Pandora's Star by Peter F. HamiltonMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
It's the year 2380AD - instantaneous travel made possible by train journeys through artificial wormholes is the norm; eternal life has been achieved through Rejuvenations, which make people as youthful as they want. Additionally, OCTattoos implanted in people interact with electronic systems, bringing man and machine that much closer. But when two stars on the outer rim disappear, humans are on the race to create their first faster-than-light ship to investigate exactly what happened. Throw into the mix a munitions scam, politicking by billionaires and much one-up-manship by parties across the board, you’ve got a world to immerse yourself into.
I was handed a copy of this book for work. Initially, I was excited to get into a sci-fi novel, but this one was a toughie. This is dense, verbose science-fiction, the kind that's supposed to be immersive but alienates you with its otherwordly-ness. Every regular item has a different name for it, some unnecessarily so.
I liked the diversity that creeps into the story – it really feels like it’s of this world, and a welcome surprise given the book was written well before the diversity conversation took root.
It’s deep, intense space opera that you need to get lost in, but I couldn't finish the book, despite my best efforts. The cast of characters was huge - so much so that there's a cast roll in the beginning of the book. It doesn't fill a reader with much hope for what's to come.
I did enjoy the internal politicking of the characters and several of the concepts. The sole action scene I came across was pacy and well-written. But the overriding, wordy descriptions were daunting, not least because this was simply part one of a trilogy. I couldn't see myself dedicating that much time to this series. It deserves an avid reader with a focused mind - and at this time, I'm not it.
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