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Pandora's Star (Commonwealth Saga #1)

4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 · rating details · 11,976 ratings · 669 reviews

The year is 2380. The Intersolar Commonwealth, a sphere of stars some four hundred light-years in diameter, contains more than six hundred worlds, interconnected by a web of transport "tunnels" known as wormholes. At the farthest edge of the Commonwealth, astronomer Dudley Bose observes the impossible: Over one thousand light-years away, a star... vanishes. It does not go...more

Paperback, 1144 pages

Published 2005 by Pan (first published 2004)

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Mar 03, 2011 Ben Babcock rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-read, artificial-intelligence, science-fiction, space-opera, owned

We begin at the beginning, because the beginning is awesome and foreshadows the epic quality of Pandora's Star, as well as the sense of humour, levity, and gravity that Peter F. Hamilton uses to create an incredibly compelling and vast narrative.

Wilson Kime is the pilot of the first manned Mars lander. The mission crew steps onto the surface and raises the United States flag, only to be interrupted by a stranger in a home-made space suit. That suit is attached to a pressure hose providing a brea...more

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Aug 24, 2010 Radu rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: SciFi fans

Shelves: science-fiction, space-opera, cluj

Don't be fooled by the separation of the "Commonwealth Saga" into two books (this one and "Judas Unchained"). It's just a big-big book, so know that if you're starting this one you'll have a total of about 2000 pages to read. :)

More "mature" and with a more refined style than the "Night's Dawn" trilogy, the "Commonwealth Saga" is still a mix of a good number of different story lines that flow towards a (very distant) convergence point. It's got some pretty "alien" aliens, good humour and interes...more

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Sep 11, 2008 Ryan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

I have very mixed feelings about this book, and of the experience of having read it. As a result, I'm not sure I can say that I truly 'enjoyed' it; it's well-crafted, overall, but at the same time not without its frustrations.

First, the good stuff: there's a hugely epic plot here, ultimately concerned with ensuring the continued survival of the human race; bold, three-dimensional characters who are intriguing, and draw you into their story; plot twists that you truly never see coming, and which...more

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Jul 10, 2007 John rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: space nerds

This book is some awesome sci-fi. The author busts opens two major limitations of modern science, mortality and faster than light travel, and coolness ensues.

If that's not enough for you, there is political intrigue, conspiracies and hyper-aggressive aliens to battle.

Please to enjoy.

I give Pandora's Star five terra-formable planets out of five.

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Dec 17, 2012 Andy rated it 2 of 5 stars

From the other ratings, there are lots of people who like this a lot, so it may be unfair to review this book in comparison with the best "hard science fiction." Thus, this is a warning for the other people who don't know what "space opera" is and are looking for the next Asimov or OS Card. He's not here.

Space opera. According to Wikipedia, "New space opera proponents claim that the genre centers on character development, fine writing, high literary standards, verisimilitude, and a moral explora...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Lee rated it 3 of 5 stars

Just finished this book. LOL, I did not realize when I started this book of 988 pages (kindle edition), that it was the first of two books! I really wasn't expecting the cliffhanger that occurred at the end. In my usual fashion, I started this book last fall, then picked it up on and off over the past 8 months.

Pros- Hamilton writes at a level of detail about characters and settings that really draw you into the story. And his thinking about future technologies and alien civilizations is fascinat...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Punk rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, science-fiction, spaceships

Science Fiction. What happens when humanity invents wormholes, effectively puts an end to death, expands across the galaxy, and starts poking around a distant solar system that's encased in a mysterious barrier; or: seven hundred fifty pages of world building, ninety pages of armageddon, ten pages of cliffhanger.

Also about a dozen characters and twice as many planets. I rarely had problems recalling the characters (unless it had been more than a hundred pages since I was first introduced to them...more Science Fiction. What happens when humanity invents wormholes, effectively puts an end to death, expands across the galaxy, and starts poking around a distant solar system that's encased in a mysterious barrier; or: seven hundred fifty pages of world building, ninety pages of armageddon, ten pages of cliffhanger.

Also about a dozen characters and twice as many planets. I rarely had problems recalling the characters (unless it had been more than a hundred pages since I was first introduced to them: "Mark? Mark...Mark...uh, the guy at the barbecue?"), but there were so many planets I couldn't remember them all and Hamilton never bothered to gently remind the reader of where the fuck they were. The worlds he created were memorable: The Heavy Industry Planet! The One With The Space Exploration Complex! The Ski Resort & Vineyard Planet! But the names were forgettable and kind of similar so I felt seriously adrift every time the location changed. I also had trouble with the way Hamilton wrote about geography and architecture; he spent a lot of time describing spatial relationships, but it just didn't click with me. I never had the slightest clue what he was trying to say.

