Pandora's Star - Peter F. Hamilton

This is quite a big book, especially if you consider that it has been split in two. I had read "The Nano Flower" also by P. Hamilton and found it brilliant. So, I decided to pick this book up the second I saw it at a bookstore.
The great thing about the author is that for the first 10 chapters, he'll be introducing characters and side-stories that won't connect until much later on. And, besides being a great sci-fi writer, he is also a great at writing detective stories... there's always lots to find out in his books. Here are the points I really loved:
- Re-life process: humans can be brought back to life by updating their memories to a clone.
- Re-juvenation process: humans can endure a 3 month treatment to bring them from 50 to 18.
- The Starflyer: an alien that may or may not exist that may or may not be controlling and corrupting society.
- The Dyson pair shield: a force-field around 2 entire solar systems... how does it work? who made it? why?
- The SI, Sentient Intelligence: an AI that evolved and decided to isolate itself from human society physically. When people are fed up of living, they upload their conscience to it, keeping it "human" in that process.
- The wormhole theory that allows for instant travel.
- The terrorists trying to hunt the Starflyer and preventing humans from investigating the Dyson pair.

You add all these factors (and more) and you got one of those great great stories.
An example:
I read Interview with a Vampire and it is, in my opinion, a great essay about immortality: people don't get old and therefore no longer fit in. The rejuvenation process is way more interesting: you get older, you learn a lot, and then you're young again, but with this great knowledge. This also caused families to grow into the great-great-great-great-grandfather that is actually biologically younger than you... And, since his body chemistry is the same as a young teenager, it'll actually influence him into acting a bit like if he was actually that young!

Great concepts, great book!