The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton SPOILERS!

[Luzifer's right hand]

I finished the book today and enjoyed it.
The pacing is imho much better than in Judas Unchained and it feels much shorter than his other books (apart from the Greg Mendel series).

The book is set in the same as the Commonwealth Saga only 1500 years later but I do not think you need to read the first saga to enjoy it.

MASSIVE SPOILERS!

There is a strange thing called the Void in the center of the galaxy(mistaken for a black hole by the primitive humans of the past ) surrounded by a deadly event horizon.

According to the Raiel it was created in the distant past by a race only known as "Firstlife", about a million years ago when the Raiel where at their peak the Void expanded, it absorbed stars and created massive gravitational disturbances and waves of radiation which made it necessary to evacuate many worlds.

The Raiel sent a hundred thousands warships into the Void, none returned. Afterwards they started to build more ships(High Angel type) to evacuate less advanced people form the galaxy in the case of another devourment-phase and created a defense network with giant "Dark Fortress"-type defense stations, it's suggested in the book by a human scientist that the two used for the Prime and alienPrime homeworlds were "acquired" by the Anomine and not built by them.

Somehow a human starship managed to get into the Void and crashed on a planet inside. About a quarter of a millenia before the events of the book a man named Inigo starts to dream of the life of a young man called Edeard who lives inside the Void, that is made possible by the gaiafield(created by Ozzie based on Silfen technology) which allows people the share emotions and more(there are even hive mind humans).
Inside the Void all people have psi-powers like telepathy and telekinesis , Edeard starts out as an apprentice in the eggshapers guild, those fellows "shape" the eggs of a species called defaults to produce creatures which work for them (horse-like, dog-like, ape-like tool-users and so on).
He is exceptional strong and at the of the books he is able to walk on water, stop bullets in the air and shape the alien material the biggest city of his people called Makkathran like wax(the city was there before his people came to the planet and no-one but him can do it).
There seems to be more to his story, however there are only 6 dreams in the book(I'm sure more will follow).
Inigo starts a religion called "Living Dream" however he vanishes some time afterwards.

A short time before the evenst of the book new dreams start to leak into gaiafield, this time an unknown person dreams of a Skylord, a member of a space-borne species which exists inside the Void, they carry worthy souls to the heart of the Void.
A high ranking member of the Living Dream uses these dreams to become leader of the organization(which already controls a number of planets) by promising the people that they will build ships and start a Pilgrimage into to Void. Many humans and aliens believe that such a Pilgrimage will start a new devourment-phase.

A fleet of the alien Ocisen Empire is heading for the worlds of the Living dream(thousands of ships with quantum-buster level weapons), however this fleet is not considered a threat by the commander of the fleet of the Commonwealth and he is certain that the can force them to turn around.
It's suggested the deterrent fleet of the Commonwealth could destroy the Empire and it's fleets with ease but Admiral Burnelli is against bloodsheed and against showing the rest of the galaxy how powerful the Commonwealth really is.
The deterrent fleet of the Commonwealth protects all human worlds(even those that are not really members of the Commonwealth) and the homeworld of Tochee's people against external threats.

The Commonwealth is not longer united and humans called Highers(with massive bionic upgrades) have started to upload into a network called ANA, there are quite a few factions in the network, some support the Pilgrimage(because the think the can use the Void to go post-physical) others are against it. ANA and the Highers are the main power in the Commonwealth, but there are many other worlds called the External Worlds.

The main character(apart from Edeard) seems to be the Aaron(an Agent who only knows what he needs to know thanks to memory editing) who hunt's Inigo with the help of the first dreamers ex-lover. Other POC characters are Ethan the new leader of the living dream(busy hunting the first dreamer and building ships), Paula Myo(who is the highest ranking ANA agent) who hunts evil people just like in the old days. Troblum a scientist and history geek who builds planet-moving FTL-drives as a hobby. Araminta a young women is the second dreamer, however she does not know that until the end of the books and is busy trying to earn a living(Highers need no money but Normals and genetically improved Advancers do), most of her "on-screen" time is spent fucking(as always Hamiltion has many sex-scenes). Minor POVs are the Delivery Man(an agent of the Conservative ANA faction) and Oscar Monroe(Paula found his memstore..and made sure that he is suspended for 1100 years for his crimes) who works for Paula Myo....
I'm sure I forgot some...

At the end of the book Ingio is found by Aaron just before an unknown ship destroys Aarons ship with a weapon called Hawking m-sink(some kind of black hole weapon), they are stuck on the planet which will be swallowed by the m-sink in about a fortnight. Araminta realizes that she is the second dreamers and tells the Skylord that she is not interested in the Void, the Skylord is pissed and the Void starts to expand with FTL speeds.

Neither the SI(gone post-physical?) nor the Primes appear in the book. The Silfen and Tochee's people are only mentioned. Nigel has left Commonwealth space with a fleet of ships(rumors suggest intergalactic range), Ozzie is still in the galaxy but does not appear in the book(his name is used instead of "God" in the book...).

As for homages.. Huxley's Heaven is still going strong(a Brave New World style planet), "third Arm" is the name for the telekinetic powers and there even is a heart-squeeze attack(Gil 'the Arm' Hamilton) .

A fun fact for us vs. fans, Aaron deploys so called niling-sponges in combat, little fast mobile spheres with the ability to attract and absorb energy weapon fire, each sphere can absorb billions of killowatthours.

[Jon]

I've read Pandora's Star, bought Judas Unchained but not started that yet. I've heard it's not a great conclusion to the story, shame. I'll have to pick this up for afterwards, eitherway.

[Dahak]

Well, I think you should (have might be too strong) read the Commonwealth saga books. There are so many allusions and even some characters from the books, you'd constantly get the feeling you're missing something.

And I quite liked it. I did have problems getting into Edeard's story at the beginning, but they got better as the book progressed.

As for some points mentioned:
Huxley's Haven isn't exactly new to the books. So it's no new allusion
The "nilling" effect isn't new, either. Remember Nilling d-sinks?
And that the Void is moving again at the time of the No! to the Skylord is only implied by Ethan, but we do not know.
Just as we don't know whether Edeard is actually that old. Given Hamilton, I might bet that he's still alive in there if and when the Outside galaxy actually makes contact with the Void.

[Gustav32Vasa]

I have a vague memory that ANA had invented a drive faster then ultradrive?

Waterwalker=Jesus?