The Reality Dysfunction is a real mixed bag. It's full of great concepts and it's set in an interesting universe. The plot is reasonably engaging, and some of the characters are well done. The writing is at times good, but at other times sloppy. (Hamilton seems to have real problems with point of view at times.)Overall, though, it's far too long for what it is. This volume is about the first sixth of the overall trilogy (it's half of the first book), and it's almost 600 pages long. There really isn't enough here to merit that length. It's dissapointing, because it really had the potential to be much better.