Judas Unchained (The Commonwealth Saga Book 2)

I’ve read a great deal of Hamilton’s work. These two books are really outstanding story telling. A pleasure to read.

Together with “Pandora’s Star” this book is a wide-ranging space opera with enough strange aliens, thrills, courageous action, reversals of fortune, betrayals, cliff hangers and (mostly off-screen) sex to make any fan of the genre happy.But if I have to read the phrase “enzyme-bonded concrete” one more time I will run screaming into the night.As it happens, the-material-we-will-never-name-again appears to be a real thing, self-healing paving material that absorbs CO2. Look it up.But that doesn’t mean it has to be mentioned over and over and over again.I suspect these extremely long books would be 10% shorter if the material in question had been mentioned once or twice near the beginning and then replaced by words like “road”, “pavement”, “tarmac”, etc.Or maybe that’s just me…

A couple years back, in an effort to expand my science fiction horizons, I picked up Peter Hamilton's Pandora's Star. Based on the back of the book description and its hefty size, I felt this would be a good, substantial read. When I got home, however, I realized that this was actually just volume one in a two part story, and the second volume - Judas Unchained - was not due out for a while, even in hardcover. Since it was an incomplete story, I shelved Pandora's Star and went on to other things until I could, at last, pick up the sequel. Was this 2000-page, two-book science fiction saga worth the wait? Overall, yes.In the broadest terms, the plot of this story involves a war between the human Intersolar Commonwealth and a race of vicious aliens known as the Prime. As Pandora's Star concluded, the Commonwealth had beaten back the Prime but at great cost: a number of destroyed human worlds. Even then, the Prime was hardly defeated, merely stalled temporarily. Also, as Pandora's Star ended, it was becoming clear that a mysterious alien known as the Starflyer - previously only believed in by a fringe group called the Guardians of Selfhood - was a real entity, and through its human agents was manipulating the war to its own advantage.In Judas Unchained, much of the first half of the volume deals with the efforts to come up with conclusive proof of the Starflyer's existence while other characters prepare for the next battle with the Prime. Eventually the Prime do strike back, much more savagely than before, and even as this peril is being dealt with, the Starflyer makes its own move and needs to be stopped.But just as a rope, from a distance, looks like a single line, but up close is shown to have intertwined fibers, so too is this story actually made up of a number of different plotlines featuring dozens of characters. While there is no single main character, the principal protagonists include: Wilson Kime, last of the old-time NASA astronauts who is now the Admiral in charge of stopping the Prime; Paula Myo, the Commonwealth's greatest detective who is congenitally unable to allow crime to occur without punishment; Mellanie Rescorai, a news reporter who's superficially a beautiful bimbo but is actually much slyer than is immediately evident; Bradley Johannson, the leader of the Guardians whose preparations for the Starflyer's return may be the only thing that saves the human race; and Ozzie Isaac, an eccentric genius who has wandered the paths of the alien race called the Silfen and, in his quest for answers, has wound up on a planet that defies the laws of physics.Judas Unchained is not a standalone book and should not be read unless you've already finished Pandora's Star. In one way, however, it does feel standalone: like a single volume story, Judas Unchained starts rather slowly (a change of pace from Pandora's Star's conclusion), but picks up considerably by the halfway point of its thousand pages; the last 300 pages or so are almost all relentless action.Hamilton knows he's not writing the great American novel with grand themes about the human condition, but instead a great science fiction novel. His straightforward style, clear with dashes of humor, goes well with his subject. He is a very good plotter and is able to bring all his plotlines together rather neatly. You'd think that in a 2000 page story, there'd be some excess that could have been trimmed away, but this isn't the case. If you have the fortitude to deal with a true space opera epic, Judas Unchained, like its predecessor, is worth the effort.

This is second book and continuing story. It would be foolish to read either this or the first half alone. But there are 2000 pages! 1000 each. I have enjoyed the way the author explores an idea and develops characters, too many characters. The second book had a list of characters in the front which was helpful. While the writing is highly imaginative, at times his imagination fails. He described enzyme-bonded concrete about every five pages. Same for semi-organic fabric. Must have used a word processor to fill them all in. By the third mention, I understood the concrete was enzyme-bonded! He needed an editor. Two editors! All this noted, I will be thinking about some of his concepts for a long time, even though most are clearly outside science as we know it.

