A Hole in The Sky
Arkship Trilogy Book I
Published on 20. January 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
400 pages
978-1-83673-009-5 (ISBN)
Description
Sixteen-year old Hazel lives in the Daedalus, a generation ship on a centuries long flight in search of a new world. The ship has been traveling for 500 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 500 years ago. The AI 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 65 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 500 years is untrue, and soon, Hazel is in a thrilling race to help repair the ship and help the people of the Daedalus.
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 500 years is untrue, and soon, Hazel is in a thrilling race to help repair the ship and help the people of the Daedalus.
Reviews / Votes
"A Hole in the Sky by SF master Peter F. Hamilton is coming-of-age adventure that rapidly turns into the Poseidon Adventure aboard a failing generation ship. It's engaging, refreshing, and optimistic."- Kevin J. Anderson, New York Times bestselling coauthor of Dune: House Atreides
"A Hole in the Sky is an excellent story, with a central mystery that builds tension throughout: the more you learn, the more you want to find out."
- Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Children of Time
"The phrase 'modern master of science fiction' is not to be lightly bestowed. Peter F. Hamilton has earned it."
- John Scalzi, author of Old Man's War
"We've said it before but let's say it again: nobody does BIG SF quite like Hamilton."
- SFX
"Hamilton puts British SF back into interstellar overdrive."
- The Times
"So long as there are writers like Hamilton who can blend the core and eternal human bits with the ultrahuman visionary stuff, science fiction will flourish."
- Locus
"Science fiction authors don't get much more legendary than Peter F. Hamilton."
- New Scientist
"Hamilton handles massive ideas with enviable ease."
- Guardian
"The master of his genre."
- SFFWorld
"SF's go-to guy for adventure on a truly interstellar scale . . . Hamilton's storytelling is both staggering and poetic."
- SFReviews
"Peter Hamilton doesn't just write Space Opera, he defines it."
- SFBook.com
"One of the genre's leading exponents."
- Daily Mail
"One of our greatest living SF writers."
- Gareth Powell, author of Embers of War
"No one offers action-packed, meticulous, suspenseful, and consistent high-tech futures better than Peter Hamilton."
- David Brin, author of Startide Rising
"Hamilton knows how to build a world, and he's one of the best in the field at imagining complex societies. Just as important, though, he knows how to populate his future environments with real-seeming people whose lives extend beyond the page."
- Alastair Reynolds, author of Revelation Space
"An expert chronicler of humanity's far future."
- Una McCormack, author of The Baba Yaga
"The owner of the most powerful imagination in science fiction."
- Ken Follett, author of The Pillars of the Earth
"A master of science fiction."
- William C. Dietz, author of Halo: The Flood
More details
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Watkins Media Limited
Edition type
New edition
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 194 mm
Width: 125 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
234 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-83673-009-5 (9781836730095)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
01/2026
Angry Robot
€0.49
Available for download
Person
Peter F Hamilton is the Sunday Times Bestselling author of numerous novels, including The Abyss Beyond Dreams, Great North Road, T, and the acclaimed epic Night's Dawn trilogy (The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist, and The Naked God). His most recent series is the Salvation trilogy. Born in 1960, he lives with his family in southwest England.