This book is very long and what I consider crunchy science fiction so reading the e-book was very difficult, but I did love the worldbuilding and how brutal the celestials were. I think the ideas of preserving lineages was very interesting. This is definitely a book I will be trying to get a physical copy of because I think I will have a much easier time retaining smaller details. This makes me very excited for the video game!

This was my first time reading this author, and I am not sure if I have read too much sci-fi too recently, or if Hamilton's writing just didn't click with me, but I liked this book well enough, just did not love it. This was a big enough book that I may just need to reread it later. Anyway, this was a 3/75-4 star book for me, not as high as I was expecting but decent, entertaining, if not super memorable sci-fi.

Exodus: The Archimedes Engine by Peter F. Hamilton

I love the books of Peter F Hamilton! I love the Commonwealth books so much! I still remember the first time I read Pandora’s Star - specifically the chilling and alien sections from MorningLightMountain’s point of view - and I wish I could go back and read it again for the first time.

I also really enjoyed the Void trilogy, and I adore Great North Road. I thought the Salvation Sequence was hit and miss, but i loved A Hole in the Sky and its follow-ups.

So when I found out he had a new novel coming out I was excited. Then I found it it was a tie in to an RPG and I got more excited. Then I realized it wasn’t a tie in to a tabletop RPG and I got a little deflated. Then I got an eARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

One of my favorite things about Mr. Hamilton’s books is the world building - it is always intricate and detailed and it always hangs together. (It usually also involves portals and/or trains which are both fun.) The world building in this book has no trains, no portals, and doesn’t make a lot of sense. There are humans and celestials, which are post humans, but also uranic humans, and some people have high levels of tech and others seem like they’re barely ahead of us. And why do the humans need to grow crops on one planet to export to other planets where they have more advanced tech but still have to travel at relativistic speeds? It doesn’t make much sense.

Also, none of the characters are fun or memorable. There’s a screw-up who literally falls into good fortune, but he’s so boring. There’s a sleazy cop. There are squabbling space royalties and rich families and I can barely remember anything about them.

I am very much looking forward to everything else Mr. Hamilton chooses to write, but I don’t think this video game’s world building did him any favors.

I am HYPED for this video game, HYPED. This story has only amplified that even further than seeing a trailer with Matthew McConaughey.

Peter F. Hamilton delivers an absolutely spectacular space opera that echoes the epic scale of one of my favorite sci-fi series, The Expanse, while carving out its own unique vision of humanity's future among the stars, where evolved "Celestials" rule over human settlers in the vast Centauri Cluster. The worldbuilding is TRULY masterful and weaves together complex political intrigue, advanced technology, and the age-old human drive for freedom through the story of Finn, whose journey from oppressed citizen to potential Traveler serves as our window into this richly imagined universe. Hamilton crafts heart-pounding battle sequences that leap off the page while never losing sight of the intricate political machinations and human drama that drive the narrative forward. The book's jaw-dropping cliffhanger ending left me desperately reaching for more of Hamilton's work to fill the new void left while I wait for the next installment, and the video game.

I would give it 100 stars if I could.

Explore EXODUS, a new sci-fi action-adventure RPG coming soon from Archetype Entertainment featured in this epic novel from legendary author Peter F. Hamilton.

Forty thousand years ago, humanity fled a dying Earth. Traveling in massive arkships, these brave pioneers spread out across the galaxy to find a new home. After traveling thousands of light-years, one fleet of arkships arrived at Centauri, a dense cluster of stars with a vast array of potentially habitable planets. The survivors of Earth signaled to the remaining arkships that humanity had finally found its new home among the stars.

Thousands of years later, the Centauri Cluster has flourished. The original settlers have evolved into advanced beings known as Celestials and divided themselves into powerful Dominions. One of the most influential is that of the Crown Celestials, an alliance of five great houses that controls vast areas of Centauri. As arkships continue to arrive, the remaining humans and their descendants must fight for survival against overwhelming odds or be forced into serving the Crown Dominion.

Among those yearning for a better life is Finn, for whom Earth is not a memory but merely a footnote from humanity’s ancient history. Born on one of the Crown Dominion worlds, Finn has known nothing but the repressive rule of the Celestials, though he dreams of the possibility of boundless space beyond his home.

When another arkship from Earth, previously thought lost, unexpectedly arrives, Finn sees his chance to embrace a greater destiny and become a Traveler—one of a group of brave heroes dedicated to ensuring humanity’s future by journeying into the vast unknown of distant space.

