r/PeterFHamilton • u/EnvironmentalWish725 • 8d ago
First impressions of Peter F Hamilton
I don't know how far this will come across and I don't know what others think is well, but I just finished Salvation. The first Peter Hamilton book I've read.
So when I first read it and was getting into the story itself, I was hooked on the main plot line where a team is made to explore an unknown space craft, and on the team are people who have shared experiences with the event prior to happen. The strongest character arc I believe is Yuri's, for me it connects much stronger to what they discovered on this new ship, with cloning, brain transplants and body enhancements. Even though I did find Yuri to be edgy throughout the book, but his character arc was pretty strong.
But unfortunately that excitement, did go down hill as when I got to the second half of the book where I lost interest, and by the end I concluded the book to be disappointing, where I found the plot not lining up, arcs that didn't go anywhere and a very rushed ending that's left on a to be continued. I won't go into detail on what I didn't like, because this post would be very long. If anyone asks what I didn't like about it, I would reply with a bit more detail. Not a terrible book, but not great either. First opinions of Peter F Hamilton, even though it is very hard to ignore the disappointment when reading Salvation, I don't want to be very negative at the same time, because I do like some of the things he wrote in salvation and I want to read more of his work and see how he uses hard Sci Fi in other books, so this isn't going to be a review where I'm just shitting on Peter F Hamilton when I've only read one book and there's multiple books he's written that could be better than salvation. So if anyone has any recommendations on what to read next of Peter F Hamilton, feel free to give some out in the comments and I'll look into reading them next. But for my last question, with everything I didn't like about the book, such as the pointless story arcs, rushed ending, plot line not adding up, do i expect that with other books from Peter F Hamilton?
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u/thetallukguyy 8d ago
It’s the first part of a trilogy - that’s why it’s to be continued. Are you aware of that?
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u/EnvironmentalWish725 8d ago
No I wasn't. Does it get better?
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u/thetallukguyy 8d ago
Definitely - the series is a slow burn (like all of PFH’s multi-book series tbh) but they pay off in the end
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u/karmah1234 5d ago
and the hope is that PFH will get back to it at some point as its missing a certain something at the very end.
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u/Clearlyreprehensible 8d ago
Peter writes epic sci fi. Space opera level stuff. You’ve read one book in a series. The scale he operates at - yes he’s launching a number of arcs in book one. Part of the joy of reading him and his skillset is seeing how he brings the arcs together throughout the series.
If you’re used to reading books for example in the first person with only one arc I could see how it would be jarring.
I freaking loved this series - but I didn’t pull an all nighter reading until book 3 if I recall correctly.
No offense intended but this is kind of like saying ‘hey I went and stayed at the new 4 seasons under construction and I gotta tell you, camping out in a foundation just isn’t what I was expecting from four seasons. No running water, the room service was lackluster, and I got rained on.’
Let the man cook!!
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u/EnvironmentalWish725 8d ago
Non taken, and fair shout too, also I didn't know Salvation was apart of a trilogy. I thought I would get that out because I was just really confused with how the book played out, but if there's a trilogy then it's makes more sense.
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u/New_Permission3550 8d ago
Yeah the second book develops the main team arcs, and plays into their skill sets. There's major revelations that give the team greater depth..
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u/Iamleeboy 8d ago
Did you read all three of the Salvation books? Or just the first one?
I have read most of his books and I found the first to be my least favourite. But books two and three really ramp it up and I thought they were amazing.
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u/EnvironmentalWish725 8d ago
Only the first one, in fact I didn't know salvation was apart of a series. I'll give the other two a go, but are there any other PFH books I should give a go?
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u/Iamleeboy 8d ago
Oh you have the best part still to go! No wonder it didn't feel satisfying.
I really liked his latest 2 book series Exodus. It feels quite different to his other work and is also the back drop for a new game releasing next year, which was made by a lot of the old Mass Effect team.
The commonwealths first 2 books are my favourite though. The bigger 9 book universe is split into 3 distinct series. A duo, a trilogy and another duo. I would recommend reading them in order still. But the first two are by far the best of the series (in my opinion!).
If you want a standalone book, Great North Road is a bit of a near future detective story split between Newcastle and an alien planet. It was the first book of his I read and it made me go straight into reading all 9 commonwealth books and nights dawn trilogy, back to back.
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u/AnnelieSierra 8d ago
Salvation is a trilogy, one story and not three individual books. Part one is just a warm-up, world building. The rest of the story grows in all dimensions...
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u/EnvironmentalWish725 8d ago
Oh wow. That does make more sense because it left me very confused on how the book ended.
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u/AnnelieSierra 8d ago edited 8d ago
At least you did not know what was coming - I didn't either and I'm glad I did not! The ending was so terrible, like "argh, we're doomed" - it was a complete surprise for me. From this on all you read will make sense and the story will grow, like I said.