Queerness abounds, in mostly unremarked upon ways, just some people live in triads, or Oscar is gay, no big deal, though what little sex takes place on or near camera is all heterosexual. Lots of characters of color, but here Hamilton tips his hand as well because while he has many characters in a variety of colors, he rarely mentions if someone is white, so white is still the silent default. Women are in all sorts of influential positions, and there's at least three women integral to the story, but they're still outnumbered by male narrators. Which may sound like I'm complaining, and I am, but even with these flaws, it's still miles ahead of some of the SF I've read.

I picked this up hoping it would have SPACESHIPS and there's some spaceship, but it's mostly about empires and civilizations and what happens to a culture when you have some people on their first life and others who have been around for centuries and yet still others who control the galaxy-wide wormhole transportation service. It's a long, slow book about wormholes, and conspiracies, and I liked it. I was interested in the characters and their problems; if it had been a while since I'd last seen a character, I'd wonder what they were doing. That's what made the armageddon so devastating, because I knew these people, even if I was never quite clear what planet they were on.

Three and a half stars, rounded up to four. Not a space opera, exactly, but a space colonization opera. Plot driven...ish?, but the characters heavily influence the story too, so it's hard to say. I'm definitely going to read the sequel, and soon, because I want to know what happens next. The only question is do I torture my poor wrists with the enormous 3 lb hardback from the library, or shell out for the ebook. Probably the ebook, even though this one was of questionable quality.

eBook: Absurdly large margins, lots of misspelled words (and several homophones! homophones!), no cover.

NOTE: If you read and like this and plan on reading the sequel, you should pick it up right away; don't stop to have a sandwich or anything because Judas Unchained starts even before this book ends and Hamilton makes absolutely no effort to remind the reader about the events of Pandora's Star. [8/20/12](less)

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Feb 15, 2009 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

At the end of the day, I liked Pandora's Star enough to finish it and continue with the second half of the story (Judas Unchained). However, this book took a loooong time to get going, and there were quite a few times when I was about ready to give up on it. There were also so many subplots that didn't seem to start connecting until near the end of the book, and were then finally realized in the sequel. I found it very easy to put down and forget about for a while, but I also found myself still...more

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Feb 11, 2008 wunderbier rated it 4 of 5 stars

Peter F. Hamilton is, well, Peter F. Hamilton. As with the Night's Dawn Triology, Pandora's Star is (part of) a sprawling space opera with dozens of characters. Everything is kept well tied together and it's fascinating how the character's paths interweave throughout the story. Reasonable philosophical questions are asked, not unlike most sci-fi, though I don't find any of them particularly ground-breaking as of yet. That doesn't make it a uninteresting aspect, though. Despite the length, I foun...more

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Mar 27, 2012 Josh rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, aliens

Hamilton truly shines when writing from the alien' perspective, so much so that I believe this to be one of the best depictions of alienness ever to be penned in science fiction, rivaling Stanislaw Lem's Solaris. This alone makes Pandora's Star worth your time. On the other hand, this massive novel is populated by scores of unnecessary viewpoint characters, many of whom are dropped from the narrative, which serves to bloat the story rather than fill it out.

When I first read Pandora's Star, I did...more

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Aug 29, 2007 David Rowan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sciencefiction

In AD 2329, humanity has colonised over four hundred planets, all of them interlinked by wormholes. With Earth at its centre, the Intersolar Commonwealth now occupies a sphere of space approximately four hundred light years across.

When an astronomer on the outermost world of Gralmond, observes a star 2000 light years distant - and then a neighbouring one - vanish, it is time for the Commonwealth to discover what happened to them. For what if their disappearance indicates some kind of galactic c...more

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Jan 05, 2013 Toby Andersen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-time-favourites

my favourite space opera series - seriously well written. very long very satisfying. the premise about human living for centuries due to that genetic replenishment is an awesome concept and allows for interesting twists and for characters to stick around. the bad guy are the most alien alien ive ever read - not human like at all. a myriad of interesting, likeable and hateable characters and great sf concepts. way better than hamilton's nights dawn trilogy. tight plotting - just a very long invol...more

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Nov 14, 2008 Jeromy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Great hard sci-fi, one of the better ones I've read in a long time. I love all the imagination that went into this book. Some of the best world-building I've seen.

