Yes, it's long, yes, it's like eating a favorite candy (you're full and somewhat sick, but you can't stop), yes, it's sometimes silly, but wow is it fun! The book has interesting, if sometimes unbelieveable science, entertaining, if sometimes unbelieveable people, high adventure, politics, and many storylines that do, in the course of both books, come together in totally satisfying ways. I particularly enjoyed (and was spooked by) the detailed development of the alien culture, the Prime, that threatens the Commonwealth. They are not evil and do not set out to destroy humanity specifically, but are obeying the dictates of their evolution which impels them to expand. They do not think or reason as humans do and cannot be negotiated with. How do you fight such an enemy? I will not remember "Pandora's Star" and it's sequel, "Judas Unchained", as great SF literature, but will greatly enjoy thinking about them and how much fun they were to read. ( )

I probably shouldn't have read the two volumes of this series so close together. It was just too much and made me more impatient with the faults of the books. The story is engaging, and the author creates a very detailed universe. Too detailed probably, this prevented me from feeling at home there.

Another problem is the lack of believability. I can accept the technological premises (in fact I have no idea how realistic or unrealistic they may be), but the society imagined by Hamilton is a sort of capitalistic paradize, where a few people concentrate amazing power and wealth on a galactic level, and still manage to not mess things up royally, to never abuse their power (apart from some petty squabbling which is supposed to make the whole thing more realistic I suppose), to never even just crack up when facing incredibly stressful situations and the anihilation of our entire species. Everyone ends up doing the right thing eventually.

The society described here seems to be one huge upper-middle class, with as I said a handful of super-powerful individuals benevolently ruling it. Although there is one hint that some people do not have access to all the technology available (especially to rejuvenation and re-life procedures), this hint is associated with the description of a "socialist party" that is basically a small band of fanatical terrorists, and we never get to meet one of these people who are excluded from virtual immortality. Maybe they just quietly died out?

The unbelievability also extends to characters. As I mentioned, facing the possibility of mass extinction, everybody seems to act rationally and with the greater good in mind. Some characters start out with more or less normal human faults, but they end up working with everybody for the greater good. Told the right way, this could be moving, but unfortunately it just comes out as an artificial change in the personality of the character.

I did read the two books to the end, which I wouldn't have done if they had really annoyed or bored me. However, I felt relieved when it was over. As I said, it was a mistake to read the two back to back. I would probably be more forgiving if I had waited a while between the two. ( )

A long, epic space opera. This story at times drags on, and at times flies by. There are numerous story lines, and as an audible version can be hard to pick up who each or the characters are and their relationships. Most of it ties together nicely at the end, though it does finish strange for a couple of the main characters. I believe there is a sequel which may explain the abrupt ending. All in all, not a bad book. ( )

ZB5

This kind of book was once my bread and butter, but I don't think I've read any space opera for more than 20 years. According to Wikipedia, Peter F. Hamilton is the most commercially successful living practitioner of the genre, producing the sort of giant multi-volume sagas typical of modern fantasy, so he seemed a good place to pick it up again. "Pandora's Star" at 1,144 pages, is only the first half of the gargantuan "Commonwealth Saga".

It is 2380, and humanity has settled on planets across the galaxy linked by a network of wormholes and the unisphere, a futuristic version of the internet. Its citizens, should they so choose, are effectively immortal thanks to rejuvenation and re-life procedures, and power largely rests in the hands of a small elite who control most of the industries and wealth.

Astronomer Dudley Bose spots a pair of stars many light years away suddenly wink out of existence. It seems impossible. In order to investigate, the first faster than light starship is built to travel to the pair. On arrival, the crew discovers the stars have been enclosed by a shield, the work of a technology far in advance of humans. While there, they inadvertantly switch the shields off, unleashing the aggressive Primes, the aliens the shield is designed to contain. The Commonwealth has to put itself on a war footing rapidly.

Although largely peaceful, the Commonwealth does harbour a terrorist cell, the Guardians of Selfhood, who believe human activity is being manipulated by a mysterious alien they call the Starflyer. Policewoman Paula Myo has been investigating their activities for decades without success. Events in the book lead her increasingly to believe that the Guardians might actually be onto something.

