This appears to be Hamilton's working notes for the Night's Dawn trilogy neatened up and flogged to unsuspecting fans. It adds no new information and cannot be used easily as a reference. A genuine glossary of terms, characters, places etc would have been potentially useful; this is a waste of paper. ( )

All that I really got from this was an insight into the worldbuilding the author had to do to create rounded planets and characters for his novels to work with, the content itself told me nearly nothing and became somewhat repetitive in the planetary section. ( )

The Confederation Handbook provides more background information on the people, places, technology, and organizations that fill the Night's Dawn universe. Hamilton's extensive world building is clear on page after page of information, as, for an example, several pages describe why the colonization of the Moon led to Mars being the only terraformed planet and why the economics worked, how the migration has changed people and how the younger generation reacts to the political situation they were born into.

For fans of Night's Dawn who aren't ready to let that universe go, The Confederation Handbook provides another opportunity to dive into the universe of the Confederation. For people currently reading the Night's Dawn Trilogy, this may be a handy reference to help recall people, places, and things, but don't be surprised if you find yourself continuing to read the reference book and learning more than you needed to know. ( )