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    Fallen Dragon
    Fallen Dragon
    Fallen Dragon
    Audiobook26 hours

    Fallen Dragon

    Written by Peter F. Hamilton

    Narrated by John Lee

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    In the distant future, corporations have become sustainable communities with their own militaries, and corporate goals have essentially replaced political ideology. On a youthful, rebellious impulse, Lawrence joined the military of a corporation that he now recognizes to be ruthless and exploitative. His only hope for escape is to earn enough money to buy his place in a better corporation. When his platoon is sent to a distant colony to quell a local resistance effort, it seems like a stroke of amazing fortune, and Lawrence plans to rob the colony of their fabled gemstone, the Fallen Dragon, to get the money he needs. However, he soon discovers that the Fallen Dragon is not a gemstone at all, but an alien life form that the local colonists have been protecting since it crashed in their area. Now, Lawrence has to decide if he will steal the alien to exploit the use of its inherent biotechnical processes-which far exceed anything humans are capable of-or if he will help the Resistance get the alien home.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateNov 1, 2016
    ISBN9781515978886
    Fallen Dragon
    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 Fallen Dragon

    4/5

    476 ratings12 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Science fiction page-turner (as usual from Hamilton), unfortunately also as usual the gender politics in the novel are disappointing and took away some of my enjoyment.
    • 2/5
      Of the 10 books I have read from this author, this is my least favorite. It has at least 3 or as many as 5 separate plot lines, depending on whether you count different point-of-view characters in the same time frame as a single plot line, and I found exactly one of them really engaging. The main problem with the others for me was that the characters were unlikable and there was so much information left out that I was constantly guessing at the meaning and context of their choices. By the end of the book I wasn't confused anymore, but for such a long novel the build-up took too long relative to the size and quality of the payoff.
    • 5/5
      It's a long book but I enjoyed the read. I was a bit hung up in the beginning with 300+ years in the future still using familiar technology like cash, fuel-type energy for vehicles etc but once I let go of that the story was very enjoyable and I like the ironic twist at the end.
    • 4/5
      Turned out to be a good read - though it did take me a couple tries to get through it. Hamilton writes such thick fiction that you really have to be in the mood for him to enjoy it fully.
    • 5/5
      "Fallen Dragon" had been called a synthesis of the ideas of the Night Dawn trilogy. In a way it can be looked at this way - but only on the surface. And then you can call that every novel that Hamilton wrote. But each of the novels and worlds is different from the previous ones - and this one is not an exception. Lawrence Newton is born in the ruling elite of his planet (or better to say to the rulling board - as the planet is owned by a corporation, as is any other planet in the sky) and seemingly has everything - including a woman that he loves and believes to love him. But he dreams of the stars - interstellar ships and new worlds - and this is not what seems to be available in his world. So he leaves the world that grew up on, a world that is turning into a paradise slowly for the big corporations on Earth that still send people to the stars. Of course, it comes after he is betrayed by the people he loves the most. 20 years later he is a mercenary - because the trip to the stars is to collect the bounty from the worlds that the corporation owns. People on these worlds are not very happy about it of course - thus the need for the mercenaries. And now, when he lands on Thallspring, he has another plan - because he had been here before and something made him think that there is something really valuable hidden in the jungle. But the invasion comes down to the matched mental powers of Simon Roderick (who is a lot more than he looks and is leading the fleet) and Denise Ebourn - a school teacher on the planet that is a lot more than that. What is expected to be an easy job starts getting complicated and turns into a nightmare. And in the jungle, something is waiting for all of them.Hamilton builds his universe slowly, with a lot of details that make it alive and believable. The aliens, when they show up, are so different from humanity - and when the main characters expect them to believe as people, they get a nasty surprise. If I had one problem with the book, it was Lawrence's change of reasoning - it comes way too... abrupt. Even the powers of the aliens do not explain that. But despite it, it is a great novel - worth the read. Too bad that Hamilton decided that he wants to write a short novel and stopped after about 800 pages.
    • 5/5
