Bah! ( )

I was really looking forward to this, having enjoyed Hamilton's return to form with Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained. Although some of it is enjoyable, the book is by turns turgid (I started to skip Inigo's dreams after the first two - such a long-winded meander up to any dramatic tension), puerile (the constant references to sex and relevant anatomical parts are very adolescent - Hamilton seems to look forward to some gilded future age where there will be no bodily consequences of any sort of hedonism, be this from booze, drugs or enhanced sexual experience - it's hardly the height of philosophical speculation as to where technology might lead us), and violent (the actions scenes are well done though: Hamilton should consider a career as a screen-writer).Some of the new technology is interesting but it feels more and more that Hamilton is copying and pasting stuff from Scientific American or the New Scientist. The only interesting thing to come out of his pondering on this is the idea of Multiples, humans with single minds but many bodies.In short, Hamilton has landed himself a fine contract to turn out another set of 'blockbusters', and good luck to the man: however, the verbiage is overpowering, there are too many characters (quite a few of them rehashed from the books previously mentioned), and the speculation thin.This isn't space opera; it's space soap opera. ( )

The Dreaming Void takes us back to the Intersolar Commonwealth from Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained. Well over a millennium has passed, and much is different. The monocultural Commonwealth we knew is no more, it has shattered into a myriad of worlds, many of which are only loosely affiliated with each other. On one of these worlds, a movement known as Living Dream is planning a pilgrimage to the mysterious Void, an artificial universe at the centre of the galaxy, which is slowly eating the surrounding stars. Living Dream believes the Void contains paradise, most others believe touching it is certain death. What's worse, the pilgrimage might set of a massive expansion phase, devouring the whole galaxy.

It took me a chapter or so to get into this story. Hamilton mercilessly throws us into the middle of his world, and often takes a long, long time to explain exactly what all these acronyms and technologies and organisations actually are. As a result I felt quite disorientated for a while. Once I started getting my bearings however, there was nothing but enjoyment ahead. Hamilton is a superb writer who crafts an intriguing world filled with interesting characters, whose stories run parallel, interweaving and complimenting each other. We even get to see some of the characters from Pandora's Star again, with a few glaring omissions. Ozzie is missed, but he is at least mentioned, unlike the SI, which is alluded to only in a single sentence in the appendix. Apparently, we will get to see more of it in the sequel though.

Interspersed with the main storyline we are also told the story from Inigo's dreams. I enjoyed this story almost more than the main storyline, it was more reminiscent of a classic fantasy story than the science fiction which is so prevalent in the rest. This story is apparently also getting more focus in the sequel, a fact which has me salivating in anticipation.

The only thing that really bothers me is the ending. Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained didn't feel like two books in a series, it felt like one book split into two volumes. This might be Hamilton's M.O., as The Dreaming Void ends on a cliffhanger as well. Nothing is really resolved. I strongly suspect that when the entire trilogy is out, it can be read as one work to great enjoyment, but reaching the end of the first third leaves mostly frustration. There is a pay-off of sorts for one of the books main plot lines, but it barely has time to register, and certainly no time to explain itself, before something explodes and the book ends.

Despite this, the book is very enjoyable. Hamilton has conjured up not just one, but two deep and interesting worlds to immerse yourself in, filled with people you want to see more of. Frequent references are made to the events of Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained, but I think you could still follow the story fine without having read them. It is a book I enjoyed immensely, and I am greatly looking forward to the sequels. ( )

PFH writes with his usual cunning style; From cover to cover there are numerous independant plot threads that are tied together with a deft hand, some of which I'd correctly anticipated, and other subtle twists meaning that I hadn't. All of which supported with well described and carefully considered universe, as you'd expect from this author. Ultimately they make The Dreaming Void an installment of an epic Space Opera.

If I had only one regret, it's that I'd re-read Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained before picking up this weighty tome. I'm going to go back and re-read them before I start on the next in the sequence (The Temporal Void) simply to help with previous events.

I don't believe this really should be tagged as Book 1 of "The Void Trilogy", as it's truly a continuation of a story from Judas Unchained.

Regardless of that, thoroughly enjoyable, suitably complex, adult Sci Fi of the finest calibre! More Please PFH ( )

http://www.bookgeeks.co.uk/2008/11/04... ( )

The trend from the first Commonwealth duology continues, here, in this trilogy. The opening is ponderous and slow, and doesn't really get going much until later in the book. Not coincidentally, when Paula Myo makes an appearance.

The other problem is that the Second Dreamer thing, and the 'religious nuts might destroy the galaxy' has none of the urgency of the paranoid conspiracy story that built in Pandora's Star, or any of the gripping horror of the Night's Dawn Trilogy. Thefore you are left with a book that is rather bland, and bland is not really a good thing for space opera to be.

