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The Temporal Void (Void Trilogy) [Hardcover]

Peter F. Hamilton
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)


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Book Description

March 24, 2009 Void Trilogy
Many of Peter F. Hamilton’s dazzling novels, which offer startling perspectives on tomorrow’s technological and cultural trends, are epic in scope, spanning vast stretches of space and time. And yet they are grounded in characters–human, alien, and other–who, for all their strangeness, are still able to touch our hearts and fire our imaginations. Now Hamilton returns to the universe of his acclaimed Commonwealth saga with The Temporal Void, the second volume in the trilogy that began with The Dreaming Void.

Long ago, a human astrophysicist, Inigo, began dreaming scenes from the life of a remarkable human being named Edeard, who lived within the Void, a self-contained microuniverse at the heart of the galaxy. There, under the beneficent gaze of mysterious godlike entities, humans possessed uncanny psychic abilities, and Edeard’s were the strongest of all. Equally strong was his determination to bring justice and freedom to a world terrorized by criminal violence and corruption.

Inigo’s inspirational dreams, shared by hundreds of millions throughout the galaxy-spanning gaiafield, gave birth to a religion–Living Dream. But when the appearance of a Second Dreamer seemed to trigger the expansion of the Void–an expansion that is devouring everything in its path–the Intersolar Commonwealth was thrown into turmoil. With the adherents of Living Dream determined to set forth on a dangerous pilgrimage into the Void, interstellar war threatens to erupt.

With time running out, the fate of humanity hinges on a handful of people. There is Araminta, only now awakening to the unwelcome fact that she is the mysterious Second Dreamer–and to the dire responsibilities that go with it; Inigo, whose private dreams hint at a darker truth behind Edeard’s legendary life; Paula Myo, the ruthless field operative of the Commonwealth, whose search for Araminta and Inigo is about to yield a most unpleasant surprise; and Justine, whose desperate gamble places her within the Void, where the godlike Skylords hold the power to save the universe . . . or destroy it.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The shelf-bending and vastly satisfying sequel to 2008's The Dreaming Void continues the epic narrative chronicling humankind's potentially self-destructive search for existential and spiritual fulfillment inside an ever-expanding black hole at the galactic core. Hamilton seamlessly weaves together numerous unwieldy plot lines: as the millions of followers of the Living Dream plan a mass pilgrimage into the Void, others plot to stop their exodus, which they believe will only increase the Void's expansion and hasten the end of the galaxy. To complicate matters, the alien Ocisen Empire has allied with an old nemesis of humanity, the Primes, and their combined military might stands poised as a tremendous threat. Fusing elements of hard SF with adventure fantasy tropes, Hamilton has singlehandedly raised the bar for grand-scale speculative storytelling. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The void is expanding, the Living Dream still plans a pilgrimage to the realm of Inigo’s dreams (see The Dreaming Void, 2006, for backstory), and the Ocisen Empire’s fleet is en route to destroy humanity before it attracts too much attention from whatever is inside the void. Second Dreamer Araminta is the most sought-after person on Viotia ever since she told the Skylord no, though not everyone is out to destroy her. Justine Burnelli is going into the void to find something much stranger than what she expected. The Waterwalker Edeard, goal of Living Dream’s exodus, remains central to Hamilton’s long story, still fighting corruption despite great resistance from the criminal underworld and the long-established nobility. It seems he will always triumph, but of course, it’s not that simple. There are more factions in play than there seem to be, and threads from the Starflyer War (see Pandora’s Star, 2004, and Judas Unchained, 2006) keep popping up in the most interesting places. This second book of a trilogy promises a spectacular finish. --Regina Schroeder

