This was an engrossing science fiction series! It was a great ending and I didn't want it to end. I will be reading more works from this author.

The Saints of Salvation was a thick book, probably overcrowded with exposition and hard SF that overshadowed what felt like an interesting story. It was a bit of a slog to finish, and as such I would only recommend it to serious fans of Hamilton or those who enjoy the deep dive into worldbuilding and SF.

Peter Hamilton has written an overly detailed novel on the survival of humanity in The Saints of Salvation. It would have benefited from editing down the length. Definitely for fans of hard science fiction. Not up to his usual high standards.

Thank you so much to net galley for sending me a copy of this book, I have not previously liked the books I’ve read by this author but this one was different, I felt connected and compelled to read it

“Saints of Salvation”, the third and last book in the Salvation saga, tells three intertwined stories. First, Hamilton presents a post-apocalyptic world set on earth where humanity has to deal with the consequences of the Olyix attack. Being isolated from the rest of civilization, humanity has to adapt to the scarcity of resources and the harshness of the new life on Earth. Hamilton paints a positive view of humanity that struggles to reconstruct its society despite the trauma recently suffered by the population.

Meanwhile, the so-called Saints execute their response to the Olyx invasion attempting to make possible the deployment of a plan of astronomical proportions. Cut from the rest of humanity, the Saints are covert operatives coming to terms with sacrificing their lives to inflict the most damage on the Olyix sanctuary and give humanity a fighting chance generations later.

Finally, the crew of the Morgan far in future realize they will suffer defeat against the Olyix if they remain a type-I Kardashev civilization. However, the social and technological constraints of its operations prevent the crew from making the hard decisions it needs to make. Leadership and personal sacrifice will be required to enable the crew to gain the technology and production capabilities necessary to have a fighting chance against an enemy that appears to have conquered the galaxy.

While the first book of the Salvation saga was reminiscent of Dan Simmons’ “Hyperion”, the third book of the saga, “Saints of Salvation” is reminiscent of Charles Stross’s “Accelerando”. The three settings act as viewpoints before, during, and after a singularity that redefines what it means to be human.

In his signature style, Hamilton weaves the three stories into an epic that spans millennia and yet connects people generations apart. The strength of Hamilton’s writing is the ability to always up the ante by cleverly re-combining the fictional technologies that were previously set. An avid Hamilton reader could feel like he falls back on tropes and technologies that seem to have permeated his career. However, a brilliant twist, the quality of the writing of action sequences, and the hard-to-conceive scale of the operations keep the reader relentlessly turning the next page to see what other amazing ideas Hamilton has in stock.

This took me a while, since I waited until I could read the whole Salvation Sequence trilogy consecutively, and I'm so glad I did. Each book did come to a satisfying conclusion, but there's no way I would have been able to understand what was happening in books two & three without having read the previous book recently. I was also a bit wary to pick this up from a time commitment standpoint, since my last experience with Peter Hamilton was The Great North Road, which was an enormous, slow (but highly interesting) read. I found this trilogy to be much lighter fare, although it still spans thousands of years, most of the galaxy, alien contact, and technological and genetic advancements that are only barely imaginable. I highly recommend this series, as an exploration into where humanity might be headed. I'm not sure we'll ever actually have quantum entanglement portals to everywhere, instantly, but that possibility opens so many doors to explore. The utopial society of gender cycling true non-binaries was very interesting. The main group of characters narrating the story were well developed, relatable, and good viewpoints for the story. There are a lot of threads cleverly woven to tie together very neatly in the end. There were a few deep dives into unpleasantness (Claudette) and some superfluous noise (Gwendoline), and jarring overuse of the vernacular term "playa", but these can be overlooked easily in the broader context of this very well imagined and executed story. I also suspect that Peter Hamilton highly enjoys bacon sandwiches and salmon risotto.

Author Peter F. Hamilton published the novel “The Saints of Salvation” in 2020. He has published more than 20 novels. This is the third novel in his "The Salvation Sequence" series.

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of violence and mature language. The story is set in the far future. The Olyix have attacked Earth and several other worlds. They have a religious mission. They want to bring all sentient life to its God at the End of Time.

There are several characters that play an important role in this novel. The time span covers many years. A very secret spy mission takes some of the characters deep into the Olyix domain. They are part of the key to defeating the Olyix, providing a signal for humanity to follow.

