First Class

Excellent conclusion to the series. Took me a while to get back into all the characters because of the time between installments, but once I remembered everyone, it was as good as its predecessors. The narration is excellent, and I had no problem distinguishing the different characters. John Lee does a fantastic job, as with the last one. If you enjoyed the previous two in the series, then I am preaching to the converted - this is a great story.

I will be listening to more PFH soon!

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2 people found this helpful

Excellent!

Really enjoyed listening to this mammoth series. Was a little bit disappointed with the end but maybe that's because I'll miss the books. Waiting eagerly for his next installment!

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2 people found this helpful

Very complicated with many sub-plots.

I listen to the whole series of books hoping to understand it more with each passing chapter. It didn’t happen though and, if anything, I got more confused as the story progressed. The performance was good (ish) but overall I wouldn’t recommend the story. Perhaps it was all above my poor little (doctorate level) brain though and you’ll have a better experience.

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Great end to the trilogy

All reviews are by their very nature subjective and so this is only worth what my opinion is worth. From my view point this was an excellent end to the series. I really enjoyed this book and Hamilton delivers an excellent tale that finishes off the saga nicely whilst leaving a few characters around with the door open for fresh adventures in the Commomwealth 'world'.

Like Terry Pratchett, or Iain M Banks, Hamilton produces novels which whilst set in a 'world' can still stand alone in its own right. The plot is solid but for me, if you want to know what happens to a character the author has done an excellent job and Hamilton does this in spades.

Given what I have said why only 4 stars? Well sorry to say but any audiobook is 'a game of two halves' - the author and the narrator, whilst I find Hamilton work superb I have to say that I am not as keen on Lee's narration. I have listened to some good work by Lee but I really don't think that this genre is his best, for example I thought that he was very good with his narration of 'Cochrane' but must admit that I found this much harder work. I felt that Toby Longworth's narration of the first book was much more engaging and to be honest if I hadn't gotten into Hamilton work I might not have been so keen to listen to the later Lee narrated volumes. That being said I don't think Lee's work is as bad as some reviewers have suggested (if you want someone really dire then try Charlton Griffin - the only audiobook I have failed to complete, a pretty good book absolutely ruined by the narration, I would rather stick pins in my eyes than listen to it again - no wonder some people hate History if it was present to them like that).

The bottom line is an excellent book that draws the arcs of the various story lines together in a masterly fashion, the narration is okay but I feel that Toby Longworth or Peter Kenny might have been a better choice for this book.

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8 people found this helpful

Blown away

I don't know how he does it, but Hamilton has once again intertwined many stories into an epic tale that will keep you gripped until the very end. After hours of listening and following the characters that I now know so well, it's come to an end, and I have that empty, happy-sad feeling that I always get from finishing an extraordinary book. Now how do I deal with the withdrawal symptoms?

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Good story, good narration, shame about the edit

excellent story, the editing of recording sessions together is appalling however with words getting chopped up

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Great

Pretty epic, well written and performed. Looking Forward to more writing by the author! Thanks

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1 person found this helpful

A lovely finish

The ending was a bit abrupt but otherwise this was a fantastic end to a really interesting series.

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nothing wrong with the narration

There’s nothing wrong with John Lee’s reading. John Lee is fine, good in fact. As for the book, the Edeard stories were very beautiful in all the series. Apart from that, I had absolutely NO idea what was going on in the main galaxy, but there were a LOT of quantum busters and that’s fine by me. Peter Hamilton’s notice board of the plot must have looked like Sherlock Homes stalking James Moriarty. The brilliant thing about the Void series books is you can listen to them twice, maybe three times in rapture and STILL not know what the monkey’s happened. That HAS to be value for money. Nice ending; hang on; how did that kid get there again?

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Great Space Opera

What fantastic drama, titanic Space battles, great humour, tears of joy and sadness. Twists and turns unexpected delights. Really enjoyed all the void series, good set of sequels to the starflier books. I confess I did not enjoy John Lees narration when I heard it for the first time, but I have come to understand that he is truly brilliant and awesomely good. My one criticism is Aluminium being pronounced the American way, but hey, one cannot have everything in life. Top Notch Space Opera. Loved it!

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