude in the science that goes along with that relatively new term. The novel is set in the 26th and 27th centuries with much of the story happening in 2610 and 2611 within a group named the Confederation. A handy timeline at the start of the book is not only useful to following during your reading but gives you some background when you start. Humans have split into two groups: Edenists embrace the introduction of biotechnology into the human genome and all the wacky consequences and Adamists stick to mechanical and cybernetic technology. Adamists are less well off to Edenists, a group with is comparable to Iain M. Banks' Culture on some levels. There is a whole chunk of religious, political and technological interest in the book, but the real story comes in the form of an unknown invader that is threatening first a planet in the Confederation and then perhaps even beyond.

I'm very excited to continue onto the next volume, The Neutronium Alchemist.(less)

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Oct 31, 2007 korty rated it 5 of 5 stars

Ah, the Night’s Dawn Trilogy. One of the most amazing, wild space opera’s ever written. In the UK it is 3 massive books, while here in the US they nickel-and-dimed us by splitting them up into 6. It doesn’t really matter though, because it is not so much a trilogy as it is one gigantic continuous story, regardless of where they are split. One book ends at whatever chapter, and the following book simply begins at the next.

Peter Hamilton is probably my favorite SF writer when it comes to world bu...more Ah, the Night’s Dawn Trilogy. One of the most amazing, wild space opera’s ever written. In the UK it is 3 massive books, while here in the US they nickel-and-dimed us by splitting them up into 6. It doesn’t really matter though, because it is not so much a trilogy as it is one gigantic continuous story, regardless of where they are split. One book ends at whatever chapter, and the following book simply begins at the next.

Peter Hamilton is probably my favorite SF writer when it comes to world building and action. In this series, he skillfully synthesizes the best aspects of cyberpunk, space opera and even horror, and creates tons of different planets, each one vivid and unique. He has a knack for describing some minor detail like the local economy of a big city planet or the landscape of some frontier world colony that brings the scene to life in the reader’s imagination.

After creating this very high-tech universe, a supernatural element is introduced to the story (I highly recommend that anyone interested in this series avoid reading any plot synopses on the books). While I am generally extremely averse to anything resembling magic in my SF, Hamilton pulls it off. The magical element is described in a very scientific manner, making it more palatable, and the SF elements are enough to send me into multiple geekgasms.

I should mention that the first 60 pages or so are a tad difficult to get into, but after that it just begins to flow. Additionally, I must admit that the sex sometimes comes off as a tad juvenile. And finally, I hate to say it, but the ending is kind of anticlimactic. However, the ride is so amazing that any of these downsides are far overshadowed.

While this is not primarily an action story, when it does first hit at around 200 or so pages in, it is some of the most enthralling I have read. Only Neal Asher has come close to matching Hamilton in conveying the kind of kinetic, over-the-top action contained in this story.
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Feb 06, 2007 Ben Seymour rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

Thanks to Graham loaning me a copy, I learned that many of the books I had previously enjoyed, we actually quite weak and 2 dimensional by comparison.

A much longer book than I would normally read (especially considering the whole trilogy is around 4500 pages) but I would would been happy if it had continued to be twice the length.

Character development is great, and a good background is even given to people whose play only a small role in the plot. The technology is interesting and creative, but...more

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May 24, 2011 Gunner McGrath rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

More than 700 pages into this book, and I'm still not interested. So many disparate scenes and characters and the "plot" barely moves forward. Even the characters I could keep track of were not interesting to me. All the explicit sex scenes got pretty old fast, as well. I also found it ridiculous that it's supposed to be set a couple millenia in the future, but everyone on every planet still uses slang like "bollocks" and "dickhead", not to mention airplanes by McBoeing. They've invented sentien...more

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May 11, 2013 Philtrum rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Night’s Dawn Trilogy by Peter F Hamilton

Having just finished this, the first word that springs to mind is “Phew!” – partly as I finally reached the end of this 1.2 million-word (3000+ pages) trilogy and partly in (quasi) admiration at the manner in which Hamilton eventually wrapped up everything. The three words which then sprang to mind were “Deux ex machina”.

