Good science fiction. Good fantasy. A solid successor to the first volume of the trilogy.
921214
This is the second in Peter F. Hamilton's new trilogy: THE DREAMING VOID, THE TEMPORAL VOID, and THE EVOLUTIONARY VOID. Having just started the third volume, I can't say much about it, but each of the first two were solid reads. In a sense they give you double for your money, two stories for the price of one. One story is futuristic space opera, with hard-hitting  high-tech action sequences and supercharged imagination. The second story--composed of chapters called "Inigo's Dreams"--is fantasy, though paranormal mental powers substitute for magic.

If you're a science fiction fan, do not be bigoted against fantasy. If you're a fantasy fan, do not be bigoted against science fiction. You don't have to be a country bumpkin to appreciate fantasy, and you don't have to be a physics major to appreciate science fiction.

If you follow the exploits of Thor, Superman, Captain America, Batman, et al, you should be pleased that THE TEMPORAL VOID has a superhero. He goes by the name "Waterwalker." Though he may not be as powerful as the water walker that Christians allegedly believe in, he can be mighty impressive. I don't want to spoil things by revealing exactly what those powers are and when and how they appear, but rest assured, the powers are there.
3142138
The last book in The Nameless Trilogy is as good as the previous books. Well, at least that is my opinion. Also, in my opinion, the book blurb is slightly misleading. It makes the potential reader believe that the main story element in this book would be the assault on Earth. Well, it is A main story element that has to be said. It is not THE main story element though. It is only the first part of the book.

As usual the book is filled with action. This is military science fiction and it is mostly very well done. We continue to follow our friends both in space and on the ground. Even though the focus are on the defense of Earth and the events following it the surviving people on Landfall are not forgotten. Personally I liked the fleet action the best but that is not really much of a surprise for those who know me.

One thing that did irk me a bit though was the fact that the humans managed to come up with all kinds of quite effective anti-missile defenses but they never managed to extend the range of their own fighting capability. The fighting was almost always some variant of getting in range before being blown up. After all, in any realistic war extending over several years you would eventually get hold of some scrap of enemy equipment that you could analyze and even without it once the need becomes apparent scientists usually find a way, at least in wartime. A very minor irk though.

On the whole I really liked the book. It is fairly realistic in both the science and the military department. Well written, well balanced and with plenty of likable characters. My cup of tea.

The book is the last book in the trilogy and as such it concludes the current story arc. It is a decent enough conclusion although I have to say that I was kind of expecting some last twist to the story. Instead things kind of fizzled out at the end without much fanfare. Having said that it is a very realistic ending so in some sense I am happy that the author did not throw in some bizarre plot twist. Naturally the humans suffered some regrettable losses and the epilogue wrote off one or two more people from any future active duty I would say.

Speaking of the future, the book may have ended the trilogy but it definitely did not end the overall story. The Nameless are still there, far from finished. This book really begs for a second trilogy. Personally I will be rather disappointed if we do not get a continuation of this universe.
1409277
These AvP books are great. They are solid science fiction in their own right. The tie to the AvP series is just a bonus.
1173539
Good Sci-fy, coupled with really good characters, and a very interesting story line made this a pretty darn good book. The characters however are what make this book work; interesting, unpredictable, and pretty easy on the stereotypes, although there is some of that. Good solid action from start to finish is also hard to beat. Looking forward to the next book in this series.
4650770
I've read all the 5 books which are in the serie so far, so my comment and rating apply to all of them. This is solid military scifi / space opera work, and I enjoyed all the five books. If you are into this kind of literature you shouln't be disappointed. One thing I particularly liked is that the antagonists are not particularly evil and fight honorably (with some exception of course but the good guys also are not always totally clean).

What I liked less *** SPOILERS AHEAD *** :

- the space battles were a bit uninteresting due to the technological choices. It's kind of a big problem for a military space opera, but for me this flaw was redeemed by all the rest. So, what's the problem? Basically a fight is going like this : each warship will hurl hundreds of missiles at each other. Then starfighters will be launched, and will also hurl hundreds of missiles at the enemy warship and starfighters. The point of most missiles is to destroy enemy missiles. A few missiles will destroy a few starfighters. The few missiles passing the starfighter shield will be destroyed at close range by a "positron lance" which is an antimatter beam. The starfighters also have those lances to use at short range against enemy starfighters or ships. After a few missiles waves, one side will be in worst shape than the other, and one or several missiles will find their way to a ship, destroying it. Rinse and repeat.

- still on the technological side : quantum coms allow for instant, or near instant communications, offsetting the problem of the vastness of space. I think it would have been more interesting to have most communications delayed. During battles, the progress of the fight would be unclear to commanders, adding possibility for mistakes, and news would take days or weeks to disseminate across the star systems.
2579304
It was a really good end to the story started in the first book. The characters were compelling, and the story stayed interesting. It wasn't predictable. If you are wanting a little bit of thought-provoking esoteric science fiction without without a whole lot of pretentious preachy crap, you've found it.
4748568
A middle book in a trilogy often has an uphill road to climb. It can't bring things to an entirely satisfying conclusion, and it doesn't get the benefit of novelty that the first book did. And, of course, that's even leaving aside the possibility that the author herself might get into a slump, unsure exactly where to go. It almost goes without saying that a middle book isn't as good. And, in all honesty, I did get that feeling from this book pretty strongly at first. I was still interested in the plot and what would happen, but I wasn't digging it quite as much. Yet, as the story went on, the feeling lessened and I was looking more and more forward to where it would go.

