pg. 1 2

    Peter Hamilton’s previous project, the sprawling and dizzying Night’s Dawn trilogy, re-envisioned the genre of space opera. He threw so much into his vision of the future—from fascinating technology, to intricate societies (go Edenists!), to a cast of memorable characters—one had to wonder if he had anything left in his vast imagination after such a feat.

    Fallen Dragon is the result of his “downtime” from his last work. Self-contained and philosophical, it shows that Hamilton has more in mind for the field.

    Let’s talk around the plot, which hinges around a few crucial twists, because there is so much more woven into the narrative. Whenever I approach one of his novels, I am constantly surprised by Hamilton’s complex ideas. Exciting and just-beyond-the-horizon, these ideas challenge and inspire. The primary tech “character” of the novel is Hamilton’s concept of a fully self-contained super-soldier suit called a Skin. Nanotechnology, “smart” materials, and a rugged AI system form the core of this “weapon.” And it is in the hands of powerful corporations, whose soldiers wear the Skins to pacify rebellious corporate-funded planets. Here we encounter the fascinating concept of Asset Realization; legal-speak for sanctioned piracy, the corporation (in this case, Zantiu-Braun) justifies raiding planets they helped colonize, as the reality of interstellar travel and colonization proves to be too expensive an endeavor. An AR force deprives a planet of virtually all its industrial output, from farming to computers and machinery, and returns to Earth to resell. Enough of the infrastructure remains so that the planet can recover and be ready for another “harvest” decades later. There is so much wrong with this practice, one wonders why no one has fought it—we come to find out that many have, with disastrous results for both colonists and corporations.

    This future is stagnant and insular; with a whole universe before them, humanity (or rather, the corporations) chose to limit exploration and settle. It’s all so boring. And that is Hamilton’s point. This society acts as a foil for his main characters to react to, providing valuable philosophical musings on the essential nature of humanity, or any sentient species.

    Lawrence Newton is one of these corporate soldiers, and for twenty years he has served ZB on various AR missions. Visiting new planets, traveling through space—these are things he lives for. But he is tiring of the manner in which he travels, and the reason for it all. So he comes up with a scheme to get rich quick, buy out his time at ZB, and perhaps restart his life. The plot is two-edged, moving forward with Lawrence’s plan while at the same time tracing his youthful roots and the circumstances that led him into the life of a warrior. This proves to be quite a detailed character study, intimate and revealing. Hamilton connects the reckless idealistic youth to the business-like seasoned soldier very convincingly. The reader discovers there are some beliefs that don’t die so easily.