Judas Unchained

By: Peter F. Hamilton

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 40 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

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 24th 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.

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 100 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.

©2006 Peter F. Hamilton (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"For flat-out huge widescreen all-engines-at-full I-dare-you-not-to-believe-it space opera, there is no one quite like Peter F. Hamilton." (Richard K. Morgan, author of Market Forces)
"Richly satisfying.... In more ways than one, this...work is monumental." ( Publishers Weekly)

Yeah!

I liked this book. words words words words words words words words words more unique words.

LONG but mostly engaging

Would you consider the audio edition of Judas Unchained to be better than the print version?

Yes, but that's because I like audio books better than print as I have more time for them.

Any additional comments?

I listened to this before book 1 (Pandora's Star - which I'm doing now) and was still able to follow the story. I didn't feel lost as if I'd jumped into the middle of a story, so I'd say it can work as a stand alone book, but I'd still recommend reading in order. It is LONG, which I usually like but the story follows of a lot of different characters and sometimes it was so long before he came back to a character, it took me a while to remember who they were again. Overall I did like the story and had to get Pandora's Star to find out what happened first and look forward to what's coming next. It's definitely more about political intrigue & dynasties than space ships or battles, though there are a few of those, they're pretty sparse. In a very vague sense is a little reminiscent of the Miles Vorkosigan Adventures by Lois McMaster Bujold. Set in the future, with a lot of colonized planets & multiple aliens. He's also got some weird concepts & ways of traveling. One is a bizarre mixing of sci-fi & fairies & 'paths' you can 'walk' to other worlds/planets. There's a real 60's hippie feel to some of the characters (Ozzy) & the political activism of that era (Adam) as well. The people in the story are well defined & their motivations & actions are in character. There's a lot to keep track of, but once you get all the players nailed down, it gets interesting.

Epic story!

Would you listen to Judas Unchained again? Why?

I'd completely listen to it again because it complex and clues to the story leak out in dribs and drabs that explain earlier incidents. Going back and listening to it again will complete that circle and I'll pick up on stuff I almost certainly missed on a first listen.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Toe Chi. Because he (it?) was a very unusual and creative alien. And a calming/zen influence over otherwise chaotic events. Also, he made me laugh.

How could the performance have been better?

John Lee is probably my least favorite Audible narrator. His voice is very monotone and I have trouble paying attention to what he says. Also he recycles the same character voices for everyone of his books, which is quite annoying. I'm now looking for books that he does not narrate and will get books he narrates in actual book form and read them that way so that I don't end up hating the story just because he's the one reading it.

Any additional comments?

My one complaint about this book, and Pandora's Box remains that the female characters are pathetically two dimensional. I wish Hamilton had spent even half as much time on his female characters as he did the male characters and the intricate plot. This and Pandora's Box are the first Hamilton books I read so I don't know if he just lacks interest in painting fully developed women in his books or it's just a failing of this one series. But it did drive me crazy that the women were so poorly developed and existed only as male fantasies of what women are like - the porn star with the heart of gold, the ball buster, the sexy career girl who really just wants a good f*ck, and so on. Given the length of the book, this got quite annoying. But this aside, the book still was a fun, creative, complex endeavor.

Very difficult to follow

There appear to be many different stories with some connection that is very hard to follow. It is a shame the author could not use a flowing story line. Hope he has better luck in the future.

It's the ideas, too!

The Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained volumes are instant science fiction classics, as readers know. I was blown over by John Lee's voice characterization of such a multitude of characters. His gangster voice for Morton is perfect, and his crude, humorous, and matter-of-fact accent for Clouddancer, the utterly unexpected adult winged Silfen, is delightful. I immediately searched through Audible for more John Lee readings and either bought them or put them on my Wish List: he's that good, like the great, late David Case/Frederick Davidson but without the taint of cynicism.

The character development, the action, the space opera ought to satisfy us in themselves, but I was continually pondering the ideas. Ideas is what science fiction is for, and Hamilton's got them. If you can be "re-lifed" from a memory chip when you die........are you REALLY the same person alive again?? The entire Commonwealth has talked themselves into this, but....... How about genocide: if an alien species is determined to annihilate every other life form in the universe however long it takes, is it morally justified to destroy them? If someone erases all his memories of a murder he did during his periodic regenerations, can he still be guilty of a murder?

Ozzie is the most charming character, a Wild Child of Leonardo-quality genius, whose idea of solving the problem of invasion of the Commonwealth of human civilizations by implacable murderous aliens is to ask, well, the elves. It is not clear that this works, precisely, but it does expand human knowledge exponentially, which seems to be Ozzie's life speciality. "Elven" Clouddancer's last speech at the end of the book is well worth waiting for.

ONLY MENT FOR DEDICATED READERS

I have read a lot of the reviews, and am blown away at how critical people are who haven’t even finished the book. Novels normally either focus on one of two things character development surrounding a few characters or story development, if it had both it would be twice a long. This novel has many characters and a story that reach over vast distances, many plot lines are the focus and tied together at the end. As long as this series is there are still that are bigger and longer etc Robert Jordan Wheel of Time, Dune, LOR. This is my 5th time around rereading the series and is in my top 5 series. And as for John lee, he is a great reader what he is not is a movie performer. Listen to the kindles text to speech voice and you will start not to expect movie quality voices in a audiobook. If you want the drama acted out for you watch a movie. Peter Hamilton your fans love you, your books let us experience new worlds and plots that can’t be explained in 90 mins. Thank you

Wow... just WOW!

It isn't that often you finish a book and pray there is a follow-up. I read both books in the series and I enjoyed the overall story completely. There is so much here... great characters, love, action, mystery, suspense, Si-Fi, aliens, and guys who say "Dude", everything you could want in a great story! Loved it!

Enzyme bonded concrete

This is the third time I've listened to these books. And they're great. Although you will hear the phrase enzyme bonded concrete repeated numerous times. Lol. But it is seriously a great series. With great characters, and plot lines that weave in and out of it.

John Lee is a superb narrator, one of my favorites actually. The way he crisply rattles off technical jargon is amazing. His character voices are great and is just an overall great narrator.

great story, very hard to hear the narration

great story, the Commonwealth is amazingly interesting. It's very hard to hear the narration though, volume has to be always cranked to full to be able to understand.

Enzyme Bonded Concrete

I genuinely enjoyed this book and it's precursor, but I swear if I ever hear the words enzyme bonded concrete again it will be too soon.