The Reality Dysfunction (1996), The Neutronium Alchemist (1997) and The Naked God (1999) are not – in any way – separate books: this...more

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Feb 21, 2013 Skiznot rated it 3 of 5 stars

The one word review of The Reality Dysfunction would be: ambitious. This work falls in the neighborhood of fantasy authors like R. Jordan and G. Martin with the sheer population of characters involved. The question is: Does it make the book a chore? I would say for the most part not but the vastness of the world involved did hurt the story’s momentum. Or I should say stories’ momentum because there were several stories going on within the book but if you found one of them compelling you might ha...more

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Jan 28, 2013 Henry rated it 2 of 5 stars

A portmanteau of space opera and gothic horror involving the adventures of dashing pilot Joshua Calvert and his redoubtable craft Lady Macbeth, who (with a cast of thousands) get embroiled in a galactic farrago in which a kink in space-time on the remote planet Lalonde allows dead souls to emerge into reality, whereupon they prey on the living. Overstuffed with characters (the ghost of Al Capone? I mean, really), subplots, asides, exotic aliens and interplanetary locations, it is very easy to lo...more

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Nov 19, 2012 Matt Schiariti rated it 5 of 5 stars

I admit that I'm by far not the best reviewer ever to write a word or two about a book on Amazon, but this one nearly has me at a loss. This novel is MASSIVE in scope and it's only the first of three books! I think I'll sum up what I liked and what I didn't like about the book. The book's description and the previous reviewers all did a finer job summarizing the plot than I could!

Likes:
The sheer imagination involved in this novel is daunting. Hamilton has set up a future world rife with characte...more I admit that I'm by far not the best reviewer ever to write a word or two about a book on Amazon, but this one nearly has me at a loss. This novel is MASSIVE in scope and it's only the first of three books! I think I'll sum up what I liked and what I didn't like about the book. The book's description and the previous reviewers all did a finer job summarizing the plot than I could!

Likes:
The sheer imagination involved in this novel is daunting. Hamilton has set up a future world rife with characters, planets, habitats, living star ships, galaxy spanning governments, religious groups...It's really amazing that this all came out of the mind of one person.

The characters are fantastic, even the ones you love to hate are entertaining to read and have their own motivations for what they do, they jump off the page.

The massive scope. It really feels like the threat is all consuming.

The mixing of genres. Is it science fiction? Yes. Space opera? Yes. Part horror? Yes. Sounds like a jumble but Hamilton mixes them nicely.

Dislikes:
It seems that in the future people are primarily driven by their hormones. I don't mind sex and or romance in books, but sometimes the constant 'sex on the brain' inherent to several characters gets a little old and quite frankly ridiculous.

There are MANY characters in this book. Humans, both Adamists and Edenists, living star ships, several types of aliens, living habitats floating in space...among those you have different backgrounds, different birth planets, different religious affiliations, different abilities, different intelligence agencies. You have to pay very close attention to keep them all straight. Not to say it's a difficult book to read, you just have to pay attention to keep tabs on everyone.

Frankly I don't read that much sci fi outside of Trek and Star Wars on occasion, but ever since reading Fallen Dragon, then the Greg Mandel trilogy followed up by this, it's a genre I need to explore more. The thing about Hamilton's novels is that while they're set in the future and can really be considered Sci Fi, they always have a large human element which makes them seem more like thrillers in the future than straight up sci fi. I'm looking forward to revisiting the next two installments (less)

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Apr 10, 2012 Charles Dee Mitchell rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: abandoned, late-20th-century-sf

I like short books. I have nothing against long books, but I admire short books by authors who can say what they have to say in 300 or so pages.

I realized that preference was shutting me out of an entire range of more recent science fiction. There must be a bunch of people out there who like long books -- really long books. Books in the 800 to 1000 page range. I have been curious about how such books must be structured, just how much can develop in 1000 pages that could not get done in about hal...more

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Dec 31, 2011 Shawn Davies rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 27, 2011 Steve Rippington rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A true space opera. At over a thousand pages for just the first part of the story, the Nights Dawn Trilogy is hefty to say the least. Peter F. Hamilton weaves a complex thread of narratives, introducing more characters than you can possibly hope to keep up with, but all the time you'll find yourself turning the page and reading on. The Reality Dysfunction spends 500 plus pages setting the scene for what ends up being a very thought provoking, gruesome and interesting story about human colonisati...more

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Mar 27, 2011 Andreas rated it 5 of 5 stars

The trilogy itself consists of:

* The Reality Dysfunction
* The Neutronium Alchemist
* The Naked God

There are also two ancillary volumes:

* A Second Chance at Eden – short story collection
* The Confederation Handbook – reference volume

In the USA, each volume of the trilogy was published in two parts, as evidenced by the thumbnails.

