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Salvation

(Salvation Sequence #1)

Peter F. Hamilton (Goodreads Author)

4.17 · Rating details · 8,860 ratings · 809 reviews

Book One in the Salvation Sequence, a dazzling space opera trilogy from master of the genre, Peter F. Hamilton

In the year 2204, an abandoned alien spaceship is discovered 90 light years from Earth, in an uninhabited star system. The ship is found to be carrying humans held in suspension - yet humans have never ventured this far out into space before. Faster-than-light trav ...more

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Paperback, 532 pages

Published September 6th 2018 by Macmillan (first published September 4th 2018)

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Sep 06, 2018 Bradley rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018-shelf, sci-fi, worldbuilding-sf

Under normal circumstances, I would normally rate a book like this lower because the setup leaves us hanging, but this is PETER F HAMILTON we're talking about. That means, if you're picking up the first book in one of his trilogies, no matter how long each individual book might be, you're invested for the long haul. You might be slightly miffed you need to wait that much longer before SOMETHING major gets resolved, but that's the nature of this beast.

That being said, Salvation has a ton of great ...more

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Oct 29, 2018 William rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: extraordinary-books

5-Stars! Completely, utterly brilliant!

Wow! So nice to be immersed again in Peter's wonderful, flowing prose and extraordinary narrative precision. No one considers and plans every aspect of their books like Hamilton, and it shows.

Update: The second read of this book was even better than the first. Highly recommended.

This first book is an introduction to the characters and situations of the series, presented along two timelines with the first (The Assessment Team) about 150-200 years in the fu ...more

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Mar 27, 2018 Mark rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018-read

This is my most anticipated release of 2018, and I was extremely fortunate to get an early advance copy. I won’t say much to avoid spoilers, but Salvation was very good – typical Hamilton. It has a similar feel to Pandora’s Star or Fallen Dragon, if anything, but it’s also a very different story. It’s also clearly the first part of a trilogy, which is good, but with the first book issues that come with the territory. Great world building, great characters, intriguing plot – Salvation ticks almos This is my most anticipated release of 2018, and I was extremely fortunate to get an early advance copy. I won’t say much to avoid spoilers, but Salvation was very good – typical Hamilton. It has a similar feel to Pandora’s Star or Fallen Dragon, if anything, but it’s also a very different story. It’s also clearly the first part of a trilogy, which is good, but with the first book issues that come with the territory. Great world building, great characters, intriguing plot – Salvation ticks almost all the boxes.

Full review now below:

Salvation is Peter F Hamilton’s latest novel, the first book in his Salvation Sequence, and a series set in a brand-new universe. After some considerable time (and eight novels) spent writing in his Commonwealth universe, with a slight detour for 2012’s Great North Road, Salvation is a chance to see Hamilton build a setting from scratch with a longer story in mind. As one of the best SF writers out there at doing this, I was eager to see just how it would compare to his previous stories, and what this fresh canvas would produce.

With Connexion Corp’s quantum entangled portals, everywhere in human space is but a step away. When a crashed alien starship is discovered at the edge of explored space, with cargo it shouldn’t contain, Connexion’s deputy director of security, Feriton Kayne, hand-picks a team from across human society to travel and investigate. With security and defence of humanity a high concern, strict protocols are put in place to separate the discovery from the portal network, and it’s a long drive to the crash site.

It is during this journey we learn more about the selected team members: Yuri Alster, Feriton Kayne’s boss and security chief for Connexion Corp; Callum Hepburn, former emergency detoxification team leader at Connexion and now living as part of the Utopial society; Alik Monday, FBI senior specialist detective; Kandara Martinez, dark ops and mercenary specialist. We also have some aides with the main group: Loi, executive assistant to Yuri and great-grandson of Connexion founder Ainlsey Zangari; Edlund, aide to Callum and a true Utopial – genetically modified to be both male and female through a thousand-day cycle; Jessika Mye, Callum’s assistant who has been part of both the Universal and Utopial societies. We follow this group through various flashback events, seeing each of these characters doing what they do best, and discovering some interesting information along the way. Some of these sections are quite long (one particularly so), others short and sweet, but each contribute to the overall story in their own way.