      Over the years, I’ve read an enormous amount of science fiction. I’ve read all of the classics, as well as a goodly number of the more recent works. Having read just about everything he has written, I can safely say that Peter Hamilton is now my favorite science fiction writer.My first exposure to Hamilton was his magnum opus, Night’s Dawn trilogy. Initially, I was absolutely blown away. About midway through this 3,500 page door stop, I began to lose interest, primarily because the novelty of many of Hamilton’s brilliant alien and technological constructs simply became second nature. I followed up with Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained, another 2,000 page monster. Much like Night’s Dawn, it simply carried on too long. The Void trilogy, actually a sequel to Judas Unchained, was another 2,000+ pages, but actually kept my attention throughout.Fallen Dragon contains the same style of writing as the works referenced above, but is more tightly written and concludes in a brief (for Hamilton) 850 pages. As in his previous work, the alien life forms and the technology envisioned by Hamilton are magnificently presented. There are none of the clichés found in other, far simpler writing. In addition, Hamilton’s stories contain a healthy dose of philosophy, but not to the extent found in the far denser writing of Frank Herbert or Charles Strauss. The plot twist that occurs at the end of this book is awesome and immensely satisfying.If you are considering sampling Hamilton, this would be the perfect place to start. Unless I’m mistaken, you’ll proceed on to some of his lengthier space operas. If nothing else, reading Hamilton will keep you occupied and entertained for months on end.
    • 5/5
      Fallen Dragon depicts a future where corporations have colonized distant solar systems - and extract dividends from these new worlds by raiding them for technology and resources every few decades. Due to some bad choices in his past, Lawrence is a soldier for a large corporation. He hops inside a techno-organic suit and terrorizes (usually innocent) civilians for a living. Lawrence plans to get out of the soldiering business after the Thallspring campaign. Little did he know what was waiting for him on that world.This book is a real gem. Peter Hamilton is known for his sprawling epics, but I think this stand-alone novel is his best work. It is quintessential Hamilton, so if you don't like deus ex machina endings then steer clear. Otherwise, I strongly recommend it.
    • 4/5
      As the novel states at the beginning, the fault of most things in the universe is money.And money is the problem with space exploration in the mid-24th century. Space exploration and colonization just isn't paying for itself. Colonies take centuries to repay investors. To make matters worse, some declare themselves independent of their corporate founders on Earth. The solution? The "asset-recovery mission", legalized piracy where corporate armies swoop down on colonies to plunder them.Lawrence Newton is a sergeant in such an army, and, when he gets word of an impending mission to the planet Thallspring, he starts to plan a little private asset realization of his own. On Thallspring, we get the story of a mission frustrated by local resistance headed up by Denise Ebourn who is much more than the simple storyteller and schoolteacher she appears to be.Alternating with this plot is the story of how Newton, son of corporate elite on the colony Amethi, fled his home after a bitter betrayal. Spurred on by a beloved science fiction "i-drama", he dreams of becoming a starship explorer. Twenty years later, this exiled corporate prince is a corporate mercenary and still dreaming. Counterpointed to Newton's adventures are Ebourn's tales, for her students, of Prince Mozark of the long dead Ring Empire and the civilizations he finds in his quest for life's purpose and what course his people should adopt. Thus the novel not only turns out to be filled with Hamilton's typically clear and exciting combat sequences and technological skullduggery but is also a look at the economic constraints on space travel and colonization, the spreading of corporate uniculture on Earth and on man's colonies, the purpose humans should find in their lives as technology advances, and the influence of science fiction's romances on our future.This novel doesn't immerse you in a world as thoroughly as Hamilton's Night's Dawn series did simply because it has fewer pages, but Hamilton pays careful attention to his technology and economics.And the last hundred pages of this novel will change your whole perception of what has gone before.
    • 4/5
      Basically the same as all his other books; trashy and fun with insane action scenes and unbelievable tension, creepy approach to sex and vague misogyny, with women treated either as the enemy encroaching into the sacred world of men, or the prostitute tolerated for her ability to give pleasure. If you can ignore all the weirdness that the author is obsessed with (threesomes, always fucking threesomes, good lord) you will enjoy this very much.I still have no idea what that thing is on the cover. Another case of an artist not paying attention to the book they're supposed to be illustrating.
    • 4/5
      Review at volume II. (The hungarian edition of the book has 2 volumes...)
    • 3/5
      Mega-corps control the known galaxy and spaceflight. They often engage in 'asset realisation', seen by the colonies as robbery. On this attack there are some unexpected problems, while one of the sergeants of the megacorp has his own agenda.Good read, recommended. Sound plot and characters. Enough action, but not to much. Convincing technology. Relationships well worked out.
    • 5/5
      Lawrence Newton grew up in a wealthy board family, on a rich and prospering colony world. He had everything he wanted, including the girl of his dreams. But he dreamed of exploring space and discovering new worlds out on the frontier, so he left all that behind, selling his stake in his homeworld to buy a starship ticket to Earth. There he joined the Zaunti Braun corporation and became a squaddie, going to planet after planet on asset realisation missions. Not exactly what he’d dreamed off, but then he’d been rejected from the Starship officer training program because he didn’t have a big enough stake in the company. Twenty years later, and he’s now a Sergeant, leading a platoon of squaddies on the world of Thallspring, when he comes up with a plan to become rich, and at last, to go home…This is Peter F. Hamilton at his very best, as he was in the Night’s Dawn Trilogy. OK so some of the same technology is reappearing, but that doesn’t bother me. He’s again managed to come up with a damn good space opera that you can’t seem to put down until it’s finished. And it’s all in one volume too!