These are just two strands of an intricately plotted, panoramic book. As it is essentially only the first half of an even longer novel none of the strands is resolved by the novel's end. Reading it is like immersing yourself in a sci-fi TV series like "Battlestar Galactica" or "Babylon 5". As with those series, as well as spinning a yarn Hamilton has taken the opportunity to use his future society to examine a few 21st century issues too. Not that he has much profound to say, mind.

Nor is there much here of great originality. The conjoined minds of the Primes and their desire to subjugate are a straightforward steal from Star Trek's Borg, for example. Overall, though, it is to Hamilton's credit that his aliens are very, well, alien.

As with most very long books I've ever come across, "Pandora's Star" doesn't justify having quite so much wood pulped to make it. Hamilton can't resist describing every aspect of his future society in enormous detail - its transport, its planets, how the dynasties came by their wealth etc. Much of it could have been cut down or chopped out.

This is reading candy, undemanding entertainment written in unambitious prose designed to fill apathetic hours when literary fiction seems too much like hard work. I'm looking forward to "Judas Unchained", the conclusion of the saga, in the same way one looks forward to a night vegging in front of the TV. We all need books like this once in a while. Very much a guilty pleasure.

It's a very good read. Lots of cool concepts and thought provoking ideas. The writing is quite good. The main characters are diverse through and fleshed out. If you like sci-fi, You will probably find something to like about this book. This book along with the sequel Judas Unchained is one of the few new sci-fi books/series I read in the last year or two that kept me wanting to continue reading late into the night. ( )

Incredibly good science fiction novel. I'd read one of his novels previously and picked this one up at a used book store. Definitely SF of the Space Opera variety with a human civilization able to travel at greater than light speed and control of worm holes, but a lot of very interesting technology and fabulous control of characters and development. The author ties everything together at a casual pace - he takes his time and it really pays off. Two stars have been detected going off and it is determined that they are likely Dyson spheres. This warrants investigation and a faster than light starship is built for the first time as prior to this humans have exploited worm hole technology to spread to other planetary systems. What ensues when they arrive makes up the bulk of the novel. ( )

Pandora’s Star, and its sequel, Judas Unchained were impulse buys for me. I needed something to hold me over for a week of visiting relatives, plus a 3 hour plane trip each way. I read the back of each book, thought it sounded interesting, and didn’t give it a second thought until two days later on the plane. Boy, was I surprised. Peter F. Hamilton, the author of both books, did an amazing job with both books. Unfortunately, good books sort of destroy my self control, and you couldn’t pull me away from either book for more than five minutes unless it was to eat. Even worse is the fact that when I start reading like that, I can get though a good sized book in a couple of hours. Pandora’s Star, weighing in at just under one thousand pages, is bigger than a good sized book, but I still demolished it in about 10 hours of nonstop reading (for you math nerds, that’s a little more than a page and a half every minute). This unfortunately left me screwed for the rest of the week, bored out of my mind. But I’m getting off topic.

Pandora’s star is a distant future SF story, giving the author’s view on how our society will evolve if we gain the ability to create wormholes sometime in the near future. Humanity has bypassed the entire concept of interstellar spaceflight, due to the extreme convenience of the wormhole technology. An astronomer discovers that a set of stars simply disappeared out of nowhere, and since as a species, the human race can’t seem to leave well enough alone, we decide to go and find out what happened. Unfortunately, the set of stars, is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out of range of our wormholes, and with no form of faster than light travel, we have no way of getting there. Oh, on an unrelated note, somewhere along the line, we developed what is basically a complete mastery of genetics, so now whenever you get old, you can simply go into a clinic and get “rejuvenated”, which basically gives you back the body you had at your early twenties. Of course, that is, if you have the money. But back to the problem at hand. With no timely way of getting there, it’s up to Nigel Sheldon and Ozzie Isaac, the original inventors of the wormhole technology to invent a sort of hyperdrive to get a hand picked crew to the stars, Dyson Alpha and Beta. Anyway, we go poking around, and in our curiosity, shut off the barrier encasing Dyson Alpha, releasing what could be the most hostile alien race we have ever encountered. This launches an interstellar war, between us and the Primes, and although the toll it has inflicted on both sides, the primes continue to throw themselves at us, wearing the Commonwealth down with their Inexasutable numbers. The book ends with what is literally a cliffhanger, where Ozzie, who had gone to ask an almost elven race of aliens called the Silfen what was going on, and he and his companions go over a cliff.

