Salvation - Book Review
Salvation: A Novel - is the latest book from Peter F. Hamilton. It does not take place in the CommonWealth universe.
I am a huge fan of Hamilton (both the CommonWealth and several of his other books) and this one did not disappoint.
There are quite a few parallels between Salvation's universe and the CommonWealth:
- They use portals (even more, here)
- They are invaded by stealth aliens that can take human form
It was great fun to see all the ways portals are used - like how they use threading to get large portals around, and the use of portal ships to use breakaway glaciers to "terraform" deserts. Also portal homes.
I read that some people was upset at ALL the background stories getting in the middle of the action. True, they take a lot of the book but all add to a big deal in the end.
The story is a little hard to describe well. A few important envoys take a journey to a distant star where an alien ship has crashed. On the way in a ground car (used to protect humankind of attack by portals), they all tell stories that are vital to the conclusion (in a little too convenient way).
Meanwhile, further into the future a group of teens are being raised to fight unnamed aliens, because humankind is being hunted by them, and is on the run. The envoys are referred to as the Saints, in reverence.
The end is pretty great, and makes me sad that I have to wait for the next volume in the series.
Overall, strongly recommended to both fans of Hamilton and any SF fan.
I am a huge fan of Hamilton (both the CommonWealth and several of his other books) and this one did not disappoint.
There are quite a few parallels between Salvation's universe and the CommonWealth:
- They use portals (even more, here)
- They are invaded by stealth aliens that can take human form
It was great fun to see all the ways portals are used - like how they use threading to get large portals around, and the use of portal ships to use breakaway glaciers to "terraform" deserts. Also portal homes.
I read that some people was upset at ALL the background stories getting in the middle of the action. True, they take a lot of the book but all add to a big deal in the end.
The story is a little hard to describe well. A few important envoys take a journey to a distant star where an alien ship has crashed. On the way in a ground car (used to protect humankind of attack by portals), they all tell stories that are vital to the conclusion (in a little too convenient way).
Meanwhile, further into the future a group of teens are being raised to fight unnamed aliens, because humankind is being hunted by them, and is on the run. The envoys are referred to as the Saints, in reverence.
The end is pretty great, and makes me sad that I have to wait for the next volume in the series.
Overall, strongly recommended to both fans of Hamilton and any SF fan.
Comments