Judas Unchained (edition 2007)

I would like another one please! What a good series! ( )

Reviewed in 2007.

My Reaction: I could hardly contain myself to wait for the ending and find out whodunit! This book - sequel to Pandora's Star - defies genres and contains elements of science fiction, space opera and mystery.

My Synopsis: While more and more people are beginning to believe that the Guardians of Selfhood have been correct all along about the existence of the Starflyer, the Prime launch an all-out attack to take over the Commonwealth and wipe out as many humans as possible, and enslave the remainder. At the same time, agents of the Starflyer continue to do their best to cover up any evidence of their existence and since the sabotage continues to come out at the highest of levels, no one is certain who they can trust anymore. Nigel Sheldon has created a weapon that can cause a sun to go nova instantly - he calls is a quantumbuster - and consideration is given to using it on all star systems where Prime have settled. Is genocide the option humans will take? Or will another route be found? Will the Guardians of Selfhood be able to stop the Starflyer from taking off in its starship? What *is* the Starflyer?

Recommendation: You need to read the book to find out - and you will not be disappointed in the ending - you may be shocked, but you will not be disappointed! ( )

There are many things I feel after finishing reading this book: relief at being done with the 2000 page story, memory of being 1500 pages in (500 into Judas Unchained) and stalling out because the story was following people who just weren't characterized enough to stand out against the rest of the large cast, and satisfaction. The end was good and despite being roughly 300 pages long, I was satisfied with everything that happened. ( )

Second to last book in my great to-read shelf project, and it was a doozy. 1000+ pages of hard sf, with wetwired assassins, neural access to the net, defacto immortality through memory crystals and rejuvenation, FTL ships, two sets of hostile aliens, insane technological advances, and the potential extinction of the human race. Hamilton keeps the human element front and center, jumping between points of view on various worlds: a reporter, a navy officer, a freedom fighter, and 300+ year olds who were present at the start of the whole thing of using wormholes as transportation (with train tracks running thorugh them!). I wish I'd started this sooner after finishing "Pandora's Star", there's no provision made to remind you of who's who and what happened before, so I worked it out from context. ( )

Liked it despite its flaws. It's really a part 2 of Pandora's Star, picking right up when the last one left off. Much too long, not very exciting writing, but the world building and character development was great. I liked and wanted to find out about characters I had nothing in common with. ( )

This is the sequel to the author’s Pandora Star. It is not a stand-alone novel and must be read quickly in succession with the first novel in the series. Trying to pick up the numerous threads involved after a respite or after reading other books, will likely leave the reader hopelessly lost, as the author makes no effort to refresh the reader’s memory.

Like its predecessor, this science fiction work weighs in at 1,000+ pages. After having read both of these novels, I’m left with much the same opinion as that held after reading the 3,500 pages of the author’s Night’s Dawn series. Both works begin slowly, establishing numerous story lines and plot threads. After several hundred pages, the reader becomes engrossed with the fascinating and original ideas, concepts, technological advances, new worlds and alien constructs. Of all the science fiction writers I’ve read, Hamilton is perhaps the best in the originality and fresh outlook that he gives his future and alien worlds.

After another 1,000 pages, however, the novelty wears off. All of the great ideas and originality soon becomes second nature and you are left with only the underlying story. As good as it may be, another 1,000 pages (or more as was the case in Night’s Dawn) ultimately bogs down and loses those strengths that made the previous pages so enjoyable. The worm hole technology and the methods used to exploit it, the concept of rejuvenation and immortality, the methods of establishing new outposts of human development and the political constructs established to govern them, and the alien worlds and races encountered are all handled magnificently. It is easy to say that a 2,000 page work is too long, but the reason it is too long is because it ultimately dilutes that part of the work that is so stunningly good.

Having read this work, I can’t help but feel that it would have been a better reading experience as two 500-750 page books as opposed to the 2,000 total pages in its current form. Quite frankly, mid-way through this sequel, I became terribly bored with it and frequently fell asleep while reading it.

As an aside, Hamilton repeats what has become a pet peeve of mine among science fiction writers; the need to create a new epithet to be used by future humans, and repeat it ad nauseam throughout the work. The exclamation "Dreaming Heavens!" must have been uttered thousands of times, to take its place with other such creative utterances as TANJ (There ain't no justice) and TANSTAAFL (There ain't no such thing as a free lunch). Hamilton must be a Heinlein devotee. What? The old expletives were not good enough to last? Every future human uses the same epithet hundreds of times a day? This, despite the fact that not only are automobiles still the primary method of local conveyance after 500 years, but they are still manufactured by the same companies (Ford, Volvo, Toyota and Land Cruiser are all still around). I'm willing to bet that the "F" word outlasts all of the above. ( )

good space opera ( )

I believe that sometimes your strengths can be your greatest weaknesses. I also believe that the Commonwealth Saga -- first book being Pandora's Star, and this being the second half -- very much adheres to that theory. The things I liked most about the book often got me just as frustrated.

