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  • Salvation

  • The Salvation Sequence, Book 1
  • By: Peter F. Hamilton
  • Narrated by: John Lee
  • Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (1,409 ratings)
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Salvation cover art

Salvation

By: Peter F. Hamilton
Narrated by: John Lee
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Summary

Salvation is the first title in a stunning science fiction trilogy, the Salvation Sequence, by Peter F. Hamilton. For fans of Iain M. Banks and Dan Simmons.

Know your enemy – or be defeated.

AD 2204

An alien shipwreck is discovered on a planet at the very limits of human expansion – so Security Director Feriton Kayne selects a team to investigate. The ship’s sinister cargo not only raises bewildering questions, but could also foreshadow humanity’s extinction. It will be up to the team to bring back answers, and the consequences of this voyage will change everything.

Back on Earth, we can now make deserts bloom and extend lifespans indefinitely. Humanity seems invulnerable. We therefore welcomed the Olyix to Earth when they contacted us. They needed fuel for their pilgrimage across the galaxy – and in exchange they helped us advance our technology. But were the Olyix a blessing or a curse?

THE FAR FUTURE

Many lightyears from Earth, Dellian and his clan of genetically engineered soldiers are raised with one goal. They must confront and destroy their ancient adversary. The enemy that caused mankind to flee across the galaxy and that hunts us still. If they aren’t stopped, we will be wiped out – and we’re running out of time.

Continue the SF thrills with Salvation Lost and The Saints of Salvation.

©2018 Peter F. Hamilton (P)2018 Macmillan Digital Audio

Critic reviews

Peter Hamilton knows how to build a world, and he's one of the best in the field at imagining complex societies, as displayed to magnificent effect . . . Salvation is a twisty and hugely satisfying SF thriller that opens a portal on a new and exciting series (Alastair Reynolds author of Revelation Space)

Explosions! Assassins! Enigmatic aliens, spaceships and jump doors. Conspiracies and ancient mysteries – it’s all here. Accept no substitutes, this is the real deal. You need Salvation, my friend. Everyone needs salvation (Ian McDonald author of New Moon)
Salvation is a space-opera intrigue with a cold shock of an ending that makes the sequel a matter of urgency (Ken MacLeod author of Cosmonaut Keep)

Audible Sessions with Peter F Hamilton

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What listeners say about Salvation

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

For the love of god, drop John Lee

Great story by PFH. Much prefer this to his commonwealth universe books. After the first few chapters, and realising it was going to be a good tale, I dropped the audiobook and picked up a hard copy, so that I didn’t have to endure Lee’s catastrophic narration. I did go back to the audiobook on my commute though. After plugging through the Fallers Chronicles with Lee (Bee Yen Ven Eedo, anyone?), I've come to the conclusion that he really is the worst reader I’ve come across. By a clear country mile.

The way Lee reads descriptive passages is *alright* at best, if you can put up with the stop start delivery. It’s like listening. To a book where all. The punctuation is jumbled around. He emphasises a word in every sentence, and pauses randomly - as though he's reached the end of the line and hasn't picked up the next row yet.

Even worse though, is the character voicing. It's woeful. Nobody, *nobody*, talks in the way Lee delivers, it’s unbearably distracting. He also has no range whatsoever, apart from the odd regional accent, there's not much to tell the characters apart.

Please, please, drop the guy. There are so many wonderful narrators out there, it’s a crime that he’s ruining Hamilton’s work. I'd pay quadruple to have Kobna Holdbrook-Smith read Peter's work. Here's hoping for re-releases with a competent narrator.

Sorry John.

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25 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book let down by the narration

Peter F Hamilton books are always thrilling roller-coaster rides of multiple interwoven storylines. This one was no exception.
The only thing that spoilt my enjoyment of this book was the awful narration. In particular:
* The weird cadence used. I can understand that it's an affectation of one character, but all of them? Odd words emphasised, over pronunciation of random words.
* Accents. If you can't do them properly, don't do them. By the end I couldn't tell who was who anymore, because all the people basically had the same russo-glaswegian accent.

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20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Decent story spoiled by terrible narration

An interesting storyline but almost impossible to listen to. The accent and, in particular, the intonation of the narration was beyond irritating!

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Narrator gets in the way.

This might be a great book; but I’ll have to buy the hard copy to find out. The narrators delivery is sooo bad. It is almost a parody of an untalented emoting actor. He delivers each sentence in staccato bursts of one or two words, and sometimes even pauses between syllables! I think this is for emphasis, but all it does is make it difficult to follow the story as you are having to piece together the phrases from the pieces into which it has been fractured. I could imagine him sitting in the studio enjoying listening to his own smug voice. Ahhhh!

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

John Lee

I don’t know how people come to read books out loud for a living when they are so comically lacking charisma or even a clear interest in the text. This is like some sort of Toast of London sketch. Couldn’t get through a single chapter.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

New universe but same high-quality

Peter F Hamilton new book is a new universe but the same high-quality that you always expect from him. This book drew you in as it built layer bilayer and expanded the universe Peter has created I love that from beginning to end.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

listening was hard work

I really rate Hamilton but I just can't get into the narrator. Really annoying diction

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

It's a hard slog and you are left not caring.

I have loved all of the previous work from this author so I was really excited when this was released. I started it with great enthusiasm but I was just left thinking, 'When will this get going?'. Possibly only the last 3 hours is where anything seems to happen. I found the back stories and flitting between timelines tedious. I don't care for any of the characters. All of that time on back stories and I still don't care for a single character??
I have to say I didn't much care for the narrator either, it just seemed a very lifeless performance, lacking any real enthusiasm. He read it but did not perform it. Compare this with someone like R.C. Bray who fully develops a characters personality and draws you in with laughter and excitement, and this was just lackluster.
I will try the next installment as I'm sure this was all just the build up. I keep thinking of the film adaptation of Lord of the Rings. If you were to take out all of the meaningless scenes of them running across the New Zealand landscape the film would have had more action and been a lot shorter.
Peter, you are capable of better.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

I'm sorry John, I'm not keen on your rhythm :(

I stuck with this audiobook. I previously caved in with "The Abyss Beyond Dreams" after the first four or five chapters. It's not the stories, but the delivery I'm afraid. I struggle with Johns rhythm and tone. For most characters, he seems to begin sentences by almost barking out the words at an incredibly fast rate and the sentence trails off slower and quieter with a downward tone. This killed "The Abyss Beyond Dreams" for me.

Salvation, I stuck with. Certain characters didn't seem to receive the same style of delivery as much, Callum for instance. A really well delivered Scottish accent in my opinion! The general overall accent for the characters is a little too posh for my tastes too. Sorry John.

For a frame of reference to what I REALLY like as a delivery (to match the subject matter of course), is "The Expeditionary Force" series, narrated by R. C. Bray.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Frustratingly poor narration.

A decent enough story but all the characters sound too similar to the point where it’s difficult to know who is saying what. Will not be buying another book with this narrator.

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