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The Reality Dysfunction Part 2: Expansion | 
 enlarge | Author: Peter F. Hamilton
Publisher: Aspect
Category: Book
Buy Used: $11.99
New (3) Used (16) Collectible (1) from $11.99
Rating:  71 reviews
Sales Rank: 145259
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 576
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.2 x 1
ISBN: 0446605166
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780446605168
ASIN: 0446605166
Publication Date: August 1, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: acc. to good condition...has some cover-edge wear, slight tanning to pages
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
This second volume of Hamilton's two-part book The Reality Dysfunction is as fast paced and densely packed as the first. It picks up the many plot threads left hanging in Emergenceand runs with them, ending some subplots and beginning other more interesting ones. Joining the large cast of characters is Graeme Nicholson, a reporter stuck on the backwater planet of Lalonde, where mud and wood seem to be the only things in great abundance. But Lalonde is fast becoming the focus of an invasion that seems to defy time and logic, and soon Nicholson will regret ever learning about the biggest story to hit the galaxy in a thousand years.
Product Description
An epic science fiction saga is set in a primitive world of the distant future, where two groups battle for hegemony--the Edenists, telepathic, genetically engineered space-dwellers, and the Adamists, who reject technology. Reprint."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 66 more reviews...
 Fascinating, Exciting, Absurd, and Frustrating February 17, 2008
Gregory Tetrault (Collierville, TN United States)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Reality Dysfunction (parts 1 and 2) could be retitled "The Author's Dysfunction." The books start with some interesting sci-fi scenarios such as living and intelligent spaceships and habitats and human genetic modifications to achieve telepathy. There also are some interesting plots such as the Confederation's struggle to eliminate antimatter weapons and the investigation of an advanced alien society that committed mass suicide thousands of years past. These alone would have made a great, long novel, especially since Peter Hamilton writes well. Unfortunately, Mr. Hamilton could not leave well enough alone. He adds character after character (scores of them by the end of these two books), plot after subplot, location after location. Even more unfortunately, the overriding plot becomes a ghost story. The spirits of the vilest human dead, who have lived as miserable disembodied energy-beings for centuries, suddenly gain access to living persons whom they possess. The first thoughts of these vile re-embodied spirits are to help other vile spirits possess their own living hosts. (I found this unlikely, since the spirits hated each other in their afterlife existences.) But, the ghostly plot gets worse. The spirits, who instantly traveled hundreds of light-years (How did they get that ability?) to possess their human hosts, now have incredible super powers. They can screw-up all electronic devices, throw firebolts, instantly repair or reshape their bodies, work together to bring down buildings, and change planetary climate. And, in yet another subplot, one of the returned spirits is Al Capone, who will probably organize them like his old Chicago mob.
This ghost story now is absurd beyond any believing, because most science fiction does not include violations of the first law of thermodynamics (you cannot get energy from nothing) and of the second law of thermodynamics (high energy systems tend to fall apart unless more energy is added). Even fantasy books with magic usually require some source of magical power.
I should have read more critical reviews before buying (thankfully, in used paperback format) the entire six-book series. You should not read this series unless you can put your logic, reason, and science knowledge on hold.
 Danger continues to grow as the Possessed leave Lalonde and spread throughout the known universe . . . November 4, 2007
K. Sozaeva (Athens, GA USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The Reality Dysfunction; Expansion is part 2 of 6 in a major story told by Peter Hamilton, including the two Reality Dysfunction novels, two Neutronium Alchemist novels and two Naked God novels. They must be read as a set and in order. That said: Expansion picks up where Emergence left off. The Possessed are finding their way off Lalonde and spreading throughout the known universe as fast as they can, while everyone else is a) trying to stop the problem on Lalonde, b) trying to figure out what is happening on Lalonde and c) trying to stop what is happening on Lalonde from happening elsewhere. Unfortunately they are a day late and dollar short as too many of the possessed, including the very insane Quinn Dexter - a Satanist priest - have managed to leave Lalonde before anyone even knew what was going on.
Several teams of Marines and mercenaries are sent to Lalonde, to very little avail. The only team that makes any headway is one sent down from the Lady Mac, as Joshua Calvert has apparently rubbed some of his luck off onto everyone he touches.
CAUTION, MILD SPOILERS:
One thing that bothered me, however, was that the only woman mercenary - Ariadne - just seems to vanish somewhere between picking up Father Horst and the children and the final show-down where the mercenaries hold off the Possessed so the children can escape. Maybe I missed something, but the mercenaries were fighting in pairs, none of which included Ariadne, and Theo was driving the hovercraft - Ariadne was not mentioned. What happened to her? It's bothersome.
At any rate, this chapter in the series moved much more quickly than did Emergence, and the story seems to be coming together quite nicely. I found that I was becoming more aware of the various peoples and their relations to one another - Hamilton really is a master storyteller to wind so many threads together and make them all work. I feel comfortable recommending this story - at this point anyway - to anyone who would enjoy an epic science fiction story, or epic space opera.
 Great writing and perception October 27, 2007
Seppi (Sisters, OR)
Not well known in the US this British author is writing the best epic SciFi on the market.I have been reading this genre for more than 50 years and he is a breath of fresh air and this series is beyond a doubt his masterpiece.
Great Series July 2, 2006
Traderjohn (Glendale, AZ United States)
If you like hard edged space opera, you'll this! It's Star Wars for adults, with more original ideas and better writing.
Unabashed Fun...part 2 April 3, 2006
AWAbooks (West Melbourne, Florida)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Quite simply, these books are a heck of a LOT of FUN. The overall quality of the writing is high. The world building is amazing. Characters, from monarchs to street rats, are believable and intriguing. The dialog is very natural and the humor is funny (this is rare in ANY genre, trust me.) The future tech is fantastic, the action is non-stop, the plot twists are imaginatively fun...and the bang for the buck is incalculable. (Okay, I'm no prude, but the sex scenes didn't do much for me. They're very short though - 2 to 3 paragraphs maybe?)
Call me sub-genius, but I think one critic said the bad guys were "too violent." Hmmm, keep that cold pack right there on your temple, Johnny... Yes, I occasionally lost track of a character thread that hadn't "been around" for a while. It never took more than a few paragraphs for the setting, character or plot line to refresh me though.
These books are as much fun as the Many Colored Land series by Julian May (read them too!) In summary, if the critics have better stuff, please get it published so I can read it!
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