The Night’s Dawn trilogy is a huge story spanning over 4000 pages, in truth one massive multi-volume novel. It tells of a great evil that befalls the otherwise mostly...more

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Nov 20, 2010 Naithin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: epic, scifi, space-opera

Review for the entire Night's Dawn Trilogy, which also includes:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47...
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45...

----

I read these after becoming interested in the author through exposure to the Commonwealth Saga, starting with the Starflyer books (Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained).

I found this series to be better in almost every regard, except for the one main complaint I had with the Commonwealth books: Bloat. We're talking huge, huge, levels of bloat. Deciding...more

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Sep 03, 2010 Benedict rated it 5 of 5 stars

I had never read anything by Peter Hamilton, and I actually picked this up because I liked the cover art on the third book in the trilogy. I had glanced at the back cover and it sounded good. I was blown away. Hamilton clearly knows his science and writes with an integrity to the future he's imagined. He pulls off a fantastically-advanced future without making our technology invincible; his aliens are infinitely more robust than simple biped mirrors of some aspect of humanity (for all that I DO...more

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Nov 08, 2009 Emily rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009

It took a hell of a long time, but I've made it through The Reality Dysfunction, the first volume in a trilogy recommended to me by Ennis. It's a "space opera" about a futuristic society plagued by an evil force that "sequestrates," or maybe just possesses, people.

The story takes place in the Confederation in the 2600s. The set-up is quite detailed and interesting. One group, the Adamists, lives on a failing planet Earth and various other planets. The Adamists are mostly like the people of today...more It took a hell of a long time, but I've made it through The Reality Dysfunction, the first volume in a trilogy recommended to me by Ennis. It's a "space opera" about a futuristic society plagued by an evil force that "sequestrates," or maybe just possesses, people.

The story takes place in the Confederation in the 2600s. The set-up is quite detailed and interesting. One group, the Adamists, lives on a failing planet Earth and various other planets. The Adamists are mostly like the people of today, but with neural implants that allow them to "datavise" or communicate directly with computers. They have starships and nuclear weapons and whatnot. Another group, the Edenists, has a different kind of technology that is organic. Edenists have genetic changes that allow them to have an affinity bond with each other and with their habitats, which are miniplanets made entirely of organic matter. This bond allows them to share thoughts and feelings inside their own heads, without speaking, and to see through other people's eyes. They also have spaceships that are organic and have personalities and memories. When Edenists die, the intangible part of them is absorbed into the habitat. The distinction between the two groups is essentially religious; they trade and coexist more or less peacefully.

The plot of the book revolves around a new planet, Lalonde, which is being settled under a Dutch East India Company-esque scheme. Colonists have bought in, and come from Earth or other failing urban planets to farm. We see a group of the colonists struggling to get their village, Aberdale, up and running. This is fresh stuff--after all, in sci-fi like Star Wars and Firefly, the farmers are just there as redshirts or comic relief. However, an evil force appears on the planet and begins to take over villages and people in a mysterious way. The book has a huge number of characters, including Joshua "Self-Insert" Calvert, a strapping starship captain with remarkable sexual and technical skills, and many female figures that are almost characterized well enough for you to be able to tell them apart. There is a planet with a culture nostalgic for 19th century England and a bunch of marines who have huge machine guns welded to their forearms. So while Lalonde turns out to be central to the plot, it doesn't dominate in terms of number of pages. There is a lot going on here, and some if it must pertain to the later volumes of the trilogy, since it doesn't pan out in this one.

