In it, an Astronomer spots a star that disappears. This star is 1,500 light years away. He travels to another star system (Humanity is a multi-system species) and observes the star again, at just the right moment to see the light from its disappearance. It disappears within a couple of seconds, as does a nearby star. But its infrared output is undimmed.
This kicks off an epic, and I really do mean epic, space opera. Peter F Hamilton is really great at such stories, and I love this pair of books so much that I've read them about a dozen times each.
Highly recommended!
The Commonwealth Saga (mentioned by the parent) is followed by The Void Trilogy and then The Chronicle of the Fallers, all set in the same Commonwealth universe. It’s some of the most evocative writing I’ve ever heard the pleasure to read, and the stories told are massive in scale but without seeming lacking as a result.
My e-reader says that my most recent read-through was my 9th, so add that to a number done with physical books and it should give some idea of how good I consider these books!
And my favorite sci-fi authors are Heinlein and Lem, so calibrate accordingly.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_F._Hamilton_bibliograp...
Misspent Youth apparently is set 300 years before the 2 other books, and establishes the setting. The author does a great job of creating the universe in Pandora's Star so I don't think you need to read Misspent Youth.
I'd be interested to hear if you enjoyed the books. If you want, email me at the address in my profile.
"The Negation of the Negation of the Negation" ( http://www.bigecho.org/the-negation-of-the-negation-of-the-n... ).
..they notice that "overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out."