Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8509 in Books
• Published on: 1995-03-10
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages

Synopsis
Hamilton's third Greg Mandel novel. A strangely beautiful flower is delivered anonymously to Julia Evans, head of the Event Horizon conglomerate. When Greg Mandel sees it he is devastated at the wave of psychic power that pours out from it. The flower may be a message from an alien intelligence.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic
As with most of Peter Hamilton's books I started reading it and couldn't put it down.
I live in Leicestershire, and the way he uses local place names in this book and also Nights Dawn Trilogy, seems a bit odd when I know them so well, but it works.
His characters are well developed and the novel is gripping and fast paced.
The only criticism (if it is one,) Is that Julia seemed happy to let Royan go, whom she loved so much and who she would walk through the fires of hell to protect, then fall into the arms of someone else in nothing flat!
I think the Suzy character could have been developed a bit more as well. Apart from those small elements, this is a rollicking good read, and I would recommend it to anyone, whether or not you have read anything by Peter F Hamilton before.

As much as I hate to critisise Hamilton....
I have read almost all of his books. I loved nights dawn, the commonwealth books and others he has written. I love his style of writing but Im sorry but this just isnt a great book. The idea is fantastic, it really is but... the characters are shallow, 2d, made to measure and the plot is contorted and manufactured. The ending is... the biggest anticlimax ever, and I felt depressed after finishing the book. He could of done so much more, I dont care what was going on in his life at the time or what deadlines he had. The ending of this book had a lot to desire and the characters needed more work. Also an event took place which really didnt need to...

Anyway big disapointment. Not worth the read. Better keeping to his other books or spend your money on other classics which are good. Dont heed the rave reviews, great imagery, poor plot, poor characters, disapointing ending....

Still My Favourite.
I wasn't going to write a review but I was so amazed at the previous reviewers comment: "The poorest Peter Hamilton novel I've read" that I felt moved to add my own comments.
It has, perhaps, been superseded by the later, grander works, but not in terms of quality.

The major problem with this book, and indeed with the "Greg Mandel Series" as a whole, is that like so many SF authors, the author set the events a little too close to the present. Real history has over-taken the events described.
When reading the books today you have to suspend the natural inclination to see the book as predictive and view it instead, as a kind of parallel alternate history(like "Watchmen" or "The Man in the High Castle").If you can do that there is much to enjoy in the series.
A more minor difficulty is, that this is the third book in the series, and while it is possible to read it without reading the others first, it is not advisable. In fact one of the best features of the books is the way that all the characters grow and change as the story progresses.

The first book in the series("Mindstar Rising") is good and introduces the characters and world very well. The second is a decent enough read, but ultimately not of the standard of the others. This book, the third and final instalment, is the best by far and features some of the the most brilliantly realised SF I've ever read.
A criticism sometimes directed at the later works is that the ride is great but the finish doesn't always match it. In this book he actually exceeds expectations.

Since all three books in the series, put together, are about as long as one instalment of the "Night's Dawn Trilogy" and are as readable as anything he has written since, I would recommend this, and them, to any fan of the author.
In truth the series is a great place to start if you are knew to him; it worked for me.