Peter F. Hamilton's superbly imagined, cunningly plotted interstellar adventures are conceived on a staggeringly epic scale and filled with fully realized human and alien characters as complex as they are engaging. No mere world builder, Hamilton creates entire universes—and he does so with irresistible flair and intelligence. His previous novel, the acclaimed Pandora's Star, introduced the Intersolar Commonwealth, a star-spanning civilization of the twenty-fourth century. Robust, peaceful, and confident, the Commonwealth dispatched a ship to investigate the mystery of a disappearing star, only to inadvertently unleash a predatory alien species that turned on its liberators, striking hard, fast, and utterly without mercy.
The Prime are the Commonwealth's worst nightmare. Coexistence is impossible with the technologically advanced aliens, who are genetically hardwired to exterminate all other forms of life. Twenty-three planets have already fallen to the invaders, with casualties in the hundreds of millions. And no one knows when or where the genocidal Prime will strike next.
Nor are the Prime the only threat. For more than 100 years, a shadowy cult, the Guardians of Selfhood, has warned that an alien with mind-control abilities impossible to detect or resist—the Starflyer—has secretly infiltrated the Commonwealth. Branded as terrorists, the Guardians and their leader, Bradley Johansson, have been hunted by relentless investigator Paula Myo. But now evidence suggests that the Guardians were right all along and that the Starflyer has placed agents in vital posts throughout the Commonwealth—agents who are now sabotaging the war effort. Is the Starflyer an ally of the Prime, or has it orchestrated a fight to the death between the two species for its own advantage?
Caught between two deadly enemies, one a brutal invader striking from without, the other a remorseless cancer killing from within, the fractious Commonwealth must unite as never before.
This will be humanity's finest hour—or its last gasp.
Download and start listening now!
"Ends up wandering around a little piously (one man making the stand against genocide says nothing about the state of humanities soul) and definitely left a few threads hanging, SI anyone? but this massive tome of a novel (it's really one book, the two are inseparable) keeps the uncertainty flowing, the body count counting, the stakes a rising and then it kinda peters out in climax, but still worth the romp."
— Calen (4 out of 5 stars)
Richly satisfying…. In more ways than one, this…work is monumental.
— Publishers Weekly Starred Review“In more ways than one, this two-part work is monumental.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)“Hamilton has, as usual, produced a dense, engaging space opera that satisfyingly balances shoot-‘em-up action and thoughtful debate.”
— Booklist“For flat-out huge widescreen all-engines-at-full I-dare-you-not-to-believe-it space opera, there is no one quite like Peter F. Hamilton.”
— Richard K. Morgan, author of Altered Carbon" The second half of the Commonwealth Saga. I "couldn't put it down" (I listened to it via Audible) for the last six hours. The characters are very well done and a great story. I can't wait to read more from Hamilton. "
— Abe, 2/4/2014" "enzyme bonded concrete" ad nauseum "
— Mark, 1/30/2014" It's a great book; a lot of threads to track but they all came together cleanly. Still don't think I understand the role of the High Angel and the Silfen didn't turn out to be what I expected. "
— Jim, 1/20/2014" Very good follow-on to Pandora's Star. If you liked Pandora's Star this will not disappoint. "
— Kfdowner, 1/17/2014" Long. Interesting. Occasionally verbose.Good Sci-Fi. Wished there was more epilogue. Wished there was a little more genocide--for one race or the other. "
— Matthew, 1/16/2014" The story continues with humankind's struggle to survive the alien stampeed. Fantastic conclusion to the story which started with Pandora's Star. "
— Nick, 1/16/2014" a little bit of a struggle to read. the character dialog was fun but the over extensive descriptions of the scenery made the book a bit of a struggle. "
— Christina, 1/3/2014" I don't think it's nearly as strong as the first book, but it resolves every plot thread and I could barely put it down until I was done. "
— Zach, 12/31/2013" Good book with a load of story lines. Only issue is it takes a while for Hamilton to bring together his characters and story lines. You definitely need to be patient. "
— Tyler, 10/15/2013" A great ending to the events began in Pandora Star. A little too graphic with the sexual content for my tasre "
— Luke, 7/8/2013" The sequel to Pandora's star. Still a good story, but getting a little to strung out. It would have been better if it were about half as long. "
— Daniel, 5/9/2013" Good Space Opera with some interesting concepts and characters but the second book (after Pandora's Star) tried to introduce too many twists into the story and lost its drive. "
— Roger, 10/22/2012" Kind of slow but a big big sci-fi finish. "
— Chris, 10/1/2012" Great book, but I enjoyed Pandora's star more. I know it seems weird for a story of this length but it seemed a little rushed at the end. "
— Ryanjustus, 4/6/2012" A little long. This duology could have been one book, with all of the excess detail and suspense. In the end, that earned this series only three stars, although as a sci-fi story it was incredibly well-constructed. "
— Scott, 9/8/2011" His writing is a little inconsistent but it's the best sci-fi I've read in a long time. "
— Frank, 5/2/2011" Un libro muy entretenido, mejor que su primera parte que es bastante introducctoria de los acontencimientos que ocurren en ésta.<br/><br/>No apta para quien le guste los libros muy directos, o fáciles de leer. "
— Marcos, 4/20/2011" Buena conclusión para una trama muy bien construida. <br/>Must have. "
— Jacinto, 4/20/2011" Not quite as good as the first one, but an excellent conclusion<br/> "
— Jmoses, 4/5/2011" See my comments on Pandora's Star. I also found all the chapters written from the Prime POV to be laborious. I just couldn't connect with the chapters and found myself literally racing through them. "
— Justin, 4/5/2011" If you like science fiction, even a little bit, THIS IS PART 2 OF THE NEXT BOOK YOU SHOULD READ! "
— Dezrah, 3/27/2011" Judas Unchained is the massive sequel to the equally massive Pandora's Star (which I loved). So far so good, great world building and imagination set against multiple story lines a-la Harry Turtledove. <br/> "
— Charles, 3/4/2011" Not Peter F HAiltons best work but stunning nonetheless a very agreeable end to the frist of his "wormhole based" human future. "
— Thomas, 2/17/2011" DO NOT READ THIS BOOK UNTIL YOU HAVE READ <em>Pandora's Star</em><br/><br/>This is an excellent book, and epic in scale, but is really just the second half of Pandora's Star. This story in no way stands on it's own. "
— Bill, 2/5/2011Peter F. Hamilton is the author of numerous novels, including several series and stand-alone novels. He began writing in 1987 and sold his first short story to Fear magazine in 1988.
John Lee is the winner of numerous Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration. He has twice won acclaim as AudioFile’s Best Voice in Fiction & Classics. He also narrates video games, does voice-over work, and writes plays. He is an accomplished stage actor and has written and coproduced the feature films Breathing Hard and Forfeit. He played Alydon in the 1963–64 Doctor Who serial The Daleks.