Five Bubble Book Club discussion

Another long book this month.
Just FYI that the audiobook is freely available on Hoopla if you have a public library card
https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/1...

5 hours in, glad that they finally started to assemble the starship crew.

My Hoopla lend expired with 10hr to go. Too bad my daughter has used all 19 other allowances on Pinkalicious. I also got a hard copy but I doubt I will finish it on time.
Still, a lot to talk about.
For a starter, which planet is your favorite so far?

Can't make this month's chat. I will put my thoughts here:
Rob made a good comparison between this book and Hyperion. The multi-planet civilizations drew similarities. I like that Pandora put in more effort in introducing not only the scenery but also the social and political background of each planet.
Generally, Pandora's Star spent way more effort in depicting everything. I feel like I gradually got used to not following immediately when a new storyline started. Maybe a reread candidate for this holiday season. (Instead of long-read, this year I'm thinking about a deep-dive/reread December-January as if calendar still matters).
Oh, and my favorite planet? The "Indian" one that the woman flew a glider above a volcano (I'm too afraid to lookup wiki because of spoilers.). So far, more stories happened there.

The planet with the volcano would be Faraway -- where the alien "Marie Celeste" starship crashed.

If I had to vote for a location, it would be Ozzie's asteroid.

Peter F. Hamilton is near the top of my list of New Space Opera writers, probably only surpassed by the late Iain M. Banks; although, I'd have to think hard about where Dan Simmons sits...

And I'd endorse your returning to the Commonwealth Saga in winter, if not before. My comparison with Hyperion was to note that while I could have stopped at the end of Hyperion, there was no way I could have stopped at the end of Pandora's Star -- I needed to read the second book of this duology to get closure.

I like your comparison of the cultures in each book -- I hadn't seen it, but now I do!

Fallback meeting link: meet.google.com/bte-bkyd-seb

With Eric out, it looks like no one can get into the regular Meet.

Robert

OK, if anyone wants to reschedule this discussion, let me know.
Robert

So sorry for my second miss ever.
Though it was a great zoo trip. Lol

Robert wrote: "Fallback meeting link: meet.google.com/bte-bkyd-seb

With Eric out, it looks like no one can get into the regular Meet.

Robert"
Oh you mean the link doesn't work without the moderator? Hmm.. good to know though. I will keep that in mind the next time. Thanks

Great talking to you about the book today!
The site I mentioned with pictures from Pandora's Star is called DeviantArt, here are some of the pictures:
https://www.deviantart.com/kernovy/ar...
https://www.deviantart.com/kernovy/ar...
https://www.deviantart.com/kernovy/ar...

The reference page is on Fandom: https://peterfhamilton.fandom.com/wik...

And the character who (I thought) had a butler was Paul Cramley but I can't find any reference to his butler so I may have totally misremembered.

I also agree with not being able to stop after the end of Pandora's Star - I couldn't either and I've yet to finish Hyperion (after the first book) :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zeo3k...
This is the interview I talked about.
Not a very talkative guy, almost sounds like an engineer.

For the folks that have finished to two-book series:
As I said, I'm at the point where two astronauts being dissected. I feel that my memory about the plots before this is kinda murky that if there is some subtle hint I definitely have missed it. Should I keep going or am I better off starting it all over?
Also, I blame my sloppiness partly on the audiobook. The narrator was fine but the sound quality is choppy at least in the first several chapters. Took me some time to adjust to it.