Pandora's Star

By: Peter F. Hamilton

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 37 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Critics have compared the engrossing space operas of Peter F. Hamilton to the classic sagas of such SF giants as Isaac Asimov and Frank Herbert. But Hamilton's best-selling fiction - powered by a fearless imagination and world-class storytelling skills - has also earned him comparison to Tolstoy and Dickens. Hugely ambitious, wildly entertaining, philosophically stimulating: the novels of Peter F. Hamilton will change the way you think about science fiction.

Now, with Pandora's Star, he begins a new multi-volume adventure, one that promises to be his most mind-blowing yet. The year is 2380. The Intersolar Commonwealth, a sphere of stars some 400 light-years in diameter, contains more than 600 worlds, interconnected by a web of transport "tunnels" known as wormholes. At the farthest edge of the Commonwealth, astronomer Dudley Bose observes the impossible: Over 1,000 light-years away, a star...vanishes. It does not go supernova. It does not collapse into a black hole. It simply disappears.

Since the location is too distant to reach by wormhole, a faster-than-light starship, the Second Chance, is dispatched to learn what has occurred and whether it represents a threat. In command is Wilson Kime, a five-time rejuvenated ex-NASA pilot whose glory days are centuries behind him. Opposed to the mission are the Guardians of Selfhood, a cult that believes the human race is being manipulated by an alien entity they call the Starflyer.

Bradley Johansson, leader of the Guardians, warns of sabotage, fearing the Starflyer means to use the starship's mission for its own ends. Pursued by a Commonwealth special agent convinced the Guardians are crazy but dangerous, Johansson flees. But the danger is not averted. Aboard the Second Chance, Kime wonders if his crew has been infiltrated.

Soon enough, he will have other worries. A thousand light-years away, something truly incredible is waiting: a deadly discovery, the unleashing of which will threaten to destroy t...

©2004 Peter F. Hamilton (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"The depth and clarity of the future Hamilton envisions is as complex and involving as they come." ( Publishers Weekly Starred Review)

Such an epic tale

I read this series over 10 years ago and loved it. I decided to try the audiobook for a reread and was not disappointed. Excellent narration that really helped bring the diverse cast to life.

Amother great space opera from PFH

The scope, scale, characters, plot, apl make for an enjoyable listen. John Lee crushes it as usual

A bit of an abrupt ending

Good overall but I'm realizing I'm a fan of books with complete stories. The ending just dumps you off and leaves things for the next book.

Have to resort to headphones to listen

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Intricate and engaging story. In terms of value, this is such a long book that "paying by the pound" is returned by the 30+ hour playing time.

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

This book is almost impossible to listen to using speakers (car, Amazon Echo, entertainment system). The reader's volume changes so much across a sentence that it is either blasting at the start or inaudible at the end. This book (and any like it by the same performer) *really* needs to be "remastered" with dynamic range compression to boost the quiet speech and attenuate the louder speech. Dynamic range compression could fix this completely.

If the listener has any hearing loss, the book's performance is impossible to understand. I hear ok, but the only way I can listen to it is with good headphones. Impossible listening on room speakers of any kind.

Come back John Lee, wherever you are!

I don't normally put sci-fi on my list but I found this intriguing and I have enjoyed listening to John Lee read other audio books. This seems to be another John Lee sounding totally bored with what he is reading and the monotonous timbre of his voice is driving me nuts. Also, as others have mentioned, the sound volume seems to be up and down and up and down and up and down. I can see how the story could be a fascinating read but listening to it is kind of like water torture. Sorry Mr. Lee but it's a no go for me. I could easily see picking up a copy of the book and reading it. In fact I probably will. I'm finding this was a waste of a credit. I wish Audible would have am exchange program so I could trade it in for something else.

Slow Read To Nowhere

There was a good book somewhere in here. The idea was certainly interesting, and there were moments when it truly shined. Unfortunately all of those great ideas, and wonderful moments were buried under a litany of boring sub-plots that did little to advance the story. At half the length, with some skillful editing I really think it would have been a good book. As it is however, it was not enjoyable to me, and finishing it became a chore.

The book also suffered from having characters which I largely found to be lacking in personality (with a few exceptions). As a result I did not feel that I could relate to, or feel for them. Had the author focused on a smaller set of characters that might not have been the case.

I can not recommend this book, and will not be reading the sequels.

I really wanted to like it

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I listened to over half the book, but it started to become more of a chore than something I looked forward to.

Has Pandora's Star turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, just this author I think.

Would you listen to another book narrated by John Lee?

No. Hard to differentiate between the characters.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Only if free on TV.

At best...Tedious

What did you like best about Pandora's Star? What did you like least?

What a long and tedious journey. Hamilton is nothing if not descriptive. One could say obsessive about details, but to the detriment of the flow of the story. Hamilton may be the only author whose description of metal rusting would take longer than the actual event.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

A difficult book to narrate. However the accents of the characters are either too similar or just simply silly.

too long and too many separate stories.

wish this was an abridged version. details are also in excess. otherwise it was a decent book.

Try to make it past the first couple hours

Hamilton is very long winded. This is probably my only complaint about this book. It is way too long. Not too long in that the story got bogged down, but too long in that I wanted to get through it faster.

I want to know what the Dyson Sphere "bubble" was, who the Prime is, what Humankind is going to do about it... who is the Starflyer, what are the elves? What does Ozzy have to do with the story? And, ultimately, will we win?

So, the answers to my questions were fed to me like an IV - drip drip drip - with an interfering nurse at hand who occasionally turned off the drip, or switched the bag for a completely different product.

The story takes too long to get started (you really have to trust that it does pick up after the first couple hours). And it's continually interrupted with 'side-stories' which, eventually, turn out to not really be 'side-stories' at all, but part of the main plot. (Of course, you don't know this as you're reading about a space-battle with interesting aliens that suddenly switches to another character who's traipsing through the forest with some elves.)

It's very well woven together, and I assume with book 2 the left-over threads will be pulled tight (and I suspect a whole new weave will be intertwined). And I'm still quite engaged with the whole story because I still want to know "will we win"?

The narrator isn't bad. He's not fantastic by any means, but he does a decent enough job - you probably won't have to rewind to figure out who was talking, but you might have to turn your volume up a bit to catch it all.