Peter F. Hamilton Resident Scholar Profiles TOP SCHOLAR: mal Faloon SCHOLARS:
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Review Summaries
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Del Rey, March 2004, 26.95 768 pp.
ISBN 0345461622
It is the golden age of humanity thanks to Nigel Sheldon and Ozzie Isaac, the two scientists who developed the math that made wormhole technology possible. Mankind travels between the six hundred colonized worlds by using wormhole generated vessels. Rejuvenation is available to all so everyone can live as long as they want. If they are killed, a clone is created of that person and their stored memory chips are inserted into the neural network so they can be the same person they were before they died.
When the Second Chance spaceship travels the solar system Dyson Alpha to observe the force field that surrounds it, the barrier suddenly disappears. The crew sees hundreds of ships using nuclear missiles on each other. The Second Chance leaves before it is spotted even though they have to leave a two crew men behind. A second expedition to Dyson Alpha discovers that the warfighters have wormhole technology and will launch an invasion into commonwealth territory.
Imagine using a train to travel to a different world, living for as long as you want and picking the planet of your choice to make a home. It sounds like heaven, so when hostile aliens threaten the peace, humanity, who has not known war for three centuries, has a lot of catching up to do but they are hindered in their quest by unknown enemies who have the powers-that-be in their pocket. Peter F. Hamilton has written a powerfully compelling space opera in the tradition of Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke
Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner, Resident Peter F. Hamilton Scholar
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Overall Review
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Plot
Composition of Book Descript. of chases or violence - 10% planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40% Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 10%
Tone of book
- suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION?
- science fiction story
Explore/1st contact/ enviro story
Yes
Plotlets:
- exploring a wondrous planet or phenomena
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- champion of justice
Age:
- long lived adults
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- very athletic
Main Adversary
Identity:
- an entire race
Setting
A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body:
- humans in a futuristic society
Planet outside solar system?
Yes
Style
Person?
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
scientific jargon? (SF only)
- a moderate amount of scientific explanation
How much dialogue?
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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