This was my frist book by this author but it won't be the last. A good, fast paced space opera with plenty of political turmoil and twists and turns. While not perfect, I enjoyed this one very much and cannot wait for the next installment.

I loved the setting of this book. I loved the characters and the story, but not the writing. Peter F. Hamilton's writing isn't very fun, even if the story he's telling is loads of fun. It's a complex read, but one I'll definitely return to once the sequel is out.

The Archimedes Engine has a massive scope in time, space, and cast. Peter Hamilton does an incredible job building the Exodus universe from the ground up through the perspective of mostly compelling, complex, and nuanced characters. Outside of a few minor irritations, this is a fantastic book that immerses you in the world through experience rather than exposition.

With the ambitious timespan, the first 1/3 of The Archimedes Engine helps to set the stage and introduce us to the people and places of the world. That’s not to say that the plot lines are dull, but they focus on character development and backstory rather than driving the main narrative forward. We frequently run into in new names that are explained through subsequent interactions, so be prepared to learn as you go. The story picks up speed once our characters' plots start to converge, which sets up the wild ride for the last 1/3 of the book.

Hamilton crafts the far-future technology, races, and worlds with intricacy and an attention to detail. One of my favorite examples were his descriptions of humans and celestials (humans that have undergone tens of thousands of years of natural and bioengineered evolution) interfacing with operating systems of ships and other large structures through neural connections. The line between organic and inorganic blurs frequently, leaving us (and the main human characters) with a sense of wonder with the celestial technological development and history.

One small gripe I have is the lack of resolution in the main story at the end of the book. There’s going to be a second, final book in the series, but I would have preferred more closure of the current plot lines and setting up new avenues for the next book instead of a major pause. With that being said, I absolutely loved The Archimedes Engine and I can’t wait for The Helium Sea. Few other books have pulled me into such a rich, detailed universe, and I think there’s something here for nearly every type of sci-fi reader.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For the past year I’ve slowly been going through Hamiltons backlog so I was super excited to see he was releasing a new book this year.

As always Hamilton manages to combine exciting science, imaginative world building and interesting characters. Overall I enjoyed the first book in the new duology and can’t wait to see what happens next.

Exodus: The Archimedes Engine is the first book in a duology set in the world of Exodus, a recently announced sci-fi action-adventure RPG video game by Archetype Entertainment.

This is an epic space opera set forty thousand years in the future and follows several different characters. Through them, we are introduced to humanity's history and the current empire under the Imperial Celestials. The empire and history were one of my favorite things in this book - it is massive, so detailed, and very immersive. I love all of the hard science fiction that is created and used in it. But my absolute favorite part are the planets we visit. Hamilton creates such vivid and varied environments, all with different histories, people, and technology. The plot is fun and well-paced, with a little something for everyone. Through Finn, we follow a heist. Through the Celestials, a mystery. There is even a crime investigation. Exodus: The Archimedes Engine has many twists and turns, with reveals that I was not surprised by, but it was fun nonetheless. So, what didn't I like?

The characters. They aren't terrible, but they lacked soul and were just kind of there for the story. There isn't really any character development either. I didn't care for any of them and was only interested in how the overall story would play out. This ultimately brought the book down 1 star, to a final rating of 4 stars. Another (very small) thing: this is set forty thousand years in the future, and there is little mention of language or changes in language with the exception of some types of genetically modified species. Even the Imperial Celestials still use the same curse words as we do today. I'm not sure what Hamilton (or the video game developers, for that matter) could use instead, but it just felt off to me. Everything is so incredibly futuristic, yet they still speak the same way. Anyway, it's a really small thing and not negatively impacting my review, but I had to mention it.

Presumably, the second book in this duology will also be released before the game, which currently does not have an official release date. From what I have read in various interviews, Peter F. Hamilton was asked to assist with the video game in addition to writing the duology. Will I still play the game when it releases? Definitely - I was already planning to when it was announced that several ex-Bioware devs were working on it. I just hope they are able to add that good-Bioware-of-old character depth and include loveable characters that (so far) this story is lacking. Will I pick up the second book? Probably - I still love video game tie-ins and would like to see how this particular story concludes.

This is a link to the video game trailer, announced at The 2023 Game Awards. I'm very excited for it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the copy of the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/exodus-peter-f-hamilton/1144735740?ean=9780593357668

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1W9P59MRXL3C6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0CSW9BK5C

This is a decent book. Great at times. Frustrating at times. Possibly the perfect example of the strengths and flaws of both Peter Hamilton in specific and the “tie-in novel” in a more general term. Did I like it? Yes. Did I love it? No.

