Fallen Dragon

The acclaimed Peter Hamilton's standalone SF adventure Fallen Dragon sees him taking a breather after the immense, galaxy-spanning Night's Dawn trilogy, with a tauter story of future skirmishing in a mere few solar systems.

Centuries hence, despite faster-than-light travel, human interstellar exploration is stagnating. There's not enough money in it for the vast controlling companies such as Zantiu-Braun, now reduced to extracting profits via "asset realisation"--plundering established colonies that can't withstand Earth's superior weapons tech.

Lawrence Newton's childhood dreams were all about space exploration. Now he's just another Z-B squaddie, trained to use the feared, half-alive "Skin" combat biosuits, which offer super-muscles, armour and massive firepower, all queasily hooked into the wearer's bloodstream and nervous system. Commanding a platoon in Z-B's raid on planet Thallspring, Lawrence has secret plans to make off with a rumoured alien treasure.

But Thallspring resistance is unexpectedly tough, thanks to locals such as Denise Ebourn who have mysterious access to neuro-electronic subversion gear far subtler and perhaps more dangerous than Skin. Meanwhile, how fictional are the stories Denise tells her school pupils, about a fabled Empire that ruled our galaxy for a million years before becoming... something else?

Hamilton excels at violent action, but not with the dreadful simplicity of space opera. Despite his role in the explosive Thallspring situation, Lawrence genuinely hopes to avoid bloodshed--while Denise's lofty idealism results in chilling atrocities, and even Z-B may be less cruel and monolithic than it seems.

A breakneck interstellar chase leads to a satisfying finale and an unexpected romantic twist. This is solid, meaty SF entertainment. --David Langford

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Excellent Book - Rated
Good stories like this are very hard to come by these days and this is one right up there at the top.

It's nice to see that some authors can still pour so much into 1 book as opposed to a drawn out trilogy which often looses the plot and the reader by chapter 4.

Brilliant, well worth a read.

Perhaps his best book... - Rated
I think this may well be Peter Hamilton's best book, and he really plays to his strengths here. His ability to keep major surprises coming right to the last few paragraphs is seriously impressive, as is his trademark attention to detail when creating a credible interstellar society - most SF authors would be proud to have done it once, but he seems to create societies again and again...

The characters are interesting and not just clear cut 'good guy' 'bad guy' stereotypes, which helps add to the rich texture of the work.

It's also really nice to see him deliver a novel complete in one volume, rather than endure a frustrating wait for each section.

Some of his previous works have disappointed me with the endings (Notably his 'Nights Dawn' trilogy), but this satisfies right to the last page. An excellent read for anyone who enjoys hard SF, and also an excellent point to start with this author before embarking on some of his multi-book novels.

The only small disappointment is that I feel the blurb on the back gives away a bit too much.

The archetype maestro - Rated
Fallen Dragon is the epitome of the hero's journey. This powerful tale is barely contained within such mortal covers. Inside Peter Hamilton unveils to us a new mythology spawned from science - It uses the human condition for fuel - It's a galaxy sized arena filled with fabulous vignettes. With each, he shows us the importance of sacrifice necessary for growth and transformation. With his fingers well and truly wedged in the power sockets of divine creativity. There are few authors presenting the archetypes to us, so well. Favourite...? Well, I wouldn't deny this Master's other works, would I...?

No fall from grace - Rated
Having read some of Peter F Hamiltons other works I was eager to read this. His work is usually imaginitive and thought provoking. Fallen Dragon is no exception.
I do wonder if Peter F hamilton had a troubled relationship with his father, as the central character here certainly has one and it is something that pops up in his work fairly regularly.

A great book, read and enjoy. I wont spoil it here.

Distills Hamiltons Best Ideas - Rated
I greatly enjoyed this book. I find Hamilton has a tendency to reuse themes, but here he has refined some of the best from earlier works. Fallen Dragon is filled with ideas without becoming the sprawling mazes of the Nights Dawn series or the Confederacy novels and it is complete unto itself.

Highlights for me were the 'why' of human colonisation and the nicely worked flashbacks, where you cared to find out what happened by the time it was revealed.

Its bright, fast, high-tech space-opera and if you in enjoyed any of his other books you will enjoy this. It is the only one of his books that I have read and reread and plan to do so again. If you only read one Peter F. Hamilton book, I think this should be the one you read. Enjoy.