Customer Reviews

Neutronium Alchemist (Nights Dawn Trilogy 2)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Of the three in the trilogy, TNA is by far the densest. You just want it to end so you can reach the conclusion. It had none of the build-up and character development of TRD. It just seems to drift. And for everyone you keeps referring to the possessed as zombies...please try to get it right. The souls who inhabit the unwilling victims by means of the reality dysfunction are not mindless, brain eating zombies. With their energistic powers and ability to control matter and appearance, they are about as far from zombies as possible. Regardless, it's still an interesting and fascinatingly complex story. I enjoyed it. And I'd definitely like to hang out in Tranquility (or even Valisk) for a while. What a cool idea...sentient, living biospheres inhabiting the space around gas giants. Where do I sign up?

It's long, but it's worth reading just to know what happens so you can get to the last book. It starts off a little slow, as we have to reconnect with all the different characters and settings from the previous book *and* also get introducted to even more characters! First book kind of revolved a lot around Lalonde, the first planet "invaded" (but nowhere near exclusively with it), this book juggles around even more planets and people, as there are several major situations unfolding. That last phrase about situations unfolding is probably the best way to describe the book, as it's about waiting for all these situations to reach their own fruition, but with the climax coming in the last book of the trilogy, so it may not feel as focused. There's so much more to learn about the invaders, so many different ways they manifest. We also get to become acquainted with another one of those ex-Edenist Serpents, except this one is more a rogue Tranquility than another Laton, and also see the various ways people try to cope and deal with the invaders. The main plot with Joshua Calvert revolves around the mysterious Dr Mzu (whose story starts off with a bit of shock!), but what the other characters are up to is also a lot of fun to follow, like watching Louise learn how to survive away from her sheltered upbringing on backwards Norfolk, although she suffers (*cough*) from being extremely lucky (and wealthy) like some of our other main characters. It's a minor quibble that, for me, didn't detract from staying up for hours with this fun and imaginative series, including this second book.

The story was very interesting and quite engaging. At the end I could not wait to see what will happen to our civilization.

I enjoy Hamilton's writing and look forward to reading this book. Subterranean Press typically does a top notch job creating a work of art at a time when publishers are focusing less and less on quality.

Nice work Sub Press!

-Trevor

I've owned several copies of this book as the Night's Dawn Trilogy is one of my favourite book series of all times. When I got a Kindle it was a natural choice to get a copy on that, so that I could have it anywhere I went. The book is its usual great self, but there have been some problems with the move to digital. Paragraph spacing in some conversations, particularly those involving affinity conversations, are missing, so the sentences spoken by several different characters look like they are coming from just one person! This is merely distracting if you know who is supposed to say what (if you've read it as many times as I have!) but would be a real concern for a new reader!

This is a five star book. Get a paper copy if it's your first time.

Possession organisation spread.


The numbers of those from beyond the grave continue to grow, and a famous gangster is among them, and he puts his 'Organisational' talents to use, once he calms down a bit.

They also find that they can possess the sentient ships, gaining useful weaponry in the process.

Then there is the serious grudge-carrying escaped scientist and her superweapon.

Space battles and zombies and zombie space battles, if you like, although there is no lack of intelligence after possession, just a lot of desperate conflict going on as people learn about this problem and set out to try and do something about it.

Incredibly difficult to get into. I forced myself to read the first 300 pages and then gave up. The author must have been on drugs after reading Riverworld and watching Zombie movies. If you can accept Al Capone being reborn into a future zombie, this is the book for you. There is nothing scifi about this. I enjoyed some of Hamilton's other books but this one more than disappointed, it was a waste of money and time. Literary vomit.

The book is only one third of the total trilogy that Kindle once offered. The Trilogy was a great value, but now it is gone.
Kindle/Amazon has fallen into the take the customer for all they're worth mode of Apple and other parasites.
Too Bad that this book has fallen into, or rather out of, Amazon/Kindle's clutches.