The Reality Dysfunction
The Night's Dawn Trilogy: Book One
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4.5 • 127 Ratings
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton is the first in a sweeping galactic trilogy from the master of space opera, The Night's Dawn trilogy.
In AD 2600 the human race is finally realizing its full potential. Hundreds of colonized planets across the galaxy host a multitude of wildly diverse cultures. Genetic engineering has pushed evolution far beyond nature's boundaries, defeating disease and producing extraordinary spaceborn creatures. Huge fleets of sentient trader starships thrive on the wealth created by the industrialization of entire star systems. And throughout inhabited space the Confederation Navy keeps the peace. A true golden age is within our grasp.
But now something has gone catastrophically wrong. On a primitive colony planet a renegade criminal's chance encounter with an utterly alien entity unleashes the most primal of all our fears. An extinct race which inhabited the galaxy aeons ago called it 'The Reality Dysfunction', and is the nightmare which has prowled beside us since the beginning of history.
The Reality Dysfunction is followed by The Neutronium Alchemist and The Naked God.
'Absolute vintage science-fiction. Hamilton puts British sci-fi back into interstellar overdrive' The Times
'An epic in the traditional sense of the word . . . thunderously enjoyable' Interzone
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
First published in 1996, this behemoth opening to the Night's Dawn trilogy takes humankind across the galaxy on a quest for profit that becomes a desperate battle for survival. Space scavenger Joshua Calvert begins shipping wood from the primitive planet Lalonde to the pastoral patrician planet Kulu despite a revolt among the prisoners who serve as Lalonde's forced labor. A greater threat lurks within Lalonde's intensely claustrophobic jungle: an energy virus that turns people into zombies and that even 27th-century biotechnology can't cure. Hamilton succinctly uses strong visual imagery to bring each culture and civilization to life. Only this relative economy of language allows so many plots, subplots and characters to be squeezed into over 900 pages. Elements of space opera, Straubesque horror and adrenaline-laced action make this a demanding, rewarding read.
Customer Reviews
The reality disfunction
This was an amazing, engaging and mind boggling book. With interesting, and sometime unbelievable, characters and a thrilling and exciting the reality disfunction by Peter F Hamilton is one of the best books I have ever read and I would thoroughly recommend it for anyone interesting and sci-fi and fantasy fiction novels. I would also recommend finishing the series and moving on to the Void trilogy, another trilogy by Peter F Hamilton.
The reality dysfunction
This is a great book, it's even better reading it the second time around. Hamilton's ability to build the complex characters and set scenes is matched by only a few authors. This combined with an unrivalled SF imagination, and intertwining this with the horror genre makes this book hard to put down. Well worth a read for those just venturing into SF, and also by the die hard readers.
Astonishing this trilogy has never been adapted for television
Sad to say, the quality of writing in the English language has deteriorated over the last few years; however, one author stands head and shoulders above most and that is Peter.F.Hamilton. His “The Reality Dysfunction‘ is a literal tour de force, introducing concepts and themes on a scale rarely, if ever, seen. That, together with the imagination to tackle the greatest question of all, what happens to sentient beings after death both thrills and frightens the reader. How, that even after death there are those of a predatory and parasitical nature who can impose their will on the physical world through an innocent mistake. We watch as an arrogant, extremely capable technological society suddenly become confronted with concepts way beyond its ability to comprehend let alone tackle. I cannot recommend this book enough and once read never, ever forgotten.