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Jan 13, 2009 Andy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Hamilton does it again. By 'it', I mean: weaves an excellent story, fully realizing an amazing sci-fi universe told from the perspective of about thirty different characters. By 'it', I also mean: writes 1 gigantic book, then breaks into parts that have no business being called 'books' of there own.

Pandora's Star took a long time to get going. I pushed through the slowness in the beginning because I knew, having read him before, that it would all mean something. Thirty desperate stories all humm...more Hamilton does it again. By 'it', I mean: weaves an excellent story, fully realizing an amazing sci-fi universe told from the perspective of about thirty different characters. By 'it', I also mean: writes 1 gigantic book, then breaks into parts that have no business being called 'books' of there own.

Pandora's Star took a long time to get going. I pushed through the slowness in the beginning because I knew, having read him before, that it would all mean something. Thirty desperate stories all humming quietly along, nothing much happening, for about 20 hours. You wonder what is going on as small pieces start to flow together. But as you go along on what could be generously called 'setting up', a picture emerges. A picture of the setting's culture, environment, the personalties and goals of the characters. You don't know why you know, but you know a lot about things in such a gradual way that it is more like osmosis than reading information.

Then, Bam! All of the sudden it all gets going. Its like climbing up a snowy hill, slogging to the top, throwing down your sled and then 'hold on', because its suddenly 3am and you can't stop reading. That slow, gradual inertia is inexorable.

There is an alien menace. I have experienced many, many alien menaces in my time. So very few give me pause. The big reveal of the menace was so daunting in its description and concept, I had to stop reading it that night. I needed half of a day or so to process it and the connotations of it before I could continue. I just kept thinking "oh, dear. This is so bad, this is gonna be so bad...."

Don't finish this book unless you have the second one on hand. Had I read this before the second book came out, I might have been moved to physical violence. This book doesn't end, it just flows seamlessly into the next. I hate cliffhanger endings, but this didn't feel like that, it just felt like someone just finally had to do something and took the pen out of Hamilton's hand and said "Enough! you can't put anymore in one book! We can only bind so many pages together!". So Hamilton pulled out another book and just kept going.
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May 06, 2013 David Roberts rated it 5 of 5 stars

I am reviewing the novel Pandora's Star by Peter F Hamilton which is an excellent science fiction novel which I bought from a local secondhand shop. Peter is Britain's most successful living science fiction writer, even more successful than Stephen Baxter who is also pretty good. He lives in Rutland which is a tiny county in England. In I think the tradition of Stephen King he tends to write long novels often over 1 thousand pages. This book is around 1,100 pages & has a sequel called Judas...more I am reviewing the novel Pandora's Star by Peter F Hamilton which is an excellent science fiction novel which I bought from a local secondhand shop. Peter is Britain's most successful living science fiction writer, even more successful than Stephen Baxter who is also pretty good. He lives in Rutland which is a tiny county in England. In I think the tradition of Stephen King he tends to write long novels often over 1 thousand pages. This book is around 1,100 pages & has a sequel called Judas Unchanged which completes the story. He writes what you might call intelligent space opera & I think he researches his stories well. His books often end on cliffhangers and usually come in trilogies. Pandora's Star is set in the 24th century when people can rejuvenate their bodies at what should be the end of their lives. Also they have constructed wormholes for getting around the universe and colonized many planets. One of these wormholes appears to have malfunctioned in some way. Nothing is getting in or out of 1 particular star system. The alien races in that area are thought to be relatively primitive compared to Earth. They are however building primitive space ships at a worrying rate. An astronaut who was the first to land on Mars is asked to captain a ship called the Second Chance which is part of a new generation of faster than light space ships and visit the star system and find out what is going on. Suspicion falls on the company that built the wormhole and they are taken to court for negligence. One ship incidently comes out of the wormhole having aged 520 years and of course all the crew are dead. One theory is that someone wanted a member of that ship dead. Then suspicion falls on terrorists and they have often ignored local concerns when building these wormholes. Most industry tends to be near the mouth of the wormhole. The rest of a planet ceases to get much help. By the end of the book we find out the supposedly relatively harmless aliens are getting to be a bit of a problem. They can't rely on Earth for help either as she is well away from the trouble so doesn't want to know. Of course this book ends on a precipice.
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Mar 30, 2013 Earl Biringer rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

