Author: Peter F. Hamilton

This is set up as trilogy, even though the way I bought it was as 2 separate books in each of the first two parts, then a really large final book, so 5 books all together. It is an impressive attempt to create a future in detail, and tell a monumental story about humankind facing the consequences of an afterlife and coming to terms. I think Hamilton succeeds in these books, with an amazing number of characters and stories happening at once, with loads of minute trivia that help you see and grasp this world.

Some people have said his writing is too wordy, that the books, especially the last one are too long. I don't have a problem with any of that. I love a really long, juicy book, that lets me learn enough about the characters and places they live so I can be comfortable there with them. His alien species make sense and are different enough from humans--a failing in so much science fiction, that of having aliens who are essentially humans but just look a little different.

The whole idea of having inhabitants from afterlife spilling into the regular world was unique (come on, Al Capone brought back? you gotta love it!), and the conflicts this brings are well-explored.

Long, but worth it. Adventure, romance, hard science, aliens, heroes and heroines, some gross stuff but not gratuitous, good guys and bad guys, tech stuff I wish we had now.

Series:

The Reality Dysfunction - Part 1: Emergence
The Reality Dysfunction - Part 2: Expansion
The Neutronium Alchemist - Part 1: Consolidation
The Neutronium Alchemist - Part 2: Conflict
The Naked God