The Reality Dysfunction: Emergence is the first half of the first book of Peter F Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy. Originally published as three very large volumes, each volume of the trilogy has been split in half. I have just finished reading 1/6 of the story. To say that there is a lot going on here might be the understatement of the year. Where do we start? Let's start with the Ly Cliph, some sort of alien race from an incredibly inhospitable planet who in their deaths have found a way to transcend life and scour the universe seeking knowledge. The first human planet one views is Lalonde, which will come into play later in the novel. Then we have the Voidhawks and the Edenists. Edenists are these genetically modified humans (split off from the Adamists who feel that is wrong), and Voidhawks, grown spaceships with a consciousness. And then we have Joshua Calvert, a scavenger turned pilot with "luck" which may be psychic ability. Then we have colonists on Lalonde, a newly colonized world so it is still tough and backwater. And then we have Ivets, prisoners for whatever reason on Lalonde. And then we have...
There are several other things that are likely to be major, but there is just a whole lot going on and some stuff may have a hundred or more pages in between having viewpoint chapters. And this is only half of the book. It's big science fiction. It's also quite readable. There are some science details that I just gloss over, but it isn't overwhelming. The size, if anything, would be the overwhelming thing. And the immense amount of story going on makes it difficult to see what the actual story is of The Reality Dysfunction. Perhaps after I finish the second part of the novel I'll have a better grip on it, but I can see why some people would not enjoy this or would get discouraged. I'm very interested and I really enjoyed this book. I just hope the pay off is worth it.
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