Golden Anvil

Reality Disfunction by Peter F. Hamilton

I really wanted to like this book. It had a feel that was pretty simliar to Stephen Baxter, who is one of my favorite sci-fi authors, but generally a little less "far out" and without Baxter's strong, common theme. Unfortunately, I didn't end up reading the entire book, but gave it back to the borrow/take library at work.

The book had a reasonably interesting setting, with a strong divide between people who had genetically engineered in the ability to mentally interface with other genetic constructs, and more normal people with a more "hardware" approach to technology. There was a very nice central plot involving planet colonization that really gave a realistic view of what that might look like when managed by corporations trying to make a profit.

The book was somewhat disjointed at first, and it was taking a while for the different characters and plotlines to merge together. There was also a fairly big selection of new terms and concepts thrown at the reader early on in the book. The biggest problem though was the excessive use of sex that was apparently just thrown in. Every one of the main characters seemed to need frequent sex. Normally, having some sex in a book doesn't bother me as long as it's not particularly descriptive, and serves some purpose in the story. In this case though, it just seemed gratuitous. So, I stopped reading about a third of the way through. Oh well.

2.5 / 5 - really had the potential for a 4 / 5