At 1144 pages long, Pandora's Star is officially the longest book I've ever read. I have started some that are longer (I am yet to get passed the 900 page mark of The Stand) and have read others that are now longer due to new prints (my copy of It by Stephen King is 1116 but current editions have it as 1300+) but in terms of sitting down, completing and legitimately enjoying a book, Pandora's Star is the biggest.
It was also something of a gamble. Having gotten slightly bored of my usual trope of King, Barker, Clancy, Ellroy, Crichton, etc, it was high time I tried something I never had. I have read science fiction before with The Forever War by Joe Haldeman being one of the greatest popular novels I've ever read. However, despite Pandora's Star being unashamedly sci-fi, it fits into that sub-genre that is often maligned by many: Space Opera. Yet, despite utilising the traits of the genre to full effect (starships, mechanical inserts in the body, faster than light travel, antagonistic alien enemy), and pasting its narrative with broad sweeping strokes, Peter F. Hamilton still retains a sense of immediacy and, despite its epic length, never strays too far from the core story.
What he's presented here is effectively the grounding of a Battlestar Galactica style war scenario and sets it within his own Commonwealth of nearly 500 star systems. Yet in amongst all this, there are very contemporary elements, the most noticeable of which is the over-arching conspiracy story that is only revealed during the final few pages.
Quite frankly, I had a ball with it. Don't let the Space Opera moniker put you off, much of this is no holds bar stuff: the violence is swift, sharp and brutal while sex is described as an almost transcendent experience. The main set-pieces are as good as any blockbuster novel and, quite brilliantly, it leaves much hanging for the just as lengthy sequel, Judas Unchained.
Don't let it's length put you off. Pandora's Star moves along like a bullet train.
4.5/5
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