Monday, July 25, 2011

The Stars My Destination

Alfred Bester
Signet Books, 1957 (my copy is from Vintage Books, 1996)
Size: Short (my copy has 258 pages)
Theme: Interplanetary conflict
Narrative: third-person
Main character: Gully Foyle
Recommended minimum age: Young Adult
Would purchase as a gift to any sci-fi reader: YES



In the near future, out of pure necessity, a person demonstrated the ability of shifting in space, actually instantly moving from one place to another. This phenomenon was termed jaunting, and after sufficient study and trial-and-error, it was found that almost anyone could learn it to some extent. As expected, this caused major changes in society and habits.

This book narrates the tale of Gully Foyle, who through a quirk of fate, found himself isolated in a half-destroyed spacecraft for months. When his salvation seemed at hand, but he is again abandoned, he vows revenge and starts a galactic quest to find and kill those who refused to rescue him. The story is about pain and anguish, but also about revenge and reckoning. It packs as much action as it does soul searching. It is very well written and provides a self-contained story, even if the key plot is left wide open at the end.

Though the book is quite short, and there was room for considerably more character development, particularly of the secondary cast (who end up participating as very stereotypical characters), the main character is compelling enough to make the book an excellent read. Nevertheless, I would have liked this to be only the first chapter, and at least an equal amount of story be written about what could transpire after the last events told in the book. 

Monday, July 18, 2011

The Naked God – Part II: Faith

Peter F. Hamilton
MacMillan, 2000 (my copy is from Warner Books, 2000)
Size: Epic (my copy has 778 pages)
Theme: Futuristic space opera
Narrative: third-person
Main character: Joshua Calvert
Recommended minimum age: Young Adult
Would purchase as a gift to any sci-fi reader: YES



This book concludes the Naked God story (the last part of the Night’s Dawn trilogy). It manages to provide a conclusive ending to this great saga, with a definite wrap-up to the complex plot and its cast of characters. Also, Hamilton manages to tie several loose ends that had been opening up throughout the previous books. I found the end itself to be appropriate and sufficiently imaginative to provide a sound reasoning to events. As in previous books, the story is compelling and rich, with well explored and meaningful characters. The Universe of the Night’s Dawn saga is detailed and captivating. A couple major plots and many sub-plots set up the scene for grandiose events that span galaxies. Any sci-fi fan will find this to be a memorable story.

As the organization armies are forced to retreat to New California, more and more planets taken over by possessed start shifting out of the universe. Meanwhile, the B7 group and Louise’s small party continue their efforts to kill Quinn Dexter. Joshua and Syrinx continue their search for the Sleeping God, and start interacting with dominions in the Tyrathca home system, whose inhabitants are not exactly who they expected. The multiple groups involved in the story, including the Kiint and the observers living with them, will be brought into the forefront of the story and their role explained.

Related work:

Note that you should read this book after the previous volume, “Naked God - Part I: Flight”. The Night Dawn’s trilogy starts in The Reality Dysfunction, continues in The Neutronium Alchemist and ends in The Naked God.


Saturday, July 16, 2011

1000 page views

Hey.
Just thought I'd mark the 1000th blog page view.
I plan on keeping this up indefinately! Let us see if it works as planned.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you've found the reviews useful.

Cheers,
-SFB-

The Naked God – Part I: Flight

Peter F. Hamilton
MacMillan, 2000 (my copy is from Warner Books, 2000)
Size: Epic (my copy has 778 pages)
Theme: Futuristic space opera
Narrative: third-person
Main character: Joshua Calvert
Recommended minimum age: Young Adult
Would purchase as a gift to any sci-fi reader: YES



In this third and last novel of the Night’s Dawn trilogy (book 5 of 6 in the two-volumes per novel edition), conflict escalates and the plot starts unraveling toward the final events. For a global description of the universe Hamilton created for this series you should refer to my reviews of previous books, particularly that of the first book of the series (Reality Dysfunction – Part I). The length and depth of the novel is nothing short of exceptional. I find this a very positive aspect of a book when the story is very good; after the initial time overhead in learning the Night’s Dawn universe and getting familiar with the characters and locations, I greatly enjoyed that there was a lot to read about it. Sometimes, short stories are frustrating precisely for the opposite reason. 

The story follows Joshua Calvert, who returns to the Confederation to inform that the Alchemist device has been destroyed, only to be tasked with joining a voidhawk crew in searching after the Tyrathca’s Sleeping God, which might be humanity’s last hope.  Most of this novel (both volumes in fact) will focus on this sub-plot, since this search involves first exploring a Tyrathca asteroid, then travelling across the Galaxy, and finally, trying to interact with the Tyrathca to learn the secrets behind their divinity. Meanwhile, Quinn Dexter manages to get on Earth and starts expanding his army there, setting up bases with satanic sects in multiple locations. We will witness the struggle by the survivors at the Valisk habitat, the Confederation plan to develop a weapon that will nullify all the possessed (and subsequently, all souls trapped in the beyond). Louise starts taking action, as she decides to go after Dexter to kill him.

Related work:

Note that you should read this book after the previous volume, “Neutronium Alchemist - Part II: Conflict”. The Night Dawn’s trilogy starts in The Reality Dysfunction, continues in The Neutronium Alchemist and ends in The Naked God. 

Monday, July 11, 2011

The Neutronium Alchemist – Part II: Conflict

Peter F. Hamilton
MacMillan, 1997 (my copy is from Warner Books, 1998)
Size: Long (my copy has 580 pages)
Theme: Futuristic space opera
Narrative: third-person
Main character: Joshua Calvert
Recommended minimum age: Young Adult
Would purchase as a gift to any sci-fi reader: YES



This book continues the story from “Part I – Consolidation”, number 2 of the 3 novels in the Night’s Dawn trilogy (book 4 of 6 in the two-volumes per novel edition). For a global description of the universe Hamilton created for this series you should refer to my review on the first book of the series (Reality Dysfunction – Part I). As the previous books, this novel is full of action, mystery, adventure and a bit of horror. The plot continues to plow on, relentless, as it pushes the reader forward at every page. I cannot remember ever setting this book down bored or uninterested. The plot itself and the way the narrative is told combine to create an excellent reading experience. To assist the readers who might have read the previous book some time ago, the novel starts with a list of characters as well as a list of ships, habitats, asteroids and planets.

In this book, as Joshua travels through Dorados, he is acquainted with his brother, Liol, who he did not know existed. Liol joins the crew as they argue over their rights to the ship. At the habitat that Rubra controls, the possessed continue to expand their numbers, and even as Dariat decides to join forces with Rubra to stop the collective possessed, the entire habitat is transported to an alternate reality. Joshua’s crew hunt for Mzu continues, as other players reveal themselves, including a strange powerful man called Dick Keaton. Large space and land battles between the confederation and the organization led by Capone continue to ensue. This volume will introduce new technologies (including a nifty one at Tranquility), and we learn more about the powers and motivations of the possessed, such as transporting themselves entirely to alternate pockets of reality when in relatively large groups.

Related work:
Note that you should read this book after the previous volume, “Neutronium Alchemist - Part I: Consolidation”. The Night Dawn’s trilogy starts in The Reality Dysfunction, continues in The Neutronium Alchemist and ends in The Naked God.


Sunday, July 10, 2011

The Neutronium Alchemist – Part I: Consolidation

Peter F. Hamilton
MacMillan, 1997 (my copy is from Warner Books, 1998)
Size: Long (my copy has 591 pages)
Theme: Futuristic space opera
Narrative: third-person
Main character: Joshua Calvert
Recommended minimum age: Young Adult
Would purchase as a gift to any sci-fi reader: YES




This novel is number 2 out of 3 in the Night’s Dawn trilogy (book 3 of 6 in the two-volumes per novel edition). For a global description of the universe Hamilton created for this series you should refer to my review on the first book of the series (Reality Dysfunction – Part I). As I read through this novel, I was surprised to find that the story never failed to bring in new aspects and maintain excellent coherence to the previous books. It does help that Hamilton wrote them all in sequence, but it is often underappreciated. If you go through all books as I did, even minor plot holes can hamper the fun.

This novel introduces still some new characters, some which (most) readers will be familiar with, such as Al Capone. Whereas usually novels that resort to characters such as Al Capone end up as complete flukes, this one pulls it off very nicely, and Capone actually becomes one of the major characters throughout the rest of the series, setting up an organization of possessed that will rival the schemes of Dexter, although with completely different ambitions. Here, we learn much more about the possessed, including that not all of them are entirely evil, and more importantly, that other races have encountered this phenomena before in their history, some actually having survived it (the Kiint are one such case). As the possessed grow in number, power, and spread throughout the universe, small pockets of possessed start exhibiting group capabilities. This will give rise to some very interesting sub-plots later on.

Action is not over for Joshua Calvert, who is charged with pursuing Alkad Mzu and stopping her from using the Alchemist ultimate weapon to exert revenge on the Omuta world. Louise Kavanagh and her sister continue fleeing from the possessed, helped by an unexpected character.

Related work:
Note that you should read this book after the previous volume, “Reality Dysfunction - Part II: Expansion”. The Night Dawn’s trilogy starts in The Reality Dysfunction, continues in The Neutronium Alchemist and ends in The Naked God.


Friday, July 8, 2011

The reality dysfunction – Part II: Expansion

Peter F. Hamilton
MacMillan, 1996 (my copy is from Warner Books, 1997)
Size: Long (my copy has 572 pages)
Theme: Futuristic space opera
Narrative: third-person
Main character: Joshua Calvert
Recommended minimum age: Young Adult
Would purchase as a gift to any sci-fi reader: YES



The second volume of the Reality Dysfunction continues the story of the previous book. The narrative, as expected, follows the same structure and pace. The book is comprised of many very short chapters, each switching focus among the myriad of characters and locations involved in the plot. As such, the story continues to be extremely compelling. There is never a dull moment, nor is the author prone to unnecessary excessive descriptions. Action flows naturally but with a sense of foreboding and several adrenaline-filled scenes.In this volume, we see the (failed) efforts by the outlaw Laton to overcome the possession effect, and his flight from Lalonde. We are introduced to the Rubra personality which controls one of the Edenist habitats and his angry ex-pupil Dariat, who sets up an alliance with the possessed. We also follow Alkad Mzu, one of the creators of the Alchemist, an ultimate weapon with the power to destroy entire planets, and who has been held under guard in one of the habitats for some decades, since the war between two major civilizations from which fallout can still be observed in the confederation. Many other characters and side-plots are brought into play, most of which will continue involved throughout the other books.

As the possessed continue to take over Lalonde, they are now also spreading out throughout the confederation, leading to a ban in most space travel. Nevertheless, this does not seem to stop them, and the confederation army is engaged to destroy this menace. Also, Joshua Calvert is recruited to bring a team of specialized mercenaries to Lalonde to identify the source of the possessed infection and attempt to learn more about it.

Related work:
Note that you should read this book after the previous volume, “Reality Dysfunction - Part I: Emergence”. The Night Dawn’s trilogy starts in The Reality Dysfunction, continues in The Neutronium Alchemist and ends in The Naked God.