Pandora's Star

One of those over-the-top and occasionally over-juiced sci-fi novels that still slaps. It's original, highly readable, and totally delivers in terms of characters and stakes. As pulpy as his writing feels sometimes, Hamilton sketches out smart, provocative takes on at least half-a-dozen concepts, including: the biological contingency of morality, the cultural and legal effects of extended human lifespans, interstellar economics, and interspecies politics. It's everything I want in a sci-fi read.