1000 pages and it's only half a story? Really? What could Hamilton possibly have to say that would take 2000 pages? This ain't War and Peace - it's a run-of-the-mill space opera that should be about 250 pages long (that would include the entire story). Why do some authors feel they have to write books that go on and on and on and on and on and on - longer is not inherently better, dude! I kept ready waiting for something meaningful to happen, but it never did. Every detail of every character's l...more

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Jan 28, 2013 Henry rated it 3 of 5 stars

This and its sequel Judas Unchained form one continuous narrative, and show just how far Hamilton has come as a writer of epic space-opera since the Night's Dawn Trilogy. Again, it's set in a galaxy of the future colonized by human beings, which faces a number of threats from the outside -- this time some more-or-less believable aliens, rather than the thorougly unbelievable legions of the undead. Again, it's a huge tale, 2000 pages in the telling, and one wonders whether it could have been shor...more

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Dec 16, 2012 Cbass rated it 4 of 5 stars

First off, this review is going to encompass my feelings about this book and its second part (Judas unchained). Also, no spoilers.

Now the biggest thing that should be mentioned about this series is that it is huge in the scope of its story. This is going to be off putting to some people and if you're not prepared to invest the time and attention then you most likely will not enjoy the plot.

The first part of the story goes off on quite a few tangents during the coarse of the plot, and might fee...more First off, this review is going to encompass my feelings about this book and its second part (Judas unchained). Also, no spoilers.

Now the biggest thing that should be mentioned about this series is that it is huge in the scope of its story. This is going to be off putting to some people and if you're not prepared to invest the time and attention then you most likely will not enjoy the plot.

The first part of the story goes off on quite a few tangents during the coarse of the plot, and might feel like multiple stories have been spliced together. It takes it's time exploring its own world and establishing many plot points and story arcs. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. Some will love the attention to detail and effort put into showing the scale of the narrative world and personally I think Hamilton pulled this off quite nicely, certainly better than Cobley with his Humanity's fire trilogy. However, others will wish that the plot was more stream lined.

This is the part where I have to talk about Judas unchained, as these two books are very interconnected in terms of plot points. What I found compelling about Judas unchained was that pretty much all of the story elements that where introduced in Pandora's star are given a conclusion. This is particular true with the characters; even the relatively minor ones are given a complete arc. This isn't the kind of story that haphazardly introduces and removes characters at will I appreciate that though I found it a little cluttered in this respect by the end of Judas unchained.

Now as good as how closely the plot in the twos books are, it presents its own problem in that you really have to read Judas unchained while Pandora's star is still fresh in your mind. Otherwise, many of the finer points in Judas unchained will not make sense. Also, as tempting as it may be do not skip over story sections, especially in Pandora's star. I guarantee you doing this will kill the plot.

Aside from those points, this is perhaps the richest plot I've experienced so far. For those who want a rich story that isn't afraid to take its time establishing an exploring its own world, the Commonwealth Saga will deliver.

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Dec 13, 2012 Colin rated it 1 of 5 stars

Made it about halfway through until there was a chapter filled with such monumentally, unbelievably stupid actions on the part of the some key characters that I had to go look up on Wikipedia how things were going to go.... whether the whole plot depended on these monumentally stupid actions.

It turns out it was even worse than I thought. Just lazy, stupid, unconvincing, and not particularly original plotting.

So, the bloated first 534 pages or so do have some interesting ideas, underneath the blo...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Big Book Little Book rated it 4 of 5 stars

Keith for www.bigbooklittlebook.com

Pandora’s Star is the first of five (at the time of writing) large novels set in Hamilton’s Commonwealth universe. The first two of which are known collectively as the Commonwealth Saga, the other three (set centuries later) known as The Void Trilogy.

The book begins with the spectacular public unveiling of Nigel Sheldon and Ozzie Isaacs’ experimental wormhole technology when they play a prank on the first manned mission to Mars in 2050, almost instantly making...more Keith for www.bigbooklittlebook.com

Pandora’s Star is the first of five (at the time of writing) large novels set in Hamilton’s Commonwealth universe. The first two of which are known collectively as the Commonwealth Saga, the other three (set centuries later) known as The Void Trilogy.

