Archimedes Engine Books in Order

Peter F. Hamilton explores a vast new timeline in Archimedes Engine, a sci-fi series set within the universe of the Exodus role-playing game. While Hamilton is famous for building his own expansive futures, this project sees him applying his world-building skills to a setting created by Archetype Entertainment. The story transports us 40,000 years away from the present day, picking up long after humanity was forced to abandon a dying Earth.

The survivors of that ancient migration arrived in the Centauri Cluster aboard massive ark ships, hoping to salvage the human race. However, the society that emerged from those desperate centuries is far from an egalitarian paradise.

Civilization in the Cluster is defined by a strict, unforgiving hierarchy that has ossified over the eons. At the very top rule the Celestials. These are post-humans who have used genetic engineering and advanced technology to evolve beyond their original biology. They possess near-immortality and absolute political control, treating the Cluster as their personal domain.

Beneath them struggle the Uranics.

These represent baseline humanity—people who live short, hard lives servicing the needs of their rulers. For a Uranic like Finn, the protagonist, the future is usually a foregone conclusion of labor and obscurity. But Finn refuses to accept the hand he has been dealt. He harbors a dangerous ambition: to join the ranks of the Travelers. These elite pilots are the only ones capable of interfacing with the ancient dimensional gates that knit the scattered worlds of the Cluster together.

Earning the title of Traveler is the only way for a Uranic to escape the gravity of their social station. But as Finn navigates the brutal selection process, he discovers that the job requires more than just piloting skill. He is soon thrust into a shadow war involving recovered artifacts and a conspiracy that the Celestials have tried to keep hidden for generations.

At the heart of this conflict is the Archimedes Engine.

This mysterious entity—part weapon, part ancient technology—has the potential to shatter the balance of power that has held the Cluster together for millennia. Finn’s journey transforms from a quest for personal freedom into a battle to expose the truth. With his signature eye for scale, Hamilton weaves a tale of political betrayal and high-concept science, showing how a single person’s choice can threaten an empire that has stood for forty thousand years.