[Shrike]

Hi all.
This will be my first post on this cool forum. A couple of weeks ago, i finished the third and last installment of Peter Hamilton's Night's dawn trilogy.
I must admit i was kinda surprised : though it is basically nothing more than bombastic space opera, i found it captivating and interesting (yes, throughout the 3000 pages!).
I'd really like to hear your views on this series...thanks

[Rob B]

I couldn't even finish the first book in the series, I just didn't care about the characters or what happened.

[shadowfire]

I managed about 3 chapters of the first book,it just coudn't keep me reading ,sorry

[Dogbrick]

I picked up the three volumes (1000 pages each) never having read any Hamilton before. I was pleasantly surprised and thoroughly enjoyed each volume. I enjoyed the complexity of the plot and the originality of Hamilton's universe. Personally I thought the trilogy was one of the best sci-fi novels I had rwad in the last decade.

[Baralis]

Did anyone notice the surprising number of sex scenes and the use of swearing?

[Demandred]

If you never managed to read this series go back and try again. It is one of the best sci-fi books out there, slow at the beginning it soon speeds up with horror and really good battle scenes.

[Rusty]

Reality Disfunction was great and I couldn't put it down with all the nano wear & high tech stuff going on and plenty of gung-ho action & diverse characters, really fun read.
2nd novel became mind numingly dull with the main plot already uncovered very little new was exposed and it dragged killing the story for me.
Naked God, gave up half way through, think the 2nd book was too much.

I am sure there are loads of people that loved it all but personally I think he could have pulled three books into one or two absolutely tops and it would have been a gripping read from start to finish instead of turning into a pot boiler that slowly grinds you into pleading for the end.

His Greg Mandel books are quite good.

[Strut109]

I thought it was an entertaining series, but c'mon

........SPOILER ALERT.............


how could he end it like that? It was like he said, "sorry, got to end it now so I'll let this one guy fix the whole thing by giving him godlike powers." What a let down.

[I, Brian]

**** Possible spoilers!!! ***




Hi all -

Reading around this board I'm in awe that so many people have read so thoroughly through the genre.

I saw some high praises of Peter F Hamilton's "Night Dawn trilogy" though and had to comment.

I only read the first in the series - it was supposed to be a research project for my own writing.

But overall I found the book to be over-written, badly structured, and mostly irrelevant.

The first four hundred pages were spent following - in depth - entirely peripheral characters (namely the colonists).

Yes, Hamilton does write well, and he really is very good at writing character and bringing them to life. Essentially I actually do think he's a good writer in terms of bring a sense of belief to the majority of his content.

However, most of what was persent was completely redundant - I simply wanted to rip a red pen through most of it, and considernig the non-ending (it's essentially mid-chapter) then the whole trilogy looks like one single completely over-written novel.

If it had actually all been condensed into a single novel then I could perhaps have cared more for it. I did even care for some of the characters, and actually wanted to know what happened to some of the characters.

But I noticed his use of plot wasn't very accomplished either - essentially he's got so many characters plodding about the place that there's never real opportunity for the story to actually shape into a specific tangible direction. Things happen because time moves forward, rather than the actual story moves forward.

When the actual "unleashing" occurs on the colony world I actually threw the book down in disgust. It was pathetic cliche. I only read on in the hope that he was trying to associate with biblical imagery, which is powerful stuff. The clues are there...yet the more I read the less it seemed that Hamilton actually knew how to handle symbolism.

And the attempt to erscue the reporter was so forced it was unbelievable.

Overall - here is a talented writer who can make SF seem real. So it's very disappointing to see that he wastes so much time focussing so much time on entirely peripheral characters - and fails repeatedly to build secure plot.

If you want to see a possible future that seems real - and is entirely immersive - then perhaps this is something for you.

But I would have preferred something structuerd much more tightly and actually focussed on plot.

The ego-fantasy was annoying as well, but I guess you have to get used to that in the whole SF/F genre.

Brian

[alan empty]

My first thought is that it's just as well that you've only read the first one! I really enjoyed the trilogy but I think that The Reality Dysfunction was the best book.

It certainly is sprawling - lots of points of view, no obvious links between them etc. I liked it though. I enjoyed the writing and I liked the characters, so it didn't bother me that much of it was 'redundant'. I enjoyed the ride and wasn't bothered about where he was taking me or how long it would take.

In some ways maybe it's more of a style associated with fantasy series. SF novels tend to more focused on telling a particular story. Possibly this is because of the scientific basis of the genre. Writers become interesting in a particular topic - time travel, immortality, genetics, wormholes, whatever - and build a story around that.

Hamilton seems more interesting in telling adventure stories. I think he wanted a big doorstop of a book with heroes, villains, soldiers, fast spacehips, love, aliens and a dusting of horror. It's not for everyone I guess.

You mention the 400 pages which followed the colonists. I remember really enjoying that stuff. It meant that when the action kicked off I had far more affinity with the characters and their situation. In some ways I think this is lost as the series progresses. The carnage increases but inevitably becomes more impersonal and less effective because of that.

On the other hand, don't get me started on his Fallen Dragon novel...