Monday, July 18, 2011

The Naked God – Part II: Faith

Peter F. Hamilton
MacMillan, 2000 (my copy is from Warner Books, 2000)
Size: Epic (my copy has 778 pages)
Theme: Futuristic space opera
Narrative: third-person
Main character: Joshua Calvert
Recommended minimum age: Young Adult
Would purchase as a gift to any sci-fi reader: YES



This book concludes the Naked God story (the last part of the Night’s Dawn trilogy). It manages to provide a conclusive ending to this great saga, with a definite wrap-up to the complex plot and its cast of characters. Also, Hamilton manages to tie several loose ends that had been opening up throughout the previous books. I found the end itself to be appropriate and sufficiently imaginative to provide a sound reasoning to events. As in previous books, the story is compelling and rich, with well explored and meaningful characters. The Universe of the Night’s Dawn saga is detailed and captivating. A couple major plots and many sub-plots set up the scene for grandiose events that span galaxies. Any sci-fi fan will find this to be a memorable story.

As the organization armies are forced to retreat to New California, more and more planets taken over by possessed start shifting out of the universe. Meanwhile, the B7 group and Louise’s small party continue their efforts to kill Quinn Dexter. Joshua and Syrinx continue their search for the Sleeping God, and start interacting with dominions in the Tyrathca home system, whose inhabitants are not exactly who they expected. The multiple groups involved in the story, including the Kiint and the observers living with them, will be brought into the forefront of the story and their role explained.

Related work:

Note that you should read this book after the previous volume, “Naked God - Part I: Flight”. The Night Dawn’s trilogy starts in The Reality Dysfunction, continues in The Neutronium Alchemist and ends in The Naked God.


Spoilers (warning: the following text contains information that may hamper/ruin how much you enjoy the book):

The story ends with Joshua making contact with the Tyrathca Sleeping God, which is actually a sentient singularity that was created by an ancient race who long ago abandoned the material universe, leaving behind such devices to assist other races. The device allows Joshua to understand the precise nature of possession and how it started, and provides him with unlimited powers which allow him to eradicate the possessed, return all the possessed planets to the “normal” universe, and also find a solution for all the souls in the beyond and to prevent another reality dysfunction occurrence.

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