A Hole in the Sky by Peter F Hamilton, with a short Q&A

A Hole in the Sky is the first entry in Peter F Hamilton’s latest series, the Arkship Trilogy. Releasing as an audiobook exclusive, A Hole in the Sky is a departure from the typical widescreen space opera Hamilton is known for, instead focusing on a colony ship story from a first-person perspective. Read on for the review, and scroll down for a short Q&A with Peter F Hamilton.

From the publisher:

From New York Times bestselling author Peter F. Hamilton comes his first audio original, A Hole in the Sky, Book 1 in the Arkship Trilogy.

Sixteen-year-old Hazel lives in the Daedalus, a starship that is flying in search of a new world. The ship has been traveling for five hundred years, searching for a world to settle in after having to abandon its last world. Everyone on board Daedalus lives a very simple existence in farming villages. The age of machines supplying their needs was lost during a mutiny five hundred years ago. The captain regained control of the ship after a huge struggle. Now, with finite resources, everything in the habitat is Cycled, including humans, who essentially are suicided at sixty-five so they don’t deplete the biosphere’s resources.

Hazel encounters the Cheaters, people who refused to Cycle, who tell her the Daedalus has been damaged and its atmosphere is leaking away. When her brother has a paralyzing accident which condemns him to be Cycled since he can no longer be productive, Hazel runs off with him to join the Cheaters. While with the Cheaters, she discovers that much of what has been told to the people living on Daedalus for the last five hundred years is untrue, and soon, Hazel is in a thrilling race to help repair the ship and help the people of the Daedalus.

The arkship Daedalus is 500 years into its journey to a new world, the second such journey it has had to make. The first world it arrived at was already home to alien life, albeit seemingly not quite sentient, and the decision was made to move on to another world so as not to interrupt their development. However, not everyone on board was in agreement and a mutiny took place where much of Daedalus’ equipment and technology was destroyed. Although the mutineers were ultimately unsuccessful, humanity needed to return to an agrarian culture in order survive, growing the food needed for the population, and implementing cycling once a certain age has reached – essentially euthanising the elderly in order to limit population and maintain enough resources.

Hazel and her younger brother, Fraser, live in one of the villages within Daedalus, doing their part for society and abiding by the rules. When Hazel is to be flower girl for the latest cycling ceremony she encounters a group of cheaters – elderly people who fled to hide rather than be cycled – who had been caught near the village and will now be euthanised and cycled. One of these cheaters tells Hazel that the Daedalus is losing air, and before long the arkship will no longer be able to support life. If not enough to deal with, Fraser suffers an accident that leaves him almost entirely paralysed, which in turn means he will be cycled early, something Hazel can’t begin to accept. From here begins a journey to try and repair the Daedalus, and along the way they learn lots of untold details of its past…

Going into A Hole in the Sky I knew that this wouldn’t be a typical Hamilton novel with a wide cast of characters spread across the galaxy, but a more focused novel dealing with a specific story. Told in the first-person and set on a generational arkship, the basic structure of the novel is nothing new to the genre, and it’s also, because of its nature, a simpler approach to storytelling. It does, however, work well, and it’s easy to get caught up in the story without additional information on the world and technology making its way into the narrative. A reliable narrator or not, Hazel has a limited knowledge base and everything we know comes from her, or through her interactions and understanding, and it works to build up that sense of something not quite right.

Hamilton is known for in-depth worldbuilding in his novels, yet A Hole in the Sky manages to mostly move away from this. Yes, there are times through the story where we get bits of information, with the occasional longer section, but it’s relevant to the story and dealt with accordingly. Again, all of this information comes through Hazel’s perception and participation in events, and as expected it keeps the story flowing nicely. The actual society on the Daedalus is also fascinating, and so much is simply taken for granted by its inhabitants as the way things have to be. While Hazel has her own views on this, Fraser, her younger brother, is the character I most enjoyed because of his inquisitive and intelligent nature.

Elizabeth Klett, the narrator of the audiobook, does a good job here. Admittedly, it took me a while to really get into her narration – often the case with many of the audiobooks I listen to due to the number of different narrators I’ve heard – but by the end it was easy listening and well suited to the story.

It’s hard to say too much more about the story without delving into spoilers, but suffice to say that Hamilton delivers a solid and entertaining novel. Much like other generation/arkship stories, this one is carried along by its characters and that underlying question of what exactly is going on. It’s been a while since I read them, but Scott Sigler’s Alive and Pamela Sargent’s Earthseed are apt comparisons for A Hole in the Sky, and, much like those novels, I enjoyed A Hole in the Sky very much. While I have some inclinations on where the story might go from here in the next volume, I could be very wrong – but either way I’m looking forward to finding out.

Publisher: Tantor Media
Author: Peter F Hamilton
Narrator: Elizabeth Klett
16 March 2021, 9 hrs and 52 mins
Audiobook, ASIN: B08PZGK9Z7
Review copy received from the publisher

© 2021 Mark Chitty | @chitman13

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A short Q&A with Peter F Hamilton

What’s your elevator pitch for A Hole in the Sky?
A giant arkship is nearing the end of its 500 year voyage to a new world. The food printers on board were broken in a failed mutiny centuries ago, so now the population farm the habitat parkland, becoming an almost Amish society watched over benevolently by the last surviving AI, called the Electric Captain. Our principal character, a sixteen year old called Hazel, finds out that the air is leaking out of the ship and they will all die if nothing is done to stop it, but no one believes her. She sets out to fix the puncture, and goes into the closed off sections of the ship abandoned after the mutiny. Then her real troubles begin.

How different was it to write a novel from a first-person perspective? Were there any particular challenges?
Very different in that everything important going on has to be seen through the eyes of one person. Given that this is set on the limited universe of one ship made it a lot easier than it would have been in a galaxy-spanning space opera. Also, having Hazel as relatively young, and therefore discovering how everything works, was an apt set up for a first person narrative.

Much like your Queen of Dreams trilogy, this feels like it’s written for a different audience. Was this deliberate?
Yes and No. Having a teenage protagonist will hopefully make it more accessible to a younger readership. I’ve been aware for some time that there isn’t as much SF for a teenage readership as there is Fantasy and Horror -and no I have no idea why that is. But although the narrative angle is different than my usual, I believe the story itself will also appeal to my existing readership in as much as anything is. For every relatively established author, by which I mean someone like myself who’s known for a particular type of story, each new book set somewhere fresh is something of an experiment. I’ve always said I like -and indeed, need- to try something different every so often.

As an audiobook exclusive release, did you approach the writing any differently because of this format?
No. Although first person is well suited to the audiobook format. And once it was confirmed it would be an audiobook first, I could often be found reading a new section out loud, just to check how it sounded.

There’s been a lot of discussion in the fan club about the format and the desire for a physical/eBook release – is this something we can expect in the future?
Hopefully, yes. My agent is taking to publishers about printed / eBook copies after the audiobooks are out. When that happens I’ll post the details.

Can you share any news on the second book in the Arkship Trilogy?
It’s called The Captain’s Daughter, and I’ve already finished writing it. I’m currently over half way through writing book three, Queens Of An Alien Sun.  And before you ask, after I’ve finished the Arkship Trilogy there’s a two book project which I’m about to sign up for; again in a new, different universe.

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