# Pandora's Star

![Book cover of Pandora's Star](/books/covers/pandoras_star.jpg)

by [Peter F. Hamilton](/books/authors/peter_f_hamilton/)
Book 1 of [Commonwealth Saga](/books/series/commonwealth_saga/)
Awards: [2023 Favorites](/blog/favorite-books-of-2023/)
★★★★☆

## Review

I couldn't put _Pandora's Star_ down! It is a sci-fi book that reads
more like a thriller. There were always new mysteries that just a few more
pages promised the answers to.

The book takes place in a universe where trains running through interstellar
wormholes are the main form of transportation. It deals with themes of:

- _Inequality_, which is rampant, with the richest families (called dynasties)
  owning entire planets.

- _Life, death, and the self_, since Humans can't really die because everyone
  has a memory backups that can be loaded into a new clone. Some of the
  characters struggle with the idea that the clone is not really them
  (something I agree with) but this is sort of glossed over in the book.

- _Family_, since people don't die, families are huge but less tightly-bound.
  Marriages last a few decades and people know they'll end before they begin.
  And of course the largest companies are the dynasties themselves.

But it doesn't really linger on these questions; it's an action movie in book
form.

The main plot kicks off when a star suddenly disappears. The humans, being
curious, decide to find out why. This forces the human Commonwealth to build
their first real starships. Given that the title is "Pandora" you would
rightfully guess that humanity's curiosity is costly: they unleash an
aggressive alien species that launches a genocidal war against the unprepared
Commonwealth.

The book is **LONG** but the story keeps moving. The cast is huge which makes
the universe feel big, but also means that sometimes it's hundreds and
hundreds of pages before you return to a story thread that ended on a
cliffhanger. The various plot lines all feel related although you can't see
exactly how yet. The ending is abrupt, but that's because _Pandora's Star_ is
the first half of the [_Commonwealth Saga_](/books/series/commonwealth_saga/), which concludes in [_Judas Unchained_](/books/judas_unchained/).

## Reviews that mention _Pandora's Star_
- [_All These Worlds_](/books/all_these_worlds/)
- [_A Desolation Called Peace_](/books/a_desolation_called_peace/)
- [_The Dreaming Void_](/books/the_dreaming_void/)
- [_Endymion_](/books/endymion/)
- [_Excession_](/books/excession/)
- [_For We Are Many_](/books/for_we_are_many/)
- [_Judas Unchained_](/books/judas_unchained/)
- [_Look to Windward_](/books/look_to_windward/)
- [_Network Effect_](/books/network_effect/)
- [_Not Till We Are Lost_](/books/not_till_we_are_lost/)
- [_On Basilisk Station_](/books/on_basilisk_station/)†
- [_Shards of Earth_](/books/shards_of_earth/)
- [_Starquake_](/books/starquake/)†
- [_Surface Detail_](/books/surface_detail/)

† _Mentioned via a link to the series._

## Related Books
- [_Judas Unchained_](/books/judas_unchained/) by [Peter F. Hamilton](/books/authors/peter_f_hamilton/) --- ★★★★☆: The sequel to Pandora’s Star, Judas Unchained continues right where the last one left off, but with the action ramped up to 11. The various storylines and loose threads come together one by one until it’s the good guys racing against the bad guys for the fate of the universe.
- [_Night Without Stars_](/books/night_without_stars/) by [Peter F. Hamilton](/books/authors/peter_f_hamilton/) --- ★★★☆☆: Night Without Stars is the second book in The Chronicle of the Fallers. It is action packed, with great pacing, and complex characters. It is my new favorite Peter F. Hamilton book.
- [_The Abyss Beyond Dreams_](/books/the_abyss_beyond_dreams/) by [Peter F. Hamilton](/books/authors/peter_f_hamilton/) --- ★★★☆☆: The Abyss Beyond Dreams starts off The Chronicle of the Fallers, another series in Peter F. Hamilton’s Commonwealth universe. Though billed as space opera, it often reads more as urban fantasy since most of the story occurs on the planet Bienvenido inside the Void where steam engines are their most advanced technology.