This science fiction opera is the first book in a planned duology. The novel also has a tie-in with a video game that's a prequel to the book.
'Exodus: The Archimedes Engone' is set in the distant future, when much of humanity is almost unrecognizable as Homo sapiens.
Background: Forty thousand years ago, in 2200 CE, humanity constructed a fleet of arkships and fled a decimated Earth.
A few escaping arkships discovered habitable worlds in the Centauri Cluster.
Over the next 25,000 years, the human settlers flourished and evolved into thousands of cultures and advanced civilizations. One group of humans became mega-powerful beings called Celestials, who can transfer their 'mindline' into younger bodies. This makes Celestials essentially immortal.
The Celestials proceeded to set themselves up as royalty, and they genetically engineered, enslaved, and exploited other humans to serve their needs.
Needing room to expand, each of six Celestial dynasties (called houses) chose a star and established its own planetary system, which is ruled by a queen.
The houses - Kelowan, Verak, Wynid, Bassa, Nizinsk, and Cheluli - formed an alliance called the Crown Dominion. There were rivalries, rebellions, and wars, and the queen of Kelowan House was defeated. The five remaining queens proceeded to take turns ruling as empress of the Crown Dominion, whose home base is the Kelowan system.
The queens are civil to each other on the surface, but they're political rivals who constantly try to best one another. Thus each queen has an Archon (think CIA chief) who runs spies and operatives in the other systems to surveil and collect information.
The Celestials look much different than (what I'll call) 'normal' humans. The Celestials may reach three meters (10 feet) in height and their bodies sprout bloodstone ornamentation. For example, an Archon called Makaio-Yalbo - who works for the Queen of Wynid - has elaborate configurations of calcium-like biotech bloodstone covering most of his face, with a crown of scalloped horns curling around in hues of turquoise and gold. The rest of Makaio-Yalbo's body is also festooned with bloodstone, and when the growths engulf his flesh entirely, Makaio-Yalbo will transfer his mindline to one of his sons.
As the story opens - in 42,350 CE - the Celestials are enjoying a luxurious (if stagnant) lifestyle, while most normal humans live in the Kelowan system, either on the farming planet Gondiar - which produces food for the Crown Dominion;
or on the mining planet Anoosha - which provides raw materials for the Crown Dominion. As it happens, Anoosha might eventually become superfluous, because an 'iron exotic planet' seems to be on its way to the Kelowan group.
To govern the cities on Gondiar and Anoosha, the Celestials created hybrids called uranic humans, who have SOME advanced capabilities. A uranic Marchioness is appointed for each city, and her job is to keep the peace and make sure things run smoothly.
Uranic Marchioness Mary Jalgori-Tobu rules the Gondiar city of Santa Rosa, and Mary and her family have a privileged lifestyle. Nevertheless, the Jalgori-Tobus don't dare run afoul of the Celestials.
The Crown Dominion also contains societies of changelings - genetically engineered humans designed for specific tasks, like laborer, household domestic, soldier, nurse, miner, assassin, etc. Most changelings are hominoid, like the Gath, who are heavily muscled beings around three meters (10 feet) tall, used for low-paid, tough, dirty jobs.
Other changelings, like the Moaksha, are quadrupeds who look something like mutant centaurs. The Moaksha's brains are 'bled' for a substance called rekaul, which is sniffed to relive happy memories.
Changelings come in all shapes and sizes, and most are cruelly exploited by both Celestials and normal humans.
The plot of 'Exodus: The Archimedes Engine' follows three main story lines.
⦾ On occasion, arkships that have been traveling since 2200 CE, containing thousands of normal humans, still arrive in the Centauri Cluster. An arkship named the Diligent appears in 42,350 CE.
The Dominion's owner Josias Aponi actually walked on old Earth, which makes him unique among humans.
With the Dominion in orbit, Josias and his granddaughter Ellie make their way down to Anoosha to look for a place to colonize.
The Aponis happen to meet uranic Finbar (Finn) Jalgori-Tobu, son of Marchioness Mary Jalgori-Tobu of Santa Rosa. Finn is bored with his privileged life on the planet Gondiar and wants to join the Travelers - humans who explore space in starships, bringing back valuable goods to trade and sell.
Finn makes a deal with Josias Aponi: Finn will sell Josias a plot of land on Gondiar in exchange for the arkship Diligent. Thus Josias can establish a home for his passengers, and Finn can become a Traveler. The upshot is that Finn and Ellie become a couple, and they embark on a series of VERY dangerous missions.....some of which are not what they appear to be.
As all this is happening, some groups of humans are fomenting a rebellion against the Celestials, who they resent for dominating and restricting their lives.
⦾ Like any metropolis, each city on Gondiar and Anoosha has a law enforcement agency. Police Officer Terence Wilson-Fletcher of Santa Rosa is recruited by Archon Makaio-Yalbo to be an undercover agent for the Queen of Wynid.
Terence is instructed to surveil a Traveler called Dagon, who's visiting Santa Rosa, possibly to further some nefarious plan.
This initial mission leads to a decades long spy career for Terence, who gets drawn into some EXTREMELY serious situations.
⦾ Each queen of the Crown Dominion trains and educates several of her daughters, called Princess Congregants, one of whom will be chosen to host the queen's mindline. The Princess Congregants - each of whom has a different father - compete in dangerous trials to see who is most suitable to be the next queen.
(One thing I really admire about the Celestial queens is that they produce fertilized eggs, and the fathers gestate the babies. Hurray! 😊)
The Princess Congregants' trials are dangerous and grueling, and some girls may not survive. Thyra, one of the daughters of Queen Helena-Chione of Wynid, is a Princess Congregant with an agenda. Thyra and her devious father have a long-range plan that's extremely ambitious.
All the plot threads weave together by the end of the 900+ page book. but many things won't be resolved until the conclusion of the duology. I'm looking forward to that.
This novel is 'hard' science fiction, suffused with principles of physics; travel at 99% light speed; starship transit networks; time dilation effects; cutting edge technology; futuristic weapons; ultramodern cities; depictions of starships with all their paraphernalia; an inorganic substance called 'livestone' which can be made to grow into buildings and infrastructure by Celestials and uranics; biomechanical body parts and body enhancements; and much more.
This is an ambitious book with a compelling story line. My main criticism would be that many of the elaborate descriptions are overdone. No matter how well things are depicted in words, they're hard to envision without pictures.
I'd highly recommended the novel to fans of hard sci-fi, and to players interested in the companion video game.
Thanks to Netgalley, Peter F. Hamilton, and Ballantine Books for a copy of the book.
Rating: 4 stars