I grumbled a bit in my prior review of Pandora's Star about dangling plot threads -- some that were never returned to, others that were returned to only after I'd completely forgotten about them. It's just the same in Judas Unchained. As other reviews have mentioned, there's just a lot of detail in this two-thousand-page saga. I wholeheartedly agree that many descriptions and scenes could have been trimmed if not cut completely (I distinctly remember something about a planet-sized plant that just never went anywhere). Yet there were still a few parts where I wished there were even more description.

We met so many characters in the first half; many of whom return at various times in this installment. Sometimes the character growth is almost overwhelming (a trophy wife from part one suddenly picks up ninja skills in part two). At other times the characters seem almost one-dimensional, as if the author said, "Oh, I need a science part here, so I'll put in a scientist scene." The final chapter is almost like watching an early Ivan Reitman film, as it gives final recaps about what happened to most -- but oddly not all -- of the major characters (and a few of the minor ones as well).

Overall, the two books are a fascinating and mostly fun space opera that does drag in a few spots. If you're going to be closeted away for a week or so, you may enjoy the ride. But if your reading time per day is severely limited, you'll likely find the series a frustrating read.

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LT Haiku:

Race to survive starts
As two enemies strengthen
Across universe. ( )

A great conclusion to the story begun in Pandora's Star. Hamilton continues his marvelous development of the characters introduced in "Part One" and brings the conflict to a stunning resolution. A fun read. ( )

There's not much to say about this novel. If you enjoyed the original, you are going to enjoy the conclusion. There were some elements I was slightly disappointed with. The identity of the Starflyer was not as gripping as I hoped. A few of the character's wrap-ups were less than satisfying. But these are only very minor. There still are plenty of moments that surprise you even at the very last.

A few people have criticized the number of characters and length of the novel. Please don't buy into that. The characterization is so well constructed, I can't understand how any of the characters could be confused with each other. They are just too different. Any reasonably well-read sci-fi fan will love the Commonwealth Saga. ( )

Continuation of Pandora's Star. Nearly as good as Pandora's Star if not for the slow section involving Ozzie on some planet . The chase part at the end went on a little too long. ( )

Another 1000 pages of exposition. If you've read the first one you'll be used to this by now. It hasn't and doesn't change. There's still the vast and annoyingly huge character list, and continual jumping around of locations, the irritating anachronisms, but then after dragging us about for what feels like ever, a very sudden and unsatisfactory ending.

The beginning was so long ago I can barely remember where we started. However I do know that it was immediately after the 1st book finished. No natural story break, or jump between the two books, just a sudden I'll split it in two here. I think this epic, would have been vastly improved as four book project with each book having a crafted beginning middle and end. Craft though may not be something that Hamilton does.

The existence of the StarFlyer is becoming more widely known, and in consequence it's 'sleeper' agents become more active. Their identity is always a surprise, but eventually some people begin to figure them out. (The last agent's identity is dragged out forever before being revealed. What's so annoying (along with many other aspects of the ending) is that having had 2000pages to do so, Hamilton is unable to reasonably explain how or why this person has become corrupted. Instead their corruption is just discovered, and never explained, even though they would have had many other opportunities to act). Mellanie continues her whoring around the universe, allowing the SI to show off. Ozzie's long walk along the paths comes to a rather boring end, and just about manages to be tied into the main plot.

I was impressed with the planet's revenge. Many of the other inventions are also impressive, and a lot of thought has gone into the society and people's responses to it, all of which is good. However the exposition descriptions the endless interchanging characters, and the lack of anything even remotely resembling pace, mean I'm unlikely to try anything else by this author unless he's been heavily edited.
.................................................​ ( )

(Reviewed May 19, 2009)

About halfway through this, I was ready to give it five stars and declare it the best thing I'd ever read. Hamilton has an incredible knack for describing action that is just unparalleled. Some of the action scenes in this book will make your head spin in wonder and awe, and I am very much thankful to him for allowing me that experience.

But. And it's a big but.

