Salvation Lost

July 22, 2019
The middle volume of Hamilton’s Salvation Sequence space opera trilogy (after 2018’s Salvation) provides a clever variation on the theme of alien invasion, but it’s stronger on worldbuilding than characterizations. Hamilton’s early-23rd-century Earth features intriguing developments: 3-D printers produce much of the food supply, and kilowatt-hours back major national currencies. Against that backdrop, and with 100 million humans living in colonies on asteroids and other planets, humankind must confront an existential challenge from an alien race, the Olyix. The Olyix have given humans biotech in exchange for electrical energy, which the aliens need to power their ships on a journey to “the end of the universe.” But their true intentions are revealed by another nonhuman race, the Neána, one of whom, Jessika, discloses that the Olyix are bent on offering human souls to their deity, whom they expect to find at their journey’s conclusion. The humans’ suspenseful resistance against overwhelming odds sets the stage for the series’ conclusion, and Hamilton keeps things grounded with all-too-credible passages about partisan political bickering in the face of disaster. Series fans will enjoy this installment.

August 15, 2019
Second part of Hamilton's alien-invasion space opera trilogy (Salvation, 2018). Of the three main plot threads here, two are set early in the 23rd century. Thanks to the shattering discovery made at the end of Book 1, humanity now knows that the seemingly benevolent Olyix actually plan to turn humans into pods and carry them away to meet the Olyix god at the end of the universe. With their subterfuge now revealed, the Olyix launch a full-scale invasion. Various members of the fabulously wealthy Zangari family, which controls the instantaneous-transfer wormhole portal network, plan Earth's defense along with the Utopial agent Callum Hepburn and others. A second alien race, the Neána, arrived stealthily some years ago and grew human bodies; one such, Jessika, now advises humanity to run and hide. But, disconcerted by the Olyix treachery, the humans don't really trust her despite her revelations and outright reject the run-and-hide strategy in favor of direct action. The second thread involves a gang of thugs led by Tronde, who've been hired to sabotage Zangari facilities; they don't care why. Ten thousand years in the future, meanwhile, the soldier trainees we met in the first book set a trap for an Olyix vessel, intending to learn the whereabouts of the alien homeworld; they're being secretly observed by a mysterious and powerful entity and may be disastrously overconfident. The thugs are problematic, being mostly an incorrigible bunch whose self-centered doings serve little purpose other than to pad out the proceedings. For the remainder, though, the pacing is swift, with spectacular action, thoughtful strategies, eye-popping ideas, and Hamilton's usual attention to detail, all woven into a taut, gripping narrative. Not quite yet top drawer but a vast improvement on its circuitous, dawdling predecessor.

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September 1, 2019
The second book in The Salvation Sequence (after Salvation, 2018) opens with mysterious?but not unexpected?aliens arriving on a planet. This installment continues the tale of the 23rd-Century Assessment Team in a future when long distance (even intergalactic) travel is as simple as walking through a doorway. Meanwhile, ten thousand years in their future, the Strike Team continues the war against the Olyix and recruits the Ne�na to join forces with humanity. The pieces begin to connect between the two time periods as the Olyix arcship The Salvation of Life is revealed to be less an embassy of peace than a beachhead for an intergalactic assault. In addition to the Assessment and Strike teams, this epic galaxy-spanning conflict includes a London street gang, an executive near the top of the corporate ladder, and a mysterious observer whose consciousness grows as a plan developing over the millennia comes to fruition. Told in a quick-reading style with humor, a depth of character, and a cunning plot, Salvation Lost nicely sets up the conflict for the series finale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)