This book is either rather good or completely terrible. The author is certainly inventive, but I often had occasion to wish that he'd handed over his ideas to someone else to write. The pacing here is frustrating. At times, he is so enamored of discussing planetary trajectories and technology that you wonder if you will ever see a sentient being again. There seems to be little structure governing the arrangement of scenes. There are problems with the POV. You'll be reading about Person A doing something from the point of view of Person B, watching them from 20 yards away. Then all of a sudden you're in Person A's head. Or, scenes of a space battle cut back and forth between the POVs of people in different, even opposing spaceships, with no notice. This problem is so basic to telling a story that I'd expect even a novice to avoid it instinctually.

The novel is quite long and there are two volumes left. In the end, I feel about it the way I did about A Game of Thrones. It has its good and bad points, and I thought I was intrigued enough by the plot to read the sequels, but I never did. We'll see about this one.
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Nov 02, 2009 Palmyrah rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the worst-written book I've ever read twice. Hamilton is not just a bad writer but a bad writer in a hurry--superabundantly verbose, careless about style and tone, overdescriptive, flaccidly repetitive, malapropistic when he isn't spouting tired old cliches. He's a lousy scene-painter, too, careless about details and how they fit together and given to commencing every descriptive paragraph with the physical dimensions of whatever is being described--twenty kilometers long and weighing ni...more This is the worst-written book I've ever read twice. Hamilton is not just a bad writer but a bad writer in a hurry--superabundantly verbose, careless about style and tone, overdescriptive, flaccidly repetitive, malapropistic when he isn't spouting tired old cliches. He's a lousy scene-painter, too, careless about details and how they fit together and given to commencing every descriptive paragraph with the physical dimensions of whatever is being described--twenty kilometers long and weighing nine hundred thousand tonnes, that kind of thing. None of his visions is in the least original, none of his ideas are new or even newly crafted. His basic premise--dead souls returning from the afterlife, defying the laws of physics by means of a conveniently-named 'reality dysfunction' to sieze the bodies of the living and possess them--abounds with metaphysical inconsistenies and scientific impossibilities. And his sex scenes, gratuitously introduced whenever he feels the action is flagging a bit, make signally unpleasant reading. Women, in particular, may feel the need to take a shower after a few pages of being pleasured by Hamilton's priapic heroes and villains.

There is also a vast oversupply of pornoviolence, most of which I skipped.

All of which begs the question of why I have just re-read this book and its sequel volume with great enjoyment, and am now halfway through the final book in the trilogy.

I suppose it helps that the Night's Dawn trilogy is action-packed, spectacular space opera, and that bad as the writing is, it is also compelling: you just devour it, ugly bits and all, you're so eager to learn what happens next. The multiple storylines, though mostly absurd, are still humdingers. There are hundreds of characters and the principal ones, walking cliches though they be, are engaging enough to keep you interested. The dozens of subplots twist and turn all over the place, and if the outcome of no scene is ever in doubt, Hamilton still manages to spring a surprise or two to keep us interested.

But all these are just self-justifications, really. I consider myself a literary gourmet, and this book is a bit like junk food--tasty in a crude way, unwholesome and empty of real nourishment. Yet even a gourmet may relish a Big Mac once in a way.(less)

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Jul 07, 2010 Hugo rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

Unfortunately The Night's Dawn trilogy is a huge, festering shamble where a few nuggets of interesting story is drowned in a horribly over-long stream of irrelevant and meandering side- and subplots. It starts off ok, focusing on just one plotline, which leads up to a rather nice "?" moment, but then it seems like Hamilton lost all his marbles because the story loses all focus and coherence, and the only thing that kept me painfully reading the last 4000 pages was to find out how in the world he...more

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Nov 19, 2012 Rick rated it 3 of 5 stars

An enjoyable book in the space opera tradition, however it should have been tighter and shorter. I love the broad canvas that a colonised universe presents to writers, but it does require some self-restraint by the author. Perhaps Hamilton should have re-read Asimov's original Foundation trilogy, which seems to cover far more in far fewer words, and then got the blue pen out. He could have started by chopping out some of the gratuitous sex scenes which add nothing for the reader other than a cri...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Anafielle rated it 4 of 5 stars

It's good. I love the characters. I enjoy the tone. Hamilton keeps me fascinated and reading each character's story despite the complexity.