Jumping a thousand years or so in the future, there are faster ships, better communications technology, bunches more aliens in the background, and a lot of people live as uploaded personalities. Ozzie and Nigel have also racked off for parts elsewhere.

Multiple character threads again, amnesiac mystery agent Aaron, Justine, Paula along with a teenaged divorcee named Araminta.

I did enjoy the latter part of the book, even despite the local village boy becomes chosen one garden variety fantasy trilogy subplot in the story of Edeard.

Balancing out some of the callow youth is the introduction of a character from the earlier duology, when Myo decides she needs a hand.

There's a brief timeline of the intervening missing period of this future history at the end of the book, detailing major developments.

I'll call this almost a 3.25, but not quite.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2008/10... ( )

Start of a new "space opera" set in the familiar "Commonwealth" galaxy. Don't expect a conclusion in this volume though. ( )

Although the blurb didn't make it obvious, this is the start of a trilogy in the same universe as the Starflier series, albeit 1,500 years later.

Thanks to the technology of that world, and the intervening years, there is a surprisingly large continuity of characters, although that doesn't become obvious from the start, as you might expect in one of Peter Hamilton's books. There are also a fairly large number of changes from the Starflier times, as you might expect and a large number of new characters as well.

The biggest single change is that humanity is starting to almost fracture into different strains. There are advancers, who manipulate DNA for superior traits (not in a eugenic sense, in their own bodies in the main), and highers, who are moving down a route of bionics and the eventual step of leaving their body behind for an existence in ANA, the first step towards post-physical existence, and there are other factions too, although they're less clearly developed thus far. ANA technology is extreme, much further ahead than the rest of galaxy and sometimes in surprising ways.

The story revolves, mostly, around one quasi-religious faction, the Living Dream, who wish to enter the void and live their lives there, inspired by the dreams of their founder, Inigo. The trouble is, some people, and some aliens, consider this will trigger the void into a radical expansion "devourment phase" and it will consume the galaxy. There is inter-species politics, inter- and intra-faction politics and the human condition sweeping through the story, all handled along with the story moving along happily in Hamilton's usual deft fashion.

If you're a fan of his work, you won't want to miss this, if you're not, this would probably not be the best book to dip into. ( )

Greater Commonwealth, Living Dream, ANA ( )

Set 1500 years after the last book in his Commonwealth Saga, we are well into the 35th century. Humanity has completed a circumnavigation of the galaxy which has revealed a surprising feature; the heart of our galaxy contains not a super massive black hole, but an immense artificial construct called the Void...
http://icantstopreading.blogspot.com/... ( )

Peter F. Hamilton is an acquired taste. You have to be prepared to spend a long time reading him, because each of his books are long (better than 600 pages) and they usually comes in sets of three. You have to pay attention because there are hundreds of different characters and dozens of different societies at almost every level of civilization from medieval to galaxy spanning mercantile to almost post-physical downloaded personalities. This book is almost more complex than previous books because although it is a stand alone story that takes place a thousand years after the events of Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained, there are several characters from those novels either present or invoked by the current characters.

As a voluminous reader I greatly enjoy books that I can sink into. And with dozens of characters to follow, if some are not your favorites, well then, wait a bit and someone you like better will come along. I appreciate the description of all these varied societies. I appreciate his intricate plotting. I appreciate his galaxy spanning action. If you love straight forward adventure, Peter F. Hamilton delivers it better than anyone else. ( )

Ambition is a necessary quality if one aims to be the kind of sci-fi or fantasy writer who creates fantastic universes and brave new worlds that are the setting for a string of novels.

And Britain’s Peter F Hamilton is certainly ambitious in The Dreaming Void, the newly released first volume of his Void Trilogy. It’s well past the year 3300 and humanity has evolved greatly -- technologically and biologically. Death is no more: those who pass away are “relifed”; some simply upload their being into what passes for the internet of the far future and live a virtual life. Religion’s still an opiate, though, and those who follow the Living Dream school of thought believe paradise awaits within the Void -- what seems to be an impenetrable anomaly in space that may or may not devour the universe if disturbed.

Millions of Living Dream followers are readying themselves for a spectacular pilgrimage into space to enter the Void -- but their plans do not sit well with the many alien races who share the universe with humanity, nor for some human factions, government agencies, crime cartels and others.

Hamilton’s writing style has been labelled “space opera” because of his many separate story strands -- some quite divergent and involving a dizzying variety of charac­ters. This holds true for The Dreaming Void and one sometimes needs a good memory to keep track of who’s who in its 647 pages.

He’s also remarkably inventive and many of his characters are so immersed in technological wonders that it takes a while for the reader to grow used to all the marvels, body enhancements and miracle computers. The book is also clearly the first of three and little denouement is reached, perhaps unsatisfyingly so.

There is enough drama, romance, spills and thrills in all the story strands here to keep one happily occupied for days, but The Dreaming Void is not a standalone work. It’s a commitment: read all three Void novels or miss out.