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 736 pages
  • Publisher: Del Rey; First Edition edition (March 24, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0345496558
  • ISBN-13: 978-0345496553
  • Product Dimensions: 2.2 x 6.4 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #476,999 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter F. Hamilton was born in Rutland in 1960, and still lives near Rutland Water. His previous novels are the Greg Mandel series and the bestselling 'Night's Dawn' trilogy: The Reality Dysfunction , The Neutronium Alchemist and The Naked God. Also published by Macmillan (and Pan) is A Second Chance at Eden, a novella and six short stories, and The Confederation Handbook, a vital guide to the 'Night's Dawn' trilogy. His most recent novels were Fallen Dragon, Misspent Youth, Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 15 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars 700 page book that seems too short March 31, 2009
Format:Hardcover
Another excellent installment of the Commonwealth universe saga. There are really two universes in this book and different physics apply in each. The universe inside the "Void" leans towards fantasy, whereas the outside Commonwealth universe leans towards hard science fiction.

I do not like fantasy, however I did enjoyed the parts of the book that play inside the Void more. The reader knows that ultimately there will be an explanation for the way time and space behave inside the Void, and the fast paced story and well developed characters make it a joy to suspend disbelieve - for another 700 pages.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Worth ordering from amazon.co.uk November 12, 2008
Format:Hardcover
With the world becoming smaller it amazes me that there are not global release dates for more things. Since this book isn't due out in the US until Spring 09 I ordered from the UK site of Amazon.

If you like other books from Mr. Hamilton then you will love this book. The grand scope of most of his books is continued. The Waterwalker story is by far the most interesting part for me.
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26 of 37 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Comme Ci Comme Ca April 5, 2009
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Man, I really wanted to like this book, but it's just so-so. The first one was a lot of fun, if you skipped the "dream" chapters. The dream chapters, as many have noted, are garbage. They're boring, long, and frankly cheesy. At best they are cliche fantasy drivel. Why anyone who lived in the modern hyper advanced sci-fi world that Hamilton describes would want leave that and move to the bass-akwards world of the Void, I will never know. I'm a sci-fi reader, why would I ever find some backwoods world fascinating? I suppose you can chalk it up to religious zealots being their usual crazy selves, but even that is a stretch.

The book jacket describes the Void as an idyllic paradise, but it's not even close. If it were, the premise of the book would work beautifully. Everyone would want to go there to escape the pressure of the modern world. But as Hamilton paints it, it's a world that has ancient technology, where petty thugs rule, and violence and social inequality are the norm. It's feudal. Why would anyone want that life you ask? Beats me. I was willing to go with it in the first book. In fact, since the dream sequences were so short, I just started skimming them in a few minutes, reading the first page and the last few pages and eventually not even reading them at all. You know what? The book really moved after that! Because the world outside the world was so fascinating, I was willing to accept the absurd premise that a whole faction of humans wanted to move to the Void, which would trigger a war with a powerful alien race and the Void's expansion, which would slowly ear the galaxy.

Unfortunately, the second book is full of dream sequences that eat up half of the book. Guess what? The suck even worse, but now they're longer and skipping them meant I skipped half the book. I also started to notice something about half way through: I was no longer willing to suspend my disbelief that anyone would want to go to that backwards world and it started to ruin everything. I kept hoping this paradise would show itself, that the Void world would transform from a world of petty rivalries and thugs to something wonderful. It never did. Because I could no longer suspend my disbelief, I started reading it with a much more critical eye and its flaws became more and more apparent. Two problems become immensely clear when you start looking closely.

The first is that there is really not a single new character in the book, if you read the far superior Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained, you know most of them. Since I loved those books, I automagically transferred my love of those characters to the new books, but as this second book started to fall apart for me, I realized that the new books really don't really add anything to those characters, or at least not much to them. So basically they are just comfortable and familiar, but they bring nothing new to the table. The second dreamer character and her boyfriend are fascinating, but they're not on stage enough and eventually she jettisons her boyfriend to run from living dream and with that, jettisons most of what made her interesting, which is her near conversion to Multiplism, a surgery that makes a single personality into a group of people. What a fascinating concept! But sadly, it is abandoned in this book and she never makes the conversion to join her multiple boyfriend.