Interspersed between these chapters is the story of Dellian and his classmates. Set many millennia in the future, humanity are running from an enemy, one that stops at nothing to track them down and wipe them out. Bred specifically as soldiers to take the fight to the enemy, we follow them from childhood to adulthood, watching as they learn and perfect their training…

Hamilton starts Salvation off with a couple of revelations that set the scene for the novel. The first of these is the mission of the Neána, an alien civilisation that have sent an expedition after detecting electromagnetic signals from Earth. A species in hiding, they have sent their envoys with no knowledge of where they have come from, only what they must do when they get to Earth. The second bit of information is the discovery of the crashed starship and its human cargo that simply could not be that far from human space when it crashed. It’s with these in mind that we step into the meat of the story – or more accurately, a history of what has come before.

Essentially, Salvation is the backstory of the characters on this trek to the alien shipwreck, and serves to give us a lot of information, but without moving the actual plot forward much. However, Hamilton manages to give us this backstory in a way that is interesting and relevant, slowly building the setting he has created and allowing his imagination to run wild with the implications of the technology here. While he has a slightly different take on FTL travel with his portals compared to previous novels, it’s the Utopial society he’s crafted that is of most interest with its focus on working together as a whole rather than the capitalism of the rest of humanity. It’s also a society that requires those who join to have their genome modified so all children born are omnia – both male and female – slowly switching between the two in a thousand-day cycle. With a different core philosophy and equality the standard in their society, it’s fascinating to read and see the more intricate workings as we discover more about it.

We have also made contact with the Olyix, an alien species travelling across the universe on their voyage to meet their God at the end of time. They’ve contributed towards human medical advancement, trading knowledge for the antimatter they require to fuel their colossal arkship on its onward journey. But with their advancements come sceptics and conspiracy theorists, and some aspects ever so relevant to the stories we hear.

This brings us to the far future narrative, and one that shows humanity on the run from an enemy that is constantly searching for them. Humanity is an omnia society that has now decided to take the fight to the enemy, but is doing so by genetically creating soldiers of distinct gender – Dellian, Yirella, and their cohort. Led and guided by their year group leader Alexandre, they face a variety of situations while growing up that is to prepare them for the inevitable fight. It’s entirely fascinating, yet just not quite enough focus here outside of the necessary, and it’s clearly a thread that is going to be playing a larger role in future novels.

This all brings me to my general thoughts on Salvation: it’s a great novel but reads much like a set up for the rest of the trilogy. It’s a frustrating thing to say given how much I enjoyed the book (on both first and second reads), yet it’s true. The split narrative also means that the future sections are written not to give things away, and while it works overall, it raises plenty of questions as the story progresses. However, despite the heavy focus on back-story rather than plot progression, I was thoroughly entertained throughout, and relished getting to know this new setting and all its inhabitants.

Salvation is, without a doubt, the type of novel you would expect from Peter F Hamilton. It’s got thoroughly in-depth world-building, a large cast of characters, plenty of advanced technology, and enigmatic aliens. Add all of these together and you get the kind of Space Opera that Hamilton is known for, in a shiny new universe that has plenty promise for a great continuation, and given the ending here the sequel can’t come soon enough. Recommended. ...more

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Apr 28, 2020 Michael Finocchiaro rated it liked it · review of another edition

I am a bit conflicted on this review. It was interesting, even compelling sci-fi, but somewhat predictable and its originality is somewhat deceptive as many of the concepts and even the storytelling was directly inspired by Dan Simmons’ extraordinary Hyperion. As far as I have read, the portals idea (particularly with fluid flowing through them) leveraging quantum entanglement to travel enormous distances was one of the cooler ideas in Hyperion. And the multiple stories that each of the protagon ...more

