MarzAat

The Peter F. Hamilton series continues.

Raw Feed (2001): A Quantum Murder, Peter F. Hamilton, 1994.

Hamilton tries to put some of the psi powers in this series on a rational footing by evoking quantum physics in the figure of the roguish, rather hippish Professor Edward Kitchener who takes syntho drugs to try peer, through interlinked wormholes, into the the past and other time tracks and, possibly, develop a stardrive as well as coming up with grand unified theory combining all of physics with psychic powers.

While I found this novel enjoyable, I didn’t like it as well as it’s predecessor, Mindstar Rising. The mind control program beamed into the brain via laser beam was not convincingly rationalized though it made for an interesting fight at novel’s end with Mandel confronting a group of zombies.

The novel seemed to dwell longer on Julia Evans then strictly necessary for the plot, but then Hamilton is once again, as with Ione Saldana in his Night’s Dawn trilogy, creating a young, likeable (if flawed) princess type character that everyone is either in awe of or loves.

I did like the simmering conflicts between the Trinities and the remnants, just a suburb away, of the People’s Socialist Party constabulary (and the scene where Mandel confronts a pathetic old PSP constable was good) and how most people want to put the PSP days of England behind them.

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