The writing style is great, very straightforward. He's never complex just for the sake of being complex; every page of the story is easily read. He's definitely a lot more straightforward than most of my favorite space opera type writers. Easy to read. I guess my opinion of this is different from the usual reader here though checking out these reviews. I'm c...more

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Apr 15, 2012 Cris rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: action-adventure, aliens, book-club-selection, end-of-the-world, futuristic-sci-fi, genetic-engineering, horror, mysteries, military-sci-fi, paranormal-supernatural, science-fiction, space-travel, space-opera

I didn't experience the difficulty in getting into the story that most readers seem to experience. I found Hamilton's story interesting from the beginning. However, by the time I finished I found myself celebrating.

Overall, the length is justified by the size of the story Hamilton's telling. It spans years, multiple planets and space habitats, and a huge (I mean huge!) cast. (Although it's not as difficult to keep track of Hamilton's characters as you might think. Mostly because (view spoiler)...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Filippo Cattaneo rated it 1 of 5 stars

I really wanted to like these books.

Hamilton's narration style really reminds me of George R.R. Martin's: a lot of personas to follow in different and parallel contexts, that you just know will merge and/or clash at a certain point.

There is much praise about these books and I agree they are absolutely brilliant, but I did not feel entertained while reading.
Maybe it's me, well it's probably me given how I didn't enjoy Game of Thrones either, dropping it altogether in the middle of A Storm of Swor...more

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Oct 04, 2009 Felicia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

Wow, what to say about this book. It is NOT EASY READING, that's for sure. The first 1/4 almost is like running through a valley of quicksand, but I swear the momentum is worth it. I felt my interest waning sometimes because it is SO DENSE, but then, rather than stopping, I'd skim a bit forward over all the meticulous details of the worlds etc and get back on track with some of the characters. This book requires stamina but if you're into sci-fi is worth the effort. All the thought and imaginati...more

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Mar 18, 2013 Ed Martin rated it 2 of 5 stars

This may not be an entirely fair review as I've given up on this before finishing. I'm 17% of the way through according to my Kindle, and I can't bring myself to go on.

There's some great ideas - the technology is awesome, and the action sequences have been well written, but I'm finding the negative points outweigh these. Someone described the main character, Joshua, as a "gary stu" - that's definitely an assessment I'd agree with. It feels like Hamilton's created this great backdrop and then pop...more

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Jan 09, 2013 Thomas rated it 4 of 5 stars

Be warned: ‘The Reality Dysfunction’ is a long book. Over 1225 pages in fact, and even then it gives only the first chapter of a truly epic story that spans multiple solar systems, species and planes of existence. If I had to sum up Peter Hamilton's achievements here in one word I would simply use 'epic'.

I don't mean epic as per its common usage now either, I mean epic purely in terms of size. This is a brute of a book, an unwieldy behemoth so hard to define because it encompasses everything. It...more Be warned: ‘The Reality Dysfunction’ is a long book. Over 1225 pages in fact, and even then it gives only the first chapter of a truly epic story that spans multiple solar systems, species and planes of existence. If I had to sum up Peter Hamilton's achievements here in one word I would simply use 'epic'.

I don't mean epic as per its common usage now either, I mean epic purely in terms of size. This is a brute of a book, an unwieldy behemoth so hard to define because it encompasses everything. It is all things at once: space drama, supernatural horror, political thriller, teenage melodrama, erotic fantasy... If judged purely on scope an ambition this is an excellent start to a new series.

Yet it is above all other things difficult. For the first ten chapters the book presents a brand new character, a brand new world, a brand new story each of which could easily be a book in their own right. There are many long words and difficult concepts that take time to sink in and honest to gods the 'actual' plot doesn't start until page 400. This is not a read for the meek.

I would also caution readers not to visit the wikipedia page for this series (conceptually named 'Nights Dawn'). It very bluntly states one of the key secrets of this novel, the true identity of the enemy, something the author takes great pains to keep hidden until the final third of the novel. I won't mention that spoiler in this review but trust me, whether you end up liking or disliking the concept, the book is better if you don't know it in advance. Knowing it I kept waiting for a revelation that never properly came, just slowly planted piece by piece until finally just acknowledged as fact.

Several characters who at first appear to be important simply disappear once the book does start to gain momentum, presumably to return in a sequel. Syrinx, who at first could appear to be the central heroine simply vanishes after the half way mark, never to be mentioned again. A shame as I honestly thought she was one of the most interesting characters in the book, although in retrospect she exists solely to introduce us to Edenist culture.

