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Elysium
Owen sacrificed a lot to make it to the top of his starship’s power structure—his youth, a relationship or two, maybe a piece of his integrity. As the next foreman, he will be answerable only to the teachings of the ship’s long-deceased visionary. With a dedicated crew and a course set for humanity’s new home, Owen’s charge will be to keep outrunning the machines that wiped out life on Earth almost two centuries ago.
When a bomb detonates on the eve of his selection, Owen hopes the disruption will be temporary. But his friend Pari is investigating what happened, and she insists the perpetrator is showing the way to a tightly guarded secret. Keeping faith with Pari risks conflict with the ship’s ideological enforcer, whose support has been critical for Owen’s ascent.
Blindsided by misplaced trust, Owen finds himself running from the crew he had been destined to lead. His journey with Pari into the vessel’s forgotten past uncovers a conspiracy more radical than either of them had imagined. Owen must decide whether to sustain a delusion binding the crew together or expose a reality that could tear them apart. The truth means giving up everything he has worked so hard to earn—and discovering who exactly it is that he has become.
When a bomb detonates on the eve of his selection, Owen hopes the disruption will be temporary. But his friend Pari is investigating what happened, and she insists the perpetrator is showing the way to a tightly guarded secret. Keeping faith with Pari risks conflict with the ship’s ideological enforcer, whose support has been critical for Owen’s ascent.
Blindsided by misplaced trust, Owen finds himself running from the crew he had been destined to lead. His journey with Pari into the vessel’s forgotten past uncovers a conspiracy more radical than either of them had imagined. Owen must decide whether to sustain a delusion binding the crew together or expose a reality that could tear them apart. The truth means giving up everything he has worked so hard to earn—and discovering who exactly it is that he has become.
359 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 28, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 13, 2026
‘Owen tilted his head back, granting himself a moment for the triumph only one other living soul had ever tasted.’
Somewhere in the universe is a starship enroute to a new home for humanity. It is a long journey: life on earth was eradicated almost two hundred years ago. As the story opens, Owen has just been selected as the next foreman of the starship. Owen has worked hard to secure this role and made quite a few sacrifices along the way. As foreman, Owen will follow the teachings of Tareq, the visionary who set the starship on its course to Elysium. According to lore, as spoken by Iris, the vicar general on the starship, other explorers in more advanced ships escaped the earth:
‘They established the Elysium. They transmitted their story to Tareq. And they showed him that though we may die before we reach our new home, death doesn’t have to be the end. If only we stay true to the ship, if only we carry out what Tareq has taught us …’
But a bomb explodes, damaging the statue of Tareq, and throwing the careful order of the starship into disarray. Owen’s friend Pari is investigating the explosion, and she believes that the explosion was to draw the crew’s attention to a secret. A secret which may provide a different path to that charted by accepted orthodoxy.
Two groups square off: Owen, Pari and others on one side with Iris and the vicariate on the other. The battle for supremacy involves some ruthless adjustments to technology.
While I mostly enjoyed the story, occasional phrases halted my progress. For example:
‘Pari gasped. Hand over her mouth, she looked at him with pruning features.’
I suspect that my mental image of ‘pruning features’ isn’t quite what Mr Callger intended. And later:
‘Two pairs of teenage girls’ sneakers lay carelessly aside, the directionality of their toes and laces entrusted to chance.’
While I don’t think the extra phrase was necessary, it did make me smile.
But I digress. As I kept reading, I was uncomfortably reminded of different forms of inflexible fanaticism. As the book blurb states: ‘Owen must decide whether to sustain a delusion binding the crew together or expose a reality that could tear them apart’.
I finished this story wondering what might happen next. Surely there is more to this story (at least potentially). This is Mr Callger’s second novel. I read and enjoyed his first novel eleven years ago and was delighted to accept an electronic copy of this novel for review purposes.
‘In the end, what mattered was the cost you were willing to pay.’
