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)

The Audible version of this book is disapointing

What would have made Judas Unchained better?

A non iritating naraitive. Maybe R. C. Bray would have been a better choice. John Lee's gasping pronounciation is quite distracting

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator seemed to be gasping and charging into every sentence.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I will have to read the book to have any comment.

Not the reader for me

I had a very hard time listening to these books. I missed most of the story because the reader doesn't grab my attention (probably good since I listen while driving.) I don't know how to rate the story since I missed so much.

Long, Long, Long, and X-rated!

This story is way too long. It must be read with Pandora's Box as a prequel. The graphic sex could have been left out or reduced. The language is awful. Very hard to follow which is too bad.

It winds 3 (maybe 4) stories togethers which all come together at the end. That is masterful. That is why I gave it a rating of ★★ rather than ★! This book is too long, too confusing and unnecessarily vulgar. I will skip books by Peter Hamilton in the future. John Lee I thought did a good job with the screwy material.

Bad narration !! no pauses and change in volume

Narrator keeps on switching scenes without a pause, really annoying when you find out last few lines were from different scene.
narrator keeps on changing the volume level sometimes so high that i had to lower the volume of my headsets and other times making it so low that i was forced to increase volume.
Story is not bad from top but useless explanations and details of non-relevant things and people were excruciatingly bad.

Different narrator would have made this infinitely better!

The narration was very poor...all female characters sounded breathy and seductive, even the tuff as nails detective (she just sounded pissed off and seductive). Most of the male characters had English/Scottish accents which made all those characters sound the same , to include the California surfer character who just sounded like the same Brit saying dude every other word....too many of the other american accents were of the Harvard jaw clencher variety...variances from whisper quiet to normal tones were equally irritating having to constantly adjust the volume on whatever listening device being used. The story and writing were also mediocre with very little character/plot/story line development. Some of the verbiage was so redundant it became comical...Dreaming heavens, I have learned my lesson and will never purchase another book from author or narrator. If u want a story to allow u to really climb into another world; feeling compelled by excellent characters, and a story that defines the environment and existence of those characters, this book is not for u! It's more comparable to a Danielle Steele novel, with aliens.

terrible book

don't waste your time, hard to follow, terrible narration, not worth 1 star, save your money

Yawn and awe mixture

This book is so long the story line almost does not count in the end. If it was 12 to 15 hours long it would have been a super story. The quality of the final production is pathetic, not the narration. I only have another 2.5 hours of torture to endure.

Too LONG

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I love a long book, but I need to be able to stay interested in it the whole time. I found this very hard to do. I also love sci-fi, but again, it needs to be intersting. So I am not sure who would want to listen to this. I guess the characters were just hard to care about, so then who cares what happens to them.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I am going to try to finish Noble House.

Which character – as performed by John Lee – was your favorite?

none, it wall all one long lonlg long grey monotone.

What character would you cut from Judas Unchained?

The leader or president or whever he was that asked Melanie to mary him out of the blue. What in the world was he needed for? NOTHING

Any additional comments?

I did not really hate it, but that is the best I can say. I forced myself to finish it.

Judas Unchained too long

For what you get it is way to long. But at least this one has an ending.

Not worth the time

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

. it should have been a much shorter novel. He goes on a lot about technology and he goes back over everything from several points of view and it just makes it drag.

Would you ever listen to anything by Peter F. Hamilton again?

I wouldn't recommend him.

Would you be willing to try another one of John Lee’s performances?

This is the second series of his I have listened to and I think he over dramatizes and takes away from a story. . I can listen to him but I don't enjoy his performances.

Any additional comments?

The audio itself was poor. It kept changing quality. It would sound normal and the the narrator voice would get all echoey and loud, then it would go back. As if they had reread a section and not balanced it correctly.

Beware, this is the second book of the story.

This isn't a review of the audiobook as I've not listened to it. This is just a warning that Judas Unchained is the second book in the story. Audible should have released Pandora's Star first for listeners to get the most out of this one.

4 stars, based on the paperback version.

Where are the rest of the series?

This is mainly to say James is right. Get all the books to the listeners! I started with to the \"Void series\" only to discover that they where part of a series. Audible - are you listening?
When will void book two be recorded?

Top class science fiction..

Excellent story (make sure you know the plot from the first in the series) from one of the most accomplished and consistently high quality science fiction authors currently writing. Top class listening..

Judas Unchained

This is the second Peter Hamilton book I have listened to and is set centuries before the events in the Dreaming Void. Annoyingly the first book in the series Pandora's Star is not available as an audiobook, I read it first because I wanted to know more about the universe in which Judas Unchained is set.
Judas Unchained brings the series to a brilliant conclusion though an incredible mind-numbingly large number of people die due to the catastrophic events that are triggered in Pandora's Star. A great listen - kept me rivetted wanting to know how the characters were going to extricate the future of humankind from an almost fatal fix.