The third act is pathetic. An anti-climax of epic proportions. From the moment the *SPOILERS* nova bomb is deployed against Hell's Gateway right up to the ultimate "planet's revenge" against the Starflyer, everything feels rushed and incomplete, with characters dropping out of focus, plot strands that seemed of the utmost importance abandoned with not a whimper of explanation (SI anyone? High Angel? Qatux? What was the point of all that foreshadowing?) And that race across Far Away that took up 400 pages or so, why? So in two pages he could kill the apparent main "bad guy" who had been such an elusive mastermind for the entire saga with "and then the storm came and smashed the ship, the end"? Bah!

I know I should be used to this kind of thing by now, after all, space operas are notorious for it. And to an extent I am, I did enjoy the book overall, I didn't hate it. It's just so damn frustrating when all that promise and downright brilliance is wasted like it is here. The guy's got talent, he really does, but he needs a better editor, or something. I dunno. ( )

Again. It's very very long and, while the story is sometimes engaging, I spent most of the book wishing that Hamilton would stop describing the color of the sky and the haze and the number of buttons on a uniform and just GET ON WITH THE STORY!

Anytime there's an opportunity to go off on a tangent, he does. Sometimes these weave back into the story, but more often than not they are just detailed descriptions (pages of them) of the repercussions of a specific event. (i.e. a nuke going off is followed by 6 pages of description of the fires and melting rock and smoke and gases and etc that were caused by the nuke).

This 2nd book in the series is *much* longer-winded than the first - and there is less about the Primes and more about the Commonwealth's politics - which made it very difficult to wade through the absolute hundreds of pages of useless descriptions. Even the "battle" between the Guardians and the Starflyer was more political than action-y and had about 50 pages of "wow they have great armor".

It's a darn good thing that I really really really wanted to know how the story turned out! ( )

Much more action packed than the first (Pandora's Star). Everything comes together, revealing a super-entwined story of mankind fighting for survival against an alien race. Again, like the first, this is a long story, with many characters (most carried over from the first book, some new). Very well done. ( )

Like "Pandora's Star", the first half of the Commonwealth Saga, this is a multistrand epic, and like the first half, there are spells where not a lot is happening in some of those strands.

The Primes, thanks to the knowledge absorbed from captured members of the Second Chance crew, are able to strike the Commonwealth and capture 23 planets. The Commonwealth gears up to respond with fearsome weapons but is undermined by agents of the Starflyer. Paula Myo's conviction that the Starflyer is real leads her into contact with the Guardians of Selfhood and an eventual showdown with the Starflyer on the Guardians' hone planet, the oddly named Far Away. Before the new quantumbuster weapons can be unleashed a renegade mission returns to the Dyson Pair in an effort to re-activate the barrier and avoid genocide.

So, basically, more of the same rather flabby space opera. I thought this was the weaker half of the saga. The showdown between the Guardians and the Starflyer takes pretty much all of the last 300 pages or so of the book and this reader spent most of it willing the two sides to just get on with it. ( )

In this second volume of the Pandora's Star duology, Hamilton really comes of age as a writer.

Don't get me wrong. Judas Unchained is in many respects the typical future space opera that Hamilton is known for. JU is set as a sequel to Pandora's Star, in a universe where wormhole technology and rejuvenation have led to a world where a commonwealth of planets are connected by trains and wormholes. And where an accidental release of an xenophobic alien species threatens to bring down the Commonwealth for good.

Beyond that, though, Hamilton shows an improvement and maturity on his writing from his previous efforts. Some of Hamilton's previous series and novels have suffered from a bit of a deux ex machina ending, as if he was unable to come up with answers within context to the major tsunami of tsuris sent his characters and worlds.

In JU, without giving too much away, the explicit chance that the readers might expect for that Deux ex machine ending actually turns out to be a red herring. The problems are resolved by humans and in a satisfactory manner.

The characters continue to develop and grow from the first novel, and finding out the ultimate fates of Paula Myo, Mellanie Rescorai, Ozzie, Captain Kime, and the galaxy of characters is a major driver. The novel crackles of energy.

I wouldn't start here, starting with Pandora's Star is a much better option. And once you devour that volume and come to this one, I promise you will be most satisfied, as I was. ( )

This is the follow-on to Pandora's Star. Humanity has lost 23 worlds to the Prime, an alien species that has bred from its earliest days to do nothing but expand by conquest. Humanity isn't ready for warfare on such a scale, and has another problem - the Starflyer alien and the Guardians, that wish to rid the universe of the Starflier and those it secretly controls. A galaxy spanning techno-thriller. Very good sci-fi in the best traditions of Simmons and Vinge. ( )

I have to stick by what I said in my review of Pandora's Star: Hamilton could benefit greatly from an editor with a very large red pen.