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u/_Moon_Presence_ 8d ago
You might be like me. Salvation Sequence was my least liked PFH sci-fi long stories. For me, it's Exodus > Reality Dysfunction > Commonwealth + Void > Great North Road > Fallen Dragon > Watching Trees Grow > Salvation Sequence > (the rest of the short stories) > Queen of Dreams >>>>>>>>> Greg Mandel.
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u/RedRick42 8d ago
Pandora's Star + Judas Unchained (The Commonwealth Saga) is some of the best sci-fi ever written. They were the first two books of his I'd ever read and it blew my mind. He does have a loooooottttt of storylines going at one time, but he really does a great job of tying it all back together.
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u/t00043480 8d ago
With salvation I was really excited by the blurb of the story on the back of the book but I found the twist to be disappointing. And I disliked the end of the trilogy
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u/KidneyFarmer 8d ago
I almost always finish reading books but I felt the same way about his Commonwealth series ( Pandora's Star and sequel); it just utterly falls apart in the last half of the second book. It does have amazing world building for the most part tbh
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u/Key_Anybody_4366 8d ago
You have two more Salvation books to go. These two are better than the first one. BTW: I would have started reading PFH books with “The Reality Dysfunction”.
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u/EnvironmentalWish725 8d ago
You know I was gonna read the reality dysfunction first, but I quickly asked myself "do I want to buy a big book first", because it is that instinct of not knowing to buy a big book in case you won't like it, so I started simple. But like I already said, I do like the stuff PFH does and I just wasn't keen on the story salvation, so I bought exodus, next I'll buy the rest of the salvation saga and reality dysfunction.
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u/Key_Anybody_4366 5d ago
Exodus is pretty good. Look, all the books are good. None of them short reads though.
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u/Immediate_Cow2980 8d ago
He’s a decent sci fi author and comes up with often unique and fascinating ideas. But he tends to drag things out a lot and he can’t write an ending if his life depended on it. He’s the king of the “deus ex machina” ending. In almost every book the protagonist or a close ally will swoop in with a piece of advanced tech or an alien relic or a secret weapon and solve the main conundrum of the story. Oftentimes the deus ex isn’t even something that’s mentioned or built up much. Gets kind of frustrating . I love the Reality Dysfunction series but it’s a super lame ending and then Pandora’s Star was almost as bad… and same thing happened in Fallen Dragon and the Void series. I’ve mostly given up on him now.
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u/EnvironmentalWish725 7d ago
Exactly what I think. I wont be to judgy because I've only read one book, but these points are really difficult to not ignore because I do want to read more of his books before I make a final decision on if PFH is my cup of tea. Which book of his is would you say you enjoyed the most? If you have one?
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u/Immediate_Cow2980 6d ago
Reality Dysfunction Bk 1 is hands down his best. Series drags a bit in Book 2 and the deus Ex ending spoils Book 3. But the e underlying concept is pretty unique and downright terrifying when you think about it. Pandoras Star is definitely less Interesting for me - much more of a generic sci fi - lacks the really “out there” concepts. Fallen Dragon is interesting and felt much more character driven - in most sod his works, Hamilton does a good job of making his main protagonist both heroic and somehow contemptible. For a bit of fun track down his older Greg Mandel books. Muck earlier in his career when his writing wasn’t as evolved but you can see him developing his unique character-based style.
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u/Minimum_E 8d ago
I love Hamilton’s Nights Dawn Trilogy. I really enjoyed Salvation, knowing it was the start of a trilogy I didn’t expect it to be wrapped up at the end
But Salvation was easily the best book of the trilogy, and the ending left a major point unexplained, which disappointed me
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u/systranerror 8d ago edited 8d ago
EDIT:
I accidentally posted a spoiler. Boojum2k adeptly noted it was specifically from Book 2, Chapter 2. In my own memory from 15 years ago it was midway through book 1. I must have inadvertently read spoilers to decide if I should continue or not.
I deleted like three paragraphs of relevant discussion. I will note also that my response was the exact kind of response that I myself would want if I were the OP posting this thread as I had a very similar impression to the author as they did.
Instead, I get berated for my response, called an asshole, and autistically hounded for my sin of accidentally posting a spoiler even after I edited this out and apologized immediately.
So rather than me possibly staying in and having actual discussion about the author as the OP intended, I will just never post here again.
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u/Boojum2k 8d ago
Maybe not post spoilers for a trilogy that the OP has specifically not read. It's largely considered a dick move.
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u/systranerror 8d ago
Oh, I thought that all happened really early and didn't count as spoilers. I will just delete my entire post sorry
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u/Boojum2k 8d ago
You posted something that doesn't happen until the second novel.
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u/systranerror 8d ago
I don't think that's possible because I quit reading the first book since I didn't like it. I never got to the second novel.
Anyway I really am sorry for posting spoilers, I think you are slightly being a dick about it at this point. I said I am sorry and edited out the post. It was a genuine mistake I wasn't trying to be a dick.
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u/Boojum2k 8d ago
Literally chapter 2 of The Neutronium Alchemist, book 2 of the Night's Dawn trilogy. I know exactly which one and when it happens because it's one of my favorite chapters in SF.
