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The Nano Flower (Mindstar) | 
 enlarge | Author: Peter F. Hamilton
Publisher: Tor Science Fiction
Category: Book
List Price: $6.99
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Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 366601
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 608
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.6
ISBN: 0812577698
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780812577693
ASIN: 0812577698
Publication Date: June 15, 1999
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Product Description
Peter F. Hamilton is one the rising stars of science fiction in the nineties. His epic space adventure, The Reality Dysfunction, was a major international bestseller, while his near future thrillers, Mindstar Rising and A Quantum Murder, introduced an intriguing new hero in the character of Greg Mandel, a freelance operative whose telepathic abilities give him a crucial edge in the high tech world of the twenty-first century. Now Mandel returns in a spectacular new adventure that blows open the possibilities of the next century.Julia Evans: billionairess, owner of Event Horizon, for fifteen years undisputed power behind the world's economic renaissance. And in trouble.With her computer-genius husband missing and rival companies suddenly claiming to have acquired a technology impossibly superior to anything on Earth, Julia has no time to notice an anonymously delivered flower. But this flower has genes millions of years in advance of terrestrial DNA.Is it a cryptic alien message or a poignant farewell from her husband?Only Greg Mandel can discover its origin, but he is not alone in his desperate search. A vicious mercenary killer, a jade merchant, and a high-priced courtesan all have a part to play.It was never going to be easy, but as Greg and Julia discover, simply being first in the race ins't nerly good enough as teh Nano Flower starts to bloom....
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
Not Free SF Reader December 8, 2007
Blue Tyson
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Possible alien vegetation discovery.
Impressively, this trilogy continues the quality work as again Event Horizon and particularly Julia Evans need Greg Mandel's help.
There are plenty of dodgy characters to be dealt with in this novel as they try and find out what happened to her father, and where the frack that the strange flower delivery Julia received actually came from.
Good stuff.
 Still My Favourite. June 8, 2007
William J. Walker (England)
I wasn't going to write a review but I was so amazed at the previous reviewers comments about the poor quality of the ending to the book that I felt compelled to add my own comments.
It has, perhaps been superceded by the later, grander works, but not in terms of quality.
The major problem with this book, and indeed with the "Greg Mandel Series" as a whole, is that like so many SF authors, the author set the events a little too close to the present. Real history has over-taken the events described.
When reading the books today you have to suspend the natural inclination to see the book as predictive and view it instead, as a kind of parallel alternate history(like "Watchmen" or "The Man in the High Castle").If you can do that there is much to enjoy in the series.
A more minor difficulty is, that this is the third book in the series, and while it is possible to read it without reading the others first it is not advisable. In fact one of the best features of the books is the way that all the characters grow and change as the story progresses.
The first book in the series("Mindstar Rising") is good and introduces the chracters and world very well. The second is a decent enough read, but ultimately not of the standard of the others. This book, the third and final istallment, is the best by far and features some of the the most brilliantly realised SF I've ever read.
A criticsm sometimes directed at the later works is that the ride is great but the finish doesn't always match it. In this book he actually exceeds expectations.
Since all three books in the series are about as long as one instalment of the "Night's Dawn Trilogy" and are as readable as anything he has written since, I would recommend this, and them, to any fan of the author.
In truth it is a great place to start if you are knew to him; it worked for me.
 Disappointing finish February 22, 2007
T. P. McArdle (Lincoln, NE)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Sorry, but I didn't care for it. The ending was a disappointment. I expected better after 480 pages. The book seems to be nothing more than a vehicle for Hamilton to dazzle us with his science and engineering knowledge. The truth is that his storytelling is just not that good here.
A slightly disappointing conclusion-- three and 1/2 stars June 12, 2005
C. Gilbert (Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Hamilton is one of the best science fiction writers working today, and I found the first book in this series (Mindstar Rising) to be a very pleasant surprise. I immediately went back and bought A Quantum Murder and the Nano Flower on the strength of the first book.
Unfortunately, each subsequent book has disappointed me just a little bit more in comparison to the first. In Nano Flower, Hamilton is still working with a series of fascinating ideas, but the story and the ending feel far from complete. It almost felt as though Hamilton had lost interest in his own creation and just wanted the series to end.
In fairness I should say that even a bad book by Peter Hamilton is still a pretty darn good book by most standards (hence the 4 stars rating). I still recommend the series for its originality and the sheer strength of the writing.
As a side note, the TOR edition (1999) surely gets points for being the ugliest science fiction book cover in recent memory. It looks for all the world like a Ken doll in a purple satin jump suit holding a water pistol.
Final Book in a Very Good Trilogy December 5, 2004
David A. Lessnau (Niceville, FL USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
The three books in Peter F. Hamilton's Greg Mandel series were written before his "Night's Dawn" series. I'm not certain of this, but they seem to occur in the same universe as that series, just at a MUCH earlier time. Regardless, this series is excellent. What's especially nice, is that, for the most part, each of these books stands alone. You still need to read them in order, but none of them ends in a cliff-hanger requiring your reading of the next. Unfortunately, each of these books has a few fairly explicit sexual situations described in them. The amount of sex increases as you move from book to book. If it weren't for that, I'd recommend these books for everyone.
"Mindstar Rising" is the first book in the series. It's a very good, fast-paced sci-fi action thriller. The book introduces all the important characters and the "universe" used throughout the series. For the most part, the character development is good. I have a few qualms about a character or two suddenly being more capable than they are during the majority of the book, but that's mostly inconsequential. The plot, too, is very good. However, the transition between the first, introductory, situation in the book and the primary situation could have been worked better: it seems contrived. But, I might be seeing that solely because I've read the book four times now.
"A Quantum Murder" is the second book in the series. This book takes place about three years after "Mindstar Rising." Instead of being the science-fiction action thriller that the first book is, it's more of a science fiction mystery. It's a close call, but I think this book is slightly better than "Mindstar Rising." Once again, there's good character development, but this time, the plot is somewhat more tightly put together. I've only got a couple of quibbles: first, in one scene, Mandel's psi powers inexplicably include actual telepathy instead of just the empathy described in "Mindstar Rising." And, second, after the characters find out who the murderer is, instead of sending the police out immediately, they close up shop for the night and say they'll do it in the morning. Other than that, this is an excellent book which shows the origins of a lot of the technology in the "Night's Dawn" series.
"The Nano Flower" is the third, and final, book in the series. The various dates specified in the book don't quite agree, but, in general, it seems to takes place about 16 years after "A Quantum Murder." Like "Mindstar Rising," it's a sci-fi action thriller. Like "A Quantum Murder," it further develops technologies that Hamilton uses in his "Night's Dawn" series. Also, as in "A Quantum Murder," Mandel's psi-powers have once again expanded. Of the three books, this is probably the best. It's a hard comparison to make since the second book is more of a mystery and this book more of an action-thriller. But, in general, I'd say there's an incremental improvement in these books as you move through the series (all of them are very good, though).
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