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Sep 28, 2018 Plamen Nenchev rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Ever since Pandora’s Star, Peter F. Hamilton seems to be forever stuck in an ever-repetitive story about wormhole-based human expansion across the stars. Whether he names his built-in digital assistant ‘e-butler’, ‘secondary thought routines’ or ‘mInet’, every novel of his since 2004, whether set in the Commonwealth Universe or not, depicts wormhole travel, digitalisation of everyday life, human longevity and successful space colonisation and terraforming. To kick off the plot, every time a lurk Ever since Pandora’s Star, Peter F. Hamilton seems to be forever stuck in an ever-repetitive story about wormhole-based human expansion across the stars. Whether he names his built-in digital assistant ‘e-butler’, ‘secondary thought routines’ or ‘mInet’, every novel of his since 2004, whether set in the Commonwealth Universe or not, depicts wormhole travel, digitalisation of everyday life, human longevity and successful space colonisation and terraforming. To kick off the plot, every time a lurking alien threat appears, humanity is brought to the brink of disaster, but, alas, the threat is averted, THE END.

Salvation fits the description of this generic Peter F Hamilton book to the letter: A derelict alien spacecraft carrying abducted comatose humans is found on a newly-discovered planet, and leading experts from the various factions of humanity are brought in to assess the threat. The structure of the novel seems to have been lifted straight from Dan Simmons’ Hyperion, with a backbone taking place in the ‘present’ and backstories of the experts forming the ‘past’. There is also an additional, ‘future’ timeline, which reads like formulaic, predictable YA fiction.

The novel is a slow burn even by Peter F. Hamilton’s rather liberal standards. Things start to get mildly interesting once you are first one-quarter in. Some of the individual backstories are intriguing, others not so, but the ‘present’ timeline is sluggish, and the ‘future’ one is an atrocious slog that tested my nerves on a number of times.

This does not mean that the novel is wholly without merit. Peter F. Hamilton still writes entertaining mind-boggling epics sprawling across hundreds of light years, dozens of uniquely crafted worlds and multiple fleshed out characters. However, it seems as if his writing grows more tired, more repetitive and less and less original with each consecutive book.

This is the umpteenth time where Peter F. Hamilton writes more or less the same story, recycling and rehashing themes, elements and even stock characters from the Commonwealth Saga. Yes, the alien threat may be different, the point of view may be skewed to the left or right, wormholes can open up or down, terraforming can be less or more successful, there can be an added horror, fantasy or speculative subplot, but the basic principles always stay the same: wormholes, longevity, terraforming, expansion, bla-bla. Whatever originality Hamilton ever had seems to have been lost with Fallen Dragon some 20 years ago. I think this is the end of the road for me with Hamilton, I just see no point in buying his books any more.
...more

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Jun 05, 2017 Claudia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: z-to-a-hamilton, sci-fi

I never thought I would say PFH is boring. But exactly that’s what I said up around 20%. Given the fact that I eagerly awaited this one to appear, I couldn’t believe I would not like one of his works. Luckily, the story picks up from there and delivers. What a relief!

There are three narrative threads on three timelines:

- one set in present, year 2204, in which a team is assembled to check up the remains of an alien starship stranded on Nkya, an exoplanet in Beta Eridani system. On the way there, ...more

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Sep 29, 2019 Krystal rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: motley-crew, from-the-publisher, carnage-and-mayhem, owned, action-adventure, freebies-and-gifts, sci-fi

This was actually so much fun!

I don't read a lot of sci-fi (my brain can't handle the science) but I was kinda keen for some alien mischief so this one found its way into my hands. WELL.

