Pandora's Star

Pandora's Star is one of the few books that I've heard glowing reviews about by people with similar interests only to read it and not enjoy it. What's funny is I think the story is amazing. Similar to “The Mote an God's Eye”, it focuses on a far flung star system. In this case, the system, and it's neighbor, are encased in a Dyson Sphere. Did they erect it, or did someone else? What distanced me from enjoying this book was my lack of ability to connect with the characters. It was much more situation focused than character or major plot focused, leading to discussions of things I had no interest in when so much else was happening in the world. Some of my lower rating is also because I gave up on it a few times, which lead to a disjointed reading experience.

Executive Summary: A really enjoyable hard sci-fi space opera, with only a few minor complaints to prevent it from a 5 star rating.Audio book: This is the first book I've listened to narrated my Mr. Lee. He does an excellent job. He does a few voices, but I sometimes had a hard time determining who they were at first. It felt like he was using the same voices for multiple characters at time. Overall I was happy with the narration though.Full ReviewIs Epic Sci-Fi a thing? If not it should be. Or maybe that's what Space Opera is. This book has a lot of point of view characters and starts with a lot of stories that appear to have nothing to do with each other...at first. It made me think I was reading an epic fantasy novel where technology replaces magic and aliens replace elves and dragons.There is a ton of sci-fi concepts in here: memory/life backups, cloning, anti-aging/near immortality, worm holes, FTL. I'm probably missing some minor ones, but those are the biggies.It's a world where space exploration is boring because wormholes make travel between planets instantaneous, and the idea of spending money on ships and sending them to the far reaches of space to explore is considered a waste.That is until a mysterious event occurs on the edge of space prompts the need for the first space ship in centuries to be constructed.Meanwhile you have a terrorist, a murder investigation and a whole lot of politics to contend with. It's a society that doesn't seem very far off from out own, save for the technological advances.Mr. Hamilton does a great job at character development. And he makes you think about things. What would you do if you lived for multiple centuries, getting a youthful body every few decades or so as you needed (assuming you can afford it)? Would you stay married to the same person? Would you keep the same job?My favorite characters/story lines was the main storyline with Wilson Kime the one time NASA pilot and now captain of the new constructed Second Chance.The other I enjoyed most was probably Paula Myo and her investigations into both a murder and the case that eluded for over a hundred years involving a terrorist named Adam Elvin. She's not someone I could see myself being friends with (I'm not sure she has any anyways), but I can identify with several of her character traits.My only (mostly minor) complaints are that some scenes go on too long (30 minutes of hang gliding, seriously?), and the way this book ends by setting up several cliff hangers.I knew this was part of a series coming in, but I think the ending could have been better.Overall though, a very enjoyable book and I'm looking forward to finishing the series with [b:Judas Unchained 45244 Judas Unchained (Commonwealth Saga, #2) Peter F. Hamilton https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1316501189s/45244.jpg 44507] at the end of December with my next road trip.

I found this at our local used book store, and wowza. Granted I'm a sci-fi nut, but Hamilton surprised me, with how deep his universe goes and how well he lays it all out.

My only gripe, and this isn't a Hamilton problem, but I had no idea it was a two parter, until I was 7/8s done and the story wasn't resolving, a quick flip to the back page, and low and behold, a second part.

If you're into the deeper sci-fi stories that have real people and lots of them, this two book series is a must. I'm reading the second part right now.

My problem with this massive half-an-epic was two-fold. First, with the exception of Paula Mayo and Ozzie, I found none of the characters personally interesting. To compound that, there was no character growth. Mayo learned things that she had not know before, but who she was stayed the same throughout. (To be fair, that would be one of her character traits, but still...)

The other main problem was that I just did not care about most of what happened. Justine spent hours (of reading time) flying about in a glider, with all sorts of technical details, none of which was worth a single moment of reading time. It didn't illuminate her character for me. It didn't matter to the story at large.

