If you’re reading this review, then you’ve probably read The Reality Dysfunction. If not, you need to do so. This is book two of a three book series and cannot be read as a stand alone novel. The three books are really three volumes of the same story (Night’s Dawn), a 3,500 page behemoth to be sure.

I found The Reality Dysfunction to be an outstanding work of science fiction, striking a perfect balance between complicated “hard” science fiction concepts and captivating story lines. The numerous threads made it something of a challenge to keep abreast of the action, but I was able to do so by reading it through without pause (over the course of 2-3 weeks).

I rated this volume slightly below the original for the simple fact that my least favorite story thread (the Norfolk heiresses) plays a significantly more prominent role in this book. As with most “book twos” of multi-volume works, this tome advances the story line of the original book without achieving much resolution, but it certainly does so in an entertaining and captivating manner.

Certainly, any story in which “the dead” return would be missing a potentially captivating angle if certain famous historical personages were not represented. In an angle reminiscent of Philip Jose Farmer’s classic Riverworld series, such is the case here, though on a very limited, though nonetheless effective basis.

I must confess that near the end of this second volume, I found it more difficult to keep track of the numerous threads and peripheral characters within each thread. Again, you cannot hope to stay on top of this story unless you dedicate time to it on a daily basis. I’m certainly hoping that the final volume begins to merge some of the threads as the overall story comes to its final conclusion. ( )

Don't ask - don't question why or how or what is happening - jump in & hang on! ( )

1st off I gave this a try because a few people recommended it on the Amazon Kindle Discussion board. I generally love Sci-Fi and the price was right, $7.99 for all three books on my Kindle. What I didn't realize was that all three books have a total page count north of 3,600 pages! Yikes. So I plunged into this trilogy.

It picks up right where book 1 leaves off! It suffered from none of the 1st books issue with setting up the story.

Aside from being a very large investment in time, this book did not disappoint. The pace varied between good and frantic. Late in the book was a scene that had me breathless as it moved along. I could sit there an imagine just what it might look like on the big screen. It was that good.

It also has left enough lose ends in place for book three. ( )

Massive space opera, and only part two of a trilogy. Ranges over star systems with dizzying speed, moves the story forward, and introduces new mysteries for the final installment. My only criticism is my own fault, I left it too long before starting it, and had forgotten a lot of "The Reality Dysfunction", so I was a bit confused at times. Hamilton does not spoon feed his readers, you have to struggle to keep up with the pace. I enjoyed this challenge enormously though. ( )

Possession organisation spread.

The numbers of those from beyond the grave continue to grow, and a famous gangster is among them, and he puts his 'organisational' talents to use, once he calms down a bit.

They also find that they can possess the sentient ships, gaining useful weaponry in the process.

Then there is the serious grudge-carryingescaped scientist and her superweapon.

Space battles and zombies and zombie space battles, if you like, although there is no lack of intelligence after possession, just a lot of desperate conflict going on as people learn about this problem and set out to try and do something about it.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2007/12... ( )