Life was going fine for the people of the earth in the era that they called as the golden age because of all the progress. Out of an abandoned colony an old nemesis appeared just when it was not expected at all. It could have easily adjusted with the human world which meant no harm to it but it wanted domination over the colony. Domination is one thing that the humans cannot bear no matter what happens. So war broke out in The Reality Dysfunction and things are becoming serious here.
Peace has gone extinct for the colony that had not seen war for centuries and there is no stopping to it. Enemy has godlike powers and the technology that it uses in un-matched.
Between this entire wars situation there exists a sign of hope in the form of a weapon that can even destroy a star. Dr. Alkad Mzu has been working on it for more than three decades and she has firm faith on its potential. When she started working on it people thought it to be a useless thing but now they think that only this weapon can change the course of war forever.
Presence of the device is not a secret for the enemy side as well so men from both sides try to occupy it before the other. Peter F. Hamilton writes more about chase and run in this part because the real war scenes are saved for the finale. John Lee also appears to be saving his energy for the narration of the last part i.e The Naked God. There is not much enthusiasm shown by the narrator here which is not good as this part also deserved an adventurous tone.