Exodus: The Archimedes Engine is the first of two tie-in books by Peter F. Hamilton to the upcoming game, Exodus. It is set in the far far future in another space, the Centauri Cluster, to which mankind has fled, 40,000 years before. Here

Let’s start by talking about both Hamilton. I am unquestionably a Peter F. Hamilton fan. I’ve read the Commonwealth duology three times and I’m halfway on a fourth. I’ve read Night’s Dawn once and am considering a re-read. Warts and all, I very much enjoyed the Void trilogy (and was thrilled that Hamilton was brave enough for it to be both a sequel to the Commonwealth duology and very much not so). While the Salvation novels weren’t exactly my favorites, I didn’t hate them. I know what I’m going to get with Hamilton:

it will be a doorstop
it will feature fantastic worldbuilding with bizarre worlds as far from our conception as possible
it will have a sprawling cast of characters that you will struggle to keep straight
it will often (but not always) have some sort of wormhole technology – often with trains
it will be…how to put it…sexually liberated (usually)
it will have fantastic set piece combat/action
it will feature some sort of “twist” around 60% of the way through the book where the “true antagonist” gets revealed
The one featured all of those. Sorta. It is definitely a doorstop. I got approved for this book very late in the pub process and had to finish it rather quickly after getting sick in the beginning of September which sidelined my reading. The worldbuilding is exceptional – quite literally WORLD building, since my favorites were the descriptions of the various places visited by the cast of characters. It features no true FTL, but rather uses the gates to play with relativistic speed and time dilation – actually enjoyed that aspect more than I thought. Great combat. Honestly…a little more chaste than his other novels (I wonder if that’s the tie-in aspect). It features a “twist” but it was one I’d seen coming for quite awhile and I think was telegraphed early on.

I actually think that his cast of characters is somewhat restrained compared to some of the other series he’s written. That’s good and bad. Good in that I’m not struggling to keep pace with the plot, understanding who’s who and remembering things. Bad in that you really notice the lack of real character development for most of them. They’re not “bad” mind…they’re just kinda “there.” Ellie would seem to be a fascinating character to explore the world but we don’t get that much from her POV and when we do, it is mostly to react to events. There is no Ozzie in this book, though. There is no Joshua Calvert. There are some interesting characters, but none of them really stand out.

And then there is the tie-in aspect. I have a long history with reading “tie-in” novels – either novelizations of movies, adapted expanded universes, etc. I’m not opposed to them at all. And this one is definitely that. It is clearly tied to the Exodus video game.


But how much of this book is the game and how much is just Hamilton – that I don’t know (and couldn’t unless I asked). I get the feeling that a large portion of the ships, weapons, etc. are invented by him. But clearly the Celestials, Travelers, Ghosts, etc. are game things. And there’s a bit of the novel where midway I started to wonder how much of this was just exploring the universe vs. an original plot (since Hamilton has said up-front that this is set in a different corner of the Exodus universe than the game).

The goal of a book like this should, typically, be to interest you in buying and playing the game. Did it do that? Maybe? I’m not sure. And this is where we have to talk about how much of the universe is something Hamilton created and how much the game designers did. Specifically, the Celestials.

The Celestials are easily the most problematic part of the plot. For all of how I felt Finn’s story was interesting but very “videogamey,” and for all I enjoyed the informant/police plot…I didn’t care for the Celestial plot at all. Thyra was easily my least favorite character and her reveal was both unsurprising (I don’t know that it was supposed to be) and did not change my opinion. The Celestials are boring. They’re also all universally “racist” (excused away by having evolved) to various extents and encouraging a society that is utterly uninterested in change. I didn’t want to root for any of them.

I get the impression that they were a game creation and that Hamilton wouldn’t have necessarily done them they way they’re done. Or maybe he assisted. It is hard to say. But I would have been fine if the Celestials just didn’t exist. Or were “gone” now, having moved on. And having done a little research…that may be exactly what’s happening as the press stuff on Exodus seems to indicate that it is set a further 40,000 years into the future beyond the novels. Again – none of that is explicit in the novel.

None of this is to say that I didn’t enjoy the book. It is a solid 3.5 out of 5 stars. Some of the sections are amazing. But at times, it all felt very “videogamey” – particularly Finn’s story. He’s got to get this thing. And then he has to get this thing to get that thing to do a third thing and enact a fourth. I didn’t hate it. But it seemed very un-Hamilton.

Will I play the game? Maybe. I don’t know. Will I read the second book when it comes out? Yeah. Probably. YMMV, but even mediocre Hamilton is still better space opera than just about anything else out there.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House/Ballantine for the opportunity to read an ARC of this prior to release in exchange for a fair review. All opinions are my own.

You can pre-order here.

9 / 10 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2024/09/16/exodus-the-archimedes-engine-by-peter-f-hamilton-review/

<i>The more intense the light, the deeper it reaches.</i>

The Archimedes Engine is the first of a planned two books set in the world (or should I say “universe”) of EXODUS, an upcoming space exploration game from Archetype Entertainment. While the first book is out September of 2024, the planned release date (subject to change) of EXODUS isn’t until 2026. And, most importantly, if the game is anything close to the book I NEED IT NOW.

I read the Archimedes Engine at a time in my life that coincided with marked burnout, including the inability to focus on much of anything, particularly books. Now, given that this beast is nearly one thousand pages in length, it would’ve taken me a while to get through it at any time, not to mention one where I struggled to pay attention for 30-50 pages. As such, the month that it took me isn’t all that bad. Furthermore, the fact that I never once considered quitting is even more surprising. Because this thing is dense. Not just an allusion to its length: the lore and world-building for this is almost excessive. There’s a high learning curve to conquer, and a LOT of places and names and terms and history to remember. It was a LOT to deal with at the time I read it, and I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

Now, the overarching plot takes a while to get off the ground (as one would expect given both the length and the author compiling it), but basically concerns the former-sixth Crown Dominion and the surviving fives’ Great Games (alluding to the similar Great Games of houses or thrones found in epic fantasy) within their cooperative rule of the Dominion. As such, there’s intrigue galore; plots atop plots atop plots, spies and agents alike melding with commonfolk and naïve stooges like Finn. The other main POVs including Terence Wilson-Fletcher, a human agent of one of the Crown Dominions; Thyra, Celestial princess of the same Dominion; Marcellu, human agent of a rival Dominion; Ellie, newly arrived refugee aboard the arkship <i>Diligent</i>; and more, as the others are killed or deposed whenever necessary. And they will be killed off. I won’t say who or when or where, but I will warn about getting too attached to any one character, as they can up and die with no notice. Which I loved, just as I enjoyed all the characters—to the point where I’d be hard-pressed to pick my favorite one.

While I’ve basically raved about this thus far, I will say that it isn’t quite perfect. The length itself will scare off a fair few readers (and rightly so), but I understand why it had to be this way. What better way to show how deep and intricate your game universe is, after all, than to contract an author like PFH to write it, knowing that it would be long and dense and epic in every sense? That said, some of the early world-building takes some improbable leaps. The early history of the Crown Dominion comes across as common knowledge, but where has history ever seemed straightforward after even a few hundred years, not to mention 40,000? (And yes, I’d like to acknowledge the nod here to 40k.) Furthermore, there’s no FTL travel, and the resulting time-dilation and time-delays can at times get a bit questionable. But these are really minor details, and shouldn’t distract from the overarching successes.

TL;DR

Short of it is this: the Archimedes Engine provides a glimpse into a universe so complex and detailed that—if the game is even half as good, honestly even a quarter so—I can’t wait to explore it. But time will tell if the game is near as good. And yet there’s no question about the book itself. Long and deep and intricate and immersive, with plots within plots within plots, with schemes lasting thousands of years, and conspiracies buried beneath even the most widely accepted histories—EXODUS has gone and built itself an amazing universe, and Peter F. Hamilton has come and produced an epic story to accompany it. Deep, intricate characters. Grand, sweeping designs. Vivid, detailed worlds. Immersive, astonishing stories. Don’t let the length scare you; if you’ve been searching for a new science fiction crush now that the Expanse is over and done with, let it be this (at least until the game is delayed indefinitely, or comes out as a buggy and broken mess—Dear Archetype: please, please prove me wrong).

One of the better scifi ARCs I’ve read this year, hands down.

I’m not even going to try and summarize the plot because I don’t think I can do it justice so definitely go read the blurb, but this is EPIC scifi. Intergalactic politics, super evolved humans, arkships, time dilation effects, eternal queens that live for millennia using cloned host bodies. Incredible world building with a variety of societies and cultures.

It's 900+ pages so it’s a chunky boi and I love it. There’s multiple POVs and a huge cast of characters, and if you don’t like that or find it confusing, you might not be wild about this because it does hop around. And since you’re dealing with space travel, time dilation and relativistic effects, some of the storylines happen at different paces; however, I think Hamilton does a masterful job of weaving those POVs together so that you’re not jumping back and forth in time. There are several different plots that seem completely unrelated that end up tying together into one thread.

I can’t even begin to explain how Peter Hamilton pulls this off. There are so many characters, so many stories, and he fleshes it all out without ever feeling slow paced and boring to me. I was interested in each character, even (or maybe especially) the unlikeable ones. The breadth and scale of this story, in terms of pages and plot, are just epic.

If you like hard scifi with political machinations, then you will love this. It was mind-blowingly good and I can’t wait for the sequel, as this is meant to be a duology. Bonus, it’s actually scifi litRPG, and is based on the Exodus game, which I’d never heard of before. Different characters but set in that universe. So if you’re into scifi RPG video games, might be worth checking that out as well!

A heartfelt thank you to NetGalley and Random House/Ballentine for this advanced copy in exchange for my opinion. It was quite a ride.

This is a very well written albeit dense Sci-fi Lit RPG. Being an offshoot of another series, I found it hard to keep track of previous lore as this is my first book by this author. That said, the characters are fun and imaginative. The nonhumans are honestly nonhuman while still bearing relatability. And the universe created here is vast and worth diving into. I definitely recommend it especially to fans of this author or genre.

My first book by Peter F. Hamilton and I was told by a few others who have read his other books to prepare to lose hours being lost in the worlds that he crafts, and this was true. The worlding building he has built for the world of Exodus is spectacular! I constantly found myself being awed at either the technologies he has invented in a would be universe 40,000yrs in the future or a new species.

Peter F Hamilton is truly a master of his class, and I will be looking forward to picking up other books he has written.

Like many of Peter F. Hamilton's books, this one covers many years and quite a few important characters. It is an enjoyable look into the future of humans and their genetically engineered descendants about 40,000 years into the future.

Finn was born into one of the five Dominions where humans are ruled by Crown Celestials. These Celestials can pass their memories on to one of their children, effectively giving them immortality. This gives them plenty of time to consolidate control over the humans and their other genetically engineered descendants. While Finn's family has been given the task of governing a human planet controlled by the Celestials, he still longs to leave home and explore other worlds.

When an arkship that left Earth 40,000 years ago shows up and Finn makes friends with some of them, he sees his chance to get away and live his life differently. Little does he know that Celestial politics and thirst for power is just as bad, if not worse, than it is among humans.

My first book like Peter Hamilton and I was not disappointed. Though this book is over 900 pages, I did not feel in any shape or way that it could be cut down. I did not want to put it down. I found the pacing to be good. I really appreciate the brief history timeline to be included on the front and not to be just dropped into the book without any information at all. Also that the characters were given at the beginning.
I do fine myself having to write myself notes to keep track and wish that I had a physical copy to tab as I find this would have been easier read for me physically. The character Glossy in the beginning did help as mentioned above, but would have been much easier for me personally as a physical read. Normally, I can read even 900 page books within two days this one took me about five.
Overall, I’m very interested in reading book 2 when it releases

Wow! Great book. My only disappointment with Pete Hamilton's book, was when I got to the last page and realized I would have to wait for the sequel. It's a very interesting long space opera. Well worth the read!!

Exodus: The Archimedes Engine
Exodus: The Archimedes Engine by Peter F. Hamilton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I can't really review this book without writing a book about it -- and that's because it's an enormous, sprawling far-future SF full of humans, demi-post-humans, and post-humans that have settled across a goodly portion of space without breaking the speed of light barrier.

Those who arrived first got to set up everything however they wanted, passing down the torch in spectacularly high-tech ways, while those who slow-moved their way into the cluster are pretty much given a couple of super-planet reservations to farm and feed the rest of the empire.

Of course, that's just the setup. The rest of the book is over nine-hundred pages, and we've got investigations, intrigue, adventure, interesting politics, high-tech enmeshed plot, and the titular Archimedes Engine -- based on some of the oldest original tech that only the Archons should have their hands on. Of course, the Celestials, the Uranic, and the normal latecomer normal humans will all vie for power -- and there's no power quite as big as that engine. No spoilers, but it's impressive.

What I should really point out is that this is a deep, wildly imaginative, and thoroughly explored novel. If you want to get lost in a really huge tale with amazing, far-reaching worldbuilding, great plots, tons of characters, and great action, then I'm just going to point at Peter here.

He's got it all -- big books that will last you a great long time. :)

This is a spectacular space opera written by a master of the genre. The book introduces fantastic concepts that will challenge the readers imagination. I read this massive story in 3 days because I just couldn't stop. Hyper advanced civilisations clash with more relateable humans from the near future and themes like ethnic and social supremacy are explored in the book. The character are sympatic and their motivation makes sense. Highly recommend to all Science fiction lovers. Thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for the chance to read this marvellous novel.