I'm honestly very disappointed, I think in large part because the essential plot was interesting, it was just muddled by ... well, by muddling about.

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 are revealed with a subtle mastery that forces you to rethink everything you've read up until that point;and a fascinating, amazingly-thought out world that all of this is set in.

On the other hand, however, the book has its problems, chief of which is its length and pacing. This is a book that is almost one thousand pages long, which by itself I don't have a problem with. Some of my favourite novels and novel series feature lengths like that. While the length isn't a problem, the way the plot develops within that length was a problem for me - I remember at one point thinking to myself “oh, the action is starting to pick up and the plot's finally moving forward”, and then looking at the page number and seeing something in the three hundreds. Then, after another four hundred pages of exciting outer space action, things slow down again for another couple of hundred pages, once again getting exciting for the last hundred pages before finally ending on a cliffhanger. Add to this chapters that were routinely over fifty pages long, and which didn't seem to have any strong internal structure to them, and you're left with a book that I strongly considered giving up on several times during the process of reading it. And yet, at the end, I was left with a strong desire to check out the sequel, which is another thousand page book and will no doubt have many of the same issues.

I do believe “epic” is the right word for this doorstopper of a book. A mix of subplots braid together to build the overall story of an expansive human Commonwealth endangered by an enigmatic alien presence. Hamilton gives us some truly interesting characters and paints an intriguing future society.The story includes, IMHO, some of the most interesting aliens since Vinge's [b:A Fire Upon the Deep 77711 A Fire Upon the Deep (Zones of Thought, #1) Vernor Vinge https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1333915005l/77711.SY75.jpg 1253374].Mr. Hamilton does tend to go a bit overboard on details. (I suppose that is one reason why his books are so long.)Unfortunately this book ends on a cliffhanger (with some of the characters literally hanging in the air and with numerous threads unresolved). Now I must get on to the next tome ([b:Judas Unchained 45244 Judas Unchained (Commonwealth Saga, #2) Peter F. Hamilton https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1316501189l/45244.SY75.jpg 44507]) to find out what happens.4.5 stars rounded down because of the ending.

Pandora's Star is one of the few books that I've heard glowing reviews about by people with similar interests only to read it and not enjoy it. What's funny is I think the story is amazing. Similar to “The Mote an God's Eye”, it focuses on a far flung star system. In this case, the system, and it's neighbor, are encased in a Dyson Sphere. Did they erect it, or did someone else? What distanced me from enjoying this book was my lack of ability to connect with the characters. It was much more situation focused than character or major plot focused, leading to discussions of things I had no interest in when so much else was happening in the world. Some of my lower rating is also because I gave up on it a few times, which lead to a disjointed reading experience.

A very enjoyable read but was dissapointed when it finished, not because I wasn't happy with how it ended but because it didn't, it just stopped. After reading nearly 1200 pages I expected some closure but it seems to be half of a book as it it just stops mid scene and mid story.

Saying that I'll definately read the second one after a break with some other books.

Even though this huge book ended on a cliffhanger, it was one of the best Sci-Fi books I've read in a long time. The Commonwealth is another tale of multi-planet human civilization set far in the future. It uniquely mixes together imaginative qualities of Frank Herbert's Dune, Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Dan Simmons' Hyperion. The core of the plot hinges on the discovery of highly advanced Dyson Spheres suddenly enveloping two star systems hundreds of light years away and the tragic cascade of events that occur when humanity builds and sends a special ship with its crew to investigate (hence the opening of Pandora's box). But there is so much more detail to the story, with its many well-developed characters, that includes the concept of life regeneration and body enhancement; practical wormhole travel, trade and communication between hundreds of unique worlds; a super AI assistant that inhabits its own world; interactions with truly strange known alien races; political manipulation and intrigue; and an over a century old, ongoing detective investigation into the terrorist activities of a group trying to stop what they believe is a shadowy alien entity, released from an ancient derelict spacecraft, manipulating humanity towards its own destruction, and who just may be right.