4 Down
Latest entry in the 2010 challenge to read at least 52 books during the year comes from Peter F. Hamilton with the Orbit US reprint of The Reality Dysfunction. This is a revisit; I picked up the SFBC single-volume edition back when this opening entry in the Night's Dawn trilogy first appeared.
And it's a nice return. I remember how the viewpoint shifts from one paragraph to the next originally threw me out of the narrative. Now, I expected and accepted them as part of Hamilton's style here. Joshua Calvert remains larger-than-life, but the chinks in his character are more readily discernible. The story still strikes me as space opera (and good space opera), but there's additional depth that I didn't recognize the first time.
The examination of ethics and religion seems more over-the-top, what with all the talk about God's Brother early on from Quinn Dexter. But that's my only complaint. What's a space opera without a Ming-esque villain?
The cover art trumpets the stark Orbit US style. Their line is easily recognizable on bookstore shelves, which is all you can ask for if you're an author (and a publisher), It's a marked contrast to the Jim Burns art that graces the original, but one can't compare apples to oranges.
And it's a nice return. I remember how the viewpoint shifts from one paragraph to the next originally threw me out of the narrative. Now, I expected and accepted them as part of Hamilton's style here. Joshua Calvert remains larger-than-life, but the chinks in his character are more readily discernible. The story still strikes me as space opera (and good space opera), but there's additional depth that I didn't recognize the first time.
The examination of ethics and religion seems more over-the-top, what with all the talk about God's Brother early on from Quinn Dexter. But that's my only complaint. What's a space opera without a Ming-esque villain?
The cover art trumpets the stark Orbit US style. Their line is easily recognizable on bookstore shelves, which is all you can ask for if you're an author (and a publisher), It's a marked contrast to the Jim Burns art that graces the original, but one can't compare apples to oranges.