Peter F. Hamilton is one of my most favourite authors. He is an accomplished author with an impressive back catalogue of stand alone novels and epic space operas.
His latest book, Salvation, is the first in a new sequence. It has his trademark charm and intrigue all over it. Hamilton has an easy way with creating interesting worlds and believable futures. In this new sequence he has based much of the plot around the technology of portals, this is common to many Sci-fi novels but Hamilton has a way of integrating the technology into everyday life. He carefully thinks out the implications of each technology and how it effects everyone’s lives and society.
Salvation is engaging and the story cracks on at a pace but despite its novel situations it left me with a vague sense of familiarity. Obviously Hamilton has a style and that is clearly evident here in how he directs the different groups and their histories, in this regard the book is reminiscent of the Void Trilogy but there is more to this feeling of familiarity. Two books leap to mind as perhaps homages or spiritual links, some of the narrative style is like that used by Dan Simmons in his masterwork, ‘Hyperion’ and the plot device on Juloss is very like Orson Scott Cards ‘Ender’s Game’. Both are titanic sci-fi masterpieces and Hamilton certainly hasn’t plagiarised these works but one cannot but sense some kind of link between these novels.
Salvation is a good start to a new trilogy, its sets up an intriguing mystery and a raft of interesting characters that keep you turning pages and wanting more. If you like grand space operas with hard sci-fi then this is most certainly the book for you.
Into the Nebula 
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