The Reality Dysfunction Part 2: Expansion (Mass Market Paperback)

Also, I was disappointed in the end. Not because it didn't wrap everything up in a tidy little bundle, but because the thread he chose to resolve was the least interesting, in my opinion. There were lots of other threads that were completely unexplored. Perhaps the rest of them will be tied up or discussed more in future novels? I won't be reading them.

The Planet Lalonde is a pretty insane place. But for the Amazon "review" of part I, "Emergence" to call an Adamist priest "an ineffectual ....shocked by the world he has
come to settle... " is essentially an unfair and misleading characterization because it's relevant only to the first half of the novel. As anyone who has read the entire novel knows, the priest is the sole adult on the entire Planet to survive in his own skin. So if that is being "ineffectual," one has to wonder what "effectual" means. Indeed, what strikes me as ineffectual is loosing one's will and identity to another personality come
from the Beyond. In point of fact, the priest heroically saves some 23 children from being consumed by metaphysical beings incarnated into the living bodies of each and every colonist. Each and every, that is, except him. And this, I assume, is because he is the only man of the cloth, the only Adamist churchman. He alone goes through the gauntlet from Hell; but he emerges as himself. HIS self; not somebody else's. He alone
remains who he is. That seems pretty effectual to me.

And finally, "Joining the large cast of characters is Graeme Nicholson, a reporter....who will regret ever learning about the biggest story to hit the galaxy in a thousand years." Amazon.com review

Graeme who? The guy at the bar in scene one who is never mentioned again? That Graeme? Either I missed something, or Graeme Nicholson does not join the cast. And regret? I don't recall him actually regretting anything since I don't recall him being part of the plot.

In any event, Peter Hamilton has, in this novel, created a space opera that helps define contemporary SF. For lack of a better term, this novel is awesome. Its big, its bulky, its a
fantabulously detailed mind-boggling melding of DH Lawrence, Buck Rogers and HP Lovecraft (or something like that): Heroes and Maidens indulge in country matters; Living Habitats for a number of species germinated by a kind of Medici royalty have the
capacity to download the "soul" of a dying person; there are the technologies of ancient civilizations of unknown origin to be studied; and, of course, the incursion of the souls from the Beyond to wage a cosmic civil war, etc, etc. What's not to like?

Finally, beware axegrinding naysayers who after a thousand pages decide they don't like what they're reading. If they wasted their time, it's not the book's fault.

It has lived up to the promise of the first book, and comes to a nail biting and edge of seat conclusion. Hamilton continues to develop the universe he has created, giving us a glimple into the Tyrathca society and suggesting that they have direct knowledge of the catastrophe that caused the collapse of Laymil civilization.

The stars of this book are the mechanically enhanced troops that are set down on Lalonde, both the hi-tech body enhancements and their Esprit de Corps and devil may care attitude to life, death and danger.

Needless to say I have purchased the next installment of the series, which amounts to six books in total, if you don't count short stories and add ons.

A great universe full of interesting characters, clever twists and unforseen developments. Brilliant stuff.