What I expected:
-Motley crew vaguely described and big enough to allow for characters to get eaten/shredded/sucked into space etc.
-Spaceships and malfunctioning space equipment
-Hostile aliens
-Strange planets
-General carnage and mayhem involving aliens picking off humans one by one

What I got:
-Motley crew introduc ...more

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Nov 13, 2019 Chris Berko rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Wow, what a ride. I had as much fun reading this as I had with my two favorite books by Hamilton: Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained. Gone are the fantasy elements from The Void trilogy and the Chronicles of the Fallen duology, this is Hamilton back firmly in straight up science fiction. I love the expansive way he writes, too. He does not just tell you that a character and his crew are tight, he gives you a sixty page story about them performing a extremely dangerous, no-room-for-error job, and ...more

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Sep 04, 2018 Nancy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-galley

Salvation is the first book of a trilogy. For a first book, I had a hard time while reading it. It reminded me too much of another book as far as the way it was written and some of the concepts in the book. Once I got that other book in my head it was hard to not make comparisons. Most of the book revolved around five people that were chosen to investigate an alien ship that had been discovered. During the transport to the alien ship, each person tells a story from their past. The stories each t ...more

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Nov 10, 2018 Montzalee Wittmann rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Salvation: A Novel (Salvation Sequence Book 1 (audio version) by Peter F. Hamilton is what I won from LibraryThing! I have read several of Hamilton 's books and I always feel I have given my brain a good workout, really stretched out those neurons! the books are smart, exciting, well thought out, great characters, and unexpected plots.
This is an eye opener of a future where space ships are not necessarily needed for transportation anymore from planet to planet due to special jump hates that are ...more

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Jun 01, 2020 Bentley ★ Bookbastion.net rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: dnf

I made it 117 pages in and I'm sorry, but I've got to tap out. 100 pages is more than enough time for a novel to engage the reader and pull you in with at least the hook for the story. Things are definitely happening in the story, but nothing really plot related yet. It's been 100 pages of backstory for the characters, a futuristic sports game (like Quidditch) and some special ops tasks introducing aspects of the world, but nothing really compelling enough to grab my interest.

Not to mention tha ...more

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Oct 03, 2018 Carlex rated it really liked it · review of another edition

(just in case, apologies for my English)

Devoured! I am a fan (or a fanboy) of Peter F. Hamilton. However I "only" give Salvation three and half stars, considering that it is the first of a trilogy, and I prefer to read the rest of the novels, as soon as they are published (sigh here).

From a more critical point of view, I must clarify that if you have read some of his previous books, the author can not surprise us as much as in, for example, "The Commonwealth Saga", but in my opinion he has the ...more

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May 07, 2018 Kate rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: out-in-2018-and-read, favourites-read-in-2018

Quite possibly my most anticipated novel of 2018 and it did not disappoint. Superb storytelling, just as we'd expect from this extraordinary writer, matched by the novel's vision and ambition. And, blimey, where it takes us! This is going to be a wonderful trilogy. Its beginning couldn't be any better in my eyes. Review to follow closer to publication on For Winter Nights. ...more

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Aug 10, 2020 Twerking To Beethoven rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: dnf

Please, refer to the comment section in case the following lines don't make any sense to you.

Dear Mr. To Beethoven,

It has come to our attention that, over the course of a rather lively discussion in the comment section of one of your reviews, you addressed a user as "Sambo". As you are probably well aware, we encourage everybody to maintain a decent behavior and to refrain from piss-taking, even when piss-taking seems to be the only available option. Now, given said user came sniveling to us, wh ...more

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Jul 05, 2018 Helen rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, sci-fi, arc, spaceships

Well, this took me a really long time to read!

It starts out with a very interesting story about a crashed alien spaceship. Unfortunately, this story barely gets any page time until right at the end because most of the book is bogged down in not very interesting background stories for all of the characters. It introduces us to a cast of potentially interesting people but then doesn't give enough time to get to know them to care really what their past stories are.

The back stories were very bog st ...more

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Nov 01, 2018 Cathy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: did-not-finish

Update September 2019:
I just almost managed to accidentally delete the review for this DNF. Wow, phew... still here! However, I have absolutely no recollection of listening to this. I have another of his doorstoppers lined up as a buddy read for October. We see how that goes. And if I don‘t hate it, I will definitely have to give Salvation another try.

November 2018:
Putting this one on hold after listening to roughly 5 hours of the audiobook, which is about 140 pages.

