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Books We Love is a regular fortnightly feature here at Book Chick City. It’s where we discuss our favourite books; the books we absolutely adore, would recommend over and over again, and will keep forever on our bookshelves. I hope you enjoy and find some new-to-you authors and books to read. You can view the full schedule HERE.
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My guest today is Mark, who is a great fan of science fiction. His love of the science fiction genre shows through his fantastic blog, Walker of Worlds.
Since I came across Mark’s blog I have added many science fiction titles to my wishlist and have found many new-to-me authors! He’s also a great Twitterer, so you can also find him there too chatting about his favourite books.
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When asked what books are my favourite’s one author immediately jumps to mind: Peter F Hamilton. The question is, which books? He’s known for his massive scale space operas and has also written some books focusing on a psychic detective, Greg Mandel. I think the only thing I can do here is start at the beginning!
The Greg Mandel Books
Mindstar Rising (1993)
A Quantum Murder (1994)
The Nano Flower (1995)
This series is set in a near future Britain after global warming and a decade of near-dictatorship rule has changed the country in a massive way. Flooding has wiped out many costal regions and the economy is slowly recovering after the fall of the previous government. The series follows Greg Mandel, a former Mindstar veteran who is, effectively, a human lie detector due to his gland implant giving him Psychic abilities. The three books are stand alone and can be read as such, but the overall progression makes them worthy to read as a series.
The Confederation Universe
The Reality Dysfunction (1996) (Night’s Dawn Trilogy Book 1)
The Neutronium Alchemist (1997) (Night’s Dawn Trilogy Book 2)
A Second Chance at Eden (1998) (Short Stories)
The Naked God (1999) (Night’s Dawn Trilogy Book 3)
The Confederation Handbook (2000)
The Night’s Dawn Trilogy, covering over 3,000 pages and around 1.2 million words, is epic – there is no other word to describe it. Set 600 years in the future humanity has spread across the stars and is still founding new colony worlds. It’s on one of these that an ancient being accidentally causes a dimensional opening allowing dead souls to return and inhabit the bodies of the living. What follows is a true struggle to contain the threat while doing everything they can to solve the problem.
With loads of character view points the story follows everyone, from your everyday citizens to those in power, and gives a great look at how humanity would realistically handle the situation when faced with such a threat. This series really put Hamilton on the map in the SF genre and is considered by many to be one of the best examples of space opera around with excellent world building and technology, not to mention story and characters. There have been grumblings about the ending, but I think it fits in with the story and works well. The only way for you to find out is to read it!
Not only that, but as a testament to the series’ popularity the publisher also released a collection of short stories set in the same universe, A Second Chance at Eden, as well as the Confederation Handbook, an excellent accompaniment with a hell of a lot of background detail.
The Commonwealth Universe
Misspent Youth (2002)
Pandora’s Star (2004) (Commonwealth Saga Book 1)
Judas Unchained (2005) (Commonwealth Saga Book 2)
The Dreaming Void (2007) (The Void Trilogy Book 1)
The Temporal Void (2008) (The Void Trilogy Book 2)
The Evolutionary Void (forthcoming, 2010) (The Void Trilogy Book 3)
Now we’re getting into the realm of my absolute favourite books ever!
Misspent Youth is a completely different ball game to Peter’s other works and is not loved by many people – too much sex, not many likable characters, and set entirely on Earth around 30 years from now. It focuses on the first man to go through Rejuvenation, Jeff Baker, and the effect it has on him and his family. I still enjoyed it and think it’s worth reading, but as I said, not to everyone’s tastes.
The Commonwealth Saga, consisting of Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained, is just great stuff. Pandora’s Star is my favourite of all Peter’s books and has such an excellent backdrop that it’s no wonder he continued using the setting through to the Void Trilogy. While Judas Unchained is slightly overlong, it ends well and has a more optimistic outlook than the Night’s Dawn Trilogy. Essentially, the Commonwealth Saga is a story about alien invasion and manipulation from within and has space opera, investigative and military SF aspects throughout. Along with some of the best bad guy aliens I’ve ever read, it’s got truly great characters that carry the story with little effort.
The Void Trilogy (The Dreaming Void, The Temporal Void, The Evolutionary Void) is the latest set of books from Peter, with the final volume due out in September. These are also set in the Commonwealth universe, but 1200 years on from the Commonwealth Saga. The series also has a new aspect and introduces a fantasy type storyline set within the Void, while it’s typical widescreen space opera in the Commonwealth sections. His Void sections, focusing on Edeard and his discovery of the power the Void offers, are very epic-fantasy like while still having a solid sci-fi backdrop and are right up there with some of the best things I’ve read, ever. The conclusion is my most highly anticipated book of the year and it can’t arrive soon enough!
Peter F Hamilton has also written one other stand alone novel, plus a novella and a YA book.
His stand alone novel, Fallen Dragon, is another great read and follows Lawrence Newton through his life, from beginnings on a colony world through to his present day occupation as a soldier taking part in ‘asset realisation’ missions – in other words, piracy – for the company that effectively owns the worlds he visits in an attempt to gain some money back from them. It has a much more pessimistic approach to the future, with ftl costing huge amounts, but is probably the one I’d recommend anyone to start with as it gives a very good idea of the sort of novels Peter writes.
His novella, Watching Trees Grow, is a hundred page story that spans hundreds of years. It’s an alternate history tale that uses the premise that the Roman empire never fell and is very much an investigative story that doesn’t give much away. We’re taken along for the ride, and a very enjoyable one it is too!
The YA story Peter wrote is called Lightstorm and is book 5 in the Web 2027 series. I’ve not read this one so can’t comment on it, but the series includes other adult sci-fi writers taking on a YA story.
As for future stuff, Manhattan In Reverse is the provisional title for his short story collection containing two new short stories to accompany his other published ones, and is due out next year. His next novel, Great North Road (set in 2140 and which could be described as a monster in the dark story) will be out in 2012.
So there we go, some of my favourite books by my favourite author, Peter F Hamilton. I’d highly recommend checking him out if you enjoy widescreen, epic space opera – he’s certainly not disappointed me yet!
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Thanks Mark!
You can also find Mark hanging out at his blog or on Goodreads and Twitter – so don’t be shy, pop by and say hi!
3 Comments
Great post, Science fiction is something i very rarely read but on the odd occassion it is something i find i enjoy. I think it is just harder to jump into a genre when you don't know where to start.
Thanks for the recommendations
Jules
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Thanks for your post Mark – you haven't definitely given me a few new books to try out!
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Hi Mark, I salute your fine taste as PFH is up there as one of my favourite authors. I like that you picked up on his 'massive canvas' approach which allows him to tell stories on a huge scale. I'd recommend PFH to any sci fi engenue as although they are all 'proper sci fi' they are also eminently readable. They allow you to identify with the characters rather than just using them as a backdrop to chat about some heavy physics. A word of warning if you start with either Nights Dawn or Commonwealth, PFH knows he has 1000+ pages to play with and so it's not unusual for him to spend the first 100 or so introducing you to characters and setting up the stage. Don't be discouraged when the story gets rolling it's a juggernaut.
If I had to criticise PFH the one thing I would mention is that I was so enthralled by the last 300 pages of 'Naked God' that I did not realise my foot had got to sleep and subsequently fell over, breaking it. But even that got me 3 weeks off work!
PFH I salute you and Mark as well for sharing your view of these excellent books with people.
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