That said, this culmination of the Commonwealth saga was really engrossing. I couldn't put it down for the last 300-400 pages, but I guess when you effectively write a 2000-page book (which is precisely what Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained combine to be), you can get away with a denouement that long. Things get a little hairy in this episode due to the overwhelming number of characters. It doesn't help that Hamilton rapidly shifts between multiple characters with names very similar to one another and who are in somewhat similar circumstances - Adam and Alic, Nigel and Nelson, etc. If you can keep up, though, it's well worth it. Hamilton has a hell of an imagination, and I look forward to reading more of his stuff - even if he does go a bit overboard with the descriptions. ( )

At 1235 pages, even longer than 'Pandora's Star', this takes serious determination to get through. Even the proof reader was getting bored, because there are numerous typos towards the end.

Once again, Hamilton juggles his vast cast of characters - the main character list runs to three pages - until it becomes really confusing when a character pops up again after three hundred pages. I lost track of all the assistants in Paula Myo's (old and new) departments, when it's really quite important to know who's who.

Not too many space battles this time round: the pace of weapons development means that it's just the case of whether you can deliver your super-duper brand new weapon to the battlefield in time. You almost get the feeling that Hamilton is bored with writing about missiles that only accelerate at 100g ... I remember being blown away by the battles in 'Night's Dawn', so perhaps it's just me that's getting jaded.

I've also just found out that he's working on a new trilogy set 1500 years after the events portrayed here. Can't wait. ( )

This is the second half of Pandora's Star. I wouldn't recommend reading it as a standalone; it picks up right where that left up, and so it would be like starting a novel half-way through. Otherwise it's much the same as its forerunner. ( )

Not as good as Pandora Star but a nice ending to the series ( )

This was a lot of fun to read with some silliness. It pulled the characters from Pandora's Star together even the ones you thought were just a sub sub plot and were never going to see again. I have read enough Peter F Hamilton that I should have expected that. Where Pandora's Star was full of mystery this is a lot of action. With some mad ideas. I actually laughed out loud when one of the methods of saving humans was announced. But it felt silly in a good way.
While the action was great some of the characters were drifting a bit. I still really didn't like Mellanie. Or the way every male character acted towards her. Ozzie stayed pretty tight and Wilson and Oscar. (I loved Oscar)
The final ending was a bit sudden and left an awful lot unanswered but as there are few novels that end well I am not going to mark this one down for how it ended.

Another great sci-fi opera from Hamilton. I don't have much specific to say about it other than it was great, the last half was very difficult to put down. There were a few loose ends I would have liked to see tied up, and maybe some more behind the scenes history type stuff, but all in all very good. ( )

900+ pages, at a page a minute, is a solid 15 hours' reading. And this is just the second half of the story that Hamilton kicked off with Pandora's Star. I won't keep you in suspense, though: it's good. Really good. Hamilton-at-his-best good.

I would try and summarise what's going on with the plot, but there's just so much happening, and to try and focus on anything would possibly spoil people just starting out on Pandora's Star and the like.

Suffice to say, nothing's ever quite as simple as it seems, and whilst, yes, a lot of the characters seem kind of recycled from The Night's Dawn Trilogy, that doesn't detract from the overall story, which is gripping. And expertly crafted - small details that were mentioned in Pandora's Star become important here, and right up until the bitter end, you're not sure whether this is a three-way fight, or something even more wide-reaching still.

Whilst this is in a different universe to Fallen Dragon and The Night's Dawn stuff, certain aspects of Hamilton's style ring through - particularly his attention to politics and military/navy wranglings, and the whole business of system wide colonisation. What makes Hamilton special is the care he takes in setting out the practicalities of his set-ups... Night's Dawn, for example, used voidhawks to carry news transmissions through swallows, since light would take too long to carry the transmission. This time around, Ozzie and Nigel's wormhole technology allows real-time communication, but other details are there to add weight to his vision of a network of colonised systems stretching across the galaxy.

So yeah, I like his stuff - I think Reynolds does the Hard Sci-Fi stuff better, mind (the Revelation Space quartet is excellent, although each instalment is about 25% overwritten, IMHO), but these two Hamilton instalments - Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained are excellent, and without doubt show Hamilton at his best. ( )