Well, I just finished Peter F Hamiltons latest book: ‘Judas Unchained’
I first found Peter with ‘The Reality Dysfunction’, what I enjoyed about it was its combination of a complex universe and it’s space opera.
He’s tried this again with ‘The Commonwealth Saga’, but I really don’t think he’s been anywhere near as successful.
Firsly, its LONG, at 2400 pages over both books, it tends to ramble and ramble, you can’t go anywhere in the book without having to sit through pages and pages of background material about the planet and its settlement history, every object needs a background.
Apart from that there’s the usual Peter Hamilton features: Beautiful People, Casual Sex, Wealth and Technology; This time however, it comes across as a strange mixture of E. E. ‘Doc’ Smith and Jackie Collins.
Nothing terribly awful happens to anyone, there is always a worm hole or a regeneration tank or a ‘re-life’procedure to rescue anyone who dies or is injured. Fantastic new technologies are whipped up in weeks/days/hours - and invaribly countered on the next page by an equally fantastic opposing technology.
In the end, it felt like ‘The Matrix Reloaded’, if nothing truly bad can happen to anyone, why should I care…. they don’t seem to!
The other problem: I accidently destroyed my copy of the book - left it under a dripping tap sigh, don’t ask.