It eventually transpires the central character is Joshua Calvert, who undergoes a journey from stricken scavenger to plucky starship captain to reluctant war hero. The author has admitted to writing a 'straightforward' Han Solo character and there's none more straightforward than this. Every decision Joshua makes is the correct one (or later turns out to be) and he is proved only to be fallible by his inaction (and even in those cases he has an uncomfortable itch that something wrong is going down). There's potential for depth here, and a slight leaning towards a personal journey (at the end another character lightly reprimands him for his appalling attitude towards women and he admits, yeah, he can be a bit of a douche) but the truth is Joshua is fairly bland character. It's a shame he takes up so much space when he is surrounded by so many fascinating stories that are only briefly touched on.

One of these interesting concepts is Ione, the female ruler of the space station Tranquility who is bonded with the ship. At first it looks like this will be a fascinating exploration of absolute power, as Ione starts the book a secret ruler who reveals herself to the population and takes Joshua on as a consort. But from there she fills only two roles: a handy viewpoint for exposition dumps about the backstory and many, many sexual encounters with Joshua (and others). In fact if I've one real complaint its the books attitude to women, there are plenty of strong independent females but all of them without fail are shown in a predominately sexual light, particularly in relation to Joshua Calvert.

I suppose the other standout characters include Father Horst, a failed priest looking for a chance to start a new life, who fails and falls into a drunken stupor and then redeems himself later. Though an excellent story his parts are small and fragmented, spread thinly amongst the larger arcs Joshua is weaving. Of the villains Quinn Dexter stands out early on as a convicted criminal, banished to a work camp on the frontier world, who plans his escape. Sadly, just as Quinn finally fulfils his ambition he also pretty much drops out of the story just after page 500, presumably to reappear in the sequel. Laton is billed as a potential new evil to supplant Quin but his story is kept largely hidden from the reader in order to protect vital secrets.

In truth there are so many point of view characters the above barely cover two thirds of the book. After such a hectic and broad introduction I presumed that by page 700 Peter Hamilton would have created enough dispirate threads and would now start to weave them together into one narrative. Yet to the very end he constantly adds new, vital characters and settings (the tragedy of space station Rubra, the Irishman Sean Wallace, etc...). It's not as though the book doesn't have an ending, it comes to a very neat conclusion, tying up the story on Lalonde with a brilliant act of bravery from Joshua (and crew) but 90% of the things Peter Hamilton has introduced are left hanging.

This is only the first third of a trilogy and Peter Hamilton leaves plenty of fertile ground for his sequels. There are flaws in the narrative, things that could have been tidier and elements of indulgence from the author that can't be overlooked, but the sheer scope and epic scale of this story are undeniable.

Recommended only for strong Sci Fi readers with plenty of patience, but well worth the reward if you approach with an open mind.(less)

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Jan 21, 2010 Lee rated it 5 of 5 stars

I reread books a lot...if I find something I like, it usually goes on my shelf and eventually it will be re-read at least once. The Night's Dawn Trilogy is one of those books. I ditched the paper copies several years ago, after having read it in the late 90s, but I repurchased it on my Kindle.

There's a lot of negative comment on Goodreads about this book, but I don't agree with many of them. In some ways, you'd think Hamilton is like Dickens, not for the greatness of story or the quality of pros...more

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Apr 13, 2012 Selso Xisto rated it 5 of 5 stars

Possibly one of the best hard SF novels I've ever read and am ever likely to read again. Jaw-dropping world-building and establishment of a living breathing future mixed with good old fashioned adventure and plenty of action. After spending the first half of the book building its incredible (and thoroughly credible - extremely important in SF for me) society, the plot takes a sudden twist that turns everything on its head. I won't give it away here, but the fantastical twist completely blew me a...more

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Mar 24, 2012 Procrastinador Diletante rated it 4 of 5 stars

Quando se pede uma recomendação para uma boa saga de ficção-cientifica e nos apresentam um livro de 1200 páginas, primeiro de uma trilogia, é inevitável ficarmos algo surpreendidos e até com receio de que seja um desafio demasiado grande.

