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Years back I remember sitting on the tube in a carriage with two guys reading ‘The Reality Dysfunction’ (book one of this trilogy). It’s a big, thick bastard of a book, like the kind you normally see written about some nonsense subject like feelings or emotions. Anyway, these two nerdy book worms catch each others eye and nod in acknowledgement. One says “good book eh?” and the other says “very”.
“NOBODY CARES! YOU’RE CLEARLY BOTH VERY SAD, HAVE NO SOCIAL LIVES OR GIRLFRIENDS!” Is what I wanted to shout at them to make my lack of GF and an empty social calendar seem less tragic.
Fast forward to 2009 and the UK’s now last line of defence (Cowboy) lends me a Peter Hamilton novel. It’s thinker than 3 Harry Potter books glued together and I’m not sure I want to read it.
Well I’m glad I did because like those nerds on the tube I’m now reading ‘The Nights Dawn Trilogy’ (well I’ve completed the first two books and I’m onto the 3rd), and by god they were right. It is very good.
The trouble is I can’t say too much about it without giving loads away, except that it’s a huge (really huge) space opera set in the 27th century where humanity has split into two factions. The Edenists: Kind of like some uber atheists who have something called ‘affinity’ which is a shared voice across all of their race, and live in gigantic living space habitats where they grow their own spaceships. And Adamists: Pretty much like the human race now catapulted 600 years into the future, with cyberware, neural nanonics, big guns and dirty great spaceships.
Out of nowhere a threat appears and throws the whole human universe into disarray and chaos, whilst our supposed alien allies all step back and smugly say “your problem. Not ours.” The vast, arching storyline covers all aspects of this threat from the leaders of kingdoms, down to the families caught up in it and fighting for survival. There are pitched gun battles (think Zulu, but with grenade firing chain guns), space battles (Wrath of Khan eat your heart out) and good old fashioned punch ups (between cyborgs).
I thought it’d be very heavy going, but there’s so much happening it keeps you interested. Plus there’s a long list of characters in the back of the books that you can refer to when you inevitably forget who some of them are.
I’ve not finished it yet, but thus far I’m going to give it a 9/10.
/catches nerdy bookworm’s eye and nods
Very good sci fi trilogy, and one of the best I’ve ever read; up there with the foundation trilogy in my eyes, for the real nerds out there 😉
Can’t say much about it without giving much away either, but the world he creates is immense, and I just couldn’t put the books down (actually I could, but only when it hit 4am or something ridiculous).
Once you’ve finished the 3rd one I’ll say more 🙂
Hmm you guys have piqued my interest – might look into this.
I have now read quite a few books on the suggestion of XDCers – my next book is one wolf put me onto!
sounds good,, will see if i can aquire an audio version.. no time to read 🙁
just about to start listening to A Mote in Gods eye.. which looks like another epic.. just got to catch up on 2 weeks worth of podcasts 1st.. just finished listening to Deamon and Freedom (TM)
Finally finished this massive story yesterday. Blimey what a good read?
However, as a short man, I often find that my inherent need for cruelty to be inflicted on ‘wrong uns’ (a legal term for unpleasant people) is rarely sated by what I see, read, hear or am capable of carrying out with my diminutive body, having to rely solely on my depraved imagination. So whilst an awesome read, I’d have liked a few of the villains to have got a ruddy good punch up the bottom. With a cricket bat.
But definitely worth the time I spent reading it, and to be honest I didn’t want it to end.
Still gets a 9/10. It would have got a 10/10 if the 1930’s throwback had been given a bloody good hiding.
weird, i just bought this not half an hour ago! well, the first in the trilogy anyway, it’s feckin’ huge!
@XDC_Wolf wrote:
weird, i just bought this not half an hour ago! well, the first in the trilogy anyway, it’s feckin’ huge!
All of them are huge, but you’ll be surprised how quickly you get through them, simply because they’re so hard to put down.
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