Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $1.49 You Save: $25.46 (94%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.14 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Judas Unchained
Book Review: Big, glorious, hystrionic, flawed-- wildly entertaining.
Summary: 4 Stars
Wow. Judas Unchained (and for that matter, Pandora's Star) are like someone fingerpainted with plot. This is the second half of a long long book which is still barely long enough to contain all the characters, references, winks, nods, fights and battle scenes. Hamilton leads us from virtual worlds, to artificial intelligence, to interstellar elves, to media commentary. And all of this comes wrapped in a package of saving the universe.
I loved it, I freely admit that. I could hardly put it down and stayed up way too late reading. I can, however, imagine that someone would not love it. The flaws are many and the array of characters are often confusing. I found that the overall energy of the thing was so good that I did not mind.
Neither Judas Unchained nor Pandora's Star are going to be everybody's cup of tea. But if you like your space opera big and literate, then this should appeal. If you have not read any Hamilton before now, I think that the Night's Dawn Trilogy is a little more accessible.
Probably goes without saying, but if you have not read Pandora's Star, do not begin with Judas Unchained. This is not a series as much as it is the second half of a very long book.
Book Review: Brilliant book!
Summary: 5 Stars
The two books in this series blew me away! Adds two technologies and changes the world and our future forever! Then throws an intergalactic conflict at our stagnant future civilization.Book Review: Can I draw the straw to say "S-s-sir, c-c-can I have some more"?
Summary: 5 Stars
The problem with Peter F. Hamilton is that he can't write novels fast enough. Nor short enough. Not short enough, you say? For a story that spans 2/3rds of the massive Night's Dawn series? I think so and gathering from reviewers of this and his other books, I think they could stand a few more choc-a-bloc Hamilton books deadly enough to drop from a 2nd storey window onto a fantasy reading pedestrian.
This review praises Hamilton, which goes without saying that it also praises the completed Commonwealth series with more stars than Amazon database programmers would care to add. But more so Hamilton, a Brit author, of whom sci-fi fans probably believe could easily hold his own walking on water with that other walk-on-water dude. With Night's Dawn, a space opera saga stretched over three and a half thousand pages under his belt, one would reasonably assume it to be hard for a pretty good writer to come back and attempt a similar effort again that references almost nil, the technological creations, worlds, evolutions of humanity, that had been developed for a highly successful series (the feat of that voluminous series being immensely popular even more so). But pretty good he isn't. Didn't I say walk-on-water? Hamilton has done it again, and this time with minor help of combined ideas from novels written in between the two space operas, namely Fallen Dragon (combat suits) and Misspent Youth (the key to the success and middleclass wealth of the Commonwealth: relifing).
Beyond the inclusion of per standard SF fare, the Commonwealth story spans detective work, underground geurilla freedom movement battling against an invisible alien enemy's secret infiltration of high society, discovery of alien worlds and intrigue in known alien sentience, a steamy seedy manipulative underworld, political manouvering amongst generations old and powerful Dynasties, all on a sweeping scale. Don't fret dear Hamilton fans; the series is packed with signature amazing, fast paced, violent, massive in size, battles from alien versus Commonwealth starships, to deadly 'wetwired' and 'suit' armed combat individuals with artificially boosted physiologies. The technology is always delved into a degree Hamilton has mastered where it is plausible rather than fantasy if you spend more than a minute thinking about it. Characters in a story this long and under his hand are always well developed, even those who you get to care about yet disappear suddenly and violently by the end of the first book. The main actors are interesting people with genuine personalities. I'm a fan of the cool Paula Myo myself.
I purchased the large, softcover version towards the end of January from an airport and the stewardess on the flight couldn't believe it was the second of a two part series. Well, I haven't yet finished this book (about 85% done). Why? Well, I was left with wanting more from the Confederation world of the Night's Dawn series, a void partly filled with A Second Chance at Eden novella, a collection of short stories in that world. I only hope Hamilton has a similar plan in mind for those left with a taste of wanting more of the Commonwealth. I'm nearly done with this book, and I probably am delaying my completion of it for the similar reason you savour the perfect dessert; and it's simply because of that first problem with Hamilton: while you can get a second helping of that cheesecake with ice-cream (pick your poison), Hamilton... well, he just can't write fast enough.
I do have one gripe. Just one. Someone needs to lend a grammar checking software to the publishing house. So it's nothing against Hamilton at all. So Peter, should you ever read any of our reviews on Amazon; know that you da Man. [note to publisher: that was intended].
Book Review: Complex and entertaining
Summary: 5 Stars
A book that really is a second volume of Pandora's Star. This epic was complex and very intriguing. I enjoyed the characters, scenery, technology and the way they fit into the twenty or so subplots. I was constantly amazed at how little tangents were brought back to a close in the final chapters. The ending however was a bit anticlimatic. I felt like the entire book was extremely fast paced but in the end, the characters said "ok, we're done. Let's go have a beer. The End". In fact, it felt just the oposite of reading a Terry Goodkind novel where as he drags out the first 9/10 of the book only to jam the last 1/10 down your throat without any pacing. I definitely recommend reading, but have a copy of Pandora's Star handy for quick referencing.Book Review: Do you have any prior commitments?
Summary: 5 Stars
If you do don't start because it is pretty hard to put down. Even with 800+ pages I was checking to see if there was a third book.