The book begins with the spectacular public unveiling of Nigel Sheldon and Ozzie Isaacs’ experimental wormhole technology when they play a prank on the first manned mission to Mars in 2050, almost instantly making NASA and its space program redundant.

Fast-forward three centuries, and humanity lives in a peaceful society spread over hundreds of worlds – each one having at least one wormhole station through which you can take trains between worlds, or in some cases simply walk through. As there is no shortage of resources or new planets to colonise, there have been no wars for generations.

People are effectively immortal as the technology exists to return their bodies to their 20s as they grow old. Most people also have implants recording their entire mind, so that they are killed (the book calls this “bodyloss”) in an accident or murdered, they can be “relifed” into a new cloned body in a matter of months, with all their memories and personality intact.

The religious consequences of this “relife” process are glossed over, though Hamilton’s earlier Confederation trilogy examined eternal human souls in great depth, so perhaps it is for the best that this was not repeated here.

Instead, the practical considerations are well thought through. Can someone legally commit murder if the victim can be brought back to life? How do you punish someone who is effectively immortal? One of the characters, Paula Myo is an investigator in such a case and with this we really get a sense of how a society could work with such possibilities, even though all of this is unrelated to the main plot of the book.

In fact, much of the book is spent in careful world building, making this future civilisation feel very real. There are a lot of story threads following an ensemble cast of dozens, making it sometimes a little difficult to keep up with what is going on, though there is a handy list of the main characters at the front of the book to remind you.

As to the main story, it is a mystery story for the first half of the book. What is inside the giant forcefield so far away? Who built it? Why was it built? Should humanity be poking around with it? There’s a lot of politics involved in getting a project off the ground to go and find out and I found myself itching for the mission to get going and almost frustrated during these chapters, as indeed some of the characters clearly felt. However, the eventual payoff is spectacular.

Verdict: A long and very complex novel, though well worth it both for an incredibly well-realised future society and fascinating multi-threaded plotting.
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Oct 16, 2012 Kerry rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2005, 8, sf, ebooks

I find myself in two minds about this book. It's good, very good in fact. The prose is easy to read, the science doesn't bog the reader down too much and Hamilton's created worlds and alien species are well done. But it is very long. I've just read 1000+ pages, something I find to be pretty hard work these days, and the story has really only just begun, with everything poised for the next 1000+ pages that is the sequel, Judas Unchained. I guess I feel a little cheated, that I did all that work a...more I find myself in two minds about this book. It's good, very good in fact. The prose is easy to read, the science doesn't bog the reader down too much and Hamilton's created worlds and alien species are well done. But it is very long. I've just read 1000+ pages, something I find to be pretty hard work these days, and the story has really only just begun, with everything poised for the next 1000+ pages that is the sequel, Judas Unchained. I guess I feel a little cheated, that I did all that work and it all proved to be set up for the next book.

All the same, I really liked it. After I write this I'm heading to the library website to order the sequel. I want to know what happens and how everything turns out. I like the future Hamilton has created and the civilisation and I want to see it survive and move forward again. I like the characters, even the ones I don't like, and I want to know how things turn out for them.

Hamilton has created a world that feels solid to me. I didn't study it in detail to figure out how possible or realistic it was, but at the causal reading level I was doing, it all seemed to hold together. I liked a lot of his ideas and the way he's used them. The idea of the main transport system in the entire Commonwealth being trains really appealed to me. It makes sense too. If everything is connected by wormholes, having everything set up around station yards and train tracks works nicely. I do get the feeling that air transport may make more of a comeback however, as the attack on the Commonwealth continues and more spaceships are built. The whole concept of rejuvenation and stored memories is clever, as is the way the concept of death has changed due to secure stored memories and re-life procedures. When a character who did not have those secured memories was killed at the end of the book, I suddenly found myself as shocked as the characters in the pages that he was now permanently and finally dead.

The aliens from the Dyson Sphere were suitably strange and very disturbing. I'm hoping the Commonwealth soon figures out that there will be no negotiation and get themselves organised with regard to their own protection. The other aliens are all interesting, and while I can't comment on the potential accuracy of them or the various other planets visited, nothing was so glaring it tossed me out of the story.

I did have some pacing issues, but I'm not sure if that was actually bad pacing, or if it was just that it was such a long book. We went so far back in some of the set-up that at first many things seemed to have absolutely no connection to anything else. Some are still that way, although I can see more congregations happening in the sequel. Probably the one that seemed to have the most convoluted set up was all the details of the forty year old murder, that was all there to set up Mellanie and her connection to the SI. Once it started coming together, I was okay with it, and it was rather clever that an apparently unimportant side character in the saga was actually the one we would continue following through the book.

