The Dreaming Void

This was the first Peter Hamilton book I read and I found it enthralling. I appreciated the mix of hard science fiction with futuristic technology, abilities and sociology contrasted with fantasy and magic. This is an ambitious book that I think is well executed with not only suspenseful plot lines but comprehensive character development. I look forward to the third installment.

The Dreaming Void is actually 3 books under 1 cover. Book ONE continues with characters from the previous Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained series which takes place in our future -- which is about 1,000 years in their past. Book TWO is about the second dreamer who is unnamed but self-evident as a character. Book THREE is the set of Inigo's dreams. Read the prequels (Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained) first. Then read the set of dream sequences as a stand alone. These sequences have a different typeface. THEN go back and read the rest of the book. Otherwise, you will be lost temporally, geographically, and character-wise.

I will say that the dreams were tedious until looked at in a larger context. In Pandora's star many of the story lines were pointless until the second book and the dreams have to be seen the same way.

Hamilton weaves both super hi tech sci-fi from his past series of books (and uses more technology which is a big plus) and at the same time in a place called the void uses powers of the mind instead. To be able to weave both into one book of this magnitude is amazing. I am shocked that a high tech sci-fi writer like Hamilton is able to create a world which would be more suited for a fantasy book. He runs so many threads in this book that you may be concerned that you may lose track - you won't. And as you get further into the book you will find yourself facinated by life in the "void" where powers of the mind rule. He manages to go back and forth in a PERFECT fashion. I've been reading Hamilton from early on and have watched his progress as a writer. I believe he has finally hit his stride here and produced perhaps what will be one of the best series ever written.

The dust jacket proclaims, "The year is 3589, fifteen hundred years after Commonwealth forces barely staved off human extinction in a war against the alien Prime". The arithmetic is flawed ("Judas Unchained" was circa 2380, so about 1200 years have elapsed), but Hamilton's story-telling, character development, and world-building are virtually flawless. After a prologue introducing Inigo and the mysterious Void, which is being studied by the ancient Raiel race, Commonwealth humans, and a number of alien races at Centurion Station near the galactic center, the story alternates between the main time sequence following various Commonwealth characters, and chapters detailing Inigo's past "dreams" of apparently medieval humans. As the story unfolds, it is soon revealed that Inigo's "dreams", which have been recorded and shared with millions of other humans through the gaiafield (a kind of telepathic network enhancement that many have chosen for themselves), are believed to originate from the Void and to chronicle actual life inside the Void. Millions of humans believe life inside the Void to be idyllic -- a religion, the Living Dream, grows around this belief, culminating in a plan for a mass Pilgrimage into the Void. In conflict with the Living Dreamers are the Raiel, at least one faction of the human-created non-physical intelligence ANA, and an alien race called the Ocisen Empire. The Raiel have been struggling against the Void for a million years, having seen the Void expand and devour countless inhabited worlds, and they expect that a Pilgrimage could trigger another deadly expansion. The Living Dream Pilgrimage, if not stopped, may cause the destruction of the galaxy. But the Living Dream religion persists, and ANA:Governance, controller of the immensely powerful Navy (a military force which has grown in power since defeating the Prime in "Judas Unchained"), seems inclined to protect the Living Dreamers from outside influence or attack. A number of characters are introduced, both in Inigo's dream chapters, and in the Commonwealth chapters. Aaron is searching for Inigo (who has disappeared sometime after having his famous dreams), but he does not know why or who sent him, and he seems strangely accepting of the mission script he is following as it is gradually revealed to him. Edeard is an orphan boy from Inigo's dream who is trying to find his place in a world that is both hostile to him and able to be shaped by his telepathic powers. In the Commonwealth where technology can be employed to keep one's body fit and perfect, Troblum is a physicist who is extremely fat, a collector of memorabilia from the Starflyer war, and gifted at creating advanced technology and weapons for whoever is willing to feed his obsessions. Araminta is a young, ambitious first-life woman who is trying to start a property-development business herself after a divorce, but her adventures are just beginning. Justine, Paula, and Oscar from the Commonwealth Saga also have