A Night Without Stars
Ratings10
Average rating3.9
"Bestselling author Peter F. Hamilton returns to his acclaimed Commonwealth series in this thrilling follow-up to The Abyss Beyond Dreams. Featuring Hamilton's trademark blend of intricate plotting, riveting suspense, high-concept science, and vivid characters, A Night Without Stars brings the story to a fully satisfying finish. After centuries trapped inside the Void, the planet Bienvenido--along with its inhabitants, both human and Faller--has been expelled into normal space. But the survivors are millions of light-years from the Commonwealth, which knows nothing of their existence. As the two races plunge into mortal conflict for sole possession of the planet, the humans seem destined to lose--despite the assistance of the mysterious Warrior Angel, who possesses forbidden Commonwealth technology. With the Fallers' numbers growing, and their ability to mimic humans allowing them to infiltrate all levels of society, it's only a matter of time before they surge to victory. Then, on a routine space flight, Major Ry Evine inadvertently frees a captive vessel that crash-lands on Bienvenido carrying the last, best hope for human survival: a baby. But a far from ordinary one. The child not only ages at a remarkable rate but demonstrates knowledge and abilities far beyond those of Bienvenido's humans. Hunted by Fallers and humans alike, she is a crucial link to humanity's lost past--and a glorious future already almost out of reach. Praise for Peter F. Hamilton's The Abyss Beyond Dreams "Incredibly robust and exciting and rousing, sharing flavors of Jack Vance, John Wright, China Mieville, Orson Scott Card, and A. E. van Vogt. Hamilton's deployment of lots of grand super-science is utterly deft and convincing."--Locus "Engrossing. The characters, always Hamilton's strength, remain as distinctive as ever."--Kirkus Reviews "Everything one wants in sf--great characters, mind bending stuff, adventure, politics, romance, revolution. just superb."--Fantasy Book Critic "The work of an author at the top of his game."--Science Fiction and Fantasy World"--
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Series
Series
2 primary booksCommonwealth: Chronicle of the Fallers
Commonwealth: Chronicle of the Fallers is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 1983 with contributions by Peter F. Hamilton.
Series
7 primary books8 released booksCommonwealth Universe
Commonwealth Universe is a 8-book series with 7 primary works first released in 1983 with contributions by Peter F. Hamilton.
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Executive Summary: A bit of a slow start, but probably my favorite Commonwealth books since [b:Pandora's Star 45252 Pandora's Star Peter F. Hamilton https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1440699949s/45252.jpg 987015].Audiobook: John Lee does his usual quality job. He doesn't do a lot of voices, but his normal reading voice is fantastic.Full ReviewI struggled a bit with the first third or so of [b:The Abyss Beyond Dreams 20697413 The Abyss Beyond Dreams Peter F. Hamilton https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1394973682s/20697413.jpg 40016910]. Once things got moving they most got pretty good, but there were still lulls. This book however had very few lulls.I originally felt like Abyss kind of abruptly ended, but given how this book starts out, I think the split makes more sense. This book focuses heavily on three entirely new characters: Captain Chiang whose a member of the military responsible for rooting out Fallers, a forest warden named Florian and astronaut Ry Evine.I struggled a lot with Chiang's character, which I think was by intent. He's not inherently evil, but he tends to be a bit too determined to stop the fallers at any cost. Florian on the other hand was fantastic. It was largely his part of the story that sucked me into this book. Ry Evine was interesting enough but his story felt much smaller compared with the other two.Much like all of the other Commonwealth books, the story is full of cool tech (albeit much less than some of the others dues to reasons that explained in the book), memorable characters and huge stakes.There are some other aspects of this book I really enjoyed, but talking about those would get into spoiler territory, something I try to avoid when writing reviews.If you liked previous Commonwealth books, or if you were so-so on the last book and haven't picked this one up yet, I think it was well worth it.I really enjoyed this book and I was especially happy with how he wrapped everything up a the end. I don't need another Commonwealth, but I'd easily read another one if he writes it. The world building is so big that it feels like there are plenty of stories that could be told.
