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The Dreaming Void (The Void Trilogy book 1) by Peter F. Hamilton
01/12/2007 . Source: Eamonn Murphy 
pub: Pan MacMillan. 647 page hardback. £18.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-4050-8880-0 pub: Del Rey/Ballantine Books. 633 page hardback. Price: $26.95 (US), $32.95 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-345-49653-9. Buy The Dreaming Void in the USA - or Buy The Dreaming Void in the UK  check out websites: www.panmacmillan.com , www.delreybooks.com and www.peterfhamilton.co.uk
As I read the first few pages of this vast book, it struck me that this was a novel for hardened Science Fiction fans. The casual reader would be daunted by the unfamiliar vocabulary and the strangeness of the whole thing. As I read the last few pages, it struck me that the damn thing was not going to reach any sort of conclusion, leaving the poor reader with a whole bunch of cliff-hanger endings. Happily, the pages in between were filled with interest.
It's useful to give a bit of the background before reviewing the plot. There is a Void at the centre of the galaxy which is a mystery. Older races have tried to penetrate it but the ships have never been heard from again. They watch it carefully. A human called Inigo gets close to and dreams of life within it, believing that true happiness can be found inside.
Human society in the novel is a series of hierarchies of planets and people. At the top, originating on Earth, is ANA governance, a sort of computer mind consisting of all the human personalities who have downloaded into it. These people retain their individuality and can even download back into bodies for a while to perform missions (and have sex). There are also factions within ANA. The two main ones are the Accelerators who want to speed all mankind towards bodiless existence as quickly as possible and the Conservatives who want to progress more slowly.
ANA rules over the civilisation of the Highers, humans with biononic enhancements which make them super-human. They live fleshy lives with brilliant technology and every want fulfilled but ultimately have the ambition of downloading into ANA.
The External Worlds are outside this elite, consisting of many planets with many different cultures, suspicious of the Highers and ANA. On one of these worlds, the Living Dream movement flourishes, followers of the Messianic Inigo who dreamed of a world inside the Void where humans could find happiness. Inigo has vanished but a new Cleric Conservator called Ethan has been elected and he plans to launch a pilgrimage to the Void with a whole fleet of ships carrying millions of the faithful. This prospect worries many older alien races who believe that such an intrusion could cause the Void to enter a gigantic expansion phase and swallow the galaxy.
The novel has several plot threads. My favourite concerned Edeard, a youth growing up on Querencia, the world inside the Void. This is a middle age society but the natives have mental powers including telekinesis, which they call the 'third hand'. Edeard is raised in a small village, apprenticed to a kindly old man who grew up in the big city long ago. His village is destroyed by bandits and he joins a caravan going to the capital, accompanied by a beautiful religious acolyte, a sort of novice nun. He has powerful telekinetic and telepathic ability. This story reminded me of a Robert Heinlein juvenile, talented good-hearted youth making his way in the world.
Other plots involve the wily Marius, working for the Accellerator faction and his employee, Troblum, a fat physicist who is a genius and a collector of antiquities. Opposing them are Aaron, a very enhanced super-soldier spy working for the Conservative ANA faction. He is searching for Inigo and has teamed up with Corrie-Lynn, the Holy Man's foxy ex-girlfriend.
There is another sub-plot about a pretty young girl trying to make it as property developer, which seems out of place until her role becomes a bit clearer later in the book. Meanwhile, her lifestyle choices serve to illuminate life for everyday folk in the far-flung future. For her, this involves sex with a chap who has several bodies operated by one mind. She seems to like it.
The thick paperback version I had was hard to read as one got to the middle because the tension of the binding made it want to spring shut. I had to use both hands. In the age of the ever expanding novel, this may be a common problem. Aside from these physical difficulties, however, I must say I enjoyed it immensely. Peter F. Hamilton is hyped on the cover as 'Britain's number one Science Fiction writer'. Arthur C. Clarke might take umbrage at this but the claim is not entirely without merit.
Summary: a gripping novel that is hard to grip. Highly recommended.
Eamonn Murphy
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