Science fiction page-turner (as usual from Hamilton), unfortunately also as usual the gender politics in the novel are disappointing and took away some of my enjoyment. ( )

Of the 10 books I have read from this author, this is my least favorite. It has at least 3 or as many as 5 separate plot lines, depending on whether you count different point-of-view characters in the same time frame as a single plot line, and I found exactly one of them really engaging. The main problem with the others for me was that the characters were unlikable and there was so much information left out that I was constantly guessing at the meaning and context of their choices. By the end of the book I wasn't confused anymore, but for such a long novel the build-up took too long relative to the size and quality of the payoff. ( )

Remembering how good "Pandora's Planet" was I was eager to read this book. But strangely, I started experiencing flashes of foresight of the ongoing plot lines. Convinced that I'd never seen the book before, I was mystified by these scenes that popping up in my head--to the point of doing some research: I had indeed read this work 13 years ago....and it left almost no impression on me. And, as I continue to read it, I can understand the problem. Hamilton is a very good author and has a knack for embellishing his stories with entertaining details. But, in this book the details are, indeed, poetic and lovely—but they add nothing to the story. At least half the verbiage is spent describing completely irrelevant background details that do nothing to further the plot.

The action scenes are good; and, while a certain minimum of detail is useful, and maybe necessary, in this book he overdoes it and bores me with the intricacies of the details that do not give me any insight into the story or the characters. It's not that these details are not poetically enthralling--it's that I don't read Science Fiction for such poetry. Roger Zelazny is poetic and I enjoy his stories immensely; but his poetry is integral to the plot.

In any case, it’s only about a third of the book that I find off-putting. The rest of the story is a clear 5-star, so that will bring my rating up to 4-stars.

The hero wants to explore the galaxy for new planets and discovers that the only chance of doing that is to sign on the only “company” large enough to still maintain a space fleet and become a foot soldier in their army. The actual story line bounces back and forth in time so that we get references to situations in the past that we don’t learn about until future chapters. The Kairos moments of the plot are obvious as we go along for the ride: his true love, the “treasure” that he expects to find in the hidden village, the aliens with their free knowledge; these are all the pivot points around which the action takes place…and the action is what deserves a 5-star rating.

Yep. Blijft werken voor mij. Hamilton sleurde me weer een slordige 800 bladzijden mee in een heerlijke space opera met flink uitgewerkte personages, indrukwekkende werelden, actie en een goed uitgewerkte plot. Verslavend, die scifi van Hamilton.
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It's a long book but I enjoyed the read. I was a bit hung up in the beginning with 300+ years in the future still using familiar technology like cash, fuel-type energy for vehicles etc but once I let go of that the story was very enjoyable and I like the ironic twist at the end. ( )