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Salvation

(Salvation Sequence #1)

Peter F. Hamilton (Goodreads Author)

4.19 · Rating details · 5,495 ratings · 544 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 ...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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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 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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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 ...more

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

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

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: sept-oct-19, carnage-and-mayhem, motley-crew, action-adventure, owned, sci-fi, freebies, from-the-publisher

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 ...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 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 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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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 ...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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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.

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

Shelves: did-not-finish, read-2018

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 ...more

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

Shelves: sci-fi, arc, reviewed, 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 ...more

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

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

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

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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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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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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. :/

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

Shelves: 2019, sf-f

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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Oct 05, 2018 Roy 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) ...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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Sep 09, 2018 Karen’s Library rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, sci-fi, aliens

This was the first time I've read anything by Peter Hamilton. I found the sci-fi future tech fascinating and enjoyed the future he created.

Salvation's storyline is told using the past, present, and future. 5 people are investigating a crashed alien ship and on their way, each tells a story that gives their backstory. Interspersed are chapters of humans in the future being trained to fight the aliens who are trying to wipe out the human species.

To be honest, I had a hard time staying with this ...more

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Sep 11, 2018 Les rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

As a definite space opera and PFH fan, I was bound to sink my teeth into this one and most likely enjoy it. But, there's no undue bias here when I say that this book is simply superb. There's no other way to describe it and this new standalone series from PFH certainly looks like it's going to be another epic. The style in which it's written is very good, and typically PFH, and he didn't seem to get as bogged down in minutiae this time [as I feel much of his earlier work is affected]. All of the As a definite space opera and PFH fan, I was bound to sink my teeth into this one and most likely enjoy it. But, there's no undue bias here when I say that this book is simply superb. There's no other way to describe it and this new standalone series from PFH certainly looks like it's going to be another epic. The style in which it's written is very good, and typically PFH, and he didn't seem to get as bogged down in minutiae this time [as I feel much of his earlier work is affected]. All of the action and sub-stories are firmly part of the greater storyline, which is only just beginning to take shape in this book. The format is excellent, with numerous flashbacks and flashforwards from a central narrative, all of which link together and give you a hazy yet tantalizingly intriguing picture of where the story appears to be headed. It finished well and I am very excited to see where the series goes, this book being a good introduction to the universe and players before the story slips into a higher gear. Now tell me that doesn’t sound exciting.

To read, it felt a lot like a short story collection where the individual stories link together to form the framework of a larger tale, and this is pretty much what it is, each “chapter” giving a portion of the background, mostly about the key characters but also about the places and things within this new universe. As per usual, PFH’s world-building is second to none [ie. awesomely cool] and I found myself re-reading more than once some of his descriptions of locations and technology so that I could better grasp the wonder of it. Another hallmark of Hamilton’s fiction which is again present are lots of high-tech future cops and robbers and there’s no shortage of these in Salvation, with most of the central characters being some sort of police officer, security specialist, mercenary or criminal. The future flashforward sections are excellent, slightly reminiscent of other child or youth sci-fi soldier stories that you may have read, the characters struggling to come to grips with the knowledge that the future existence of mankind rests upon their shoulders. Overall, you can quite clearly how the different timelines relate to each other and how things might transpire.

It’s space opera as it should be, a story painted on a canvas of galactic scale with an abundance of massive awesome stuff contained therein. There are interesting alien life-forms, interesting alien agendas and interesting alien technology, which is totally what you’d expect from PFH. Anybody who enjoys good sci-fi [and galaxy-spanning space opera in particular] will just devour this and love every moment of doing so. It’s a must for any PFH fan and also a perfectly suitable starting point for any readers new to his work. Hamilton has been shortening his novels a little in recent years and his work is much the better for it in my humble opinion, meaning that his work is probably that much more accessible for a mainstream audience. The earlier Night’s Dawn Trilogy, Commonwealth Saga and Void Trilogy books, while truly excellent books, were seen as a bit daunting by some readers. Such were my observations anyway. There are no such worries with this one, however, and it should be a thoroughly engaging and enjoyable read for a lot of people. Get into it. ...more

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Sep 29, 2018 Claire rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: british, scifi, 2018

It's definitely a Peter Hamilton book, corporations run by humans with extended lives, decent white male characters, some kick ass women, creepy aliens and lashings of descriptions. Every meal, house or outfit is seemingly described to within an inch of its life.

The plot is a combination of a Hyperion style narrative, only instead of pilgrims we have the mission specialists telling stories, interspersed with a group of teenagers being prepped to fight humanity's enemies in the even further ...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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Jan 20, 2019 G.S. Jennsen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, space-opera

The last 20 pages earned the book a 4th star, and *might* have redeemed it for me. I love PFH's books and writing style, but if I ever write a 552-page prologue like he just did, somebody come to my house and shoot me.

