Nope still workin on it! I’ll definitely be back in this thread when I do. That big black monolith is certainly tempting (spoiler box).
Well, Jayrot? 
If you stopped reading it… tell me, did you stop sometime during or after Chapter 13? 
Oh God. I know this thread is gonna keep popping up and reminding me of how slow a reader I am. I honestly can’t wait to discuss this book.
Unfortunately I’m only on page 400. You may remember there are about 1000…
Still likin’ it so far.
Ka-bump!
Anyway, did you finish the book?
How odd that this thread is bumped just after the luinchtime during which I bought this book and its sequel!
Well dammit, I’m a slow reader. I’m actually not that slow I just don’t have enough reading-available time in my life. However, I did get my hands on the audiobook so I’ve been slowly getting through it on my commute to work in the mornings.
For the holidays I’ll have lots of down time to dive back into book (and even a couple airplane trips). So let’s plan on meeting back here on say Jan 10th to discuss Judas Unchained and the whole story. This time I’m seriously going to finish it and giving myself a set date will make sure that happens.
How’s that sound, JohnT?
Those blasted spoiler boxes above are almost unbearably tempting.
Whew! I finished! Honestly, I thoroughly enjoyed it all, as this was my first experience with Peter F. Hamilton, or indeed a Sci-Fi book/story of this size and scope. That said, I went back in and read all the spoilers and discussion posted here, and I really can’t say I disagree with your criticisms, John T.
There’s really no question that the tone, scope, and character of the story really changes with the 300 page-long chase scene ending. It’s almost typical how all these threads that have been cast about in all different directions throughout the story need to be somehow tied up in the end, some well than others poorly. Has a little bit of the feel of weekly TV show writers who’ve written themselves into a corner somewhat (*a la]/i] The X-Files). This is particularly true of the countless pages of Ozzie’s journey through the gas halo, who’s climax consists of him having a dream talking to a German-accented surfer-talking Silfen (Clouddancer). Let’s just say that I was expecting more. But on the other hand, I did get the feeling that perhaps Ozzie himself was expecting a little bit more so maybe that’s just how it is.
I have to say that I’m a sucker for stories with parallel characters and stories that become ultimately intertwined. I didn’t realize at all that that’s how this was going to be, so throughout much of PS I’m wondering why I’m reading about Paula investigating a decades-old murder with some corporate hotshot and his trophy girlfriend (Morton and Mellanie). Is this just character development for Paula? Is this just getting us more acclimated the concepts of bodyloss, re-life, and readable memory cells? No. These are actually characters that end up being integral part of the larger story. Of course maybe this is all a little too much, to a fault, as Morton comes out of nowhere to be some badass commando character. It is kind of cool, though, how other people in the book have a similar reaction as they start to learn about Mellanie’s connections and involvement. They know her, just as we do, as either some ancillary news item about a girlfriend put out into the cold when her boyfriend is convicted of murder and topic of a famous softcore porno, or as a trashy news reporter. It’d be kind of like learning that Kato Kalin or Geraldo Rivera were some central player in a bid to save the galaxy. Sort of. A neat concept, at least.
All and all I like it a lot. But then I’m usually pretty easy going and easy to please when it comes to movies, TV, or books. I mean I can see the faults in things but I generally simply like things a lot more than I dislike them. That’s not to minimize or belittle others’ criticisms or nitpicks, just to let you know where I’m coming from.
The way it all wrapped up into a nice little trite Hollywood-style happy ending was a little disappointing. I’m glad everything ultimately got sealed up, though. About 100 pages from the end, I mistakedly flipped to the last couple pages of the book which were actually an advertisement that read like this: “CAN’T WAIT TO GET THE NEXT INSTALLMENT? Sign up for the Peter F. Hamilton newsletter…to get the first chapter of The Dreaming Void”. For a second there, I thought JU might end on a cliffhanger similar to PS. So I appreciated a sense of closure.
Peter F. Hamilton has an earned reputation of needing a bit of that ol’ time deus ex machina to finish many of his books - while I won’t go into detail, his three major science fiction series/books, Fallen Dragon (a single read), the Confederation stories (Reality Dysfunction, et al), and the Commonwealth stories (PS and JU) have all depended upon too-neat twists to get resolved, with DEM being used in the first two.
Literally.
I read JU again during my Christmas break (probably my third time) and found my objections not mattering as much - it is as it is. Ozzie’s walk was actually longer than I remembered when I wrote the above - the time he spent on the Ice world was about 1/3 of his total story in PS.
I really dislike the heavy-handed messaging that argued that punishing the Primes to a billion-plus year banishment from the rest of the universe is truly a more “moral” solution than killing MLM outright. Obviously fixing the shield and preventing MLM from communicating with her wormhole-connected immotiles (wiping them out while keeping MLM alive) is the best solution from the start, but I wish that it flowed as a natural consequence of the decisions of the movers and shakers, not as some trumped-up “the establishment has no ethics, man” message, delivered complete with red eyes.
The Dreaming Void will be released in a couple of months in the US. It’s already out in the UK and you can order it if you’re willing to pay for int’l shipping (or not if you’re in the UK, of course).
So where do I go from here? Should I read Fallen Dragon? The Confederation Stories? I’ve heard good things about Night’s Dawn. I mean I guess the answer is to read them all, but as you can tell I’m not a particularly fast reader so I choose my battles carefully.
Fallen Dragon is a stand alone book , so you should be able to read it and not have it bump into one of the reality dysfuction series.
Declan
Well, I guess you rejoiced five times over?
Oh, at least six.
(One must not forget Manhattan in Reverse.)