Pandora's Star
by Peter F. Hamilton
List Price:
Our Price: $4.39
You Save: $4.60 (51%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Peter F. HamiltonEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2005-01-25
ISBN: 0345479211
Number of pages: 992
Publisher: Del Rey
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780345479211
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
Book Reviews of Pandora's Star
Book Review: Wonderful story in need of a better editor and some American proofreading
Summary: 4 Stars
I just finished this book and its second half, Judas Unchained, which is not really a sequel so much as an uninterrupted continuation. I gather he either didn't finish the manuscript in time or the publisher doubted the ability to get both volumes into a single paperback :-) I thoroughly enjoyed this story. As others have noted -- this is not light reading.
Since there are so many powerful positive reviews that I agree with, I will focus on telling you why I didn't give it 5 stars. It's unlikely that any of the below rise to the level of serious flaws for most people, but they've been bugging me :-)
1. Brevity. Hamilton needs to learn the power of brevity. I found myself forced to skip through large portions of pages filled with irrelevant scenery descriptions that didn't really factor into or propel the story forward. Perhaps he also needs a better editor. This and Judas Unchained could have been combined into one volume with better editing of the many, MANY superfluous scenery descriptions. I believe another reviewer noted that this is a good 600-page story trying to find its way out of a 1000-page manuscript (or the like).
2. Character voices. I realize he's a Brit, but Hamilton should decide whether he's writing English voices or American voices (in the appropriate situations). Granted, this story takes place over 400 years in the future, where colloquial speech between the cultures has probably coalesced somewhat. However, it seems clear that Hamilton is going for American-sounding voices for many of his main characters. He doesn't do a great job in this endeavor. I like the Ozzie Isaac and Nigel Sheldon characters immensely, but DUDE, his effort to make them sound like 21st century American college students from Southern California fails when he has them using phrases like "they are so crap", or "I need to get that sorted", "that's not anything like as much as you'll need", or "the solution fitted the problem" (I am using examples, not verbatim, but representative of the main forms I object to). He even has one of the characters refer to a truck as a "lorry" at one point in Judas Unchained (clearly a slip, as it's only used the one time). He can't even decide whether the Vernon kids call Liz "Mum" or "Mom".
Mind you -- I am not bashing British English. I am an avid Anglophile in fact. My problem with the British-isms is that they sound inauthentic when placed in the mouths of supposed Americans. Or, rather, they make the supposed Americans sound inauthentic.
/soapbox
Summary of Pandora's Star
Critics have compared the engrossing space operas of Peter F. Hamilton to the classic sagas of such sf giants as Isaac Asimov and Frank Herbert. But Hamilton's bestselling fiction-powered by a fearless imagination and world-class storytelling skills-has also earned him comparison to Tolstoy and Dickens. Hugely ambitious, wildly entertaining, philosophically stimulating: the novels of Peter F. Hamilton will change the way you think about science fiction. Now, with Pandora's Star, he begins a new multivolume adventure, one that promises to be his most mind-blowing yet.The year is 2380. The Intersolar Commonwealth, a sphere of stars some four hundred light-years in diameter, contains more than six hundred worlds, interconnected by a web of transport "tunnels" known as wormholes. At the farthest edge of the Commonwealth, astronomer Dudley Bose observes the impossible: Over one thousand light-years away, a star . . . vanishes. It does not go supernova. It does not collapse into a black hole. It simply disappears. Since the location is too distant to reach by wormhole, a faster-than-light starship, the Second Chance, is dispatched to learn what has occurred and whether it represents a threat. In command is Wilson Kime, a five-time rejuvenated ex-NASA pilot whose glory days are centuries behind him.
Opposed to the mission are the Guardians of Selfhood, a cult that believes the human race is being manipulated by an alien entity they call the Starflyer. Bradley Johansson, leader of the Guardians, warns of sabotage, fearing the Starflyer means to use the starship's mission for its own ends,.
Pursued by a Commonwealth special agent convinced the Guardians are crazy but dangerous, Johansson flees. But the danger is not averted. Aboard the Second Chance, Kime wonders if his crew has been infiltrated. Soon enough, he will have other worries. A thousand light-years away, something truly incredible is waiting: a deadly discovery whose unleashing will threaten to destroy the Commonwealth . . . and humanity itself.
Could it be that Johansson was right?
From the Hardcover edition.
Hamilton, Peter F. Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Readings; for the Intelligent and Complicated Only!
Elantrisby Brandon Sanderson
Tor Fantasy; Published: 2006-05-30; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.57
Price in other shops:
The Steel Remainsby Richard K. Morgan
Del Rey; Published: 2009-01-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.58
Price in other shops:
Revelation Spaceby Alastair Reynolds
Ace; Published: 2002-05-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.47
Price in other shops:
River of Godsby Ian McDonald
Pyr; Published: 2007-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.92
Price in other shops:
The Blade Itself (The First Law: Book One)by Joe Abercrombie
Pyr; Published: 2007-09-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.69
Price in other shops:
Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen)by Steven Erikson
Tor Books; Published: 2009-05-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.92
Price in other shops:
The Algebraistby Iain M. Banks
Night Shade Books; Published: 2006-06-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops:
Pandora's Starby Peter F. Hamilton
Del Rey; Published: 2005-01-25; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.60
Price in other shops:
The Reality Dysfunction (The Night's Dawn)by Peter F. Hamilton
Orbit; Published: 2008-10-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.96
Price in other shops:
The Darkness That Comes Before (The Prince of Nothing, Book 1)by R. Scott Bakker
Overlook TP; Published: 2005-05-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.19
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Revelation Spaceby Alastair Reynolds
Ace; Published: 2002-05-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.47
Price in other shops:
The Naked God (The Night's Dawn)by Peter F. Hamilton
Orbit; Published: 2009-02-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
The Neutronium Alchemist (The Night's Dawn)by Peter F. Hamilton
Orbit; Published: 2008-12-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.10
Price in other shops:
The Reality Dysfunction (The Night's Dawn)by Peter F. Hamilton
Orbit; Published: 2008-10-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.96
Price in other shops:
Misspent Youthby Peter F. Hamilton
Tor; Published: 2002-11-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.47
Price in other shops:
Fallen Dragonby Peter F. Hamilton
Orbit; Published: 2009-12-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.60
Price in other shops:
The Temporal Void (Void Trilogy)by Peter F. Hamilton
Del Rey; Published: 2009-03-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.99
Price in other shops:
Judas Unchainedby Peter F. Hamilton
Del Rey; Published: 2006-02-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.01
Price in other shops:
The Dreaming Void (The Void Trilogy, Book 1)by Peter F. Hamilton
Del Rey; Published: 2008-03-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.55
Price in other shops:
Judas Unchainedby Peter F. Hamilton
Del Rey; Published: 2007-03-27; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.98
Price in other shops: