REVIEW: Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton

Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton
Publishing Information: Paperback; 832 pages
Publisher: Orbit; 14 Dec 2009
ISBN 10: 0-316-02183-0
ISBN 13: 978-0-316-02183-8
Standalone
Copy: Out of Pocket
Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book: "As a child, Lawrence Newton wanted nothing more than to fly starships and explore the galaxy, like his fictional heroes. But on the colony world of Amethi in the twenty-fourth century, Lawrence is living in the wrong era: the age of human starflight is drawing to a close. So, like many another teenage hothead, he rebels and runs away.
Twenty years later, he's the seargent of a washed-out platoon taking part in the bungled invasion of another world. The giant corporations who own the remaining starships euphemistically call such campaigns 'asset realization'. In practice it's simple piracy.

But while he's on the ground, being shot at and firebombed by disturbingly effective resistance forces, Lawrence hears stories about the Temple of the Fallen Dragon - the holy place of a sect devoted to the worship of a mythical creature that fell from the sky millenia before the arrival of humans. More importantly, its priests are said to guard a hoard of treasure large enough to buy lifelong happiness for any man, and that information alone is enough to prompt him to mount a small private-enterprise."

When you set your sights on reading a Peter F. Hamilton novel you have to ask yourself, "Where do I start?" Nearly every novel is a door stop and will require a little bit of time to complete. But nearly everyone I posed this question to said the same thing. If you want to try reading Hamilton then you can start nearly anywhere, but your best bet is Fallen Dragon as it is a standalone and does a fairly good job of representing Hamilton's talent as a writer.

Fallen Dragon is massive but not nearly as large as his 3,000+ page Night's Dawn Trilogy. Fallen Dragon follows a young visionary named Lawrence Newton. Lawrence dreams of traveling the distant stars and expanding mankind's knowledge of the universe. When things go bad at home he drops everything and sets off to make his dream a reality. While Lawrence makes his living as a mercenary, we are given his entire life's story through a series of flashbacks that tell us of how he ended up working as a hired gun for one of the universes largest companies. Most mercenaries are not considered very honorable and when you first meet Lawrence you get the feeling that he is your typical mercenary. But as time moves forward and you learn of his past he becomes very enduring. Along the way we meet a lot of Lawrence's squad mates and former loves. His father which plays a pivotal role in his choices and upbringing is not very well drawn out considering he is the catalyst for a lot of what happens in his early life.

The universe that Hamilton has created is interesting in that space travel is expensive and profit margins need to be maintained in order to continue exploring the vast reaches of space and all the planets. With Earth at its capacity and mankind wanting to live lives going many different paths, corporations have funded the colonization of habitable planets.The catch is that the colonists are indebted to the companies and from time to time they are required to send their riches to the corporations to lower their debts. As the colonists become less and less dependent on Earth they no longer feel the need to be beholden to their debts. This is were the mercenary comes in. They are required to land on the planet, secure the cities and then with an iron grip on the populace retrieve anything the corporation deems profitable. In effect, they are pirates. In a way it must have been the way Americans felt towards the end before they shouted for independence from the British.

With the corporations realizing that this method of colonization followed by plunder is no longer a viable option the time of exploration is coming to a close. Lawrence also realizes that his dream of visiting new worlds is coming to an end and has a plan of his own. In the opening sequence of the book we find him conspiring with another officer to enact his plan and have to wait until nearly the end of the book before it picks up again. As I read Fallen Dragon, I kept wondering when we would return to the plot the book starts out with and when we finally did it really did not have all the intrigue that was built up in the opening chapter. I was hoping for something bigger and more intense but it just never happened. Admittedly, the ending was very satisfying and interesting. Plus the treasure that is found on the planet was not what I was expecting. It was a nice change of pace.

Fallen Dragon is a great introduction to Peter F. Hamilton. It has just what I was looking for: adventure, action, a little romance, and some political sidestepping. While it is a very large book it reads well. Well developed characters and universe make for an adventure that is hard to put down. Highly recommended.

Plot 9
Characters 9
Style 9

Overall 9/10