Auch “Die Nano-Blume” ist eine rasante Mischung aus Detektivkrimi und Science-Fiction, ein Thriller aus der nahen Zukunft, in dem auch Aliens ein Wörtchen mitzureden haben.Dies ist auch der Abschlussband der "Mindstar-Trilogie", mit der sich der Peter F. Hamilton seinen Platz im Science-Fiction-Genre erobert hat. Die ersten zwei Bände heißen “Die Spinne im Netz” und “Das Mord-Paradigma”.Siebzehn Jahre nach den Ereignissen in “Das Mord-Paradigma”: Julia Evans, Besitzerin des Großkonzerns “Event Horizon” und reichste Frau der Welt, steckt in großen Schwierigkeiten. Das Callgirl Charlotte Fielder hat ihr eine Blume geschickt mit Genen, die von jeder bekannten irdischen DNA abweichen. Ist diese Blume ein Zeichen ihres verschwundenen Ehemanns? Oder eine verschlüsselte Nachricht von Außerirdischen? Es gibt jedenfalls nur einen Mann in Britannien, der die Antwort finden kann: Greg Mandel.Der PSI-mäßig aufgerüstete Greg hat es mittlerweile zum Großgrundbesitzer und Papa einer vielköpfigen Kinderschar gebracht, an der Seite seiner vielseitigen Frau Eleanor.Die Zukunft für die Menschheit sieht ebenfalls rosiger aus als zu Beginn der Mindstar-Trilogie. Die Menschheit beginnt, sich von den Folgen der Öko-Katastrophe zu erholen. Der in die Erdkreisbahn bugsierte Asteroid “New London” liefert einen reichen Schatz an Rohstoffen. Überschallflugzeuge lassen die Welt zu einem Dorf schrumpfen.Doch nicht jeder fühlt sich gleichermaßen gesegnet von so viel Reichtum. Die Aussicht auf märchenhafte neue Technologien schreckt Geheimdienste, internationale Konzerne und deren aufgerüstete Söldner auf. Ein wüste Hatz auf die ominöse Charlotte Fielder beginnt...Dieser Roman ist in vieler Hinsicht der beste der ganzen Trilogie, was auch die stilistischen Fortschritte des Autors wiederspiegelt, so geht die ganze Geschichte ohne erzählerischen oder stilistischen Bruch über die Bühne, die Welt 17 Jahre später ist genauso gekonnt extrapoliert wie die nahe Zukunft in Band 1 und 2. Die Figuren entwickeln sich teilweise in überraschende Richtungen, aber immer stimmig. Und das außerirdische Element bläht den Roman keineswegs künstlich auf, sondern verleiht ihm eine zusätzliche neue Dimension...
Originally published on my blog here in November 2000.The third Greg Mandel novel is, like its predecessors, obviously flawed; unlike them, it is more a thriller than a mystery. It is set the better part of two decades later, when Greg and his wife Eleanor have teenage children, and Greg's friend and employer (billionaire industrialist Julia Evans) has a husband and children of her own. Had a husband, I should say, for he has gone missing before the start of the novel. The story begins when a flower is delivered to Julia along with a message from her husband; the flower, it turns out, is not from earth but contains alien genetic material. Julia asks Greg to track down her husband and find the source of the flower, which appears to be connected with rumours of an incredible new technology - also possibly of alien origin.As a thriller, the plot amounts to a race between Greg and Julia on the one hand and unscrupulous unknown rivals on the other to gain control of this new technology. This would be fine, and has obviously been the basis of quite a large number of enjoyable thrillers. However, The Nano Flower has several flaws. The characterisation, particularly of Julia, is inconsistent. Greg's psychic powers are rather different from those he has in the earlier novels, with intuition emphasised rather than empathy. Most seriously, The Nano Flower has a poor beginning, the first fifty or so pages almost completely failing to grip the imagination even for a reader who has already read both Mindstar Rising and A Quantum Murder. Though it picks up in the middle, the ending is also something of a disappointment. The poorest in the series.
What do You think about The Nano Flower (1999)?
It starts with a robot cockroach being dropped into a toilet. Tee hee!5/18 hrs - Good characters and tech, and the possibility of aliens. Now this is the Hamilton I know and love.16/18 hrs - Seeing some ideas from his next Night's Dawn trilogy. There was actually a lot of action around 9 hours. It almost felt like the end of a book. I'm sure some action is coming up now.All done. The conclusion was very 'organic'. There were definitely precursors to his later work. I loved the female tech merc character.
—Tamahome
It was a good book in general, with many interesting topics and a good story line. It's not radically diverged from reasonable reality, and the characters behave in realistic manners.It seems to leave a number of pages to the main character doing whatever the hell she wants because she has the wealth, power, and wisdom to do it right without check. Hamilton seems to have a number of benevolent emperors (or close to it) as main characters in his books that act fairly unilaterally for the greater good as they see it. The opposition tends to be just as powerful, but seem 2 dimensional and outrageously evil. This book seems to shove your nose into it, then drag it back and forth throughout the entire book.
—Mike
Consisting of: Mindstar Rising A Quantum Murder The Nano FlowerThese three loosely connected novels share the same protagonist, Greg Mandel. He is a psychic former soldier who now works as a sort of private investigator/mercenary. Greg comes into contact with a billionaire named Julia Evans, a very interesting characted in herself.Although they can be read as straightforward SciFi crime novels, there is much more depth here. The location, a post ecodisaster England recovering from climate change is a fascinating place. Add to that a brave new kind of capitalism that has superseded rabid socialism, and the social commentary becomes top notch. Highly recommended.http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=789
—Andreas
