too long ( )

I thought this was an awesome book. The big ideas and scale of the book was right up my alley. The only annoyance I had was being distracted by the extensive explaining and describing that I had to backtrack a lot to know what was going on and who's who. It just felt unnecessary for a book that is around 1200 pages long. ( )

I loved this.

I think the only problem was that there were so many story lines that I occasionally lost track of who was who and who was doing what where. It took a long time to get into the action, too, though I think in retrospect I appreciate the buildup and the mystery, wondering what was going on. I will admit to having to reference a Wikipedia page when I set the book down for a day or two to remember exactly what had happened and where I was in the book.

On that note, WOW, is Hamilton good at foreshadowing. Color me impressed -- things that were happening or even just ancillary to the story in the first chapter were insanely important in the last.

Nifty. ( )

I have wanted to read "The Night's Dawn" series for a long time but the size of these are most intimidating. But I finally read the first book. Overall I did enjoy it even though it crosses over a bit with what some would call fantasy. The author did this with his Void trilogy as well and i did not enjoy that trilogy a whole lot because of that. But in this case, it really wasn't fantasy in the traditional sense and the setting stayed in the science fiction realm so it was not as big a deal. Strange to be sure.
Having read other works by this author I have learned enough of his writing style to know when I can safely speed read/skim over areas to get near the end of the section an absorb the point that I need to carry on with the story. This book is no different in that regard. In fact this trilogy was his first so it set the stage for how it writes in most ways.
Anyway, I do plan on reading the sequels. I would start the next one right away but a reading group I want to be involved in is starting a different book in less than a week and there is no way I could finish the second book in time.
The story here is very interesting, well though out universe and the opening up of that universe is part of what makes the book interesting. The threat that comes into being is compelling and the twist concerning it pretty much blew my mind. Good stuff to be sure. Note - this is first time read, not sure why GoodReads says otherwise. ( )

DNF - the only other book I've ever not finished was Pride & Prejudice, but I cannot force myself to struggle through this book anymore. Guess I'll just have to say it's not for me. ( )