The Reality Dysfunction. Or as we know it, the SFX office.

Gavin Smith celebrates a classic of ’90s space opera

Peter F Hamilton is now a household name in science fiction. In 1996 he was less well known, though enjoying success as the author of the Greg Mandel SF detective series. The Reality Dysfunction, first book in the Night’s Dawn trilogy, was a departure from near-future, hardboiled stories like Mindstar Rising and A Quantum Murder, securing Hamilton a place as one of the leading lights of the New Space Opera.

Six hundred years in the future humanity has split off into two branches: the Edenists, an almost utopian society of transhumans, biotechnologically connected to their sentient Voidhawk spacecraft; and the Adamists, who are plain warts-and-all humanity. The Edenists and the various Adamist societies form the Confederation, a sort of interstellar UN that encourages cooperation and peace between the various power blocs, which control more than 850 worlds and numerous space habitats.

A group of colonists arrive on Lalonde, a recently settled frontier world, setting in motion events that result in the souls of the dead returning from a purgatorial dimension to possess the living. The possessed exhibit psychokinetic powers, and are more than a match for the mercenaries and soldiers they inevitably face. They are capable of disrupting technology and affecting their environment with a form of psychic terraforming.

The pleasure of the The Reality Dysfunction is the pleasure of a story told well. While the novel touches on issues such as the environment and poverty there is no great analysis here. Instead we get a shamelessly action-adventure oriented novel with multiple artfully interwoven storylines and a cast of thousands. The Reality Dysfunction is science fiction that walks tall and carries a big stick.

The world/galaxy building is extensive and detailed enough to create a very real-feeling setting. In many ways, however, Hamilton’s real strength as a writer is his embracing of tropes but making them fresh and interesting. The Reality Dysfunction feels like the quintessential space opera novel with echoes of Heinlein and Asimov, who Hamilton cites as influences. At the same time this is not humanity triumphant in the stars. This is humanity fleeing an ecologically ruined home world and taking all its flaws and social problems with it into the cosmos. It is not the manifest destiny of golden age SF, but rather post-Cyberpunk space opera seen through an altogether darker lens. The introduction of preter/supernatural elements was a bold choice but one that works and foreshadows some of the weirder elements that made their way into his Commonwealth Saga books.

In a story filled with moral conundrums the possessed antagonists create the most interesting one. Simple brute force cannot win the day, as the returned dead possess the bodies of innocent people. This prompted fantasy author Tad Williams to describe The Reality Dysfunction as the “greatest hostage scenario”.

Perhaps the level of world building seen in the novel has gone out of fashion. Social mores have changed, particularly pertaining to gender, in the 20 years since it was published. But The Reality Dysfunction is a great deal of fun! I think sometimes we can lose sight of just how important that is in science fiction.

The Bastard Legion: Friendly Fire by Gavin Smith is out 12 July from Gollancz.