Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
3.5 Stars
Great North Road is a rather long, but very enjoyable book. The book is set in the twenty second century. There are two main plot strands. The first is a murder investigation set in the English (or GE – Grand European) city of Newcastle, and the second plot strand takes place on an alien planet, one of many human colonies linked by the worm holes (very similar to those described in the Peter Hamilton’s Commonwealth Saga).
Like many other reviewers, I found the murder investigation set in Newcastle to be slow going. There are passages where the author explores how a crime could be committed in a future with ubiquitous surveillance that I found very enjoyable.
The second plot strand that is set on the planet of St. Libra would be comfortable territory most fans of “big picture” science fiction. We find fascinating landscapes, alien biology and riveting suspense. The world of St. Libra makes for an excellent setting for some great action scenes.
Fans of Peter Hamilton”s previous work will find much that is familiar and enjoyable in Great North Road. At about a thousand pages (or two weeks of reading on my trusty kindle), there were parts of the book that I skimmed. The book starts off quite slow and the plot only starts to move along in the final third of the book. Impatient readers proceed with caution!