'Exodus: The Helium Sea' author Peter F. Hamilton talks universe crafting and finishing the story in this second prequel novel for sci-fi RPG 'Exodus' (exclusive)

This far future "Mass Effect"-like saga follows the daring time-traveler Jun Aslan as he and his companions hop about the cosmos searching for ancient artifacts to ward off the destruction of their worlds. This threat comes from an evolved group of transhumans called Celestials, with the whole affair taking place within the Centauri Cluster, 16,000 light-years from an abandoned planet Earth.As part of Archetype’s ambitious cross-media marketing plan, the dev team enlisted the help of celebrated British sci-fi author Peter Hamilton ("The Salvation Sequence") to fortify the game’s worldbuilding and also pen two companion prequel novels.The first of these books, "Exodus: The Archimedes Engine," was released on Sept. 17, 2024. Now, the second half of this duology, "Exodus: The Helium Sea," was just published on June 16, 2026, and continues the tale of Finn and his human allies to see if they can outwit the Celestials and finally earn their fellow humans a place of independence and power in the Crown Dominion."Because I helped build the 'Exodus' world, they sent me what I always call the skeleton, and I helped put a lot of flesh on it, like the assorted cultures, some of the technologies, and the starships," Hamilton tells Space."It was partially my universe to write in, so I knew the limits and constraints, which made it easier because I was part of the structure."

(Image credit: Archetype Entertainment)"The Helium Sea" concludes the background saga started in "The Archimedes Engine" and is one story told over the course of two books."All the characters that were alive and survived at the end of 'The Archimedes Engine' just carry on into 'The Helium Sea,'” he adds. "You get to find out what’s been hinted at before and what the real motivations are for the rebels and who they are. It was all misdirection; some people we think are on the bad side are not, and you get to see a whole lot of new places and settings as well, and it really expands the universe.""The last one was set over 40 years because we have a lot of time dilation elements when you travel at relativistic speed," explains Hamilton. "This book is set over ten years, and you have various characters going on different missions, and I had to bring them all together at the same time and same place. That was a lot of plotting."Hamilton admits that his collaboration with the whole Archetype team on the colossal "Exodus" project has been an enriching affair.

A gameplay screenshot from the upcoming "Exodus" video game (Image credit: Archetype)"The joy of it was, which I’ve never had before writing a book, is that I'd send them a description of a world or something, and I’d get my little spaceship back, and it would be this magnificent picture, and of course, being top-flight artists, they've added to my original concept. It was a real growth process, developing this world. We all got on really well, and we just gelled. They were very professional. You could see they had a job to do and they were doing it."When pushed to choose a favorite destination amid both "Exodus" prequel books, Hamilton immediately picks a world called Kingsnest."It's a glass shell, a glass bauble, the size of Jupiter basically, which has been pumped full of atmosphere," he notes."The ships they have in it are made out of wood, sort of 18th-century sailing technology, because there are clouds in there and little globular lakes. So much life in there. It would take you more than a lifetime to sail across it and encounter who knows what in the deeps of it. I just love the idea of it. That you can literally have sailing ships in space."

"Exodus: The Helium Sea" is available now from Random Ho

'Exodus: The Helium Sea' author Peter F. Hamilton talks universe crafting and finishing the story in this second prequel novel for sci-fi RPG 'Exodus' (exclusive)