For me, the book's biggest strength is the continued detailing of an artificial intelligence that is not good or evil as we understand it, or even human, but something alien and yet mostly believable. That's a tricky but impressive feat, as is telling the story of how people deal with the situation, trying to destroy it, control it for their own ends, or just live with it. On the last point, Nagata also manages to navigate another potentially difficult scenario, a lead character who may well merely be a puppet for that entity. We see his thoughts and his decisions but are aware that he's manipulated and so any any time, he may simply be a tool. Yet I rooted for him all the same.

The book does have a little bit of a feel about being a series of missions rather than a coherent single story. They go from the trial, to another mission, to another one, with a story connecting them but not seeming to be the point. It's also a pretty action-heavy book, which normally is a negative in my book, but here it works for me.

I think, all in all, although it got better the more I read, I still liked it slightly less than the first book, maybe putting it somewhere in the 3.5-4 star range, but since I'm feeling generous today, I'll round it up to a 4. I'm really looking forward to the third book in the series and I am really glad Nagata's writing science fiction novels again, she's proving once again to be a strong voice in the field.
4514916
Everything I wrote about the first Gangpire, I can say about this one. But, while I gave the first book 4 out of 5 starts, I'm giving this one 5 because I think it does what any good fantasy sequel should do, and that it expand the mythology of the universe. Part of the appeal of this genre is the intrigue behind learning about the world it takes place in. In order to keep that intrigue from one book to another, there needs to be even more to explore in the second book. Gangpire II delivers on that, and does so without making the story convoluted. My criticisms are pretty much the same, and lie in the formatting. But that is more the fault of the editor, and I won't give a lesser review for that. All in all, I'm glad I happened upon this series and I look forward to the third installment.
3872021
It is well written and entertaining. Looking forward to the next book in the series. The trilogy is worth starting.
2989773
I've really enjoyed reading this series & found all 3 pretty compelling. It's a good combination of fantasy fiction, scifi and adventure.
1142919
WARNING - SOME SPOILERS.

Most "sci-fi" these days is actually "fantasy"; this book is the exception. Sci-fi in the tradition of Larry Niven, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein. Enjoyable read ... if you're OK with occasional (well, not so occasional) cussing. Interesting world in which you have the choice to negotiate with your enemies or obliterate them. No wait, you just obliterate them. I'm currently reading the second in this trilogy, "The Ghost Brigades" and by the end of the trilogy (actually there is a fourth spin-off) I'm expecting this policy to be resolved. We'll see.

In Old Man's War the soldiers really are old men and women, given new faster, stronger, immune-to-infection-and-most-injuries and sexier bodies. (Oh, yeah, there is some not-too-graphic sex, so be warned.) Problem is, there's no going back to earth once you join the Colonial Defense Force (CDF)although once you have served your term you have the option of returning to normal human form on one of the dangerous and vulnerable colonies.

The "science" in this "science fiction" story seems to this lay-scientist to be quite plausible, particularly the description of the "skip drive". Scalzi gets round many of the problems associated with interstellar travel in ways that no other writer--to my knowledge at least--has attempted.

Scalzi has a compelling and engaging writing style, and a great imagination. Some have compared this book to Heinlein's Starship Troopers, but I have to admit, I liked this more. This is Scalzi's first novel, and I gave 4 stars because I think his writing style needs some maturing, and based on my initial impression of the second in this trilogy, I think this is definitely happening. Definitely keeping a close watch on Scalzi's future work.
4521830
Very good sequel. We finally meet the Xiigans. I really like this author and his imagination. We get to see action on a planet, not just the space craft Athena. New species introduced - very imaginative. Characters are not predictable.
2027122
It's a terrific story and plot premise with the added benefit of superb development of characters.  A worthy sequel to the first volume; I'm now well into the third installment.
3140640
"Saturn's Children," by Stross's own admission, was his effort to launch a new space-opera universe after his realization that he screwed up the Eschaton universe after two novels. it had promise but was ultimately marred by an usatisfying, anticlimactic ending.

Fortunately, this sequel, set four thousand years later in the same universe, builds on its predecessor while avoiding its pitfalls. Like "Iron Sunrise," it's basically "spy-fi", with its plot moving on at a crisp pace for most of the book with plenty of twists building to the exciting climax "Saturn's Chlldren" deserved to have. Along the way we get a fair dose of Stross's trademark discourses on economics, something not seen in much science fiction but sorely missed (the "slow currency" used to overcome the ,problems created by having to spend years traveling between star systems is one of those things that make all other such science fiction look dated). The world of Shin-Tethys, where the latter portion of the novel takes place, giving it a more logical connection to its title than the first book, offers some intriguing possibilities with its unique geology and hydrology, as does the "meta human" status of all the characters.

All told, yet another work by Stross that delivers what his other work does--science fiction for a world that lives in the reality of an early generation of science fiction's imagination.
1156187
This is what good science fiction should be.  I spent months foot tapping waiting for the sequel, which did not disappoint.
174435
The series continues with a great follow up tale.  There is a fair amount of space combat which is told very well. No spoilers. It is a complete story but leaves an opening for further developments.

Christopher you asked what we prefer to see in novel three. Please continue with the space side of the tale. Make the earth story a side tale.
4409617
I always liked scifi and fantasy fiction, and this is clearly the latter.  Well developed characters have you cheering them on, and also hating their stupidity occasionally as you would in real life.  A good yarn for fantasy lovers.