Finally on Audible!! My favorite Hamilton series!

This book and it's sequels (Neutronion Alchemist, and The Naked God) are simply fantastic. In my opinion, this series is Hamilton's best work. Huge galactic scope, Elizabethan themes, 1940's gangsters, Interstellar travel, a very disturbing take on the Apocalypse, Sentient Cities, bio-engineering ethics (and advantages), telepathy, dystopias and utopias, interesting aliens, the Afterlife, cyborgs, cults, underworld syndicates, horror, etc, etc....

The page to page writing is arguably inferior to Hamilton's later stuff, but the ideas here are so dang grand! This is a Big Story with lots of point of view characters.

Like most of Hamilton's books, the start is a bit slow - with many characters and societies introduced, but once it gets going the momentum is impressive. Stick with it - it's worth it.

****As of writing this review you still need to download in parts, whole book download will not work (hopefully this is fixed soon). ***

Quick tip, I love John Lee as a reader, but I enjoy his reading and performance at 1.25 playback speed even more.

93 people found this helpful

Definitely not the Commonwealth

If you, like me, are expecting something akin to the Commonwealth books you might be disappointed. This is more like a paranormal thriller that happens to take place in a futuristic SciFi world, and if that sounds like a bit much, it is. Still if you can get past the satanist murder/sex cults and don't mind a morbid portrait of the afterlife it's an engaging story that will keep you wondering what's going to happen next all the way to the end until you're wondering "What hell did I just listen to, and should I buy the sequel?"

29 people found this helpful

Great story but confusing editing.

Great story and reading performance, but there were no breaks between sub chapters. With so many characters and locations the scene changes were confusing without a audio break to signal them.

62 people found this helpful

All about randy rutting, body snatching, rutting

First off, I don't know of any other author who incorporates science as thoroughly in their novels as well as providing significant details about the various characters and their roles in the story. It is one of the aspects I enjoy most when picking up a Peter Hamilton novel. This, along with John Lee's excellent narration skills, usually makes for a highly entertaining experience.

Peter continues with his in-depth approach in this novel but in the case, it worked to detract from the flow and continuity of the story. There are way too many characters being introduced that it's not too long before one loses track of what role each character is playing. Also, too often he spends too little time outlining a new story arc when the next thing one realizes is that it has jumped to another, unrelated story arc.

This is also the first SciFi novel I've read where so much time is spent; albeit tastefully and artfully, on couples "getting it on". It came off almost as being included as a means of keeping readers engaged but, for me, it was over done.

44 people found this helpful

a bit confusing

this was by no means a bad book. it was pretty cool, and even epic in some parts. but there was so many different story lines and characters and the book bounced around between all of them. it was a little hard to follow at times while at other times I found myself deeply engrossed. overall I recommend this to any fan of truly hard scifi. bur not for those with short attention spans.

27 people found this helpful

Can I edit in an applause here

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Please listen to Peter Hamilton. He will bring you to fantastical places and you will envy him so much, that if you were ever to write a book you would name one of your characters after his character in homage like I did. He is brilliant and if you are a SciFi fan, you CAN NOT live out your mortality without hearing his tales.

4 people found this helpful

F Yeah

I've been waiting for the Night's Dawn Trilogy to come out in audio for the longest time now, ever since my friends got me to read Pandora's Star. The first book in the series "The Reality Dysfunction", is by far the best book that I've read from this author because there is only one Peter F. Hamilton for science fiction. Now I understand why my friends has been ra ra over this series. The downside of all of this is we now have to wait for the last two books to be published in audio.

By no means "The Reality Dysfunction" is an easy read. The story is very dense and there are so many characters to remember that I had a rough time at keeping track at where I left off. I would not wanted to listen to this book over an extended period of time. Most of the times, I like to dive into 40+ hours head first before it becomes a chore.

All I have to say about the first book in the series is, "F Yeah!" Finally it came out on audio. I hope "The Neutronium Alchemist" and "The Naked God" will be coming out soon.

PFH is the man for sci-fi. There is no one that comes close to his style of writing. Somehow all of his books are connected to Commonwealth.

13 people found this helpful

THE Best of PFH, and All in Sci-Fi Genre

I can't get enough of well-written, sophisticated, and intelligent space oriented sci-fi novels — the ones you know were written by an author with a legit knowledge of science, e.g. Clarke, Asimov, Bradbury, Reynolds, etc. I've read and listened to all of PFH's outstanding novels, and The Reality Disfunction trilogy is without a doubt Hamilton's magnum opus.
John Lee's superb narration is simply icing on an already delicious cake. Highly recommended indeed.

3 people found this helpful

An incredible achievement, yet disappointing

I bought this book because I saw a friend reading it, and I liked the idea of sinking my teeth into a massive new sci fi story. I haven't ever read anything of this scope in the genre, though I've read comparably long stories of other genres. This book is an impressive achievement. I have no idea how a single human being could put together such a massive story (this is the first in a trilogy). I had some trouble keeping track of all the characters' names, but no big deal.

The idea of the story was intriguing to me, and a big part of me wishes I could've stuck around to finish it, but sadly the author seems to have thought it necessary to report every detail of every moment of every character's experience, including, deal-breakingly, every sexual liaison.

Normally I have no problem flying through these pointless sections, but there's a point in the book where (minor spoiler, both literally and figuratively) the mother of a teenage virgin girl sleeps with one of the main characters as a way of appeasing him and preventing him from sleeping with her daughter (I know, I know... I had to re-read the above sentence too). Our hero sleeps with the mother and then still ends up sleeping with--excuse me, not sleeping--having sex with the daughter the very next day.... get it? "Minor spoiler."

I really, really wanted to finish this book. I just don't think I can stomach several hundred more pages of Joshua Calvert seducing every female he encounters, specifically the ones who are underage and naive. If a writer is clearly trying to portray a character as likeable, and also has him seducing innocent children... I'm sorry. It's just not for me. Guess I'll keep looking for that massive space odyssey!

3 people found this helpful

finally on audiobook

This series was my first exposure to Peter F. Hamilton and I'm excited to finally have it in my audible library! it is a great read.

10 people found this helpful