Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Judas Unchained
Book Review: complex science fiction
Summary: 5 Stars
Late in the twenty-fourth century, the maniacal barbaric Primes attack the human Commonwealth with an insane vigor in which death means nothing to the invaders. Rather quickly the Primes devastate thirteen of the over six hundred interconnected worlds in a blitzkrieg like nothing ever imagined. The Intersolar Commonwealth Senate debate the motive of their enemy while the Navy struggles with countering the precision assault as the Primes react as one entity.
As the Commonwealth teeters, its espionage agents learn about a third party pulling the strings like a master puppeteer. Could the overzealous members of the barred Guardians of Selfhood cult be right that the Starflyer, which most thought was a myth, be behind the Primes' lethal first contact and have infiltrated the key Confederation leadership organizations like the senate, Dynasties, and the Navy? As the Prime and the Commonwealth seek more powerful weapons that could commit genocide, the former have no compunctions in doing so while the latter argue the ethics of ethnic cleansing.
The above is a tiny description of what is probably the most complex science fiction written in several years (except maybe the first novel - see PANDORA'S STAR). There are numerous subplots and perspective switches enabling the audience to better understand the crisis and how people act differently towards its resolution (not always in a moral manner as civilization crumbles under pandemic deaths). Ultimately the theme turns into an ethical debate over genocide sort of like Truman using the Bomb or explaining to American mothers why he had a weapon of mass destruction but allowed millions of their sons to die instead. Peter Hamilton is at his best with a delightfully deep, detailed epic space saga but the audience should obtain the first tale and set aside a couple of weeks to a month to read both as these are well worth your time.
Harriet Klausner
Book Review: good book but needs some trimming, rethinking?
Summary: 3 Stars
I enjoy Mr. Hamilton's books, and particularly enjoyed Pandora's Star. I was looking forward to this sequel, but found it somewhat difficult reading. comments with spoilers follow
1) was anyone sympathetic to Ozzie's and other characters' moral concerns about taking out alpha prime (MLM) with the weapon? In the context of an immediate and clear threat to human existence, it just didn't make sense. Maybe for the SI, which presumably has other interests, but not for any human.
2) The entire Starflyer aspect of the story was interesting in the first book, but for it really seemed to drag here in places. I have seen it compared to the chase of Dracula, but darn that didn't take half of Stoker's book.
3) this may not be a quibble, but the author left a realistic number of loose ends which could not have been expected to be resolved anyway (tens of thousands of prime ships in human space, hundreds of prime seedships sent out). Maybe Mr. Hamilton is considered writing more in this universe?
4) My big complaint is the Star Trek Plot Device which resolved the contamination of human worlds by radiation without killing all the people - using wormhole tech for time travel! Has anyone thought through the implications of this? Even if he writes in a special 'reason' why you cannot open a wormhole into the past, within a fairly short period of time you will have wormholes opening FROM the past into present time and all kinds of possibilities emerge. How convenient Sheldon just had this sitting on a shelf and never did anything with it.
I guess it is less all-encompassing than a naked singularity, but at least the naked singularity was clearly alluded to and the target of a large search in 'the naked god.'.
Book Review: loose ends
Summary: 4 Stars
I would like to thank those who wrote the early negative reviews, no doubt why I was able to snag a used hardback at $2.
For those who are mystified by the title, "Judas" is obviously the collective term for the humans taken over by the Starflier, and they are "unchained" because there is a point where they no longer conceal their allegiance.
It was more than a year between my reading of the 1st volume and the second (as some have rightly pointed out, "continuation" is more accurate than "sequel") and, rather than puzzling over detail I'd forgotton, I delighted in recalling all the threads as they popped up.
I was disappointed in how the Barrier problem was resolved. It wasn't at all clear that it was so hard to trigger the mechanism from the outside -- a being not up to discovering some things the heroes invented could do it, and Ozzie managed to figure it out in a few hours of intensive thought.
Also, if Ozzie could use Silfen paths to penetrate the Barrier, that suggests it wasn't as secure as previously claimed.
Since the whole story hangs off the mystery of the Barrier, this sloppy detail was a bit of a letdown. It is always hard to write about super-advanced science (you have to fudge something) but this could have been better.
As with the first book, I was annoyed by the flimsy attempt at extrapolating computer science. If everywhere the word "array" appeared you changed it to "computer", you wouldn't have much change from what you can do today. And "subroutine" is an archaic term, not something you'd expect to see a few centuries from now. Lack of computer science knowledge is a sorry norm in SF writing.
But I must say that one I got into it, I didn't get much sleep until I finished it. The episodic writing style may annoy some, but it is a good trick to keep the action moving fast, yet weave a complex plot. On the plus side, many details of the first book that looked like impossible coincidence made more sense when the underlying driving intelligences were revealed.
Do the loose ends others have complained of mean a sequel is in the works? There's enough in this universe to do a lot more. But preferably this time, with a bit more attention to detail.
Book Review: ok but long and weak ending
Summary: 3 Stars
Good reading except the end sequence. It dragged on forever and was kinda anti-climactic. It seemed that Hamilton spent many pages building situations that would justify a less-than-exciting ending. I just wanted it to end after awhile.Book Review: puzzled
Summary: 5 Stars
Splendid Sci Fi. Like some other readers I thought that the moral concerns over genocide were utterly pointless. If you are facing a powerful enemy bent on your complete destruction, one that attacks without reason, and with whom there is no possible negotiation, you have only two options: kill or be killed. If you are still alive afterwards then you can suffer moral pangs and engage in feelings of guilt in whatever degree you see fit. In any case it wouldn't have been genocide since that race was firmly established on the second and still shielded solar system.
My problem is the title. What does it refer to? Who or what is the Judas? How or why is this Judas chained and then unchained?