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    A Night Without Stars: A Novel of the Commonwealth
    A Night Without Stars: A Novel of the Commonwealth
    A Night Without Stars: A Novel of the Commonwealth
    Audiobook26 hours

    A Night Without Stars: A Novel of the Commonwealth

    Written by Peter F. Hamilton

    Narrated by John Lee

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    The planet is isolated from the rest of the universe, unable to seek help as it's targeted by hostile aliens. Bienvenido's ruling authorities have slowly responded to this gradual infiltration, but they have no idea that a highly organized invasion is now under way, designed to wipe out all human life on the planet. All factions must work together to survive. Unfortunately, due to prejudice against enhanced Eliter humans and crippling technophobia, the parochial government won't collaborate.Kysandra, known as the Warrior Angel, heads up the Eliter resistance. With their enhanced capabilities and technological know-how, they could avert disaster, but only if the authorities stop hunting them at every turn. Then, as both resistance and government are caught in a desperate race to save lives, the planet receives an unexpected visitor. As events escalate, petty power-plays, politics, and age-old prejudices may prove fatal. And as the more sophisticated hostiles can hijack a human body, humanity is undermined by spies within-wearing the faces of family and friends.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateSep 27, 2016
    ISBN9781494575335
    A Night Without Stars: A Novel of the Commonwealth
    Author

    Peter F. Hamilton

    Peter F. Hamilton was born in Rutland in 1960 and still lives nearby. He began writing in 1987, and sold his first short story to Fear magazine in 1988. He has written many bestselling novels, including the Greg Mandel series, the Night's Dawn trilogy, the Commonwealth Saga, the Void trilogy, short-story collections and several standalone novels including Fallen Dragon and Great North Road.

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    Reviews for A Night Without Stars

    4/5

    139 ratings7 reviews

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    • 5/5
      The is was great conclusion to the series and the commonwealth as a whole. It was so nice to be out of the void and its' fantasy elements that we had to endure during the void trilogy. Seem to be much back to for for PFH!
    • 5/5
      Possibly the best book in the Commonwealth series so far. The book can be read without reading other ones, though it's still pretty important to read the previous book in the Faller series. The writing is very cohesive and doesn't jump around a ton like most of the other books. I just wish he did more exploring of the Vicount ship instead of just the hold, since no one really knows what happened to the crew. I would have rather found out that everyone died or turned Faller than just have to assume.
    • 4/5
      Another Commonwealth book and the 2nd book in the Chronicle of the Fallers duology, which is itself a side plot of the Void trilogy. Hamilton returns to the planet of Bienvenido. Stuck in the Void along with the much better known Querencia, Bienvenido is contacted by humans from outside the void entirely by accident - and unknown to the Commonwealth. Colonization ships crash on the planet and establish a civilization but within the Void, technology is severely limited. The world is also threatened by The Fallers - a previously unknown alien species that falls to Bienvenido in egg shaped forms that 'call' to humans telepathically, then consume the first person that touches them and emerges in that form. For centuries humans and Fallers have battled, with the humans controlling one continent while the Fallers control the rest of the planet.This story picks up with another contact attempt from the Commonwealth and with the balance of power between humans and Fallers shifting - towards the Fallers. While this is technically a Commonwealth book, the action is restricted to Bienvenido. I really enjoy these books as a side story to the void trilogy. While the 'aliens among us' theme is now practically a century old, I liked this take on it. Great stuff.
    • 4/5
      This sequel to [book:The Abyss Beyond Dreams|20697413] is engaging and provides a satisfying conclusion.

