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The Dreaming Void

Author: Peter F. Hamilton
Publisher: Pan Books
Category: Book

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

6 reviews
Sales Rank: 827

Media: Paperback
Pages: 795
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.3 x 2.1

ISBN: 033044302X
EAN: 9780330443029
ASIN: 033044302X

Publication Date: May 2, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new book dispatched from stock in the UK

Also Available In:

•	Hardcover - The Dreaming Void (The Void Trilogy)
•	Mass Market Paperback - The Dreaming Void
•	Audio CD - The Dreaming Void (The Void Trilogy)
•	Audio CD - The Dreaming Void (The Void Trilogy)
•	Audio CD - The Dreaming Void (The Void Trilogy)

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Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding July 12, 2008
This was my favourite book of 2007. There are multiple storylines, set in different worlds, each very satisfying in itself. As each story develops you begin to understand how they are linked. Structurally it is reminiscent of Tad Williams' Otherworld (another novel that didn't resolve itself in the first installment.) It is ingenius, full of wonderful ideas about future technologies and ethical problems they pose. A must read!

4 out of 5 stars

Much better than I was expecting July 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Much to my wife's frustration, I have always enjoyed a thick dollop of space opera. And really, really loved the Night's Dawn trilogy that Hamilton wrote a few years back. Great story coupled with fun ideas. But it did go on a bit.

Then he got even more prolix with the Judas Unchained and Pandora's Star (forgive me if I got the titles wrong). And this new one, this Dreaming Void, is also too long. I think part of his problem is that he always puts in one storyline too many. Probably needs a more robust editor. Anyway, the new book.

The plots are too complex to explain simply, but don't pay too much attention to the blurb on the back. The very very brief version is: mysterious Void sat in the middle of the galaxy, this chap Inigo (regrettebly at no point does he say, "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. Prepare to die") has dreams of life inside the Void - in which we follow the travails of Edeard, a young man making his way in a mediaevalesque society. Inigo then vanishes, and followers of his religion decide to mount a pilgramage to the void. Which lots of other people think will be a really bad idea because it could be the end of life, the universe and everything.

The main problem with it is that it's too long, again. If he carries on at this length, the final trilogy will be two and a half thousand pages. There's too much going on, some rather dodgy sex scenes, and the whole thing just isn't as enjoyable or as readable now as Alistair Reynolds.

That said, it rattles along, is fun and if you liked Night's Dawn and like people charging round the universe trying to prevent everything going horribly wrong, then this might be for you.

One final plea: can he please, please stop using the word "lambent". Yes, it's a clever word, but you are the only author I have ever read who uses it, and it would work far better if you dropped it in once every other book rather than three times in the first hundred pages. I thank you.

3 out of 5 stars

Back on Form July 7, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

Having been a little disappointed with Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained I really was wondering if Peter had hit a high note and was on a steady decline. Not that his writing wasn't good but the tale just really didn't seem to contain the same quality as what had previous appeared before. This novel brings him back up to form for me and as such was a welcome relief on a bank holiday when I was stuck in. As we have come to expect Peters Universe continues to expand and brings the reader into an epic struggle with the wonderful blending of numerous plotlines into this continuing epic. Perhaps not the best for a new reader to begin with but as a seasoned pro you really won't be able to miss this.

1 out of 5 stars

Take the money and run June 24, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful

I gave Peter Hamilton books a rest for a while because I felt he'd started to churn them out without much thought or craft. After buying this book I feel robbed, and won't be coming back to them, which is a real shame because he *was* a fantastic author.

There is a good story in here - about Edeard - but it is lost in 100's of pages of boilerplate rubbish. And his is the only story that comes to anywhere near a conclusion. In my opinion each book in a trilogy should stand alone on its own merit. If you share that opinion don't buy this book, because it just stops. Plotlines are just left hanging like a cheap comic (or Saturday morning picture show apparently :)

If you are new to this author & want to read something decent by Peter Hamilton, buy his earlier books - they're fantastic. This stuff is just for fans who want to read the same thing over and over.

Finally, to echo a previous reviewer - 'biononics' is the most annoying term ever.

Finally - No, I don't know why my name's repeated, but I am suitably embarrased.

3 out of 5 stars

More like 3.5 stars- Hamilton has done better June 12, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

As pointed out elsewhere, the Dreaming Void saga continues the story began in the Judas... novels. Like the previous books, they come across as an inferior version of the original Nightsdawn trilogy.

The themes are very similar, examining the reactions of a group of people to a potentially colossal catastrophe, with better exploration of the possible future directions that humanity may take. In the Void saga, this includes genetic manipulation, downloading conciousness in to a virtual reality and migration into a pocket universe where psionic powers are commonplace.

Some of these ideas are very well executed, but others just grate. Some authors excel at creating neologisms - Alastair Reynolds medichines and warchive spring to mind - but here "biononics" just irritated me. Repeatedly.

Another downside is the sex, which seems pointlessly over the top and superfluous, unless the point was for Hamilton to indulge a few secret fantasies. The female character concerned seems cartoonish, in contrast to the indomitable Paula Myo, who makes a welcome return.

The good bits are of course action orientated, with some excellent set pieces in both the high and low tech worlds described. There come just often enough to keep the action moving and the reader interested. I especially liked the dream sequences, which ironically describe a better realised world than the main sections.

I still have hopes that the sequel will dispense with the OTT sex and accelerate the plot progression, and therefore as a whole the Void sequence may eventually rate 4 stars.

Unless, of course. a naked singularity deus ex machina magically puts everything right in the last few pages, in which case 2 stars max...