The Neutronium Alchemist

Book excerpt: The Neutronium Alchemist is the second novel in the Night's Dawn Trilogy from Peter F. Hamilton, an extraordinary feat of storytelling on a truly epic scale. The ancient menace has finally escaped from Lalonde, shattering the Confederation's peaceful existence. Those who succumbed to it have acquired godlike powers, but now follow a far from divine gospel as they advance inexorably from world to world. On planets and asteroids, individuals battle for survival against the strange and brutal forces unleashed upon the universe. Governments teeter on the brink of anarchy, the Confederation Navy is dangerously over-stretched, and a dark messiah prepares to invoke his own version of the final Night. In such desperate times the last thing the galaxy needs is a new and terrifyingly powerful weapon. Yet Dr. Alkad Mzu is determined to retrieve the Alchemist — so she can complete her thirty-year-old vendetta to slay a star. But Joshua Calvert is not alone in the chase to find and stop her, and there are people on both sides who have their own ideas about how to use the ultimate doomsday device. "A space opera that is big, boisterous, and has something for everyone." —Science Fiction Weekly The Night’s Dawn Trilogy The Reality Dysfunction The Neutronium Alchemist The Naked God