Subject: An AUS.SF review by Dac - The Reality Dysfunction

From: [email-masked] (Excession)
Date: 22 Jul 1997 17:24:36 GMT

The Reality Dysfunction, by Peter F. Hamilton.
	Review Copyright 1997 David Andrew Clayton

Synopsis : seven hundred years in the future, Humanity has begun to spread
out through the galaxy, hundreds of planets, thousands of modified
asteroids.  A few alien races ('xenocs') have been found, some of them
have joined humanity, one mob as observers, another as vaguely interested
co-habitants on new colony planets.  On the frontier world Lalonde,
nothing much goes right, and as the book begins to get interesting,
Lalonde gets shafted again and again.

[minor spoilers below]

This is a big book in more ways than the obvious. Trade paperback format,
950pp, and more ideas stuffed in it than five normal novels in today's
market.  Hamilton's book evokes that 'sense of wonder' one gets from
reading great SF.  In the same way that Hyperion wowed me, this book
grabbed hold and was almost unputdownable (if I wasn't into playing Quake
so much ...).

Hamilton's universe is kinda like Niven's Known Space.  There are things
going on that aren't clear to the humans.  Humanity has split into two
factions -- the Edenists and the Adamists.  Edenists use a psi-like power
called 'affinity' to communicate with both each other, and 'bitek'
creations of various levels of intelligence ranging from pre-sentience to
super-intelligent collections inhabiting bitek space-based habitats.

Adamists prefer nanotechnology, and are into neural-nanonic and physical
enhancement in a big way.  Technology rules, as well as god.  The Adamists
consider the Edenists to be heretical, but to say more would spoil the
story.

The protagonist is an exceptionally lucky young fellow called Joshua.
He's out looking for a big find in a xenoc ring of debris, much like
Pohl's Gateway -- a big find can set you up for years!  Joshua discovers
his big find, and goes on to become a young space captain.  This guy is
depicted as a constant sex-machine.  He has it away with half the female
characters in the book, and they all love him.  Why?  Who knows.

The main story is centred around a sequestration phenomenon, through
various eyes and persons we are told of what's happened in the Edenists
past, what skeletons lurk in their closets, and why the Adamists are
adamantly non-Edenist.  This sequestration imbues normal people with
superduper inexplicable powers -- lots of keen battles between relatively
unarmed people who have been taken over, and armed-to-the-teeth adamists
with an impressive range of devastating weaponry.

The entire human confederacy is eventually confronted with monsters from
humanities recent past, and monsters of an entirely similar nature in
their uncounted billions.

I really liked this book. Peter Hamilton is a new author to me, I've never
heard of him before, never read any reviews of his works.  I picked up the
book by sheer chance, and I'm very pleased I did.

The down side?  It's part one of a series.  (Aren't they all these days?)

The book finishes well enough, but there are heaps of major plot lines to
follow, and the confederacy is obviously going to have some major problems
in further books.

On the increasingly absurd Sid and Nancy scale, this deserves a tuna steak
with an incredible sauce.

%A Peter F. Hamilton
%T The Reality Dysfunction
%I Macmillan
%C London
%D 1996
%G ISBN 0-333-67563-0
%P 958pp
%O Trade paperback, Aus$24.95

David Andrew Clayton     # Please remove NO_SPAM when 
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