The second problem is that nothing happens in this book. The plot doesn't move forward much. The Living dream movement hunts the second dreamer and the aliens "prepare" to attack for hundreds of pages. Oh and the surprise allies of the hostile aliens are obvious from the jump, so there is no mystery or surprise when they are revealed. Nobody really attacks, which makes me wonder why I shouldn't have just skipped this book and gotten to the action in last one, which will hopefully move the plot along. Oh yeah and Paula "discovers" that the Cat is loose again. So what? We already knew that, since Hamilton shows us a scene with the Cat in the last book. That means Paula spends about 100 pages uncovering a "mystery" that we already know the answer to. Horrible.

At his best Hamilton is a fantastic world builder. He gives us fascinating concepts and big galaxy spanning space opera. Unfortunately, at his worst, his plots just don't work. The Night's Dawn trilogy almost ruined Hamilton for me. It started off fantastic and then the horrible plot of the dead coming back to life comes out. I threw it down in disgust. Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained redeemed him for me. Those books, while slow at times, made me keep coming back and finished with a satisfying crescendo. The Void trilogy, so far, is somewhere in the middle. The first books was great, if you skip the stupid dream sequences, the second one is middling at best, but you'll probably finish it anyway, like I did. Hopefully the last one lifts it back up where it belongs. And here's hoping they just obliterate the stupid Void and all of it's petty little inhabitants with some super secret galaxy buster bomb! Go Raiel! Stop that lame Void! While they're at it they can throw Jar Jar Binks in there first and then blow it all up, single handedly wiping out two series killing abominations in one foul swoop. A man can dream can't he?!? :)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Fewer plotlines in this book
Hamilton can write a good story. He can make it vivid and engaging. In this book, there is fewer plotlines than in some of his other Works, wich makes it a little more easy to... Read more
Published 9 days ago by Sharon
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book by a Space Opera Master
This is a great follow up to the first Void book.

If you read the first one you know this is a must read and it does not disappoint.
Published 11 days ago by pox67
3.0 out of 5 stars How about a synopsis? Or even a hint here and there?
Volume two of Peter Hamilton's latest trilogy, "The Temporal Void" (Del Rey, $28, 713 pages), is a worthy successor to "The Dreaming Void", and is a complex narrative involving a... Read more
Published 18 days ago by Clay Kallam
4.0 out of 5 stars A necessary component of the trilogy
If you are a Hamilton fan, then you know this is just the middle of the story. If you are not a Hamilton fan and read this book before reading the first in the series it may not... Read more
Published 20 days ago by Ken A Roberts
4.0 out of 5 stars Great Read
Loved the mix of sci-fi and fantasy in one book. Would recomend this to any sci-fi reader. The evolution of the story is really exciting and I can't wait for the next one.
Published 1 month ago by Ezybee
4.0 out of 5 stars Great
If you liked the first book you will like the second. I found the first a bit boring but the second was much better.
Published 3 months ago by Michelle
4.0 out of 5 stars Great read good story
I cannot wait to start the third book! I love how Hamilton carried the commonwealth on. I want more! I'm stuck on Hamilton!

Malcolm
Published 4 months ago by Malcolm Welch
4.0 out of 5 stars A good successor, if not perfect
The Temporal Void is not as strong as its predecessor, The Dreaming Void, but it's still a strong book, if more of a 3.5 than a 4. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Evil Overlord
5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing story in the Commonwealth universe
Peter Hamilton has advanced the Commonwealth society in an entirely believable way and it is the setting for this fantastic story. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Enthusiastic Student
1.0 out of 5 stars Lost.
I read a lot of science fiction books and this one was tough. Very long and simply scattered. My first time reading Hamilton and I don't see my self going back.
Published 4 months ago by Mark
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The Temporal Void, thanks for the spoilers Amazon
Was just thinking the very same thing.... pah!

I haven't started on this second book yet though as I'm waiting for the USA release in March, despite the book being released months ago in other countries. Why does it take so long for Hamilton's USA publisher to release the books?
Feb 17, 2009 by Darren |  See all 5 posts
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