The Night's Dawn Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton

[Werthead]

One of the reasons why science fiction seems to be dying compared to fantasy, which has never been in ruder health, seems to be the fact that a lot of SF has problems delivering in the good-old fashioned storytelling stakes, instead getting bogged down in technical discussions about AI and advanced string theory which the average reader doesn't really care about.

 

Over the past fifteen years Peter F. Hamilton has risen to become the UK's biggest-selling SF writer and is now making waves in the USA as well. He does this by combining excellent storytelling skills (of the sort more commonly employed in good epic fantasy) with a good grasp on modern scientific concepts and jargon, being able to explain it to the audience, and then introducing intriguing characters and exciting space battles or chase sequences into the mix. It's a successful formula, but arguably never bettered than in his seminal work, The Night's Dawn Trilogy.

 

This trilogy comprises three gargantuam books, each over 1,200 pages long in paperback: The Reality Dysfunction (1996), The Neutronium Alchemist (1997) and The Naked God (1999). In the USA the series is so huge it is actually published in six volumes (each book is divided into a Part 1 and Part 2).

 

The story begins in the early 27th Century. Mankind has spread to the stars and colonised some 862 planets, which have been united under the banner of the Confederation, a loose trading and mutual defence alliance. Interstellar travel is undertaken via the creation and use of artificial wormholes. The human race has split into two factions: Adamists, or 'classic' humans, who are mostly like us but some have built-in neural nanonics (brain implants) for superior strength, stamina and coordination; and the Edenists. The Edenists use bitek (bio-technology), are naturally telepathic and are exceptionally well-balanced individuals with an incredible quality of life. The Edenists live on more than eight thousand vast, sentient space habitats circling gas giant planets and breed living, sentient spacecraft known as voidhawks for transport and defence. The first novel follows three storylines: the fortunes of Joshua Calvert, a young starship owner who becomes a wheeler-dealer and trader; the life of Syrinx, an Edenist who develops a dislike of Adamists after the death of her brother in a skirmish with Adamist pirates; and the fate of several hundred colonists who settle in a distant jungle region on the remote frontier world of Lalonde. However, a chance encounter between a group of colonists and an utterly alien entity unleashes a terrifying force into the Confederation, threatening to destroy the human race itself. The remainder of the Trilogy follows a large cast of characters as they struggle to deal with, contain and eventually neutralise the 'reality dysfunction' that threatens all of them.

 

Hamilton's universe is meticulously built, with a huge timeline of events and detailed notes on the different governments and corporations that make up his universe (these notes were published in a seperate book called The Confederation Handbook in 2000), giving the Trilogy a Tolkien-like sense of solidarity and background. He paints his characters very well, showing that for all their advanced technology they are still recognisable human beings, with all the same hopes and fears as us (something some other SF authors could do well to remember). Hamilton also makes a rather depressing but probably accurate political point, that humanity will never go into space based on idealism, but only if the corporations and governments of the world become convinced that they can make a profit out of it.

 

The Trilogy features a great deal of 'genre-bending', with an eruption of what appears to be horror into the space opera you thought you were reading. This works surprisingly well, giving the Trilogy the feel of being a collaboration between Isaac Asimov and Stephen King. However, the supernatural element is downplayed after the first novel and we are eventually given a somewhat convincing scientific rationale for what has happened.

 

The Trilogy has a couple of weaknesses, namely a few characters from earlier in the series fall by the wayside with little explanation of their fates, and of course its immense length (3,600 pages) may be offputting to some, although this no doubt seems like small fry on a Robert Jordan forum

 

In summary, I would say that this work is the best space opera series I've read since Dune (and in many ways outclasses that work, although Hamilton's prose is less poetic) and well recommended. Hamilton has also written a short story collection set in the same universe, A Second Chance at Eden (1998), but his more recent novels (themselves very good) are set in a different universe.

[Stevenator]

I can tell you really like reviewing, mahn :!:

 

I second your motion - this trilogy has the potential to entertain many WoT readers.

[danis]

I've read the first in that trilogy, and I've got the next two ready. Good stuff.

[MetalMonkeyMood]

I did really like that trilogy, but I just thought that he went off on technical tangents far too often. I like his next series (Commonwealth Saga) much more.

[Morten_Bork]

I agree, Pandoras Star and Judas Unchained are better then nights dawn trilogy.

 

The ending in NDT seemed, at least to me, somewhat rushed.

[Werthead]

Really? Intriguing. I found Judas Unchained, although still very entertaining, somewhat unfocused and unevenly paced (it didn't pick up the pace from the end of Pandora's Star, it seemed to just stop and have to get going very slowly again), and the ending felt more rushed than NDT. I think Judas Unchained also committed the sin of leaving too many cliffhangers for the sequel series.

 

For those interested, Peter F. Hamilton has a blog in which he describes progress on the sequel series, The Void Trilogy, the first book of which, The Dreaming Void, should be out next summer.

[Werthead]

Okay, reposting this since no-one told me the forum was moving (grr  ;) )

 

There's an interview with Peter F. Hamilton here carried out by myself and Pat from Pat's Fantasy Hotlist to publicise Hamilton's new novel, The Dreaming Void, which is now available in the UK. The US edition follows in February.