What can I say

What can I say to describe how much I disliked this book? This writer has a good reputation in putting out quality books, but this was so bad in so many ways. I don't know what to say. I purchased another of his novels (but not from this trilogy) to see if his other stuff is better.

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110 people found this helpful

Solid Hamiltonian Space Opera

For my money, Peter Hamilton is the best writer of space operas working today. Like all of his books, this one has a cast of many characters, frequent shifts in perspective between at least 8(!) storylines that initially seem unrelated, some great action sequences, lots of interesting speculation about far future technologies, and an occasional need for an editor.

This book takes place 1500 years after his last two-book series (Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained). Some of the characters from that series are still around, due to the virtual immortality provided by future medicine, but knowing the previous books is not required, though it will make some of the story more interesting.

As the first book of three, this one starts a bit slower than Pandora's Star, but builds over the first third or so of the audiobook to become a really compelling story that weaves together the stories of a far-future hitman, the leader of a religious movement, a semi-omniscient AI, a young woman launching a business career, and a young man who initially seems to be living in a fantasy novel. And yet, as the story comes together, these desperate elements weave together into a story about interstellar intrigue and an upcoming event that could threaten the galaxy.

I thought this was an excellent start to a new space opera, much better than Hamilton's Nights Dawn series, but not as immediately action-packed as the previous Pandora's Star novels. Some segments run a bit long, and the occasional sex scenes can seem a trifle gratuitous, but if you like sprawling novels with dozens of characters (think George RR Martin, but in space) and innovative space opera spanning dozens of worlds, this is a great, very well-read choice.

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108 people found this helpful

5 stars for the story, 3 for the director.

This gripping continuation of the world made so real in Pandora's and Judas is once again marred by the director. I assume that would be who is responsible for the complete lack of transitions from one scene to the next. There's barely a breath between what would have been a clear division in story line had you been reading the book. The result is that you're suddenly scrambling to figure out why there are new people on a different planet in a completely different setting than there were in what seemed to be the previous sentence. As a veteran of 8+ years of audiobooks, I've never encountered another series of books that do this so badly. As a commuting listener, I'm constantly rewinding to catch where the transition was. It's annoying to the point of marring an otherwise excellent listening experience. Yes, these are long books but please give us a few seconds pause to acknowledge the change in chapter/setting.

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85 people found this helpful

What the heck am I reading?

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A story that wasn't insanely boring.

Any additional comments?

This might have been a great book. I'm not really sure, I kept drifting off during this book. Thinking about groceries, work, my to-do list at home. When I would go back into the book there would be some new character I had never heard before doing or talking about something in their world I didn't really care about.

There is some pilgrimage, there are a lot of characters, you learn about a lot of strange religions and theoretical jumps in human evolution.

This void is out there, where people have some dreams or something.

Then you lose interest, and find yourself rewinding the same chapter over and over again to figure out what the heck is going on.

Your quest is futile, it's just too boring. Your consciousness is in and out with only 5 minutes of listening time randomly per 30 minutes of content.

bla bla bla bla bla .... some description of a brand new character talking about uploading their brain to the internet... bla bla bla bla bla... some lady is shopping for robots with a sales clerk who is 6 people at once... bla bla bla.... we are on a ship where some people dream a lot.... bla bla bla...

I'm 60% into the book and I literally have no idea what is going on.

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38 people found this helpful

Don't bother!

Please don't bother! This has to have been one of the worst books I've listened to. The story line was all over the place and made it hard to follow.
The characters were never developed and 90% of them I either didn't care about or disliked. Nothing to hold on to throughout the book.
The story ended abruptly. Even in most trilogies there is at least something of an ending even if the story is to continue.
Save your money for something good.

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35 people found this helpful

Read Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained First

Any additional comments?

One of Hamilton's best series, to my mind. I find it difficult to describe: it basically blends the same far-future Commonwealth world of Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained with a very well-realized 'Olde England with psychic powers'. That sounds like it's going to be bad: it's not. As usual, Hamilton not only has great ideas but has the ability to really follow through with them and investigate all the possibilities. I'd recommend new readers to start with Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained just because they're a little easier to get into: although if you're coming from a fantasy background then this series might work better

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33 people found this helpful

Should Be under Sci-Porn Catagor

This was very hard to get through for a number of reasons.
!) If you could clone yourself and have all of you and your 30+ clones share your mind each being able to make their/his/her own choices, the next place to go is to find a recent divorced woman with 6+ of you and have an orgy with just her and the clones.
This goes into explicit details including how sore she was the next day.
How about a rich guy that puts mind chips into his multiple wives brains for his extra cravings.
2) This book goes into excruciating details of the most minor trivial things in the book.
3) Slams Christians
4) Involves a Fantasy story line (with magic, 3rd hands, far sight) weaved in several chapters making you wonder if someone changed the "channel" on you.
Not for me

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31 people found this helpful

Waste of time

The narrative is disjointed and poorly written. I started this book twice (around an hour and a half into it the first time, I realized that my mind was wandering); the second time I forced myself to listen carefully, and still my mind wanted to wander. It's supposed to be entertaining, not so much work. Skip this one.

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30 people found this helpful

To much sex.

I really didn't see the need for so much sex. It seems cheap and tawdry. Other than that, it was a good story.

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29 people found this helpful

Good but really too much

The Void series takes a LOT of concentration; it has many threads, timelines, dreamlines, and characters (several with multiple instances). Some of the themes are so wild that they cross from science fiction to fantasy then to philosophy. The author writes very intelligently and many of the characters are interesting and well developed. I enjoyed some of the themes and some of the characters but it is just way too much for three novels. By the end of the series quite a lot of stuff had happened, but due to the abstract nature of some subthemes I found it difficult to really care. This is a talented writer but I really prefer a little less. Judas Unchained was complex, but Judas was simple minded compared to the Void.

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26 people found this helpful