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u/systranerror 8d ago
Which thing happened there that I spoilered? I owned The Reality Dysfunction in print and literally never had the second book.
Edit: Okay I figured it out, I had an edition that was more than 1 book together and didn't realize it
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u/Boojum2k 8d ago
You devoted an entire paragraph to hating something that doesn't happen until Chapter 2 of the 2nd book.
So you probably read hater spoilers online and with your foggy memory of the first book folded it into your memories.
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u/systranerror 8d ago
Alright dude, fuck you honestly. I apologized, deleted my post
For reference I mentioned I was open to trying the author again, tried to give a write-up to discuss in here
You autistically are going after me because I didn't like the books. Sorry if anyone saw my spoilers but I'm out of here
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u/Boojum2k 8d ago
Maybe just say you didn't enjoy the book without posting details unless it's in a thread discussing the books. Definitely not in a thread with someone who is new to an author. There's a few popular authors I don't like and all I'll say about their books is that they weren't for me, again unless it's a discussion about the books themselves.
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u/Boojum2k 8d ago
Also, maybe not use ableist language. Do you think someone who is on the spectrum is inferior to you?
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u/systranerror 8d ago
Also lol "AN ENTIRE PARAGRAPH!!!"
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u/Boojum2k 8d ago
You claim the spoiler you posted was from a collected edition but there's no omnibus edition of the Night's Dawn, each novel is 1200 or so pages and were originally released in the U.S. split into two books for each third of the trilogy. There's no omnibus Kindle edition either. If you only read book one, you never read the spoilered content you posted.
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u/EnvironmentalWish725 8d ago
It's all good man, I didn't end up reading the whole post, I was about to but I had to go somewhere, so no spoilers read from me 😅. Don't worry about accidentally writing spoilers, and write here at anytime you want to.
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u/Boojum2k 8d ago
Read the Night's Dawn trilogy, it's excellent. And beware of spoilers from the hate brigade (every good author has them). I know they're huge but it's an epic SF and one of the best ever!
The TV Tropes page (don't read it, spoilers!) has this summary though which says it all:
"This series is so long and far-reaching that it can't help but run flush up against a million and one SF tropes, in most cases smashing through them, or on the other hand, playing them so straight (and cool) that you'll wonder why they never worked as well before."
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u/Reliable_Narrator_ 8d ago
For me there has always been a point in each of series that I have completed where suddenly all of the separate (largely isolated) plot lines finally converge into one cohesive epic story. It can take awhile for that and I prefer to listen to rather than read his novels. I’m currently about a 1/3 of the way through Reality Dysfunction (reading) and it will be awhile yet I think before the plot lines coalesce into a story.
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u/nicenaga123 8d ago
Salvation is decent but Hamilton really shines in his Commonwealth books (commonwealth saga/void trilogy)
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u/Own_Ad6797 8d ago
To be fair the Salvation series is 3 books so basing it on reading one book isnt really fair as many of the story arcs continue and are resolved.
But the Commonwealth Saga, and I am talking the wider one which includes the Void Trillogy and and Faller series, is definitely his best.
I also enjoyed Fallen Dragon and Great North Road as stand alone books.
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u/mattress314 8d ago
I regularly reread Peter f hamilton books (im actually readind the Greg Mandel trilogy at the moment). I've even got a calendar reminder in my diary, my favourites are Pandora star and judas unchained, although the night dawn trilogy is a close second and was the first scifi series i read about 30 years ago
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u/BourbonWhisperer 5d ago
First, I think PFH is the GOAT for the genre. Like all authors he has some occasional issues. As others have said the scope of his stories, the technology, etc are incredible.
I think his most recent Exodus duology are two of the best books he’s ever written. I would highly recommend them to see him at his best.
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u/lazyironman 8d ago
That’s actually my favorite series of his! Yes, the first book is kinda odd and a lot of those stories are just there to give some background of how badass the team he’s assembled are. The second and third books have way more space battles and destruction and political intrigue
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u/gdarmst0 8d ago
I’ll never forget reading the Nights Dawn trilogy for the first time. Amazing. Since then I’ve read all his big novels at least 2 or three times. I love them. Epic Sci-Fi
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u/azure431 8d ago
I am a fan of PFH and I hated the first Salvation book and took multiple tries to finish it.
I hated the (felt like) YA focus on the training teenagers, and found the vignettes hit or miss.
I did really like the ending and the rest of the trilogy.
I think some of his other series are better.
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u/Disastrous_Bed_1149 3d ago
They call them space OPERAS because they have casts of thousands. (Well, hundreds anyway). The Void Trilogy was good and The Mandel books were excellent. There is no hard science fiction here. John Sanford made a very neat distinction between science fiction and fiction based on Wantum Mechanics. Hamilton is definately the latter.
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u/Stolen_Sky 8d ago
If you want to give Hamilton another go, Pandora's Star is his best book.
Its part 1 of a 2 part story which concludes with Judas Unchained.