So I guess I can see why Hamilton did it as he did, and overall he did it well, but I still have a slight sense of being cheated in that I read so much, only to be left ready to read another book rather than being finished with this one. At least I enjoyed the ride.

[Copied across from Library Thing; 17 October 2012](less)

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May 16, 2012 Dan Cornwall rated it 3 of 5 stars

Epic is commonly used to describe this book. And from a universe point of view it is. Galaxy spanning, it creates a detailed view of humanity in it's future. That's what i like about it. The density of a richly painted future.

However, it's weakness lies in the actual story telling. The first 300-400 pages reaches too far in a single book, too many characters, with too many plot lines not evidently related to any central story. A key irritation is a detective genre sub-plot that seems to run para...more

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May 06, 2012 Mike rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction-fantasy

Sorry for the duplication on the review, but I decided to put the same review on both books in the series rather than writing a separate review.

I picked this book up on the recommendation of a friend, and I must say that I really enjoyed it. I can't recommend it without a disclaimer, unfortunately, because there is a certain amount of rather crude sexuality (not explicit, but crude) and a very broken view of marriage and love. That being said, it's a small part of a very large two book series --...more Sorry for the duplication on the review, but I decided to put the same review on both books in the series rather than writing a separate review.

I picked this book up on the recommendation of a friend, and I must say that I really enjoyed it. I can't recommend it without a disclaimer, unfortunately, because there is a certain amount of rather crude sexuality (not explicit, but crude) and a very broken view of marriage and love. That being said, it's a small part of a very large two book series -- and mostly takes place in two or three of the character's story lines. It's unfortunate, but I was able to look past it in reading it.

As for the books, I really enjoyed them. It's sci-fi, and it really does feel like sci-fi not fantasy (some reviews of the books refer to it as "space opera," which I think is misleading), but it's sci-fi on a scale and scope which I've never read before. Most sci-fi is short-form literature, but this is two large books forming one unbroken story. And the result is that the story is much more absorbing, has much more depth, has better characters, and feels much more real. This is also my one criticism of the books, however: because the scope is so large, because there are so many characters, and because of the way in which he introduces the characters the beginning of the series is difficult to follow at times. Plot threads start without any warning or explanation, only becoming clear much later in the novel, and the overall direction of the novel isn't clear until about halfway through the first book. And since the first book is over a thousand pages long that's a very long time. Too long for some people, I suspect, who would stop reading before the plot really starts progressing. And even later on in the story there are times where a character, place, or event will be mentioned or reintroduced and it takes a real effort to remember who or what it was and when and why you last heard about them.

It's unfortunate if anyone stopped reading because of the slow start, however, because once the books get going they really get going. There's a lot happening in the last 1,500 pages, and the climax of the book starts somewhere around 500-600 pages before the end. It really rips through to the end, with a great deal of suspense. With such a long climax the actual end of the book is a little anti-climactic, but I'm very happy to exchange that for 600 pages of action.

Overall I really enjoyed the books, and would recommend them to anyone who like sci-fi (with the caveat mentioned earlier). I'll probably wait a little bit before reading any other books set in the same universe, but I'm sure I'll return to Peter Hamilton in future.(less)

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

Pandora's Star is an incredibly ambitious book. There are a ton of characters and there is a ton of story to tell. Hamilton creates a uniquely developed universe and does a great job of setting up what is ultimately a very interesting plot. The mystery surrounded the barrier is unique and fascinating. The alien races he develops are completely original and in the case of the Primes one of the cooler, well thought out alien races I have ever read. My biggest complaint about this book are the larg...more

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May 03, 2011 Daniel Roy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sf

Being a huge fan of the 'Night's Dawn' trilogy, I was naturally very happy to get my hands on this book. If you liked 'Night's Dawn', there's a chance you will find something to your liking in here - but don't expect anything approaching the quality of 'The Neutronium Alchemist'.

In this series (completed by 'Judas Unchained' next year), Hamilton seems to set out to do something similar to what he did in 'Night's Dawn': present a riveting, complex world and then take a sledgehammer to it. The uni...more Being a huge fan of the 'Night's Dawn' trilogy, I was naturally very happy to get my hands on this book. If you liked 'Night's Dawn', there's a chance you will find something to your liking in here - but don't expect anything approaching the quality of 'The Neutronium Alchemist'.