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Sep 26, 2018 Tamahome rated it liked it · review of another edition

3.5 stars? You'll definitely get the dense future world building Hamilton is known for, and some philosophical talks and intense action sequences. He doesn't shy away from the sex either. This is book one of three, so you won't get too far into the alien ship plot. But the ending is definitely a highlight. It's structured like Hyperion or Canterbury Tales, where each traveler goes into a personal story on the way somewhere. The chapters takes place in different times, so pay attention to that. I ...more

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Dec 07, 2018 Chris Wright rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The novel is a healthy mixture of thriller and space opera that cleverly puts together mankind’s greatest problem-solvers on a mission to investigate a crashed alien spaceship on a distant planet. Aliens and serial killers. A huge twist of politics and conflict. A back-and-forth narrative of a vast number of heroes and heroines, all pawns of a galactic conspiracy of betrayal and backstabbing that puts a lot of detective books to shame. I was delighted by how Hamilton took small independent The novel is a healthy mixture of thriller and space opera that cleverly puts together mankind’s greatest problem-solvers on a mission to investigate a crashed alien spaceship on a distant planet. Aliens and serial killers. A huge twist of politics and conflict. A back-and-forth narrative of a vast number of heroes and heroines, all pawns of a galactic conspiracy of betrayal and backstabbing that puts a lot of detective books to shame. I was delighted by how Hamilton took small independent stories and weaved them together with POVs that got you up close and personal with the thrill of the cast trying to solve mind-boggling mysteries that ascend to the possibility of interstellar war. It certainly promises to be another great trilogy.

Before I go into it: a company called Connexion has set up a network of portals, connecting through quantum spacial entanglement (or is it spacial quantum entanglement?) point A to point B, whether B is on Earth or on another planet. Of course, the technology has other uses, too, such as to draw solar energy and transfer it across the system, dispose waste, dispose criminals (I’ll not go into that), interstellar propulsion etc. And then we have a peculiar race of aliens called the Olyix, which are on a pilgrimage mission to reach the centre of the universe to meet their god. The Olyix come bearing the gifts of Kcells, a type of alien biotechnology where their cells could be used to assemble organs and muscles, therefore extending human lifespan. It helps, as well, if your biochemistry is similar to an alien’s like the Olyix. In return, the Olyix would get vast amounts of energy that would allow them to produce enough antimatter to accelerate their ship, the Salvation of Life to a decent fraction of lightspeed so they could resume their mission to their God at The End of Time.

The prologue of Salvation is one of my favourite parts of the story. It narrates how the Neána pick up the first (radio) signs of a species showing the promise of advancing to a type one civilisation on the Kardashev scale: us. Humans. A species who were chucking nuclear weapons at each other before they harnessed enough propulsion energy to make it safely to the moon. The Neána see the opportunity to help the humans, either before they destroy each other or before someone else does. And so, the Neána dispatch a ship to Earth and its crew, who look and quack like humans, blend into the Earth’s population. And that’s that.

Remember the crashed spaceship I mentioned? Well, Connexion’s head of security dispatches five of the Earth’s brightest minds (the problem-solvers) on a mission to study it. He knows one of them is an alien in the guise of a human, and this mission offers him the opportunity to learn which one. Although he has plenty of information on them, each one is given the chance to unfurl their backstory, which we get in a sequence of short stories throughout the book. Each hero and heroine have their own agendas, as well as plenty of friends and enemies, some of which happen to be on the mission to the crashed spaceship or are connected in some way to friends and enemies. I love the tiny, intricate connections that bind them all together. Expertly weaved.

Then we have a separate storyline, set far far far far into the future. It appears humans have advanced to a type two civilisation, but are preparing for war with an enemy whose identity isn’t disclosed (I have a suspicion). How do they prepare for war? They train from a young age to become super soldiers. The women are the brains, the men are the brawn. (Why do I feel that’s always been the case?) Anyway, Delian and Yirella are the main faces of this storyline. It’s your typical romance trope, but it does come with some unexpected quirks that just show how open-minded a type two civilisation can actually be. Delian and Yirella often mention the Five Saints, who just so happen to be the five problem-solvers Connexion has rounded up to investigate the crashed spaceship.

The two storylines develop as parallel plots alongside one another, so we get near equal amounts of Delian and Yirella, and their powerful bond tested under the pressure of imminent conflict, and the Five Saints/problem-solvers who unfold an intricately woven plot of conspiracy, terrorist attacks and mysterious crimes of black market body-snatching and murder happening across the system. The focus on characters is such that it makes for a tight, intense read, filling any gaps that develop in previous chapters with crucial detail and an ever-increasing sense of foreboding. The more the story rolls along with its standalone stories, the more it covers these gaps, therefore giving it momentum.

This story, and the smaller stories within, span an entire galaxy and it’s a combination of space opera and thriller that makes it one of my favourite Hamilton books ever. For those who haven’t read Hamilton before, it will really set the bar high. ...more

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Space Opera Fans : Mar 2019 READER: Salvation by Hamilton	5	47	Aug 12, 2019 02:59AM
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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.