Humanity has gathered a fleet like no other. They are about to attack the Olyix. If they fail, humanity, if it survives, will be relegated to the dark spaces between the stars.

I enjoyed the 16+ hours I spent reading this 516-page science fiction novel. The novel seemed to have a slow start. it did get much better after the first 25%. I found it a little hard to read as it jumped around in time. It definitely makes far more sense if you have read the prior books. I, fortunately, have read book 2 "Salvation Lost". I like the cover art, though it doesn't relate to the story. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.

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This was my introduction to Peter F Hamilton. Since this was the third book in the series, decided to read all the books first. They were all good, but this was definitely the capper. The pay off was great. Very wide universe. Will definitely need to find more by Peter F Hamilton.

I love Peter F. Hamilton’s work. I love the Commonwealth Saga and I especially love the Great North Road. So I was excited a few years ago when the Salvation Sequence began. The first book was fun! It was like a hard sf Canterbury Tales, or reminiscent of Hyperion - a bunch of travelers telling their stories which contained an overarching narrative ending with a dramatic twist. Then, in book 2, it seemed to take an odd turn - a bunch of new characters were introduced and the alien invasion seemed to drag on way too slowly while the preexisting characters got short shrift. It felt like middle book syndrome, where not much could happen or it would rush the conclusion.

Now we are at book 3, the conclusion. (And thank you to NetGalley for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.) So how was it? Disappointing. The story of the new characters from book 2, the last survivor of the criminal gang and his love interest, are quickly dispatched from the plot, their narrative purpose spent. The characters from book 1 have lost all of their nuance and individual voice. All except Yirella, a character from the far future time frame who has the most to do but without a huge amount of explanation why she is the only one who can see the problems, let alone the solutions.

The other disappointing part of the story is that it felt over the first two books that there was something else going on with the alien invaders, the other alien species that opposed them from the shadows, and the mysterious deity at the end of time that the invaders worshipped. I was expecting a final book revelation that the aliens were all related, that humans in the future had sparked the entire alien pilgrimage, something! But no. The alien invaders remain two-dimensional, the mysterious plot threads are left unaddressed.

I don’t regret reading this, because lesser Peter F. Hamilton novels are still enjoyable space opera, but I cannot say that I was fully satisfied when I finished this book. Til next time, Mr. Hamilton. I look forward to your next series.

Published by Del Rey on November 17, 2020

The Saints of Salvation is like Avengers Endgame without the superheroes and with a lot more science. A large group of heroes, mostly but not entirely human, fight to save humanity from evil. In the process, lots of things explode, a good bit of humanity seems to be wiped out, and time goes a bit wonky.

When I read the first novel in the Salvation sequence and noted that the story would unfold over thousands of years, I expected that the heroes in the first novel would be dead long before the story ended. And I thought that would be unfortunate, as I felt a greater attachment to those characters than to the characters who carry the story in the future. When the key near future characters turned up again in the second novel, I was happy. Here they are again in The Saints of Salvation. They are, in fact, the saints to which the title refers. Humanity appreciates the inspiration they provided in the dark past. Now it’s the far future and, thanks to the miracle of science fiction, they aren’t done fighting. In that fight, they are joined by varied characters old and new, including a bunch of humans (more or less) who were seeded by a far-future character in an effort to kickstart the final battle.

The fight is against the Olyx, an alien race of religious extremists who are on a mission from the God at the End of Time. The first novel tells us that the Olyx captured billions of humans but that some humans who escaped, as well as generations of their descendants, dedicated themselves to fighting back. The second novel sets up that fight while recounting, in vivid detail, the human struggle to delay the inevitable destruction of the Earth. The last novel recounts the last days of that near future struggle on Earth and follows various humans at various points in future history as they carry out a plan to locate and destroy the Olyx home world.

But is this the last novel? The story arc is certainly complete, but questions remain about the mysterious God at the End of Time who, at some point in the future, apparently commanded the Olyx to gather all the civilizations of the universe, bundle up their brains and other essential organs in cocoons, and bring them to the god for some unrevealed but presumably divine purpose. The novel suggests that those questions might be answered in a later book. Perhaps that’s why the books are marketed as the Salvation Sequence rather than the Salvation trilogy.

The Saints of Salvation is long book, but the word count is necessary to tell a story that spans tens of thousands of years and encompasses a multitude of smaller, character-centered stories. It combines creative warfare with touching moments of sacrifice. It follows core characters who evolve without losing the kernel of goodness that makes them heroic. It pits good against evil and love against hate in an epic tale that never loses sight of its purpose. The story is alternately thrilling and chilling, sweet and sad. In its plausible construction of a high-tech future, the novel offers a rich display of imagination. It never fails to fascinate.

I could (and did) say the same about the first two books. Everything about the Salvation sequence, from strong characterization and complex storytelling to dazzling suggestions about the future to which science might take us, is impressive. Fans of space opera will heartily enjoy all three books in the sequence.

RECOMMENDED

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

There are a handful of Scifi authors that are on my "must read" list. Peter F. Hamilton is one of them. His stories are consistently some of the most creative, even if they are a bit dense to get into at the beginning. While his stories are quite heavy on technical language, he always has a unique
vision of what a future Earth culture might be like, without losing sight of people being people.

This book is no different and it picks up the story seamlessly from where the second book left off. Unfortunately, the same problems from the first books are still here. Still a few too many characters and we still spend more time than we need to with the least interesting of these many characters.

Hamilton builds some interesting worlds but I always feel like he can't quite stick the ending. This book is no different.

I thought the story was [driving to an ending where the Olyix are revealed to be proto-humans or the message from the God at the end of time was a message from humanity all along... but no. what you see on the tin is exactly what you get. There is no twist ending here. Which is a distinct shame, because the elements of the plot and all of the foreshadowing seem to point in that direction, but ultimately the book doesn't go there. (hide spoiler)]

The ending is ambiguous enough that another book might be possible, so I guess we'll see. Overall a very good read and a solid close out to an interesting series, especially if you like hard-sci fi with a dash of civilizational conflict thrown in.

Another great series from Peter F. Hamilton! The Space Opera master strikes again with another great book and series. Such brilliant and clever ideas inhabit these pages. Will definitely recommend to my customers!

Hamilton expounds on his "Salvation Lost" series with new narratives, details, and plot lines. With new twists, reader will continue to learn more about the alien threat to the human race and humanity's long term response. In this case an alien race attempts to "save" specimens of other races for the end of the universe. Often this means a horrifying storage process for victim races including humanity. Unlike other races, humanity fights back over eons of time periods.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3436331554

I was fortunate enough to receive a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Simply put this trilogy is the best set of three books that I’ve ever read across any genre.

This book is a perfect finale; it has everything you’d expect from Peter F Hamilton’s Space Opera - I mean we’re talking thousands of years of elapsed time. It’s vast, so very vast - but at the same time completely straight forward to comprehend and enjoy.

I’m sad to see the end of the series, it really has been something special. I’m just glad that I don’t think this is the complete end - I can imagine we might see some other storylines taking up the reigns in this universe.

At lest I hope we do...

The Salvation trilogy is one of my favorite epic Sci-Fi series to come out in quite some time, so this book had quite the reputation to live up to, and it did so admirably. The Saints of Salvation opens with a lovely, serene scene echoing that of the first book before jumping right into the chaotic whirlwind where Salvation Lost had ended, throwing the reader right back into hectic plotlines and character struggles as the stakes continue to rise and time runs out. I would recommend re-reading the prior book if it has been awhile since you read it as Hamilton does not waste the time to rehash the prior books; I certainly would not recommend starting the series here as I expect a new reader would be completely lost, not to mention they'd miss out on a pair of fantastic books :)

Hamilton manages to balance massive, beyond epic battles and events with small, intimate scenes between characters. I was very impressed how the seemingly disparate individual stories/plotlines (good as they were for showing different perspectives of the overarching threat that humanity is facing) increasingly drew closer together in ways I had not predicted but seem obvious in hindsight (in a well-constructed manner) . As the book proceeds, certain threads become more relevant, leaving a few behind; I found myself a bit confused regarding what ended up happening to a couple of the characters that had been focused on early in the book such as Ollie. At times, the book also seemed a little anticlimactic, but it generally pulled together a solid ending given the high bar and higher stakes set by the trilogy.

One of my only real frustration is that Hamilton repeatedly brings up a very interesting, plot-relevant question repeatedly throughout the book that he does not answer or fully address by its conclusion. While it provides a good narrative thread that can easily lead into future books, the amount of focus given to this unanswered question (with no promise of an answer to come) hollowed out an otherwise solid end to this series, as I walked away a bit unsatisfied as a result.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed The Saints of Salvation and found it a good conclusion to one of my favorite new Sci-Fi works of the last decade. This ride is not one to miss!

Thanks to NetGalley for access to the digital ARC; having read it, I do plan to pick up the hardcover up upon release to grace my bookshelf and eventually re-read :D

Peter Hamilton, bravo! The Saints of Salvation is worth every bit of the mental acuity required to keep up with multiple plot lines occurring over multiple time lines and multiple concepts that make you stop and ponder, and wonder, and the effort required to stay at top page-turner speed through a 623 page tour-de-force. This resolution of the first three books leaves one completely satisfied and pushing back the chair from a sumptuous meal with a full belly. And then, we are left with the tantalizing hint of a fabulous dessert to come just when you think it is all over. This is a great, stop-drop-read installment for fans of the series. Bon appetit.

How I do wish book rating systems allowed for decimal designations of some sort. The previous two books in this trilogy (hmm, can't help but wonder if that will really hold true) were solid 5 star books for me. This one wasn't as good for me but it certainly didn't slip too far backward either. 4.5 would definitely come closer to an accurate rating. I latched on to one of the main big concepts flowing throughout the series and discovered in this book that I had been sold a slightly incorrect bill of goods. I was disappointed about that.

I do not recommend that any reader begin this Salvation Sequence series with this third book. Author Peter F. Hamilton never does any kind of recap of at least book two - Salvation Lost, so anyone new to this series will be pretty much lost the whole time. The concepts in this series are large and it takes the full three books for them to unfold completely. But, was it completely? There seemed to be some niggling dangling threads still unresolved. As with the first two books I thoroughly enjoyed the portions of the book which described what was happening on Earth. Living under protective shields and having Olyix ships bombarding those shields constantly made the efforts of the human population so poignant, a touching tribute to the human will to survive. Most of the earth portions take place in London which is suffering under what the people are calling Blitz2, a description that took me back to the real history of an heroic population trying to find some normal ways of living during the World War II years. That touch of quasi realistic life made portions of the book more relative to me.

I must admit that I bought into what was being urged on me throughout the first two books, so the conclusion of this third book made me go back and re-read portions to see if I had gotten what was being presented correctly. After thinking over the full story I can't help but wonder if this is really the end. There is a very large number of characters in these books and it seems a shame for them to stop being used to tell stories. Maybe some of them will migrate over into another series and the adventure can continue.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine for an e-galley of this novel.

The Saints of Salvation by Peter F. Hamilton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have nothing but positive things to say about Peter F. Hamilton's new series, now on its third book.

It has everything I dream of in a story. Not just a good story that takes on the full subjugation of humanity, but tens of thousands of whole technological alien species, but a rebellion story that goes all the extra miles with solid tech, solid circumstances, and mind-blowing ramifications.

For not only did we start out with micro-black-hole technologies in the first book, but we go way beyond that with post-human neutron-star hacking, expanded and split consciousness immortals, standard and not-so-standard cyberpunk, and a scope that spans the entire freaking galaxy.

The stakes? Freaking end-of-the-universe stakes. The enemies? An alien species that started its monocultural crusade to cocoon ALL other species to "save" them for the end of times more than a couple of a million years ago. The resolution?

Muahahahahahaha it's epic, man. It's epic.

Hamilton rocks. I've known this for a while. I did take some time to get into his earlier works, it's true, but now I'm a believer.

Like the other books in the series, it is long, imaginative, and engaging. Hamilton is very talented and if you like any of his books, you'll like this one as well. I enjoyed this. Hamilton is a solid bet for a good tale. Recommended.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

I read this final installment in the Salvation series without actually reading the other two - so I missed out on a lot! At first I was overwhelmed and a little confused by the story line, but after several chapters, pieces finally started falling into place. The scope of this book is as vast as Cixin Liu's trilogy, with so much more optimism and fierce defense of the best of humanity. Peter F. Hamilton planned every single detail perfectly; no "convenient" solutions or deus ex machinas here! I will admit I lost interest in the middle, due to that same extreme attention to detail. But I pushed through because the concept was so fascinating to me, and it was worth it. The last 25 percent of this book was fantastic, and I could not put it down! I would recommend this book for sure if you've read the first two, because despite the bogged-down places, the ending is whirlwind and satisfying.