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In Pandora's Star Mr. Hamilton once again shows the special brand of
space opera that I reveled in with the Night's Dawn Trilogy. It uses a Tolkienesque
multi-layered plot style that gets the reader involved with several groups of
interesting characters who interact with each other in natural-seeming ways.
This time, however, there is only one "spook" (who we are only partially
disposed to believe in).
The prologue starts with the mankind's first landing on Mars. Then the plot
fast-forwards several centuries to an interstellar society that is tied together
via a series of man-made worm holes. The cast includes an Astronomy professor on
a back-water planet, a Holmes-like police inspector, a terrorist, a reporter, the
only remaining functional member of the original Mars expedition, a hostile alien
race, environmental activists, a murderer and the murderer's living victim, and a
whole host of other eccentric characters.
The different plot lines build, intersect, combine and disconnect, as the
inevitable train-wreck approaches. By the time you reach the end of this 756-page
epic, you will be so hungry for the rest of the story, that you'll start looking
for Judas Unchained. Unfortunately, we all have to wait a while for it.
By the way, Mr. Hamilton does know how to write straight forward full-bore
adventure stories, too. Just try one of the Greg Mandel novels, such as
A Quantom Murder while we are waiting for the next volume.
'Til Next Time,
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