Já tinha visto os livros de Peter F. Hamilton nas estantes do meu irmão e sabia que era um dos seus autores favoritos, mas confesso que o tamanho sempre me assustou um bocado, principalmente porque na altura em que os comprou, eu estava muito longe de ser um lei...more Quando se pede uma recomendação para uma boa saga de ficção-cientifica e nos apresentam um livro de 1200 páginas, primeiro de uma trilogia, é inevitável ficarmos algo surpreendidos e até com receio de que seja um desafio demasiado grande.

Já tinha visto os livros de Peter F. Hamilton nas estantes do meu irmão e sabia que era um dos seus autores favoritos, mas confesso que o tamanho sempre me assustou um bocado, principalmente porque na altura em que os comprou, eu estava muito longe de ser um leitor assíduo e quando lia, preferia outros géneros. Mas os tempos mudam e após uma saga de fantasia com 12 livros, achei que estava pronto para esta aventura.

Confesso desde já, que as primeiras 50 páginas foram um pouco complicadas de ler, devido a ser um inglês cheio de termos científicos, que eu não estava habituado a ler e que me obrigaram a abrandar o meu habitual ritmo de leitura, para compreender bem o que estava a ser descrito - não tenho vergonha nenhuma em admitir que houve certos pormenores mais técnicos das naves, por exemplo, que nunca cheguei a perceber totalmente, mas que honestamente, não fazem grande diferença para a compreensão e avanço da história.

Com isto não quero dizer que é um livro de leitura difícil, muito pelo contrário, visto que consegue apelar ao leitor comum, que se vai surpreender com a capacidade criativa do autor, enquanto que um leitor com mais conhecimentos de genética, engenharia ou ciência, se vai maravilhar ainda mais com a imaginação e atenção ao detalhe do escritor.

Aliás, um dos pontos fortes deste livro, é essa capacidade que o autor teve, de criar um universo extremamente detalhado, dando-nos a conhecer em pormenor os diferentes aspectos dos vários intervenientes, sejam personagens principais, secundárias ou locais onde a acção se desenrola. Através de capítulos curtos, na primeira metade do livro, Peter F. Hamilton, desfia com mestria as múltiplas personagens que vão convergir no enredo principal, na segunda metade do livro, onde passamos a ter capítulos mais longos e mais dinâmicos.

À medida que vamos desvendando esta realidade extremamente bem construída, com as suas naves e cidades vivas, colonização de planetas primitivos, intrigas políticas, civilizações alienígenas perdidas e esquemas comerciais, entre outros aspectos, não podemos deixar de pensar que vai ter que ser alguma coisa épica, a abalar esta enorme construção futurista, imaginada pelo autor - não querendo desvendar nada, posso dizer que o "inimigo" é realmente surpreendente, podendo até ser considerado um conceito algo polémico para alguns.

Religião, ciência, armas de destruição maciça, magia negra, sexo e tecnologia, são alguns temas presentes no livro, devendo ser considerado um livro para adultos e que, naturalmente, pode causar alguma controvérsia, mas que só vem acrescentar valor ao que Peter F. Hamilton criou, nunca deixando o seu futuro imaginado ser tão distante da nossa realidade, que nos pareça ser completamente estranho e inacessível.

Portanto, se querem começar a ler uma óptima trilogia de ficção científica, eu aconselho vivamente este livro, visto que conjuga muito bem, aventura e acção, com a narrativa de um universo extremamente diversificado e detalhado, onde o autor consegue ir desenvolvendo a história principal, ao mesmo tempo que lhe vai ligando vários desenvolvimentos secundários, igualmente interessantes e pormenorizados.(less)

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About Peter F. Hamilton

Peter F. Hamilton is a British science fiction author. He is best known for writing space opera. As of the publication of his tenth novel in 2004, his works had sold over two million copies worldwide, making him Britain's biggest-selling science fiction author.

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Books by Peter F. Hamilton

The Neutronium Alchemist (Night's Dawn, #2)

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“You convinced yourselves we're just a bunch of regular lads who got a bad break in life. Anything else would have cracked your dream open and made you face reality. Illusion is easy. Illusion is the loser's way out. Your way. ” — 17 people liked it

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The Reality Dysfunction (Night's Dawn #1)

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