Dark powers have been unleashed across the galaxy. Will the Alchemist be humanity's saviour - or its doom? Following on from The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist is the second epic novel in the Night's Dawn trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton.

A seemingly unstoppable force has entered our universe, and we are confronted by our most primal fear. Those who have succumbed to its horror have acquired godlike powers. Yet their actions are far from divine.

As they advance from planet to planet, these powerful individuals leave slaughter and mayhem in their wake. The Confederation Navy is dangerously overstretched, as whole worlds fracture and collapse. And a dark messiah prepares to invoke his own version of the final night.

In such desperate times, a powerful new weapon could cause yet more terror, but Dr Alkad Mzu is determined to retrieve the Alchemist - and complete her thirty-year-old mission to slay a star. However, as she works to obtain it, others have their own ideas on how to use this ultimate doomsday device . . .

The Neutronium Alchemist is followed by The Naked God.