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A review by harabeck
The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton
1.0
Utterly confused as to why people like this series or even this author at all. Hamilton loves worldbuilding so much that the plot is left to wallow untouched for chapters at a time. That is not an exaggeration. Massive swathes of text are devoted to describing worlds, cultures and people that do not interact with the plot. Once the evil is unleashed (which involves an act of extreme sexual violence... somehow), there are about 3 events in the entire book that are plot relevant.
The ideas in that world building are interesting in a highly speculative sort of way, but they're also just kind of stupid. The hard divide between Adamists and Edenists is completely arbitrary. No Adamist in centuries can reproduce any of the biotech at all? Really? The living starships are more *precise* than the computerized ones?
Characters are mostly unlikeable. One of the main POV characters spends a good chunk of the book seducing and then sleeping with a teenager. He lies to her so that she'll think their relationship will be long term while knowing he's going to leave. And then he leaves, and it didn't really tie in with the main plot. It honestly felt like the author just wants to describe the character's sex life.
The ideas in that world building are interesting in a highly speculative sort of way, but they're also just kind of stupid. The hard divide between Adamists and Edenists is completely arbitrary. No Adamist in centuries can reproduce any of the biotech at all? Really? The living starships are more *precise* than the computerized ones?
Characters are mostly unlikeable. One of the main POV characters spends a good chunk of the book seducing and then sleeping with a teenager. He lies to her so that she'll think their relationship will be long term while knowing he's going to leave. And then he leaves, and it didn't really tie in with the main plot. It honestly felt like the author just wants to describe the character's sex life.