Complex, fascinating and thrilling

Hammilton does again. Creating a truely manificient Si-Fi future, with a magnitude of ideas and technology I for one have not come across before. The plot unwinds slowly - this book alone is over around a 1000 pages and the story continues in the newly released follow-up. But that does not make Hammilton a slow writer - the story is facinating and captivating all the way through.

Reades migh be confused by the sheer number of characters and parallel plotlines, as well as the little trick of inserting a series of dreams essential to the plot inbetween the normal chapters. But rest assured knowning that Hammilton is the man to bring it all together to create that perfect picture in the end (the eventual end, that is).

It might be recommended that you start with Pandoras Star followed by Judas Unchained, since a few characters reapper (and that series is now completed). Not essential though, as the timeline has progressed 1200 years, and the plot is all new.

Hammilton is a must-read for Si-Fi fans, but be warned: Like me, you might not be able to turn it off. Beam me up.

4 people found this helpful

A little confusing to start with.. and then...

OK I found the start of this book a little confusing, the narrative flits around like a butterfly from plotline to plotline without fully explaining who the characters are, but you get the hang of it eventually.
And then... Just when I was really getting into the book, it ended. It didnt really end with a satisfactory conclusion, or even a cliffhanger to have you wanting a sequel, it just stopped. It's as if the author was told by the publisher to hurry up and finish it. Well I for one am hoping there is a sequel. But I can only give it 3 stars because of it's ending.

6 people found this helpful

Slow, but enjoyable and different.

somehow different than Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained, but continuation of the same universe with big changes. Nice connectioma to the previous books, both in the story and characters, despite happening 1000 years later.

The Void is still mysterious to me, and is pretty fantastic, which is weird for a sci-fi book, but it does work. And similar to previous book a complex story of many factions, aliens, and people is created by following multiple characters.

The story somehow stops abruptly, so next book is a must.

Great opener / terrible narration

The story is great. Typical Hamilton space opera. But Longworth’s narration is just terrible. His reading voice is good but his character voicing is appalling. It is so bad that it wrecks the story. His characters sound like morons. The Paula / Oscar scene is just so awful that it becomes ridiculous. I wish I could get the John Lee version but it is unavailable.

Yet another great opening!

Hamilton has done it again, just like Pandora's star in which so many little plot lines tend to leave you confused as to where you are at first. But then it starts to come together and the plot lines merge into this fantastically orchestrated whole that leaves you aching for more....i can't wait for what is comming up next! into the temporal void we go!!

To all prospective readers of the Void trilogy: Reading Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained (The commonwealth saga) is not a must but strongly advised. Both great books and you will not go wrong with reading it first as it will help you understand subtle nuances and a lot of historical back stories

As to the Narrator: Toby has a good voice but tends to overact women as all sounding like old crones and tough men sounding like Scottish pirates. The semi Scottish parts i liked but was sometimes hard to keep apart. The voicing of the women should have been a lot better (Especially Paula Myo and Justine Burnelli)

John Lee or Peter Kenney should have read it

The Commonwealth is going post physical. And it's thousand year old​ scions sound like pirates. Each and every one.

1 person found this helpful

Great story, over acted

Great book. Toby Longworth has a nice "narrators voice" but the voice acting is over the top. Half the male characters and nearly all the females sound like idiots. Even Paula Myo (scandal!). I'll read the rest of the series myself.

1 person found this helpful

Superbly voice acted and paced

Toby Longworth's narration places this audiobook at the pinnacle of dozens I've heard from Audible. His pacing and voice acting is effective and diverse, and brings the book to life. The Dreaming Void itself is pure space opera, and really enjoyable. My previous exposure to Hamilton was via the Night's Dawn trilogy, which spun off into left field with its mystical/afterlife/religious overtones. I'm very glad to report that with a mix of post-singularity galactic society and very human politicking this one feels a lot more like Ian M Banks' style, particulary when the measured pacing explodes into the microsecond scale and violent energy of high technology combat. Great space opera, but the clincher for this audiobook is unsurpassed commitment and acting by the narrator.

1 person found this helpful

Smart combination of scifi & fantasy!

From the beginning this novel requires your attention - no vacuum cleaning or shopping while listening please - as per usual, it seems, with Hamilton's work. The plot takes its time to unfold in all its detail, sauntering unhurriedly forward while you meet all of its well-fleshed out characters. But then: a novelty, a story-within-a-story, a novel-within-a-novel even, and to Hamilton's credit I cannot make up my mind which of the two I liked better. I might love them equally well - although Inigo's dreams, which make up this interwoven second novel, are more action-driven with a higher pacing, so I guess I do prefer that storyline a little.

In my opinion Hamilton has brilliantly succeeded in combining scifi and fantasy in one great tale, without the genres ever actually crossing over. A smart move, and smartly done. The novel hints at the two stories, or at least their worlds, being integrated in one of its sequels, but this first part will have none of that. Loved it!

After The Commonwealth Saga, The Dreaming Void has a new narrator, which comes with its perks and its disadvantages. On the plus side, there are actual sentence breaks in the correct places now, and some clarifying seconds of silence between chapters. What.a relief that was, compared to the prequels. My criticism of this change of narrator however slightly outweighs its advantages. For Mr. Longworth pronounces certain names of characters and species differently from what we have become acquainted with in the Commonwealth Saga, which I found slightly annoying and couldn't get used to. Also, his acting voice for the different characters is, naturally, different from John Lee's, which includes inflection of voice, and the way certain sentences are intoned. I found this distracting as well because the effect was that several well-loved characters didn't sound like themselves anymore. So I was glad to notice that John Lee, the original narrator of the Commonwealth Saga, returns to parts 2 and 3 of the Void trilogy.

All in all I liked this first part of the Void trilogy enough to recommend it to anyone who likes the Commonwealth Saga, or simply Peter Hamilton's work.

A compelling read requiring a focused listener

I started reading/listening to The Dreaming Void shortly after finishing the commonwealth saga books, and it took me some time getting to grips with the new reality after a 1500 year time lapse.

As typical with Mr. Hamilton 's books, the story is never less than grand, the ideas are inspiring and there's plenty of material introduced in The Dreaming Void for the rest of the trilogy. I found the dual storyline refreshing yet demanding on the reader's focus - leaving me to read some different stories in that last - half - hour before sleep time frame.

in all, a compelling read with a decent cliffhanger ending.

Combining the eBook and the narration worked out well for me - I will do it again.