This book, while one of the best I have read in a while, and has taken a place among my top ten SF series, is not for the faint at heart. This is something you should read only if you have a serious amount of patience, and are a huge SF fan. Remember, this is only book one of a two book series, each with around 1000 pages. It is not a light read by any means.

Did I scare off the lightweights? Good.
This book is what I would call quasi-hard SF, not exactly backing up the science with serious math, but it does a good job of making it believable, a good quality of any SF story. SF without good, believable technology is simply not good SF. The characters are well developed, but not overly so. The characters are al unique in their own way, and the way they interact with each other is quite entertaining. A great book, but those of you who sci-fi doesn’t agree with you, or you can’t sit still for more than an hour at a time, avoid this book like the plague, because you WILL have to read the second book if you finish this one. Trust me on this, it’s like an addiction (at least it is for me. *looks around* what, no one else? Anyone? Hello? Awww.). ( )

Fantastic book! Hamilton's story describes a very believable future, where humanity is reaching out for the stars to build a vast galactic empire. The technologies of this future are realistic, the characters have depth, the overall storyline is captivating. Hamilton's strength in creating a very realistic environment ('world building') is clearly visible. Definitely a must-read book, and of course there is the sequel, 'Judas Unchained', which is already waiting for me in my bookshelf. ( )

Reading a book is choosing a book, catering to your taste. But sometimes you come upon a book that's special, even if you're not interested in the time or the theme. It's just a great book. Those books appeal to all. No wonder we start to call these books "literature" and "classics".

There are also books quite the contrary. They only cater a certain crowd which in turn adores everything the author produces. Like people watching every single episode of a soap, posting on forums about it and joining communities dedicated to their series and characters. Peter Hamilton's books are in this category. People who like to read every single detail just about everything and anything without wondering where the story might go or what it changes in the main characters.

For others - like me, I admit - it means hundreds of pages of filler, literally dozens and dozens of characters unrelated to a well-hidden plot and the discovery that at the end of the book you'll have to sit through another counterweight of a book.

If you're not only interested in the name of character x but also in his every single move the last few hundred years, including his family, his home town, his car and its spare parts, you have a winner with Hamilton. If you're interested in a well written story that leads somewhere, stay clear of Hamilton altogether. ( )

This nearly-1000 page book is just the first half of a very long story, so be warned about what you're getting in to. That aside, it's a good scifi book, although it seems at first (for several hundred pages) that the stories are mostly unconnected. They do start to come together.

Overall, the story is about two star systems that suddenly disappear, surrounded by a Dyson Sphere or something similar to it. Humans have begun expanding throughout the universe via wormhole technology, and spaceflight is something of a distant memory. Death and disease have also been conquered, granting limitless lifespan (if you have the money to pay for regeneration). Being too far out for their wormholes, humans decide to build a new space ship to travel to the Dyson pair, as they have been dubbed, to examine them. When they arrive and begin studying the shield that has somehow been placed around the entire solar system, it suddenly deactivates, releasing the inhabitants within.. They capture two humans on an EVA, learn of the location of the human commonwealth, and begin invasion plans.

This is, by far, a simplified overview. It's a good scifi novel if you like long stories, but due to its size I can only recommend it for real die-hard science fiction readers. ( )

This was a chore for me. Not because it wasn't good but because I guess I read slow and the time I have to read is limited. Content wise, this was an awesome book, I love the operatic nature of it and the sense of wonder. I really did not get bored anywhere along the way, which can happen easily for me. ( )

It was a little boring to read at first; my guess, based on how this book ended, the author wanted to give as much detail about the story and characters as he could, which actually was great. I love all the detail that went into telling the story of the commonwealth, and the subsequent events that befall it. Can't wait to start the second book, Judas Unchained, later today. ( )

I've never been one to complain about long books. I enjoy every word of Steven Erikson and G.R.R.M., and often feel disappointed that their books can't last longer. So this is the first time I've ever said this about an author's overly-long book: Peter F. Hamilton needs an editor. Desperately. This 988-page tome just has reams upon reams of pages of seemingly endless description of every planet, every character, every race within the gargantuan world Hamilton has imagined. And the vast majority of it is completely superfluous to the story he tells.

Luckily, Hamilton does tell a good enough story that it kept me reading, and I'm interested to see how the saga ends in Judas Unchained. At the end of the day, Hamilton has quite the imagination. But dear jeebus: be prepared for a loooooong freaking read. ( )

Very interesting picture of the future that I think is very likely to come about in many ways. I almost wish I were there already. Also an engrossing mystery that surprises you when it turns out to be volume 1 of a two parter. My library didn't have the second part and I had to go find it in another library.

Peter Hamilton’s Pandora’s Star is a vast novel. My conservative guess is there are at least 100 characters in this 988 page book. Sometimes, it’s a bit daunting to keep track of everyone. Not all of them have a large impact on the main story. Hamilton includes quite a bit of back-story and setup.

(Full review at my blog) ( )

Secret alien plot uncovered.

This one is a bit slow to get going, following some media and political goings on, and the discovery by a garden variety astronomer of what appear to be disappearing stars. This includes the introduction of one bimbette viewpoint character, an investigator, and an underground organisation of people seen to be cooks, that literally believe in an alien conspiracy theory.

The theory is that they were put in Dyson spheres, which indicates some serious technological ability.

This spurs the building of a spaceship, and the discovery that the kook group may just not be that kooky after all, and the alien Starflyer conspiracy may just be real.

You will have to not mind somewhat slow and came-killing lonnnnnnngggg to get through this one to the more interesting end. Still good though, in the washup.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2007/12... ( )

An impulse buy, and a highly entertaining one. An excellent fictional universe, a great alien society, and a plot that certainly has you wanting to turn the page (even if it doesn't have too many shocks).
There was some discrepencies of the "but would you really do that?" kind, and some very rather 1970s science fiction moments (walking the "paths" veered a bit too much into fantasy for my tastes) but perhaps these actually add something to the books uniqueness... I'm not really sure. Some more proactive female characters might have impressed me more; some in particular seemed very stereotyped.
Worth a look, but be warned, you'll want to read the sequel to see what happened, whether you like this novel or not. ( )

Addictively good. ( )

I really enjoyed this. I first read it as a proof then had to wait 3 years for the sequel. When I finally started reading Judas Unchained I realised after the first page I needed to go back and reread Pandora's Star. I found it just as good reading it again. The tech advances seem a bit far fetched sometimes, not as far fetched as the sequel. But mostly they are just well imagined. As are the other alien races. I liked the plot and the way it turned. There are some very good male characters and some good minor female characters. They are better then they are not in the plot for sex. I really liked Paulo Myo, but for a prominent character Mellanie was awful. Unbelievable, I couldn't identify with her, didn't much care about her and felt like she had been dragged out of the depths of some teenage boys fantasies. I feel the need to rant about her, but I did love the rest of the book.
Easier to read than Nights Dawn trilogy, moves a bit faster too. ( )

Peter F Hamilton first came to my notice when I picked up The Reality Dysfunction in a tiny bookstore in Dorset, purely on the basis that it looked nice and thick, and I had a long train journey ahead of me. At the time, I wasn't aware that The Reality Dysfunction would prove to be the first instalment of a trilogy (Night's Dawn) that proved to be 2/3 excellent 1/3 ludicrous...

So, Hamilton arrives on my bookshelf with the slight burden of me knowing that the man can write brilliantly, yet can also throw it all away when losing the plot spectacularly (the closing to Fallen Dragon is a case in point).

Hamilton's universes tend to be confederations of Human-settled planets, spread across the galaxy, and Pandora's Star continues in this vein (the Commonwealth). Humans have developed wormhole technology (Nigel Sheldon and Ozzie Isaacs, true geeks' geeks, manage to upstage the Martian landing with great style!), and have spread across the stars, meeting the occasional other sentient race as they go, creating a very nice life for themselves, with rejuventation technology, automation, and interstellar transport as exciting as catching the Tube...

However, something troubles them: the Dyson Pair, a couple of stars reasonably close to human inhabited space, are observed being enveloped by a mysterious force field, and, because as a species we simply can't leave well enough alone, a ship is sent to investigate.

