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reviewed Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton (Commonwealth Saga, #1)

Peter F. Hamilton: Pandora's Star (2005) 4 stars

Horny sci-fi opera

4 stars

After a break of reading PFH, I've started reading some of his books again. I still absolutely love Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained. I really liked his previous long space opera (Night's Dawn) but this universe feels a bit more fleshed out. Cars and trains (oh, the trains) have models and people clearly have preferences. There's discussions about sports and brands and TV and paying attention to some of it now rewards later on, but not in a major way.

The action is good, the science is fun, but unlike his next trilogy in this universe, it doesn't feel cartoonish. The Void Trilogy to me feels like a lot of technobabble and deus ex machina. Book 1 here starts well.

But it's difficult to ignore the sex. Everyone is constantly horny and having sex with at least one other person. In fact it is stated in the book that after a human goes through medical rejuvenation, there are whole planets for no-strings sex. Unlike previous books, PFH has calmed down a bit and we don't get a shopping list of positions every single time.