Let's call this review my review for both books in this series, this being the latter part of a tale begun in "Pandora's Star." Let me first make something clear. You will probably not like the first two chapters or so in either book. In book one the beginnings feel slow, and plodding even. But it's necessary, Hamilton needs that time to spin his universe, and the people in it, into something we can all relate to... somethine we can all see. Book two's beginning retreads over some old ground from book one... but it's a different point of view. Get past those first few chapters in either book, and you're there for the duration.The story centers on, but is not limited AT ALL to a galactic government's fight against a 'cult' known as the Guardians of Selfhood, and later against the alien known as MorningLightMountain and his hive mind-like 'immotiles' and 'motiles.' The Guardians are fighting against what they call "The Starflyer," an entity that remains cloudy until far into book two. In the story you have Investigator Paula Myo, who is working on tracking the Guardians. Nigel Sheldon, to whom humanity feels it owes it's place in the stars as it is. Ozzie, the guy who made a practical spacefaring society with Nigel possible, is a brilliant character who goes off on one of the most enjoyable journeys of them all. Also prevalent are Wilson Kime (pilot and later commander), Justine Bernelli (senator), Bradley Johansson (Guardians of Selfhood founder), Renne Kempasa (Investigator), Mellanie Rescorai (reporter), and Adam Elvin (guardian), The SI (Sentient Intelligence, basically a self sustaining AI that likes to watch humans and occasionally help out)... and I've not even scratched the surface for you there.Basically, I'll say it's hard to give a succinct review of a tale that I cannot imagine being told in less pages than it was. But I can give you strong points.1. World building.I've never been a fan of it, but Hamilton uses it with a style, practicality, and touch of the poetic that I've never encountered before. Do you NEED to know everything he tells you? No. But it does make it all seem so much more real. Which leads to...2. Understandable.For all the high technological concepts being on display, Hamilton gives us great practical descriptions that link us right in that zone with him. We can see how it works.3. STORYMuch too often Sci-fi gets carried away with a broad story or too much technology... a good story can get easily lost in all of the things that Hamilton uses in his books here. But the story is never secondary to the technology he writes of. The story is always the first priority. And whether it's the description of the COMPLETE up to date evolution of an alien species into a fully technologically independant terror of the galaxy, or how people watch TV in 400 years... the STORY is always told brilliantly. Flowingly.So as my title suggests, this story is a freight train, it takes a bit to keep going, and when it stops at the end of book one and you go and pick up book two, it does take it a moment to get itself up to speed again. But once it's up to speed, nothing stops it until IT wants to stop itself.

Overall i liked it quite a bit. It was a good story. Kept me involved and interested. I liked the worldbui!ding, but there were a lot of characters to keep track of. That could be just a small brain problem on my part.

Usually, most follow up novels fail to deliver, but in this case I think Judas Unchained is actually a better novel than the first in the set. The writing is more taunt and focused, the characters more developed, and the pace better. If you finished the first book, I would recommend the second.

Second read of this- originally read as a book! Very complex story that finishes resolving- for better or worse, who knows? Personally I find excessive descriptions at times a bit boring, so it could have been more compact. Nevertheless a good read and I’d recommend. I also used audible so I could maintain a momentum when reading/ listening, which I found enjoyable.

I must admit, the author has lots of wild and amazing ideas, as well as the right touch of humor. The Commomwealth Saga (Pandora's Planet and Judas Unchained) is in the middle of his world, which spawns, later, the Void series, among other stories. Yes, it is space opera of amazing scope covering millenia. Simply put, worth reading....however....The author tends to fill in too many spaces and leaves little for the reader to imagine, which does lead to me wanting to put down his books and take a break. Dare i say it, I get bored and tired reading the often gratuitous dialogue, extended battle scenarios and explainations of minor details (which may go on for pages), although the stories are interesting enough to keep me picking it back up. One does wish to know who will die-win-betray next, although it is oft obvious and i miss the sense of elation typically connected to plot turns. A side effect of too much information and too many sub-plots that tumble and fall about A case of the journey being paramount to the destination. Toward the end, I realised I really didn't care any more.If you want to know the core of Hamilton's work, then these two books need to be consumed. Otherwise, I can't recommend them for their raffinesse or cunning.

Its a good book, i felt it contained a dip in its writing, and sometimes it was lacking the flare and fire of The Fallen Dragon series. Still the climax it offered was great and Ozzie is great character which had a naked gun 2 feeling to it. The SI takes resemblance to google developing AI. Mellanie Rescoria with SI inserts, Tiger Pantsy with her high pitch voice like the ghostbusters 1 secretary, reall slutty and full of live experience. I would like to thank the writer for his insights on future developments which sound true and offer a realistic point of view, with a taste of carefullness.BestBastiaan