Friday, November 30, 2012

On Peter Hamilton's books

I've been postponing writing something about Peter Hamilton's work for a while. I first became aware of his work through the Night's Dawn trilogy, more precisely the Reality Disfunction (1st book of the series). I saw the synopsis and it looked really exciting, so I bought the book and read through it. I was amazed by the depth of the plot and the detailed and fast paced narrative. This was truly a space opera, and I went through the entire series, book after book.
Having enjoyed that series so much, I bought the 2 books in the commonwealth saga (his first work) and the 3 books in the Greg Mandel series. The latter, despite having a totally different style, was just as good as the Night's Dawn trilogy (unfortunately, I still have not had the time to read the former). More recently I went through the Void's trilogy, which I found superb.
Indeed, the books I have read so far by Hamilton are on par with the classics by Frank Herbert or Isaac Asimov. I find his typical style of multiple threads followed in a sequential cycle to prevent any possible boredom and to allow a natural flow of the story. Not only are the plots rich in technological detail and offer interesting and innovative science fiction, but the characters are adequately characterized and explored. While many books I have read in my life fail to sparkle any memories, I vividly remember characters and plot lines from all of Hamilton's books. Some of his characters will certainly be remembered throughout my entire life. Reading these books has been a great experience and gave me much joy.

Here's what I have from Hamilton right now:


*Night's Dawn trilogy*
- Reality disfunction: Part I - Emergence
- Reality disfunction: Part II - Expansion
- The neutronium alchemist: Part I - Consolidation
- The neutronium alchemist: Part II - Conflict
- The naked God: Part I - Flight
- The naked God: Part II - Faith
*Commonwealth saga*
- Pandora's star
- Judas Unchained
*Greg Mandel series*
- Mindstar rising
- Quantum murder
- Nano flower
*The void trilogy*
- The Dreaming void
- The Temporal void
- The Evolutionary void
* single novels *
- Fallen dragon



Hamilton's work has been mostly published by Pan Macmillan (http://www.panmacmillan.com) through the Macmillan imprint, and also Del Rey (http://www.randomhouse.com). Macmillan publishers were kind enough to provide me with a review copy of the Evolutionary Void (#3 in the Void series).
I look forward to continue reading Hamilton's fantastic work.