Judas Unchained (The Commonwealth Saga)

Judas Unchained is an excellent conclusion to the Commonwealth Saga and an enjoyable galactic scale narrative. Hamilton's style is to use a variety of characters as a vehicle for telling the larger story. Readers of the genre will be familiar with the approach, as chapters jump from one perspective to another in order to provide the reader with background information, build dramatic irony, and tell a more complex story.

I generally enjoy novels of this sort, but am unable to give this one 5 stars on account of the curious choices in vantage point near the end of the story. Many of the characters you become attached to in this book and its antecedent are paid only cursory attention in the final chapters, and I found myself skimming frequently to try and find text I actually cared about (Sorry, Stig, Alec, Bradley, Samantha, no one cares about your perspectives). The ending was still satisfying, but I wish Hamilton had recognized that sublimating major characters in favor of the larger story throws away some of the value of his earlier character development. It kind of reminded me of reading A Feast for Crows, in which all our favorite characters seemed to vanish from the narrative as Martin yielded page space to a bunch of new perspectives from people we'd never heard of and/or actively disliked.

Still a great read, and definitely a MUST read before you move onto The Dreaming Void (which is worth slogging through the end of this to get to!)

Wow. What an amazing book....great end to a great (two-part) series. It'll make you think, is backed by what seems to be sound and hard science, and has amazing character development and plot twists. Highly recommended.

Peter F. Hamilton has become my new favorite modern sci fi author and it is because he writes that space opera spanning worlds and time and different sentient beings. The physics is awesome also. I already have the next three books in the Commonwealth Saga.

This was a fun read. Not intellectual, but the best escapism in the speculative fiction genre. And a very interesting commentary on where technology and social evolution may eventually take us. Some of the best speculative fiction "out there".

One of the most satisfying world-building epics I have ever had the pleasure to read. Multiple subplots interwoven together to creat a rich storytelling experience. The attention to detail is just incredible. Highly recommended to both casual and hardcore sci-fi fans alike.

The plot is very articulated and full of twists. The story itself is beautiful. the description of the locations are, to say the least, exceptional, full of insights on how it could be our future.
I personally retain Peter F. Hamilton a Genius of the science fiction ... or maybe someone who had already visit a possible future, in some way, and describes it, sometimes in a very detailed way!
I look forward reading other books from him!

The story was great. Like Pandora's Star, however, it was a little verbose for my taste. That's why it gets four and not five stars.

I found the Reality trilogy and Fallen Dragon to be a lot faster. This new work has a lot of detail, which sometimes I could do without. I would have liked more action and less scenery.

I believe the book could have been 1,500 pages long, instead of the combined 1,800 it was.

I enjoyed it, though, and look forward for the next book from Hamilton.

Enjoyed the book. Plot and characters were well filled out. I just wish he didn't spend so much time describing every detail of every scene on every planet. I found myself economically brushing through page after page trying to find where the plot starts again.

Peter Hamilton is a fantastic writer! After reading this, my son couldn't wait to get the net Peter Hamilton book! Great sci fi book with hints of mystery, crime, and adventure! One of the best Space operas!

Peter hamilton is the definitive author when It comes to writing space opera SCi-fi. Judas Unchained is a sequel to Pandora's star with in depth characters that reader can associate with. I read both books and then bought the audible version narrated by John Lee which was 10 times better then the book. Well and truly enjoyed it and most defiantly recommend to contemporary sci-fi fans. Once you read Peter Hamilton's book your expectation of sci-fi books will be hard to match as Peter Hamilton has raised the bar with Judas Unchained to a level that can hardly be matched by other sci-fi contemporary writers.

Yeah it could have used some editing, but overall I found it engaging. The characters were interesting and developed enough to generate some good empathy (or antipathy depending- yeah some of them including the hero Ozzie were irritating to me). I loved the technology and way of life in the universe that Hamilton created - to me detailed and believable enough for me as a non-scientist and relative newcomer to science fiction. The ending was a little too schmaltz/happy for my taste but then I don't need science fiction to bring me down either - I can get that elsewhere. I enjoyed it enough to move on to "The Dreaming Void" which I find overall satisfying so far!

A gripping and extremely complex interweaving plot that Hamilton weaves together with a sure hand. Extremely rare for an SF book to find this level of plotting, yet consistently engaging and exciting. Strongly recommend.

I read Judas Unchained because I read Pandora's Star and liked it. PS dragged in places, but overall it had a lot of good ideas and was interesting. I read a lot of reviews on JU before purchasing it, but I wish I had heeded the critical reviews. This book is extremely drawn out, and has only a few interesting parts. Most of the good premises from PS were wrapped up in a juvenile, unbelievable, unsatisfying way. I skipped through about 30% of this book because Hamilton describes every little thing in frustratingly minute detail. An editor was seriously needed here.

Do yourself a favor and skip this one. Some plot line conclusions are good, so read some of the other reviews here that have spoilers to find out how the book ends (those few minutes are worth it), but save yourself the money, annoyance and wasted hours of slogging through this book.

I slogged through this book and "Pandora 's Star' because it was intriguing. Both books have a lot characters and sub-plots and excruciatingly detailed descriptions and narratives. In the end I was a little disappointed.

The book turned pages OK, but the writing was uneven, ranging moment to moment from poetic to high school sophomore. There were a number of glaring spelling and word choice errors that would have been caught by an alert proofreader.

Loved the series. I thought the futuristic world Hamilton created was enticing but also scary as it was soul-less. But that's the world he created. In my opinion, this second book, did not have to be as raunchy as it did. A times, I wondered if Hamilton just got bored and was trying his hand at soft porn. Despite that, I did rate it 4 stars. An epic saga!

This was my first experience w/ Hamilton's work. The book is part of a trilogy that also includes "Pandora's Star" and "Fallen Dragon." I call this "big" science fiction -- stories span interstellar distances, lifespans are long, individuals (at least wealthy individuals) are powerful and beautiful (if they want to be). The trilogy is enjoyable and engaging. Hamilton's treatment of advanced tech is excellent and he makes the improbable seem plausible. His pacing and use of language are rock solid. I occasionally found his characters a bit on the 2-D side, but that's really my only quibble.

Best way I have hears Hamilton described is - "Pure Space Opera", that's exactly how I feel about his books. They are simply riveting, amazing stuff. But do yourself a favour and read the Saga starting from the first book, its just so much more fun!

A very exciting space opera with all the trimmings - aliens, detectives, geniuses, soldiers, entrepreneurs, warmongers and pacifists . Bit lengthy and over descriptive at times, but well worth the ride.

After learning to read "Peter Hamiltons" in Pandora's star.. this book was amazing. So many characters.. so many directions. Just remember... to keep reading; the pieces will all come together in the book.
Huge books... GREAT reads.
The only "don't like" I had.. was the cursing in the books. Think it could have been left out. Well written, great plots.

Peter always has good character development in his stories. And I like how he spends time at the end closing out the story. I don't feel like he left me hanging when the story is done. Good action, well told. Up to his usual high standard. A good read for military sci=fi fans.