Exodus: The Archimedes Engine

By: Peter F. Hamilton

Narrated by: John Lee

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.

Hamilton at his best

Loved this one. Can’t wait for the next installment. Lots of high energy and drama. Hamilton is a master of huge doses of deep tech with excellent storytelling and plot weaving.

A big royal family drama. Narration not so great.

It’s certainly got world-building, with hierarchies of cosmic beings and ancient tech. The space battles raise interesting practicalities.
But mostly it’s a drama about power struggles between family dynasties and political and criminal factions. Characters upon characters, very few likable in any way.
The narrator has perfect diction, but minimal range of expression. Staccato monotone. A good narrator can at least help you understand who is speaking. That would have helped a lot in this case.

Good, but

In a far flung world where the species evolved to have new branches over 40,000 years, somehow the F-word remains a constant. The book would have been better without the gratuitous overuse. If you’re going to write sci-fi please get creative with the swearing rather than fall back on old tricks.

worldbuilding

The way Peter makes you inhabit the world is enjoyable. And in the end big thing happen as well.

Confusing

You get dropped into a very alien world, and meet these characters mid life. The universe is interesting, but the why should I care is missing.