I like Callum and Savi, but g ...more

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Oct 24, 2018 Scott Richmond rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I'm a massive fan of Peter Hamilton, however this book was a pretty poor read. Almost the entire book is a prequel to setup the next in the series and so introduces quite a few characters. The problem is, you just don't care about them! There is very little to like about any of the character's, which makes reading through their backstories a real slog.

I just don't know if I'm willing to pick up the next in the series at this point. :/ ...more

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Sep 09, 2018 Liviu rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-sf, top_25_2018_books, 2018_releases_read, read_2018

I loved the book which will be a top 10 of the year for me and I am really eager for the sequel. For more detail I highly recommend Mark's Goodreads review (link below) as it is spot-on:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

A few shoutouts I would mention that add to the fun - the Morgan, Asher and McAuley starships, the painting by Jim Burns present in the embassy etc ...more

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Nov 19, 2018 Jason rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2018

3.5 Stars

Salvation by Peter Hamilton had so much potential. A new series by a favorite author of mine. A fantastic future setting. Awesome writing and world building. Unfortunately the characters were flat and the pacing was inconsistent while never being fast paced.

This one was just okay. I am sure that I will still go on in the series when the sequel comes out.

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Feb 17, 2019 MadProfessah rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019-read

Wow! Peter Hamilton, who should be considered the Master of Technological Space Opera, does it again. The author of multiple acclaimed works of hard military sci-fi (The Night’s Dawn trilogy, The Abyss Beyond Dreams, Great North Road and Pandora’s Star/Judas Unchained) has returned with a new trilogy that begins with “Salvation.”

All of Hamilton’s signature story elements appear here: futuristic/utopian
society, disruptive technology, culturally opaque aliens, incredibly wealthy/powerful tycoons, ...more

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Oct 09, 2018 Lindsay rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

A complicated prologue to the rest of the series framed as a gradually unfolding mystery.

The central framing narrative is that of the Assessment Team, a hand-picked group of experts investigating a crashed spaceship which they discover carries human bodies in suspended animation, apparently abductees. As they explore we get each of the Assessment Team's stories and how they build towards their individual presences aboard the ship and the central mystery of what's going on on-board as well as wit ...more

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Sep 10, 2018 Oleksandr Zholud rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: h-19-novel-longlist

This is a SF novel, which can loosely be defined as a new space opera. The book was published in 2018, so is eligible for Hugo Award.

This is typical Peter F. Hamilton: there is a way of faster-than-light transportation (quantum entanglement portals), which allowed to colonize worlds, sentient life is rare in our galaxy, but there are aliens hiding between us, bio-tech is a significant alternative to [‘mechanical tech’. This things are habitual to readers of [book:The Reality Dysfunction|1237484] ...more

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Sep 19, 2018 Steve rated it did not like it · review of another edition

The prologue gives away the secret. Then characters appear fully formed in the first chapter, ready to start looking for the secret. Then begins a series of flashbacks while the characters inch along waiting for the narrative to catch up with them. Sometimes non-sequential storytelling is fun or innovative, but in this case it was just annoying.

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Nov 02, 2020 kartik narayanan rated it did not like it · review of another edition

This book is bad. DNF.

I went into it with high expectations because, you know, its Peter F Hamilton. But, this book fails to meet even the basic standards of story writing.

The premise is interesting as is the prologue. But then the suckage starts. There is a long chapter on some random individuals (whom I am sure will be part of the story later on), but this killed the pacing. It was boring and full of cliches. And then at the end of the interminable chapter, I found out that the prior chapter ...more

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Nov 09, 2019 Gerhard rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019, sf-fantasy

You know when you start a Peter Hamilton book, it is going to take a large chunk out of your life due to its sheer length and unputdownability. I honestly think there is no one else in the business for composing intricate setpieces that just suck you in. The particular trick with Salvation is one that James Gunn used so effectively in his Transcendental books: A bunch of disparate spacefarers recount their individual stories, which are effectively separate novellas that tie together in the end ( You know when you start a Peter Hamilton book, it is going to take a large chunk out of your life due to its sheer length and unputdownability. I honestly think there is no one else in the business for composing intricate setpieces that just suck you in. The particular trick with Salvation is one that James Gunn used so effectively in his Transcendental books: A bunch of disparate spacefarers recount their individual stories, which are effectively separate novellas that tie together in the end (well, one hopes so anyway).

However, there is also a very high probability that a Hamilton book is likely to end on an infuriating cliffhanger that will make you want to hurl your reading device across the room, and immediately deduct a star from its overall rating. And Salvation is no exception. In fact, one can safely say that the entire book is a laborious build-up to that final line. Yes, it is quite a mean writing feat, but certainly no joy for the poor reader.

Interestingly, Salvation is not part of the Commonwealth books, which means that Hamilton has an entirely new sandbox to play in. For me, this was the best part: the author’s speculation on the possible development of a post-scarcity, galaxy-spanning civilisation is exciting and cutting-edge.

Hamilton has always been brilliant at unpacking the impact of technology on society, down to the micro level of ordinary lived lives, and here is where Salvation truly shines. (In this regard, make sure you read the wonderfully-detailed timeline right after the end, which is one of the great extras he loves to tag onto his books).

Anyone who says that SF is not reactionary, concerned about geopolitics, or prepared to take a stance on such matters, definitely needs to read Hamilton. Oh, and given the amount of highly enthusiastic and acrobatic sex that the (inevitably) youthful characters have, you’d be surprise there is any polemic there at all. Suffice it to say, you get the full package with a Hamilton book.

As for the plot: A team is sent to investigate an alien shipwreck on a planet at the very limits of human expansion. It is this team whose back stories form the bulk of the book. Meanwhile, back on Earth, humans are batting their eyelids at the Olyix, who have no qualms in dispensing their alien tech in exchange for what is essentially a shopping run on their way to visit their god at the end of the universe. (Anyone who has watched Star Trek just knows that this relationship is not going to have a happy ending, especially where nameless gods lurking at the edge of the universe are concerned).

There is another narrative strand, obviously set in a far-distant future (or maybe it is an alternate timeline?) where the members of the team are all worshipped as saints, and where teens are moulded as future fighters in the ongoing war against some implacable alien enemy à la Ender’s Game (Hamilton loves to pay passing nods to the SF literary canon). How this links to the Olyix and the alien shipwreck is, of course, the big McGuffin of the entire book.

This is a difficult one to judge, as it is going to be interesting to see how Hamilton uses what he has established here going forward. Will all the balls simply continue to be juggled expertly, or will Hamilton choose to subvert what he has set-up so far? The latter will take some inspired madness, but Hamilton has proven he is not unafraid to take what seems to be a familiar, trope-packed story in some truly unexpected directions. This has always made him one of the most consistently interesting grand space operas at work today. ...more

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Nov 26, 2020 aPriL does feral sometimes rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: awesomely-horrifying-loved-it, black-ops-fantasy, bizarre-wtf, black-gleeful-fun, don-t-judge-me, pseudo-science, science-fiction, a-jack-in-the-box-pop-surprise, cheap-thrills-but-i-loved-it

'Salvation' by Peter Hamilton is book one in a trilogy called the Salvation Sequence. It is a world-building introduction to an extremely high-tech Earth of the future. It synthesizes some major plot ideas from Ender's Game and Hyperion, but I thought the novel very inventive and interesting, and exciting!, on its own merits nonetheless.

There are two (and a flashback third) timelines, with flashbacks. There are five main characters in one timeline which centers around the planet Earth or off-Ea 'Salvation' by Peter Hamilton is book one in a trilogy called the Salvation Sequence. It is a world-building introduction to an extremely high-tech Earth of the future. It synthesizes some major plot ideas from Ender's Game and Hyperion, but I thought the novel very inventive and interesting, and exciting!, on its own merits nonetheless.

There are two (and a flashback third) timelines, with flashbacks. There are five main characters in one timeline which centers around the planet Earth or off-Earth colonies from 2092- 2204. There are two main characters in the second timeline from about 583-593 on a planet called Juloss. Each character in the first timeline has an independent past history (shown in flashbacks) and an intertwining history with the other four. The second timeline is so far in the future that the five characters in the first timeline have become Saints to characters in the second Timeline. Every main character has friends and peers and enemies.

The book's action revolves around speculative technology beyond anything that exists today, if ever. Portals have been invented which permit people to step through one in London and exit almost instantaneously on a Mars terminal or to an asteroid being mined. Small ones can be carried in a backpack. Large ones can transport larger items. A portal can be placed under a waterfall where the water pours into a portal and exits out into a desert. Portals are all over Earth and are as common as bus stops. The author imagines a gangbanger murderer who is on the run from security personnel who jump locations not only all over Earth, but landing all over the solar system in minutes. Minutes, like in 15 minutes, fifteen rooms, on fifteen planetary bodies. Like that. The portals work by quantum spacial entanglement. Shutup. You simply have to go with it.

Portals have made spaceships unnecessary for most mining jobs and vacations requiring travel. Rich people have high-tech homes everywhere in the solar system, and colonies are being contemplated on discovered exoplanets. Of course, care must be taken to handle atmospheres, gravity and other possible dangers to human bodies, like the invention of really tough habitat spheres and other materials. Which brings up the topic of human bodies! Lifespans have been extenuated by telomere extension therapy. Powerful self-defense add-ins can be surgically implanted into the bodies of military and security operatives.

Space aliens have discovered humans and the planet Earth. One species called the Olyix are of particular interest. They are extremely religious. They tell the people of Earth they only are interested in trade to resupply their arkship, called the Slavation of Life, um, sorry, I meant the Salvation of Life, on the way to the end of the universe. They expect to meet God at the end of Time. The Olyix are willing to exchange their high-tech inventions for food, water and energy. Some of their technology can make human cell tissue, replacing body parts and extending lifespans as well. They mean humans no harm whatsoever.

Right? Right.

As one can imagine, gentle reader, the Salvation Sequence is an epic and complicated space opera where both characters and technology and plot mysteries add up to a story which requires a section of Cast of Characters and a Timeline, supplied in the back of the book. 'Salvation' is an introduction to Hamilton's imagined Sequence universe and ends on a significant cliffhanger. The novel is definitely not standalone, and definitely not a beach read to be read casually whenever. But it is very interesting with almost funny, but graphic, scenes of violence because of the technological marvels involved in various scenes of mayhem.

Conservative readers! Warning! Gender identity in this novel has become a matter of physical fluidity that is as easy as changing your shoes. Some people go through a DNA-manipulated sex change-up every few or seven years. It's a built-in periodic sex change human members of a philosophical society named Utopial undergo, which is called omnia, like these Earth animals do today:

https://youtu.be/AM0JwIQYvGw ...more

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Jul 19, 2020 Luke Burrage rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-book, recommended-by-sfbrp-listeners, reviewed-on-the-sfbrp

A book written just for Luke? I think so!

Full review on my podcast, SFBRP episode #425.

Luke shares his enthusiasm for Salvation by Peter F Hamilton with Juliane, who has only just read the first few chapters.

http://www.sfbrp.com/archives/1705 ...more

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Sep 05, 2018 Paul rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-2018

Callum Hepburn has just married Savi Chaudhri after a whirlwind relationship. They both work for Connexion, he as a team leader for the emergency detoxification squad and she is in the security division. After their all too brief honeymoon they both head back to work, Callum, to dig a government from the mire with an urgent material extraction and Savi heads back undercover. A week later and he hasn't heard a thing from her, so pings her and does not get a response. Worrying about her he heads o Callum Hepburn has just married Savi Chaudhri after a whirlwind relationship. They both work for Connexion, he as a team leader for the emergency detoxification squad and she is in the security division. After their all too brief honeymoon they both head back to work, Callum, to dig a government from the mire with an urgent material extraction and Savi heads back undercover. A week later and he hasn't heard a thing from her, so pings her and does not get a response. Worrying about her he heads off to see her boss, Yuri Alster to see if he knows anything. The thing is, no one does; she has vanished off the face of the planet. It looks like it might be down to him to find her and in his search, he will discover more than he really wants to know about the company he works for.

