Pandora's Star
by Peter F. Hamilton
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Book Summary Information
Author: Peter F. HamiltonEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-01-25
ISBN: 0345479211
Number of pages: 992
Publisher: Del Rey
Book Reviews of Pandora's Star
Book Review: Another excellent work from the master of the sprawling space opera epic
Summary: 5 Stars
_Pandora's Star_ by Peter F. Hamilton, the first part of his Commonwealth duology, is another excellent work from the master of the sprawling space opera epic. Hamilton is really good at what he does; he gives the reader an incredibly engrossing tale told on epic scale with dozens of well-drawn, interesting characters having thrilling adventures, introducing the reader to truly alien worlds and creatures, titanic struggles between good and evil, and lots of high tech gadgets, weapons, and starships.
Where to start...Hamilton introduced the reader in the cover blurbs and in the first chapter two of the most important concepts in Commonwealth, so I will go ahead and reveal these non-spoilerish bits. First of all, the setting is the year 2380 and humanity has spread out among the stars, living in what is termed the Intersolar Commonwealth, a region of stars some four hundred light-years in diameter and containing six hundred inhabited worlds. These various worlds are connected by a series of wormholes that work as transport tunnels between three different regions of space (Phase One, which contains Earth and the first settled worlds, Phase Two, the next region settled, and Phase Three, the most recently settled frontier worlds, farther out from Earth than Phase Two worlds). Starships do not fly between these worlds via the wormholes but rather trains are used, all manner of trains, from cheap to run and maintain steam engine trains on remote frontier worlds to monstrous fusion-powered incredibly advanced machines. All of these trains are owned and operated by Compression Space Transport or CST, the biggest company to ever exist. CST connects all of these worlds, making the Commonwealth possible, allowing people and goods to travel hundreds of light years in minutes and also with their exploration division find new worlds to colonize.
The second most important concept in the Commonwealth universe is that people are nearly immortal; sure, they grow old and can die from disease, accident, murder, war, or if allowed to, old age, but thanks to advances in technology can get a second chance, or a third chance, or fifty-third chance for that matter. Nearly everyone (there are a few cultural exceptions) gets fitted with memory cells in their head that store all of their memories. People periodically update these memories to safe storage outside of their body (a good thing to do if one has a dangerous profession) because these memories can be downloaded into a new body. When a person reaches the end of what they consider their youth or their natural lifespan (depending on personal preference and how much money they have) they can regenerate a new body; a new body is cloned, their memories downloaded, and about six months or so later they are alive and well again but physically in their late teens. If someone suffers "bodyloss" - they are murdered, killed, or otherwise vanish and are presumed dead - once the authorities agree that person is indeed dead someone can be "relifed." Needless to say this changes the culture quite a bit and while not creating a truly alien civilization by any means I did enjoy Hamilton's exploration of this concept.
The Commonwealth is a very peaceful, stable civilization, with a thriving economy, mostly happy people that focus on families, friends, their jobs, entertainment, and celebrity gossip. The Commonwealth is continuing to expand, showing no signs of slowing down. There is only one group that is not happy, a vigilante organization known as the Guardians of Selfhood. Led by one Bradley Johansson, they are based on a fascinating remote Phase Three world known as Far Away, a world that contains one of the few examples of alien technology ever found, a mysterious giant ship that landed long ago and was apparently abandoned. The Guardians believe it was piloted by a malevolent entity known as the Starflyer, an alien whose goal is to secretly manipulate the Commonwealth at its highest levels and eventually to destroy it. Very few believe the Guardians, regarding them as distant eccentrics at best, dangerous terrorists at worst.
They are pursued across space and time by Chief Investigator Paula Myo, one of the most celebrated detectives in Commonwealth history; indeed her investigation of the Guardians and their chief arms merchant and agent Adam Elvin remains her only unsolved case in over a century on the job.
At the same time, astronomer Dudley Bose discovers something extraordinary; over one thousand light-years away a star vanishes. It does not become a black hole or go supernova, it simply disappears in seconds. What happened? Is this an example of a vastly powerful alien race? Why would they encapsulate as it turns out two stars? Was it protection from something or to keep something imprisoned, something very dangerous? Though not a starship-using civilization, the Commonwealth decides to construct and launch a starship called the _Second Chance_, led by Captain Wilson Kime, an ex-NASA pilot, to go investigate.
Other plotlines include the saga of one of the members of the Guardians on Far Away by the name of Kazimir McFoster; Nigel Sheldon, one of the original discoverers of the wormhole technology and the day-to-day head of CST, one of the most powerful men in the Commonwealth; Ozzie Fernandez Isaac, the other discoverer of wormhole technology, who goes on the biggest walkabout of all time trying to find the enigmatic aliens known as the Silfen to see what they know about the Dyson Pair (as the stars come to be known); Mark Vernon and his family, a fairly typical Commonwealth family, always caught in the middle it seems; Justine Burnelli, a member of one of the powerful dynasties that dominate Commonwealth politics; and Melanie Rescorai (the latter two went from being fairly lightweight people to true heroines during the course of the saga). Though I have to admit it was not clear at all initially how the other plot lines tied together, I will assure any future reader that they indeed do and do so in surprising and thrilling ways.
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.
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