In this series (completed by 'Judas Unchained' next year), Hamilton seems to set out to do something similar to what he did in 'Night's Dawn': present a riveting, complex world and then take a sledgehammer to it. The universe in 'Pandora's Star' sure is awfully detailed, and parts of it (such as the trains that travel between worlds) are surely fascinating.

However, the world just doesn't click as neatly as 'Night's Dawn', and I was left with the feeling that, as detailed as this novel was, I just didn't buy into it. There's a LOT of pages in this book used to describe the world, but instead of being mesmerising, they tend to be very frustrating as the author takes the reader by the hand to guide him through yet another human colony vaguely based on Western places, such as Venice or California.

I think this is one of these books that would have benefited from having less, not more. Some parts were very carefully crafted and interesting, while other sub-plots were frustrating for being so boring and leading nowhere. In some cases (the fanfic-level chapter on the court case of a rich businessman, to quote one) was so poorly written and so unappealing that they almost convinced me to put down the book and pick up something else.

Because of the number of secondary characters in the novel, some characters become such clichés that they`re actually painful to read. Mark, the "everyday normal guy" witnessing the events of the novel in the midst of his very boring life, made me groan every time his name showed up. Mellanie, the nubian naive girl who gets mistreated by the rich man she loves blindly, was also very painful to read so stereotypical she was. It's a pity, because they ultimately bury great characters such as Nigel Sheldon or Ozzie, that show a bit more fleshing out. Oh, and to show you how poorly fleshed-out these secondary characters turned out to be, I was unable to find one woman in the novel that was not somehow beautiful and closer to a man's fantasy than an actual believeable woman.

Still; throughout all these gripes is an interesting bit of space opera waiting to unfold. The beauty of 'Night's Dawn' was to see a fully realized world fall to pieces under a new threat. 'Judas Unchained' promises to do exactly that to the world of 'Pandora's Star'. This promise has kept me going through this very long novel: that all I read so far was preparation for Peter Hamilton taking an awesome sledgehammer to his carefully constructed world. That is not to say I harbor fantasies of revenge upon this long novel, but rather that this long preparation might be worth it once Hamilton turns things upside down.

If the followup is up to par with Hamilton's previous works, then this novel might be worth slowly wading through. Here's hoping that it will be: because Pandora's Star in itself is ambitious, but so flawed that it failed to fire up my imagination and really engage me. (less)

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Mar 27, 2011 Andreas rated it 5 of 5 stars

These two books are simply two volumes of the same novel, dubbed the Commonwealth Saga. In the tradition of the other (even more) massive Hamilton opus, Night’s Dawn, it is a somewhat daunting cornucopia characters and interweaving subplots. This author can get away with it, since even his explanatory filler is eminently enjoyable. A very rich societal backdrop forms the stage for a drama with some very unexpected twists and turns. The most insignificant details come back to haunt the characters...more These two books are simply two volumes of the same novel, dubbed the Commonwealth Saga. In the tradition of the other (even more) massive Hamilton opus, Night’s Dawn, it is a somewhat daunting cornucopia characters and interweaving subplots. This author can get away with it, since even his explanatory filler is eminently enjoyable. A very rich societal backdrop forms the stage for a drama with some very unexpected twists and turns. The most insignificant details come back to haunt the characters in what is obviously a very finely and meticulously crafted story. The end of Pandora’s Star is a massive cliffhanger and the story picks right back up in Judas Unchained, so I would recommend reading the two volumes back to back.

With the invention of wormhole technology by straight arrow Nigel Sheldon and eccentric Ozzie Isaacs, traditional space exploration (vacuum, spaceships, all that kind of thing) is all but abandoned. Rail lines running between worlds through wormholes are the only means of interstellar transport, and humanity is rapidly expanding to many planets.

Hamilton seems to have been inspired by Morgan’s Altered Carbon when it comes to rejuvenation technology, although there are differences. Practical immortality is available to all but the very poor. Most people pay money into a sort of pension fund which pays for rejuvenation. The more well to do rejuvenate more often, staying forever young. This has brought about a maturing of humanity, where planning is much more long-term. Careers span decades and centuries. The rich can take entire “sabbatical lives”.

