Judas Unchained is the concluding half of the Commonwealth Saga begun in Pandora's Star.
Pandora's Star ends with an Alien invasion which seem to threaten the very existence of the human race. Judas Unchained starts seconds later.
The multiple plot strands that are strewn through the two novels finally come to fruition in the second book, and reward the reader for sticking through nearly two thousand pages of exposition.
If you like military space wars, these books are for you. If you like utopian, advanced technology societies ("death" has been solved through the use of memory storage and cloning), these books are for you. If you like depiction of alien creatures and societies, these books are for you. If you like suspense and mystery, these books are for you.
Hamilton does an incredible job of weaving different genres of fiction around a solid core of hard, speculative fiction whose intricacy is frankly breathtaking.
Length: 992 pages. Publisher: Del Rel (January 25, 2005).
OVERALL GRADE: A/A-.