As the ship approaches the mystifying barrier, opinion was still divided as to whether the force-field was constructed as a defence, to keep an agressor out (in which case there was a threat in the galaxy of a scale more or less incomprehensible to humans), or to keep something else in (in which case was it really sensible to go looking?). The book's title should give a hint as to where the answer to that particular conundrum might lie, but sadly our protagonists don't have the benefit of knowing how their tale has been titled.

As with Night's Dawn, we ride with several sets of people for the tale - and as the book progresses, their paths start to converge slightly, so that at the end of the volume, you have a really pretty solid universe picture in your head, even if not quite all the dots have been joined up yet.

Yet?

Yup, because, in the mother of all cliff-hangers (quite literally), Pandora's Star ends with the agonisingly tantalising :The Commonwealth Saga will be concluded in Judas Unchained. ( )

This is epic space opera at it's, well, most epic really! Has a lot of elements of hard SF too. If you liked Peter F Hamilton's previous books (Night's Dawn Trilogy in particular) you should love this.

Two warnings however - firstly it's very long and if you are not a fast reader or don't have much time, it could take you a long time to get through. Secondly, it has an equally long sequel.

Overall I enjoyed this book, though thought it could have been shortened somewhat. I found myself skimming pages at times to try and get through it. The characters, the plot and the concepts in the book though are all fantastic and I found myself being drawn in to the universe that Peter F. Hamilton has created. The author's habit of flitting between many different characters and plotlines does get irritating at times, but is unavoidable in this type of book.

I'd have given it at least 4 out of 5, but for the fact I thought it a bit long! ( )

http://www.sfreader.com/read_review.a... ( )

What's the point in reviewing this book? Why would anyone want to read about the plot or literary skill of the author, when this is such a massive tome that you either know already that you like space opera science fiction and/or Peter F. Hamilton, or else you wouldn't be considering it in the first place?

Well ... OK there are a couple of things that you need to know up front. The first and most important is that this isn't a book: it is only the first part of a book, and unless you have the intention of reading the second part straight after reading this then you will just be left frustrated when you get to the end and find out that ALL the plot-lines are left hanging. The second thing is that - apart from the multiple plot-lines that introduce so many characters that you can easily lose track, but which is standard PFH - there are bound to be elements of the story which seem to be detrimental to the cohesiveness of the universe that has been created here. For me, these were a concentration upon the transport infrastructure and the lack of Chinese people in the story. I'm not saying that things like these will destroy your enjoyment, but they certainly acted as a distraction. ( )

Kaboom, another vast Hamilton tome has arrived, small print, 1100+ pages, a cast of zillions, probably.

This is set in the same universe as his novel Misspent Youth, that of the Intersolar Commonwealth, the diaspora of the human race spreading through the star systems via wormhole technology. It is different enough from the Night's Dawn setting that you won't confuse the two, but Hamilton's easy to read style continues and he manages to describe a realistic future vision of humn (and alien) society.

The plot then, astronomers discover a dimming of light from a distant star, analysis reveals that some entity has built a structure around a star system. This is of course slightly worrying, no matter that it took place a thousand years ago as the star is a thousand light years away. A faster than light ship is built and sent off to investigate, and, well look, the clue is in the title.

Hamilton has created the Primes, a brilliantly thought out, and utterly alien, alien race, controlled by their thinking Immotiles with their countless armies of subservient motiles.

This then is similar in many ways to Night's Dawn, the human race vs. the seemingly all powerful and unstoppable force, it does follow that if you enjoyed ND then you will enjoy this. There is a large mix of characters to follow, various plots, sub-plots and machiavellian machinations to keep up with, but it is all great space opera fun, space battles, big weapons, huge invasions, deaths by the megadeth, what more could you ask for ?

Well, just one thing annoyed me, as I got to the last 50 pages of the book I couldn't see any way that the various plots and threads were going to pull together, oh no I thought, it's going to be another deus ex machina ending just like ND, but then I'm on the last page and it isn't, bugger, this is a part one. It doesn't say anywhere on the front or back covers or in the Hamilton bumph on the inside cover that this is a part one, but it is.

Anyway, that aside, this is pretty much classic Hamilton, personally I could have had less background politicking and more huge battles, but it is still a very enjoyable read, I'll have to pop out now and get part 2, at least it isn't going to be a trilogy this time. ( )