There’s a disconnect that occurs in stories that are either too grandiose, too hyperbolic, too sluggish or just too convenient, one that causes the reader to stop caring. She wants to put the book down and move on to something else or is left exasperated by the events that unfolded. The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton, while telling an interesting story in an intriguing universe, hits every one of those dissuading points and can leave a reader wondering if the effort was worth it.
The Reality Dysfunction clocks in at over 900 pages – the exact number varies based upon the text size and medium which one chooses to read it in – a significant investment of anyone’s time and an aspect of the book which can be daunting for any reader unsure if they want to read Peter F. Hamilton. The page count doesn’t make this book grandiose, though it certainly adds to one’s sense that this very tome is trying to accomplish everything. Hamilton includes bio-technology, interstellar flight, sentient habitats, cybernetics, post-humans, trans-humans, various forms of government, religions, aliens and more. He’s thrown everything into this book because, well… it spans a galaxy – so why wouldn’t it all be in there? Political intrigue, intergalactic trade, battles in space, battles on land, nuclear weapons, anti-matter, a form of the Singularity… and of course psychic abilities. Everything, including kitchen sinks which are just the same as our sinks of today, are thrown into the latticework that makes up the universe of the Night’s Dawn Trilogy.
Hamilton has packed so much into the pages, which is either the reason for the book running to 900 plus pages or his solution to it running so long, that reading it is more than daunting – it’s tiresome. In may even be irksome, because everything is not simply thrown into the story and left to its own devices. Countless pages of exposition, whole chapters even are dedicated to explaining to minute detail how a particular technology works. Or how a particular planet came to be inhabited and the economic reasons for it. People’s back-stories are given with such exactitude that the reader never has to try to work out the motivations of characters – they’re explained for them ahead of time. There are only two things that are never explained in The Reality Dysfunction: 1) the Affinity gene/ability which is similar to telepathy but isn’t, and 2) The reason for the powers of the Possessed. At a third to half-way through The Reality Dysfunction things shift from hard science fiction to incorporate more fantastical elements, which is where the Possessed come in. They’re accompanied by numerous abilities that aren’t explained by science, at least the level of science most people reading to this point would be able to comprehend.
The main protagonist of The Reality Dysfunction, Joshua Calvert, can apparently comprehend this new enemy. Just like he can do every other task – fly spaceships, raid alien tombs, make billions in intergalactic trade, and of course make love to the women of the universe whilst ensuring they all have an orgasm before him. Han Solo wishes he were Joshua Calvert. He apparently even has psychic intuition. Everyman Joshua Calvert is so capable it’s boring. He never faces a hurdle, yet each event he encounters is unlike anything ever experienced before. And through it all he gets the girl, gets the money, and gets his ship and crew out safe and happy. Every “risky” situation he comes up against is so over-the-top and explained away as a million-in-one chance that Joshua’s continual success belies all of it. He’s just too good that it wouldn’t be surprising to find in the sequels that Joshua has become the white savior for a newly discovered alien race. The hyperbolic nature of the story is undermined by the excessive abilities of one character, which grows more and more boring as the pages turn because Joshua is never faced with a real challenge.
The Reality Dysfunction does not need to be as long as it is. Not that it’s edited poorly, but it could be pared down significantly to speed up the pace of the narrative. The amount of detail Hamilton has included made this book one that would be better served by a different medium. Being forced to read though page after page of exposition, slowed the entire book down to a sluggish crawl, at best. Some of the side characters and their tangents could have been trimmed to make for a sleeker story without any great loss, or even saved for a series of short stories. The sheer amount of information and characters included would be better off in a wiki or as an app that allows the reader to follow any digression she wants. If Mass Effect had required one to sit through equivalent levels of exposition then no one would have finished the game.
But finish this book one will. For all the convenient occurrences, over-explained histories and technologies, and the far-too capable Joshua Calvert it’s still a very engrossing story. The Reality Dysfunction presents a unique universe that has so much to tell. Every paragraph presents a new hook, which would have made this, in some ways, better as a guide for a pen and paper game. It’s 900-plus pages may stretch the reader to her limits but she’ll have enjoyed it all the same and in doing so may be prepared for the two sequels. Though a break between books is recommended.
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Review by: Gregory Pellechi
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