Peter F. Hamilton’s The Abyss Beyond Dreams

 

I just finished Peter F. Hamilton’s The Abyss Beyond Dreams. This is part of the Commonwealth series, but it is also the first book in a subseries called the Chronicle of the Fallers, which follows a trilogy in the same series called The Void. Got all that? It doesn’t really matter. You can read The Abyss Beyond Dreams without knowing any of that and without having read the earlier books.

I have read the first book Hamilton wrote in the Commonwealth series Pandora’s Star, and the second book Judas Unchained. I have not read the three books in between those two and this one. If I had, it might have cleared up some initial confusion, but I was able to grasp what was going on. Hamilton writes complex worlds and his novels have an epic feel to them. Some of the tech and concepts are mind-bending. I felt that way reading the first two novels, and the same can be said here. He writes stories that you have to invest yourself in. They aren’t a little light reading that you don’t have to think about too hard. On the other hand, books that are light and easy, tend not to have much staying power. I have forgotten them the day after I finish them. Not so with Hamilton’s books. You will be thinking about them long after you finish them.

I am not going to say anything about the plot because, well, it would be impossible to summarize and do it any justice. Suffice it to say, there is a big bad mystery. Someone comes up with a bold plan for how to deal with said mystery. Now execute it and let the chips fall where they may, etc.

There are sometimes disjointed sections of the book that make you wonder why we are following this particular character or that. But eventually it all does tie together nicely. The ending does leave a lot of unanswered questions, but then we assume they will be answered in the next book: A Night Without Stars, which is the conclusion to this set.

I enjoyed this book and have already ordered the next one. But this series may not be for everyone. It does take patience and a willingness to pay attention to the details and put in the work. For me at least, it was worth it.

Star Liner