Judas Unchained
by Peter F. Hamilton
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Book Summary Information
Author: Peter F. HamiltonEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-03-27
ISBN: 0345461673
Number of pages: 1024
Publisher: Del Rey
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780345461674
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Judas Unchained
Book Review: The Three-Hundred-Page Climax
Summary: 4 Stars
"Judas Unchained" is the third volume in Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga, following immediately upon the events detailed in "Pandora's Star". (The earlier "Misspent Youth" is set much earlier in this universe's timeline.) In fact, the reader is plunged immediately into this volume without the slightest recap of what has gone before. Under no circumstances should you read this without picking up the prequel, and if you expect the author to refresh your memory upon any point whatsoever, you will be sadly disappointed. You had best be equipped with a phenomenal memory, since Hamilton is not above referring to events that were mentioned once some seventeen hundred pages ago and which now come to be seen as absolutely critical.
Yes, these books are massive, and possibly hundreds of pages could've easily been trimmed. The author is a little too fond of turning a simple sentence such as "The road climbed to the top of the hill" into "The glittering ribbon of enzyme-bonded concrete, laid down 175 years ago by automated Tarmac Master 3170 roadbots imported from the Big15 world of Cyborgia, wound its way upward to the crest of the ancient hill, which was composed of an agglomerate of metamorphic gneiss and basalt and which had been puked up by a volcanic eruption geologic epochs ago in the planet's tormented evolutionary past." Indeed, I can assure you that you will very soon be sick of the phrase "enzyme-bonded concrete", which I can only conclude must be set up on a macro on Hamilton's keyboard.
I also hate the amateurish cover, which is an abomination.
With that said, this is a worthy if bloated conclusion to the tale of humanity's struggle for survival against the Primes and the manipulative Starflyer. Can the Commonwealth stop MorningLightMountain? Will the fabulously wealthy and brilliant but amusingly dude-like Ozzie ever escape from the Silfen paths? Who are the Starflyer's agents, and can the Starflyer itself be stopped from escaping into the interstellar void? Will Mellanie find true love? There are dozens of characters, a few of them sketched out in some depth, and many introduced with a few quick descriptive strokes so that they serve the same purpose as the Fat Guy, the Country Bumpkin, and the Brooklyn Hustler in old WWII movies--which is to say, so that you feel a minor twinge of regret when they take a hyper-rifle shot to the head during the epic battle at the end.
By "the end", I mean roughly the last third of the book, which becomes an ultra-supra-mega-extended climax, sort of like the final chase scene in "The Road Warrior", but spanning thousands of miles, multiple worlds, and several weeks, and with 100% less Feral Kid. (In my opinion it's a bit ludicrous that in over a century, the Starflyer never bothered itself to import a flippin' plane to Far Away so that it could get back to the "Marie Celeste" in a couple of hours instead of two weeks.) Basically every form of transport gets involved, except for tuk-tuks and rollerblades. And enough firepower is unleashed to blast opponents so hard that not only are they atomized, but all of their parallel universe incarnations get wuss-slapped as well.
It's actually fairly gripping stuff and there's plenty of variety for everyone and a truly gigantic cast. As others have noted, the key figure of Paula Myo gets short shrift, and to the end she remains a cypher, and almost literally genetically incapable of real growth. Others get their opportunity for change, particularly Wilson Kime, Oscar Monroe, and Alic Hogan. Still others just drop out well before the end, particularly Justine Burnelli, and despite anvil-like hints dropped left and right, there's ultimately no wrap-up for Tiger Pansy and Qatux. And plenty of characters just get exploded into a fine red mist. Others that seemed quite minor originally end up seizing center stage, such as Mark Vernon and Morton.
Overall, I rather liked it, although I'm disappointed that the author was so exhausted at the end that we get only 20 pages or so to see what happened to everyone in the wake of Armageddon. I also had a bit of a problem with Ozzie's insistence that Nigel Sheldon's plan to eradicate the Primes was a horrifying crime that would destroy the soul of humanity for all of eternity. Let's see...MorningLightMountain has occupied and devastated dozens of planets, killed millions, and has refused all negotiation and compromise, and his only goal is literally killing every single form of non-Prime life in the entire galaxy. His race, which has already obliterated an entire alien species centuries ago, is so feared that they'd been forcibly quarantined by some now-vanished self-appointed galactic guardians, and everyone admits that if MLM is not stopped, he'll completely destroy every man, woman, and child. I dunno...I guess under those circumstances, I'd...fight back? And try to kill this implacable enemy? Ozzie's insistence that we should risk our own extermination on a long-shot alternative does nothing more than boggle the mind. However, he's Ozzie, and therefore probably right.
At any rate...the story continues, 1,500 years or so later, in the Void trilogy, the first volume of which, "The Dreaming Void", is now available. From what I've heard, some beloved characters from this present duology are just mentioned in passing, while some are still around and active, and there are surprising revelations about the Raiel. I'll probably run the risk of serious back injury in picking up the latest titanic tome, but I'll be there nonetheless.
Summary of Judas Unchained
Peter F. Hamilton?s superbly imagined, cunningly plotted interstellar adventures are conceived on a staggeringly epic scale and filled with fully realized human and alien characters as complex as they are engaging. No mere world builder, Hamilton creates entire universes?and he does so with irresistible flair and intelligence. His previous novel, the acclaimed Pandora?s Star, introduced the Intersolar Commonwealth, a star-spanning civilization of the twenty-fourth century. Robust, peaceful, and confident, the Commonwealth dispatched a ship to investigate the mystery of a disappearing star, only to inadvertently unleash a predatory alien species that turned on its liberators, striking hard, fast, and utterly without mercy.The Prime are the Commonwealth?s worst nightmare. Coexistence is impossible with the technologically advanced aliens, who are genetically hardwired to exterminate all other forms of life. Twenty-three planets have already fallen to the invaders, with casualties in the hundreds of millions. And no one knows when or where the genocidal Prime will strike next.
Nor are the Prime the only threat. For more than a hundred years, a shadowy cult, the Guardians of Selfhood, has warned that an alien with mind-control abilities impossible to detect or resist?the Starflyer?has secretly infiltrated the Commonwealth. Branded as terrorists, the Guardians and their leader, Bradley Johansson, have been hunted by relentless investigator Paula Myo. But now evidence suggests that the Guardians were right all along, and that the Starflyer has placed agents in vital posts throughout the Commonwealth?agents who are now sabotaging the war effort. Is the Starflyer an ally of the Prime, or has it orchestrated a fight to the death between the two species for its own advantage?
Caught between two deadly enemies, one a brutal invader striking from without, the other a remorseless cancer killing from within, the fractious Commonwealth must unite as never before.
This will be humanity?s finest hour?or its last gasp.
From the Hardcover edition.
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