The Dreaming Void Review

As promised, here is my book review of The Dreaming Void by Peter Hamilton. I was impressed by this highly entertaining science fiction novel. One of my criteria for a good book is to find myself still reading it at 4 am… Hamilton’s Dreaming Void certainly kept me up late into the wee hours of the morn.

The Dreaming Void is Peter Hamilton’s newest work — an impressive novel that captures the essence of science fiction. And it’s a big, big book. It’s a blend of epic Space Opera, Cyberpunk, and Fantasy — a compelling combination of genres that blends together into a highly entertaining and addicting work. It can take a while to get into the novel (Hamilton throws you right into his world with nary an introduction) but one you get into the book, you really get into the book.

The Dreaming Void is set in the same world as his previous Commonwealth Saga (Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained) albeit 1500 years into the future. Rest assured though, while reading the previous novels will give you background information, The Dreaming Void can stand on its own. In the future explored by The Dreaming Void, death ( as initially explored in the Commonwealth Saga) is an anachronism. Humans are now virtually immortal — consciousness is downloaded into indestructible computer chips inserted into the brain. If you die, it’s just a matter of retrieving the chip and inserting it into a new human body. Those who have read Richard Morgan’s Altered Carbon will find themselves right at home with this concept.

Since his last novel, Judas Unchained, humanity has finally transcended the fleshly constraints of the human body and evolved into a sort of metaphysical existence. Oh, there are still the old flesh and blood humans (though they are highly augmented by genetic technologies) kicking around. But many humans have downloaded their consciousness into a sort of grand neural network and now live transcendental lives. In a world where death has been conquered and the human consciousness has ascended into the metaphysical realm, what else is there to the human story? This underlying question forms the basis of the novel’s plot. And the answer is the “Void” — a massive event horizon that is destined to consume the galaxy. However, within the Void exists another universe, one that inexplicably contains humans with extraordinarily powers… A religious group launches a crusade to enter the Void — an event that may or may not trigger the end of the galaxy. I’ll let you read the book to get into the nitty-gritty of the plot, but let’s just say that more then a few human and alien factions are thrown into turmoil and power struggles ensue. Superhuman agents are thrown into the frey as the transcendental human factions (the godlike humans who are at the top of the human evolution scale) attempt to stop or support the crusade.

Hamilton has always seamlessly combined strong characterization within the framework of his novel concepts. You know with Hamilton you’re going to get a great cast of well developed characters with a hell of a lot of action, political scheming, and epic battles. The Dreaming Void meets these expectations. What’s also interesting about this novel is the sort of Fantasy world that exists in conjunction with the science fiction world. One moment you are reading hardcore, futuristic cyberpunk/space opera, then the next instant you are transported to a sort of magical, medieval world, reading an addictive and well drawn coming of age story. It’s a highly entertaining and adds a new dimension to the book.

I am looking forward to see where Hamilton is going to take the plot with the sequel, The Temporal Void which is due out in a couple months.

8.5/10

I recently read Peter Hamilton’s newest book, The Dreaming Void. I’ve always been a fan of Hamilton’s works. He, along with Richard Morgan, are my favourite science fiction writers. Hamilton’s books are always immensely enjoyable — always seamlessly combining epic space opera, fantastic characterization, and addictive plots. I find this a rare combination in science fiction.

Science Fiction often gets so caught up with novel, far reaching concepts that it forgets about the human elements of the story. Novel concept is great, but at the end of the day, most readers want a story that evokes emotion. And fortunately, Hamilton’s books always do. Hamilton’s books always emphasize character while simultaneously exploring challenges humans face in future societies.

The Dream Void is a magnificent book. It’s also unique in that it seamlessly integrates fantasy with hardboiled futuristic science fiction – something I haven’t seen done in a long time. So if you are looking for the perfect blend of fantasy (in regards to a middle world where characters can use a sort of magic) with hard science fiction that explore vast ideas, this book is a must read. As a lover of fantasy and hard science fiction, I was delighted with this book’s integration of both worlds!
I am going to write a more detailed review of The Dreaming Void within the next couple of days.

Practically every week I have someone sending me emails asking why their beloved Goodkind, Eddings, or Salvatore are not on my best fantasy books recommendation list. Invariably, these people mention the above authors’ commercial success as criteria for why they should be on the list. This outlines a common assumption among readers: commercially successful books are always good books.

Let’s explore this idea.

Let’s first look at the close cousin (perhaps child) of the book. Yes, I’m talking about movies. I’m sure you can pull more than a few movies out of the air that were met with smashing success at the box office but were vociferously panned by the critics. Let’s see, The Matrix sequels come to mind as do the Star Wars prequels. Then there’s anything by Adam Sandler – I won’t even go there. This same principal applies to video games. Some terrible video games have become commercially successful.
I call this the “hype effect.” Hype is one of the biggest driving forces behind the commercial success of entertainment products (music, books, games, movies, etc). If the author is has found commercial success with previous works, there is an expectation that the author’s new work will match or even exceed the previous level of commercial success. It’s a given that people also expect the quality of the new work to be on par if not higher.

Why? Perhaps this expectation results from the whole “feature” rich product culture that we live in. Each successive product we buy offers expanded features over the previous version – buy the new edition of that digital camera and get a couple more megapixels that will guarantee a clearer photo. We buy into this whole marketing hubbub. It’s not too much to believe that we book lovers are mapping these expectations into the world of literature. A book after all is a consumer product, just like that digital camera. Instead of more megapixels, we are offered, though cover blurbs, book covers, and hyped press releases an even greater reading experience then the last one.

Certain authors have acquired a bookstore presence – bookstores give priority and key shelf space — to books written by these authors, which in turn make it easier for customers to see and buy the book, which in turn lead to more sales, which in turn lead to more publicity, etc. The average genre reader will not read reviews before buying a book; he or she will simply wander in to a bookstore and buy a book based off the impression gained from the book cover, author blurbs, and book description.

“But what about the quality,” you say. Won’t a well-written book meet commercial success? Not necessarily. There are far more poor, highly talented authors out there then there are rich, lucky ones. For every Stephanie Meyer and Dan Brown living in New York penthouses and drinking $100 cups of Indonesian coffee, there are another ten thousand authors who would be delighted to even make half of what a high school student makes flipping burgers.

Writing a good, bestselling book is often a combination of talent, luck, and more luck — as most authors will tell you. So be careful when assuming the “best-selling” tag means a book is good one– it’s often just another marketing gimmick used by publishers.