Salvation

The Salvation Sequence, Book 1

By: Peter F. Hamilton

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Salvation is the first mesmerising space opera in the legendary Salvation Sequence, by Peter F. Hamilton. For fans of Iain M. Banks and James S. A. Corey.

‘A twisty and hugely satisfying SF thriller that opens a portal on a new and exciting series’ – Alastair Reynolds, author of Revelation Space

Know your enemy – or be defeated.

An alien shipwreck is found on a newly discovered world, and it carries a cargo as strange as it is horrifying. Security Director Feriton Kayne assembles a high-powered squad to assess the threat. But one of the group is hiding something – it will be up to the team to bring back answers, answers that will change everything . . .

Back on Earth, humanity can extend lifespans indefinitely, travel to the stars via portal technology and even make deserts bloom. We seem invulnerable. So when the alien Olyix contacted us, years earlier, we welcomed them. They needed fuel for their pilgrimage across the galaxy – and in exchange they helped advance our technology. But will they prove a blessing – or a curse?

‘A startlingly fresh, vigorous and original cosmic saga’ – Stephen Baxter

‘Crammed with cutting-edge ideas’ – The Guardian

‘Exciting, wildly imaginative and quite possible Hamilton’s best book to date’ – SFX Magazine, 5 Stars

The Salvation Sequence
Salvation
Salvation Lost
The Saints of Salvation

©2018 Peter F. Hamilton (P)2018 Macmillan Digital Audio

Critic reviews

Explosions! Assassins! Enigmatic aliens, spaceships and jump doors. Conspiracies and ancient mysteries – it’s all here. Accept no substitutes, this is the real deal. You need Salvation, my friend. Everyone needs salvation (Ian McDonald author of New Moon)

Salvation is a space-opera intrigue with a cold shock of an ending that makes the sequel a matter of urgency (Ken MacLeod author of Cosmonaut Keep)

20 hours of only slightly interesting snippets

I am a Huge Peter F. Hamilton, but I feel this book stretched too much what is essentially an introduction to the story.

It tells only motheratly interesting fragments of many characters and different events, trying to create a big mistery, but ends up making an entire book filled with unimportant stuff.

Brilliant

A great listen two. The third time I’ve listened to it and it won’t be the last!

Probably better if read - or after a second listen

I usually like Hamilton’s sprawl of characters and his imagination, making for such rich world building. However, this book was a bit of a jumble, as it was not one story moving forward. Instead, the main story was actually quite short and the bulk of the book consists of stories of how the team members came to be part of the team (and interspersed with the story of another group far in the future).

While the last 5% were good and made everything come together, setting up for some actual confrontation in the next book in the series, the major part was mostly a slog through backstory and background buildup. I did not enjoy that quite as well as I’d hoped.

John Lee has a great voice, but I find some of his intonation and word spacing a bit jarring. And while I (as a non-native English speaker) find his handling of accents quite good it is sometimes hard to sense when he changes person in a conversation due to that.

Messy and hard to follow

The beginning is very hard to follow on Audiobook. It picks up in the middle and you'll want to hear more in the end.

Excellent build-up

The scene is now set for the next couple of books in this series. Can’t wait!

It's OK. I usually Love Hamilton though

Canterbury Tales style stories within stories told around a table of pilgrims, also used in the Hyperion books.Great literary device. These stories however are only quite interesting.

For some reason Hamilton has made all his characters incredibly ethnically diverse which has proved a real challenge to the usually fantastic John Lee. I struggled to keep track of who was who while this nuance added nothing to the plot.

The far future stuff is pretty uninspired. Lord of The Flies meets Brave New World meets Enders Game while rehashing the animal servants from The Void. The enemy is very disappointing.

Superb!

As always Peter Hamilton does not disappoint. An entertaining read that his fans will love.

Slow dialogues building to an impressive crescendo

Parallel stories in vastly different timelines. The far future story considerably less interesting than the nearer. Dialogue- and monologue-based story, beautifully built. The main

I Really liked it ...

Looking forward to the sequel... supreme sci fi and have Made my commute to work a pleasure

Good story line, a lot of characters

Enjoyed the story in the end. So many characters made it hard to keep track of on an audio book though.