Pandora's Star

"Pandora's Star" and its sequel are two of my favorite audiobooks, and I've listened to atleast 50 audiobooks over the last few years.

I do have one warning, the story is fairly slow going at first and there are many characters/subplots. I almost gave up after a few hours, but I'm glad I kept going. I caught myself wishing at points that he'd just stop introducing new characters, but hang in there, the story is well worth the initial effort. Some of the characters who I thought were boring and extranious at first ended up being the most interesting and exciting in the end.

Peter F Hamilton has created a unique new scifi universe in these two books. Like all great Scif universes this is futuristic and imaginative without feeling fake or "made up". The humans still act like humans(with human strengths and flaws) and the aliens are truely alien(not just humans that look different). Hearing about life in the Commonwealth is almost as interesting as the story itself.

I would definitely consider this epic scifi, but there are elements that appeal to the Cyber-punk fan in me. This is certainly edgy with plenty of sex and violence. There aren't that many sex scenes but sexuality is certaintly a driving force in some characters and is often refered to in the context of the story. There are also several homosexual characters, but he hardly makes it into an issue, its just one part of a few characters lives. Its refreshing to have characters who also happen to be gay rather than "gay characters".

Some reviews have been critical of the narrator, don't believe them. I think he did a great job, sure some of his american accents aren't flawless, but give him a break hes obviously british. Each character is easy to distinguish and he does a good job with the individual voices without going overboard(like some narrators when they voice a different gender)

Highly Recomended!!

my favourite space opera series - seriously well written. very long very satisfying. the premise about human living for centuries due to that genetic replenishment is an awesome concept and allows for interesting twists and for characters to stick around. the bad guy are the most alien alien ive ever read - not human like at all. a myriad of interesting, likeable and hateable characters and great Science fiction concepts. way better than hamilton's nights dawn trilogy. tight plotting - just a very long involved plot with great attention to detail and description - You understand everything. sex, violence, space, aliens and that monster that is sf. 10/10

My first Peter F. Hamilton book and I was most pleasantly surprised. Big story, lots of characters, interesting and novel ideas all woven together with a talented hand. Looking forward to listening to the sequel and any future books by this author. Remember, when judging a book by the reviews, click on the review writer's name to see what they thought of other books, it can be very enlightening.

This has been one of the richest, greatest epics of sci fi I have ever read. I WANT MORE OF THIS AUTHOR, UNABRIDGED! This author thinks believably out of the box, creating surprising but plausible aliens, characters, scenarios. This is rich stuff, unequaled anywhere else. GIVE US MORE!

Hamilton creates yet another great futuristic world and gives his trademark "epic" sci-fi stories wih great writing. The narration is good, not great, but the audiobook gets a 5 anyway. The story is just too awesome :)

is that there are often no audio queues, such as a slightly longer pause for breath, signaling the transition from one story arc to the next. The narration often sounds like one extremely long paragraph; which led to moments of confusion before I realized the author had taken me from one arc to another.

At first I was pretty apprehensive about downloading this book as something just seemed a bit too "Sci-fi"about the title and cover art, wow am I glad I did! This book really is incredibly well written and fascinating from end to end. Character and plot development are amazing and it builds tension constantly. There is plenty of action (from political maneuvering to full scale war) to keep you listening. Within the bounds of the created reality everything makes sense and characters react as humans really do. What most impresses me about this work is that it is at times a crime drama, a character driven narration, a sci-fi work, and even a political thriller; truly the scope of this work is impressive!
I think this is the second book of the past 30 I've listened to from Audible I've given 5 stars, quite surprising to me that it's Sci-fi! I can't wait to start Judas Unchained to find out what happens next!

This is an absolutely fabulous book. The author has a complete and comprehensive vision of an entire galaxy, complete with alien societies, advanced technology, politics and philosophies. The pace is fast, the action complex and compelling. There are lots of good strong characters with life stories that interact in a fascinating manner. Most visionary books like this sag in the middle, needing a good edit. Not this one. It is well written from start to finish. And the narration is top-rate. Read Pandora's Star before Judas Unchained, which picks up right where this book ends.

It took me a couple of chapters to get into this story but I soon realized that this is among the best epic sci-fi books that I have read. Each chapter is almost a short story in itself with its own cast of characters and locations, very similar to George R Martin's Song of Fire and Ice. The universe is vast and complete with its own technology and alien races. The Aliens are particulary well written, there are no throw-away generic aliens like in many books but instead a hand full of fully detailed non humanoids that feel very alien. I havn't enjoyed scifi this much since the Hyperion.

A very detailed story of epic proportion.Pandora's Star is very similar to the epics of Asmov and Tolkien. Lots of alien space wars and assassins, spy's and traitors.
I had to re-listen to the story several times to keep track of the many plot lines. But once you're hooked, you can't put it down.
Read this book before attempting to read the sequel.