Product Description

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 its centre is a massive black hole. This Void is not a natural artefact. Inside there is a strange universe where the laws of physics are very different to those we know. It is slowly consuming the other stars of the galactic core - one day it will have devoured the entire galaxy. Inigo, a human, has started to dream of a wonderful existence of the Void. He has a following of millions of believers. They now clamour to make a pilgrimage into the Void to live the life they have been shown. Other starfaring species fear their migration will cause the Void to expand again. They are prepared to stop them no matter what the cost. And so the pilgrimage begins...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #615 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 795 pages

Choice
'Action-packed sci-fi in a collectable boxed edition.'

From the Inside Flap
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 centre 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 these 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 which 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.

From the Back Cover
PRAISE FOR JUDAS UNCHAINED:

`If Pandora's Star represented a return to form, Judas Unchained is even
better' Guardian

`Fast-paced action, widescreen canvas and a huge cast' Locus

`Even better than its predecessor. The plotting is tight, the characters
interesting and the story positively howls along' SFX

`Wonderfully exciting stuff . . . The pages turn effortlessly' Vector

`King-sized space opera . . .[an] awesome SF vision' Dreamwatch

Customer Reviews

Excellent read, but not as involving as Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained
I picked this book up after rattling through the Pandora's Star/Judas unchained series, which I loved.

This book is written in a very similar manner, and is similarly entertaining.

There are 2 differing strand styles, one being high tech, set in the commonwealth 1500 years after the events of the books mentioned above. The other strand is more fantasy style, which I actually really enjoyed - when I hit the first chapter like this, I thought I would struggle with it, but it was pretty good.

Like his other work Hamilton does an excellent job of painting interesting characters that you care about - I feel this is one of his main strengths, and it comes through strongly here.

The single star I've taken off is that the overall story isn't quite as gripping as the Pandora's Star one, and therefore the book doesn't quite grab you in the same way. however, this being a trilogy, it may well develop more in the later books.

In summary, an excellent read. If you enjoyed the Pandora's Star saga, you will definitely enjoy this. If you haven't read the Pandora's Star books, go and read them first!

A personal void
I read about 20 pages then skipped to 50 and then gave up. This type of sci-fi epic is not for me...or perhaps it is because I very much like Iain Banks but this one left me cold.

I think it was the relentless gadget name-dropping that did it eg x took the anti-grav hopper to the sun-port, not forgetting his zero-g hank'..shut up shut up..arrrghhh

the thought of 500+ pages of this made me put it swiftly aside.

Hamilton back to his best!
There's already too many large reviews regarding this book, so I'm only going to say that this book is "Hamilton back to his best"! Easily on a par with the Nights Dawn trilogy - I might even buy the Temporal Void hard-cover version as I can't wait for the paperback!!