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I've had time to read another of the books I mentioned last month.
Fallen Dragon, it turns out is a pre-quel to the Night's Dawn Trilogy,
rather than a sequel.
For those of you who haven't read the original series, it might roughly be
regarded as a cross between "Star Wars" and "The Exorcist."
It was a major tour-de-force when it hit the market in 1996. (The last volume was
not published until 2000.) Fallen Dragon appears to fill in some of the
gaps in the back story of that massive work.
Even forgetting the previous work, this is an excellent book, well able to stand
on its own two feet. The technology is believable, the characters are very well-drawn,
and the plot is full of surprises. If the ending is not quite as cynical and hard-nosed
as I am used to, it is easy to forgive Mr. Hamilton. This book is extremely well-executed.
It follows the life of Lawrence Newton, starting when he is a mature man in his mid
forties or early fifties. Then it regresses to his teenage years and starts forward from
there also. These two parrallel story lines continue rather compellingly. As Sgt. Newton's
return mission to the planet Thallspring proceeds, his first mission to Thallspring proceeds
in the previous time-line.
I found this story so engrossing, that I actually lost sleep trying to find the point
where the two story-lines meet. But this is more than just good technique, this is nearly
epic -- after all, Dune was well-written but I only got as far as page 46! I couldn't
wait to get to the end of Fallen Dragon to see what happened.
'Til Next Month,
Happy Reading
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