The Dreaming Void

Void Trilogy, Book 1

By: Peter F. Hamilton

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 22 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

AD 3580. The Intersolar Commonwealth has spread through the galaxy to over a thousand star systems. It is a culture of rich diversity with a place for everyone. A powerful navy protects it from any hostile species that may lurk among the stars. For Commonwealth citizens, even death has been overcome.

At the center of the galaxy is the Void, a strange, artificial universe created by aliens billions of years ago, shrouded by an event horizon more deadly than any natural black hole. In order to function, it is gradually consuming the mass of the galaxy. Watched over by its ancient enemies, the Raiel, the Void's expansion is barely contained.

Inigo dreams of the sweet life within the Void and shares his visions with billions of avid believers. When he mysteriously disappears, Inigo's followers decide to embark on a pilgrimage into the Void to live the life of their messiah's dreams - a pilgrimage that the Raiel claim will trigger a catastrophic expansion of the Void.

Aaron is a man whose only memory is his own name. He doesn't know who he used to be or what he is. All he does know is that his job is to find the missing messiah and stop the pilgrimage. He's not sure how to do that, but whoever he works for has provided some pretty formidable weaponry that ought to help.

Meanwhile, inside the Void, a youth called Edeard is coming to terms with his unusually strong telepathic powers. A junior constable in Makkathran, he starts to challenge the corruption and decay that have poisoned the city. He is determined that his fellow citizens should know hope again. What Edeard doesn't realize is just how far his message of hope is reaching.

Into the Void? Listen to more in the Void Trilogy.

©2007 Peter F. Hamilton (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Broad in scope and panoramic in detail." ( Library Journal)
"A real spellbinder from a master storyteller." ( Kirkus)

Read Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained First

Any additional comments?

One of Hamilton's best series, to my mind. I find it difficult to describe: it basically blends the same far-future Commonwealth world of Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained with a very well-realized 'Olde England with psychic powers'. That sounds like it's going to be bad: it's not. As usual, Hamilton not only has great ideas but has the ability to really follow through with them and investigate all the possibilities. I'd recommend new readers to start with Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained just because they're a little easier to get into: although if you're coming from a fantasy background then this series might work better

Sci fi story that bounces around too much...

This started off great. Great world with a looming question, that never gets answered. Maybe it will in the final book in the series. It lost traction when it jumped around from character to character.

There was a ton of description. Maybe too much. I could have lost a good 6 hours on this.

Really enjoyed the narrator.

This one was a struggle for me

Would you listen to The Dreaming Void again? Why?

I will probably have to, because it was a bit of a struggle. Good, no doubt about that, and definitely one of Hamilton's strongest series, which is a big compliment. But the narration, while perfectly matched to the lead protagonist's own style and tone, was sometimes a bit too dry, especially in some of the early exposition scenes, where I sometimes found my attention wondering and then found myself confused as to who the heck we were talking about. A very clever, imaginative book, but sometimes lacking clear exposition.

Would you listen to another book narrated by John Lee?

I will, if only to hear other Hamilton books, but he was a little to cynical in places, maybe even aloof. There are some pretty gut-wrenching parts to this, and I'm not sure if I felt he gave them enough emotion.

Well written but it didn't draw me in.

Would you listen to The Dreaming Void again? Why?

I liked the book but I found it hard to keep my attention on the story. This is rare for me and I can only attribute it to the story. There is a great amount of detail, a complex world structure that seems well thought out but I found myself just wanting to hear about the dreams and the world that they created and not anything else. The rest of the story was just a bit boring I believe because the characters were in large part homogeneous excluding the characters that were a part of the dream.

What aspect of John Lee’s performance would you have changed?

John has a great reading voice but he falls short in his ability to create new voices for the various characters as well as other readers. This made following conversations a bit more challenging.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I thought the book delved a bit too deeply into sexual exploits that added nothing to the plot. It seemed to be filler for those that need this activity in their books.

Any additional comments?

I thought the book delved a bit too deeply into sexual exploits that added nothing to the plot. It seemed to be filler for those that need this activity in their books. I have a flaw and that is that I feel a need to complete a series when I start and so with this series I will move to book 2.

creative and fun

if you don't mind a long ride and lots of characters, Hamilton creatively paints very foreign and exciting worlds in his futuristic sci-fi novel

A good story

I have a long daily commute, and I listen to a lot of audio books. I got tired of re-listening to Stephen King books, and have been trying to expand my list of authors. Not generally much for the scifi genre, but this combination of story and narrator hit it just right for me. I just downloaded the third book in this series, and will be disappointed when it's over.

A promising set up in a fascinating setting

Fantastic world building and a something-for-everyone collection of point-of-view characters carries this book. It's worth a read just to experience the very cool setting, although I will note I came into this not having read Peter Hamilton's earlier works set in this universe. The caveat is that this volume reads very much as a setup for the rest of the trilogy, ending not so much with a cliff hanger even, but a comfortable pause after finally revealing how all the plot threads fit together. Pacing also suffers a bit early on because each disparate thread required quite a bit of exposition to contextualize each of the POV characters. I'm hoping all this pays off over the next two volumes.

Not sure what to think really

The narrator's voice is pleasant, and I enjoyed listening to it. I found it hard to keep track of when it switched from one character to another, however. The audio version had hour long segments, but there wasn't enough pause between stops and scene changes. The story itself is strange, as I have never read anything by Peter F. Hamilton before. Most characters are not very deep, and I like maybe 3 people total in the book. The others all got on my nerves. I will continue with the trilogy, though, as I am very interested in finding out what happens to those I like especially.

loved it

characters are well developped. loved the parallel stories that are leading to several possible outcomes.

READ PANDORA'S STAR FIRST

Hamilton's vision of the future is amazing. I love the characters in these stories but to get a real sense of who they are you should read the Pandora's Star books first.
This is humanity at it's finest and worst. Terrific vision of the future. I want to go live there.