      (Just an observation, but it seems that many fiction authors feel compelled to include graphic sex scenes in their novels, whether they are necessary to the story or not; this one included. The story is going along fine, and then the pacing is interrupted for a steamy bedroom interlude. I'm not sure why. Is it something publishers insist on to attract adolescent readers?)
    • 4/5
      The final chapter in the Commonwealth Saga.A fitting conclusion to both the Fallers series and the Commonwealth books as a whole. Like all Peter Hamilton books the ending is weak but the rest is gripping and fast paced. There was some nice cameos to round out the story. An enjoyable if lighter story compared to some of the others in the series.
    • 5/5
      I have read all of Peter Hamilton’s work, after having first been exposed to him through his magnum space opera opus, Night’s Dawn trilogy, a 3,500 page, door stop of a work. His blend of originality, especially as applied to alien constructs, and hard science fiction is unmatched in my opinion. Sure, he tends to be a little long winded, but I can overlook that in the presence of excellence.Unfortunately, Mr. Hamilton’s latest work, A Night Without Stars had the bad fortune to follow up Cixin Liu’s trilogy of science fiction excellence, Remembrance of Earth’s Past. While Hamilton writes outstanding science fiction, Liu’s work was one of the best reading experiences I’ve ever encountered, regardless of genre.This novel is the second of a two part sequel to the Commonwealth series (Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained) and the Void trilogy. I read these five novels (about 4,000 pages worth) several years ago and it took me a little time to become re-familiar with the underlying story and landscape. Do not let anyone tell you that this novel can be appreciated as a stand-alone work; don’t even try it. The world that Hamilton has created cannot possibly be appreciated by starting in the middle of the story. In this follow up to The Abyss Beyond Dreams, the world of Beinvenido has been expelled from the Void, millions of light years from Commonwealth space. Beset by orbiting alien constructs which produce Fallers that seek to destroy the humans, Bienvenido has developed into an autocratic, repressive state. The only hope for survival rests with a handful of Commonwealth citizens that possess technology sufficient to not only rescue the Bienvenido citizens from the Fallers, but return them to Commonwealth space. Good story line, interesting characters and rock solid hard science fiction. As an aside, Hamilton repeats what has become a pet peeve of mine among science fiction writers in general and Hamilton in particular; the need to create a new epithet to be used by future humans, and repeat it ad nauseam throughout the work. In earlier Commonwealth and Void novels, we were repeatedly assaulted with such terms as "Dreaming Heavens!", “TANJ” (There ain't no justice) and “TANSTAAFL” (There ain't no such thing as a free lunch). In this work, the word “crud” has replaced the perfectly functional “f” word in all its many forms. On some pages, the word “crud” or a form of it may be used up to half a dozen times. Uracus (the Bienvenido parallel to Hell) is also used ad nauseum. Far from contributing to the originality of the story, it instead is annoying and comes across as silly. By the end of the novel, it had become a serious distraction.
    • 4/5
      It’s a night without stars on the planet Bienvenido because it’s far from the rest of galaxy, so far that the only sun in the sky is the one its planets revolve around.It’s a solar system inhabited by members of the races doomed unsuitable for communion with the aliens that created the Void, that vast bubble of altered timeflow and physics busted up by industrialist Nigel Sheldon at the end of The Abyss Beyond Dreams.Don’t worry if you’ve forgotten all you’ve read in Hamilton’s other Commonwealth novels or never read any at all.Hamilton quickly brings up you to speed. In the first 41 pages, we get reacquainted with dictator Slvasta, obsessed with ridding Bienvenido of the Faller menace -- nasty, irredeemable aliens who digest and mimic (except for the blue blood) a planet’s lifeforms. Except Bienvenido has discovered it’s sharing the solar system with an even nastier alien menace, the Prime from Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained. Laura Brandt, from Abyss, dies yet again. And we’re off to the usual compelling Hamilton mix of detectives, spies, revolutionaries, fanatics, astronauts, politicians, nasty aliens and naïve young people thrown in the mix. Masks will drop, factions will plot, alliances will melt away and reform. (The sex in this one is actually fairly low key and short.)Our two main characters are a secret policeman and an astronaut, both who discover that the official story about the Faller menace is not right. Things are far worse than thought.Most of the characters are new, but some old ones show up including, in the first chapter, the universe’s most competent human, Paula Myo.The novel raises to the typical Hamilton crescendo of quick cuts between different groups trying to stave off global disaster.The last 40 pages may be a bit rushed and the final chapter a bit overstuffed, but Hamilton wraps up his themes and plots.