Many of Peter F. Hamilton&#8217;s dazzling novels, which offer startling perspectives on tomorrow&#8217;s technological and cultural trends, are epic in scope, spanning vast stretches of space and time. And yet they are grounded in characters&#8211;human, alien, and other&#8211;who, for all their strangeness, are still able to touch our hearts and fire our imaginations. Now Hamilton returns to the universe of his acclaimed Commonwealth saga with <b>The Temporal Void</b>, the second volume in the trilogy that began with <b>The Dreaming Void.</b><br><br>Long ago, a human astrophysicist, Inigo, began dreaming scenes from the life of a remarkable human being named Edeard, who lived within the Void, a self-contained microuniverse at the heart of the galaxy. There, under the beneficent gaze of mysterious godlike entities, humans possessed uncanny psychic abilities, and Edeard&#8217;s were the strongest of all. Equally strong was his determination to bring justice and freedom to a world terrorized by criminal violence and corruption. <br><br>Inigo&#8217;s inspirational dreams, shared by hundreds of millions throughout the galaxy-spanning gaiafield, gave birth to a religion&#8211;Living Dream. But when the appearance of a Second Dreamer seemed to trigger the expansion of the Void&#8211;an expansion that is devouring everything in its path&#8211;the Intersolar Commonwealth was thrown into turmoil. With the adherents of Living Dream determined to set forth on a dangerous pilgrimage into the Void, interstellar war threatens to erupt. <br><br>With time running out, the fate of humanity hinges on a handful of people. There is Araminta, only now awakening to the unwelcome fact that she is the mysterious Second Dreamer&#8211;and to the dire responsibilities that go with it; Inigo, whose private dreams hint at a darker truth behind Edeard&#8217;s legendary life; Paula Myo, the ruthless field operative of the Commonwealth, whose search for Araminta and Inigo is about to yield a most unpleasant surprise; and Justine, whose desperate gamble places her within the Void, where the godlike Skylords hold the power to save the universe . . . or destroy it.<br><br><br><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>