The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist, The Naked God
Finally. Finally I'm done. After finishing this epic three piece story, I'm slightly overwhelmed and a little bit sad that it's over. My constant companion for the last month has really changed my perspective on what a good trilogy should be.
Hamilton certainly doesn't hold back when plot development is involved. He meanders his way through all his books, multi tasking you around a web of expanding plot lines but also keeping you focused on the main point. The Nights Dawn Trilogy (A name I actually really like) put me at ease from the off, immersing me in far future humanity with no warning whatsoever.
Somthing that I find refreshing about Hamilton though is his ability
to not get too involved in the technobabble - things just happen - because they can. This suits me down to the ground - and I can see why some people find his novels very accessable even though they are huge tomes.
The arc of the story follows Joshua Calvert, a renegade space junkie who spends his spare time shagging and trying to scrounge cash to restore his fathers ship. Along the way seeds of the story root themselves along Joshuas path. But basically put - the dead start coming back to life. I know that sounds wierd considering its a sci-fi but i assure you - it still is.
Another favorite for me in this book was the development of Al Capone. He gets reincarnated in another body and works his way to creating an organization. The fantastic thing about this book is just how much fun I imagined Hamilton had whilst writing it, so gripping is it that I dreaded coming to the end. After three thousand plus pages you just need to have a good ending - and that it did.
The clincher for this book that made it rise a level above its contemporaries like Banks or Morgan was just how involved you could get. Quinn Dexter brought me in - following his footsteps through his life as a sadistic Cult member, his eventual rise to pure psycopath. Not once did this character bore me. His abhorrence reminded me of Patrick Batement from American Psycho and just how dark you can be to "Release your serpent beast."
It's not all nasty though, lots of subplots spring up surrounded by unrequited love, betrayal and good old human nature. These things brought the tone of the book to a nice equilibrium, giving me just enough Umph to keep me enthralled and leaving me some breathing space for a good journey.
One thing that got me was the huge vistas that Hamilton paints. Huge disk cities in space, edenist habitats on the surface of gas giants, the naked god a sentient singularity, and my favorite - the
huge spanning Arcologies of future Earth, so destroyed is our eco system that the residents live in huge domes to shelter from the super-storms that ravage Earth. All these apt places to set a space opera on such a scale.
I'll sum it up. Peter F Hamilton is good. He writes in a shed, he has kids, seems like a damn clever guy and I'll definintly be reading more. But for now I need a lighter read, go towards Hamilton if your keen - but you've got to be in it for the long haul.
Enough said.
