The Void Trilogy – Peter F. Hamiton

A novel in three volumes consisting of:

  • The Dreaming Void
  • The Temporal Void
  • The Evolutionary Void

Like “Night’s Dawn” and the Commonwealth Saga before it, the “Void Trilogy” is not so much a series as one single novel, sprawling over three 1500 page volumes. That’s why it took two months to read. Set over one thousand years after the end of Commonwealth, it reintroduces many of the old familiar characters. While it can be read independently, I would highly recommend that you read Commonwealth first. The background is invaluable.

In the Commonwealth of the 3500s, humanity has split into many groups. Biggest is the split between Advancers, what one might think of as “old fashioned” humans, and Highers, who see their physical existence as a precursor to upload into the machine intelligence known as ANA. Among the Highers, there are several rival factions, from the Accelerators, who wish to speed up human evolution towards the enigmatic goal of transcendence, to the conservative Conservatives. Into this mix is thrust the religion of the Living Dream, born out of the dreams that its founder Inigo had of events inside the Void, a vast, enigmatic and (mostly) impenetrable region in the center of the galaxy. Inigo has dreamed of the life of a man called Edeard in a mysterious city on a planet in the Void. In fact, Inigo’s dreams of Edeard’s life mark a major subplot in the novel, as we follow Edeard from country boy to refugee to city constable in the city of Makkathran. The goal of Living Dream is to start a pilgrimage into the Void and there reach “fulfillment”. The rest of humanity and most alien races are more or less united against it, believing that such a pilgrimage will lead to an expansion of the Void which will engulf the rest of the galaxy, terminating all life.

As usual with Hamilton, the plot is complex, the characters are many, and the descriptions just lovely. The story is certainly gripping. However I did feel that this time, Mr. Hamilton didn’t quite grip me enough. Perhaps I now have too high expectations from him, but Void felt a bit ponderous, especially in the beginning. By contrast, the interludes with Edeard were quite the story in themselves, almost able to stand on their own as a novel. Weird as it may seem, I felt as if the novel wasn’t quite long enough. Some bits were a bit too sketchy, such as the whole Ocisen attack subplot. Yes, it was just a device used by a faction, but even so the complexities were worth exploring further. There was also a bit of a lack of action for much of the novel. People went hither and thither in their starships but there was often precious little actual plot or character development. So I wanted the novel to be longer, but in parts it was too slow? Exactly! The ending, however, was quite gratifying. Hamilton has by his own admission, often had difficulties actually tying things up. But he did it nicely here.

So what’s the verdict? If you have read Commonwealth and enjoyed it, you can’t go wrong by continuing with Void. It is not as good as Night’s Dawn or Commonwealth, but Hamilton at his worst is better than most authors at their best. It is great space opera, and few can write it like he does.

Peter F. Hamilton – The Void Trilogy

Like “Night’s Dawn” and the “Commonwealth Saga” before it, the “Void Trilogy” is not so much a series as

one single novel, sprawling over three 1500 page volumes. Set over one thousand years after the end of

Commonwealth, it reintroduces many of the old familiar characters. While it can be read independently, I

would highly recommend that you read Commonwealth first. The background is invaluable.

In the Commonwealth of the 3500s, humanity has split into many groups. Biggest is the split between

Advancers, what one might think of as “old fashioned” humans, and Highers, who see their physical

existence as a precursor to upload into the machine intelligence known as ANA. Among the Highers, there

are several rival factions, from the Accelerators, who wish to speed up human evolution towards the

enigmatic goal of trancendence, to the conservative Conservatives. Into this mix is thrust the religion of

the Living Dream, born out of the dreams that its founder Inigo had of events inside the Void, a vast

enigmatic and impenetrable region in the center of the galaxy. Inigo has dreamt of the life of a man

called Edeard in a mysterious city on a planet in the Void. In fact, Inigo’s dreams of Edeard’s life mark

a major subplot in the novel, as we follow Edeard from country boy to refugee to city constable in the

city of Makkathran. The goal of Living Dream is to start a pilgrimage into the Void. The rest of humanity,

and most alien races, are more or less united against it, believing that such a pilgrimage will lead to an

expansion of the Void which will engulf the rest of the galaxy, terminating all life.

As usual with Hamilton, the plot is complex, the characters are many, and the descriptions just lovely.

The story is certainly gripping. However I did feel that this time, Mr. Hamilton didn’t quite grip me

enough. Perhaps I now have too high expectations from him, but Void felt a bit ponderous, especially in

the beginning. By contrast, the interludes with Edeard were quite the story in themselves, almost able to

stand on their own as a novel. Weird as it may seem, I felt as if the novel wasn’t quite long enough. Some

bits were a bit too sketchy, such as the whole Ocisen attack subplot. Yes, it was just a device used by a

faction, but even so the complexities were worth exploring further. There was also a bit of a lack of

action for much of the novel. People went hither and thither in their starships but there was often

previous little actual plot or character development. So I wanted the novel to be longer, but in parts it

was too slow? Exactly! The ending, however, was quite gratifying. Hamilton has by his own admission, often

had difficulties actually tying things up. But he did it nicely here.

So what’s the verdict? Well, if you have read Commonwealth and enjoyed it, you can’t go wrong by

continuing with Void. It is not as good as Night’s Dawn or Commonwealth, but Hamilton at his worst is

better than most authors at their best. It is certainly great space opera, and few can write it like he

does. 20101123

Into the Light – Jane Wallace

The story is about Tem Sevin, who as a child saw his entire family killed by an evil group of humans known as the Gharst. Twenty years later, Sevin is a major in the special forces, and the Gharst are slowly winning a war of conquest against the Coalition. Eventually the Coalition surrenders and Sevin and various hangers-on are accused of war crimes. During the last mission, they conveniently find a Gharst prototype ship advanced well beyond the current state of the art and off they go to try and fix things.

I’ll confess that I didn’t finish the book, managing only about one third. The story is set firmly in the space opera camp, with an almost Star Wars feel to it. Physics are conveniently in support of the story and economics are ignored. Now, I’m ok with that, but since there is little science in the science fiction, the characters, plot and setting need to compensate. A prime example is Lois McMaster Bujold, where technology is not a crucial part of the story but the setting and characters are so stellar it doesn’t matter at all. Ms. Wallace, on the other hand, goes into the technology to the point that you think it would matter, then proceeds to whip out a convenient deus ex machina that negates the rules she set. There is also little sense of the military being, well, a military. The decision making process, command structure and tactics are completely out of whack. I understand that some militaries are incompetent, but at this level of operations that just wouldn’t be possible. I’m even ok with the military being unrealistic, the aforementioned Star Wars is a prime example. But in that case it shouldn’t be a primary driver for the story. And then there are the logic holes. At one point Sevin needs an emergency bandage for a buddy. Despite being surrounded by fresh corpses in uniform, he cuts up his own trouser leg. Also, since the corpses belong to soldiers presumably they would all have at least basic first aid packages on them.

Having said all that, I did enjoy the rich Universe that Ms. Wallace has created. I’m also very much in favor of Science Fiction from women, and authors who are not based in the US or the UK. If the characters had been just a bit more fleshed out, I probably would have finished the book. But I had a hard time identifying with their motivations.