These two massive upheavals, longevity and cheap transportation over interstellar distances, have led to an unprecedented period of growth for human society. A commonwealth unites the worlds. The Commonwealth is nominally a democracy, but the reins of power are firmly in the hands of dynasties rich enough to own entire planets. A utopia of sorts, but not really a democracy despite outward appearances.

A mysterious stellar event far outside the human sphere of influences forces the construction of a starship. It is the first one ever built. Former astronaut (immortality remember?) Wilson Kime captains the mission, which leads to the escape of the greatest threat humanity has ever faced from its ancient prison. And it soon becomes clear that the escape was not entirely an accident. There are mysterious forces at work inside the Commonwealth.

The story is peppered with wondrous things such as the Silfen, an enigmatic race of aliens, and their even more enigmatic forest paths, which lead seamlessly from world to world. Even the enemy is fascinating and an example of a true non-human intellect. There are bizarre, enigmatic and just generally cool characters such as the super investigator Paula Myo, slut turned reporter Mellanie Rescorai, the orphan Orion, cult leaders, resistance warriors, criminals and politicians. A tangled web held together elegantly by Hamilton.

The story moves from utopia through gathering storm through all-out chaos and war to a spectacular conclusion, and is finally neatly put to bed in the epilogue. The true genius of Hamilton is that his universe is not populated by 20th Century humans living long lives and using wormholes. Society and its inhabitants are quite different, reflecting the changes in society and culture brought about by technological advances. Motivations, reactions and behaviors are believably described for these “future humans” (and aliens), just as a 17th Century human would behave differently from us.

It should be clear by now that this novel is among the very best I have ever read. Sure, one could criticize the perhaps unnecessarily long road chase in the second volume, or the seeming abandonment of a few supporting characters at the end. But the truth is that it is very very difficult to write something this long, with so many character relationships, and not run into the occasional pacing problem.

So stop reading this and order the books. You will not be disappointed. And if you want more, Hamilton returns to the Commonwealth Universe and many of the characters in the Void Trilogy, set over a thousand years later.

http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=165 (less)

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Dec 30, 2010 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Space Opera Fans

Shelves: sciencefiction

I liked Pandora's Star, and I think that any fan of epic science fiction would like it too. If you're not a fan of sprawling Science Fiction, you should probably give it a pass.

The Plot

It's kind of a fool's errand to try to encapsulate the plot. If I'm to give it justice, I'd have to write pages and pages. If I'm too austere, it sounds simplified and either dull or stupid. It's a complex plot that is revealed deliberately over the MANY pages of the book.

Humanity, thanks to the invention of con...more

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Sep 13, 2010 Yarrow rated it 2 of 5 stars

What a mediocre attempt. I somehow managed to slog through all 989 pages of this, and it never completely lost its narrative thread, in spite of an astonishing redundancy in unnecessary description. It is also significantly hampered by a lack of imagination; my suspension of disbelief cannot withstand the idea of the year 2380 basically looking *just like* the year 2010, only with extra planets, and a small handful of cool new tech. By the end of this tome, Hamilton has *almost* managed to put t...more

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Jul 10, 2010 Lauren Donoho rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi

The first book set in the Commonwealth universe takes a while to really take off - while the various storylines are certainly engrossing for the first half, the central plot remains a mystery until several hundred pages in. In a book less deftly written, this would be a serious flaw, but Hamilton keeps control of the pace in an impressive way. There are only a few sections which feel slow (Ozzie and Orion's time of the Silfen ice world, for example). When the disparate storylines do finally come...more

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Jun 27, 2010 David rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. On the recommendation from a coworker, I read Pandora's Star, and it is excellent. It's a large cast ensemble SF epic where Hamilton has built one of the more complete and compelling future universes that I have ever read. The casualness with which he discusses human-machine interfaces, for instance, and the societal effects of re-lifing/regeneration - even to the point of looking at the effect on things like population growth - is a pleasure to behold.

There is a clear comparison which can be ma...more

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

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

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Quotes from Pandora's Star

“How you humans survive so much experience is something I shall never understand. To do so much and react to it all in the way you do is as much a curse as a blessing. You never take time to digest and appreciate what happens to you.” — 3 people liked it

“The hostile force! The reasone the barrier was established. "Astrophysics, do we know what's causing that?"

"No, sir," Bruno said cheerfully. "Not a clue".” — 2 people liked it

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Pandora's Star (Commonwealth Saga #1)

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