Connexion Corp, the organisation that they both work for, can really be considered a government in their own right. Their quantum entangled portals is a technology that allows people to live in one part of the world and work in another and literally be there in no time at all. This technology along with most other things on Earth are powered by solarwells, that have been dropped into the sun and have allowed humanity to have unlimited power.

In 2204 and an alien ship has been discovered 90 light years from Earth. That there are aliens is not the surprise, another race, the Olyix have been known to humanity for a while now. What is shocking is the cargo that they are carrying; human beings held in suspended animation. No one knows how they got there. No one knows who took them there. Feriton Kayne, Connexion’s deputy director of security is asked to pick a team to investigate. Two of the people that he picks for this team are Yuri Alster and Callum Hepburn, who have a healthy disregard for each other after their earlier clash over Savi. What they are walking into will change everything.

Entwined in this narrative is the story of Dellian and his friends set thousands of years in the future. They have been born as soldiers and are being trained to combat an enemy who is prepared to stop at absolutely nothing to wipe humanity from the universe…

To say this is fast-paced would be a little bit of an understatement, certain scenes rocket by, in particular, the ones with the Connexion security team. The technology that Hamilton uses in the books, all sounds plausible, the web that they all use is pervasive and all-seeing, however, most people feel free and liberated in the modern society. I loved the portals and the way that they worked with people passing all over the world in the blink of an eye. The scenes with Dellian and his team, set way in the future felt like they were inspired by Enders Game. There are a plethora of characters in here, and it occasionally I had to think who was who, thankfully there is a guide and a timeline included. The only bit that I didn't like was the way it jumped backwards and forwards between the different times and there were several ambiguities that weren't cleared up by the ending. That is fine as there are more books to follow and threads opened here leads onto other things, but this was a brilliant start to a new series. Now have a long while to wait for the next! 4.5 stars ...more

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Jul 15, 2019 Jamie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

My first Peter Hamilton, and I'm quite impressed. The story is well crafted and expertly paced, and reminds me quite a bit of Alastair Reynolds, though perhaps not quite as dark or with as much of a focus on transhumanism. This first installment in a new trilogy is all wind up, presenting the personal backstories on a cast of characters in two alternating timelines - a 22nd/23rd century near future, the other set in the very far future. Presumably they tie together in future books, but on their ...more

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Oct 05, 2018 RG rated it liked it · review of another edition

This is my first Hamilton novel, which is kind of weird. I've heard amazing things about his other stuff but it felt like a lot to dig into so seeing this new world I thought I'd give it a go. We have two separate story lines. One in the present and the other in the future. However we get alot of past montage stories which provides the characterisation as well as plot.

This novel had that old school space opera feel to it, although alot of the chapters read like action books (Cussler, Rollins) wi ...more

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What's the Name o...: SOLVED. SciFi Future Earth Aliens in disguise. [s]	3	18	Jan 18, 2020 10:47AM
Space Opera Fans : Mar 2019 READER: Salvation by Hamilton	5	50	Aug 12, 2019 02:59AM
Thoughts and opinions.	1	11	Nov 08, 2018 02:27AM

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About Peter F. Hamilton

Peter F. Hamilton

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Peter F. Hamilton is a British science fiction author. He is best known for writing space opera. As of the publication of his tenth novel in 2004, his works had sold over two million copies worldwide, making him Britain's biggest-selling science fiction author. ...more

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Quotes from Salvation

“Ideology is a sick-soul-meme; it gnaws basic decency away until you can self-justify the most extreme acts as worthwhile to further the cause. Any cause.” — 5 likes

“With a degree of privacy assured, I squatted down and crapped out the biopackage I’d brought along. The human anal cavity has traditionally been a smuggler favorite for most of our existence on Earth. It made me really proud to carry that fine institution on into the starflight era. Yeah, right.” — 3 likes

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