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Somewhere in the universe is a starship enroute to a new home for humanity. It is a long journey: life on earth was eradicated almost two hundred years ago. As the story opens, Owen has just been selected as the next foreman of the starship. Owen has worked hard to secure this role and made quite a few sacrifices along the way. As foreman, Owen will follow the teachings of Tareq, the visionary who set the starship on its course to Elysium. According to lore, as spoken by Iris, the vicar general on the starship, other explorers in more advanced ships escaped the earth:
‘They established the Elysium. They transmitted their story to Tareq. And they showed him that though we may die before we reach our new home, death doesn’t have to be the end. If only we stay true to the ship, if only we carry out what Tareq has taught us …’
But a bomb explodes, damaging the statue of Tareq, and throwing the careful order of the starship into disarray. Owen’s friend Pari is investigating the explosion, and she believes that the explosion was to draw the crew’s attention to a secret. A secret which may provide a different path to that charted by accepted orthodoxy.
Two groups square off: Owen, Pari and others on one side with Iris and the vicariate on the other. The battle for supremacy involves some ruthless adjustments to technology.
While I mostly enjoyed the story, occasional phrases halted my progress. For example:
‘Pari gasped. Hand over her mouth, she looked at him with pruning features.’
I suspect that my mental image of ‘pruning features’ isn’t quite what Mr Callger intended. And later:
‘Two pairs of teenage girls’ sneakers lay carelessly aside, the directionality of their toes and laces entrusted to chance.’
While I don’t think the extra phrase was necessary, it did make me smile.
But I digress. As I kept reading, I was uncomfortably reminded of different forms of inflexible fanaticism. As the book blurb states: ‘Owen must decide whether to sustain a delusion binding the crew together or expose a reality that could tear them apart’.
I finished this story wondering what might happen next. Surely there is more to this story (at least potentially). This is Mr Callger’s second novel. I read and enjoyed his first novel eleven years ago and was delighted to accept an electronic copy of this novel for review purposes.
‘In the end, what mattered was the cost you were willing to pay.’
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
May 20, 2026
Just finished reading "Elysium" by Crispen Callger. The plot follows Owen and his friends in their roles as crewmembers on a generation ship. He is caught up by events that force him to confront a mystery about the ship's past and compel him to make some life or death choices.
I think this is a good choice for a casual sci-fi reader like myself. It gives a nod to some of the science and dangers of travelling through space for generations and generations without being too overbearing about it. However where it shines is imagining the sociological scenarios of what can happen with a crew separated from Earth all of whom were born in space. It opened up a possibility for telling a mystery inside a tight knit community instead of focusing heavily on space battles as many other books in the genre build upon. This offers a more introspective look at where humanity can go.
My one real critique, is that flashbacks and transitions aren't consistently marked. There are some markers to be sure, but I found myself a bit confused with some "timey wimey" elements until I got a sense for what was happening. This may be a stylistic choice as the reader is dropped 'in media res,' but a few more transition markers would have been helpful for me.
Overall a good read and I'm grateful to ARC for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
I think this is a good choice for a casual sci-fi reader like myself. It gives a nod to some of the science and dangers of travelling through space for generations and generations without being too overbearing about it. However where it shines is imagining the sociological scenarios of what can happen with a crew separated from Earth all of whom were born in space. It opened up a possibility for telling a mystery inside a tight knit community instead of focusing heavily on space battles as many other books in the genre build upon. This offers a more introspective look at where humanity can go.
My one real critique, is that flashbacks and transitions aren't consistently marked. There are some markers to be sure, but I found myself a bit confused with some "timey wimey" elements until I got a sense for what was happening. This may be a stylistic choice as the reader is dropped 'in media res,' but a few more transition markers would have been helpful for me.
Overall a good read and I'm grateful to ARC for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
June 1, 2026
A Colony ship is transporting humans to a distant planet that they believe is a safe haven for them to start a new life after many generations have been born and died on the ship. I wanted to like this book after finding that the ship was carrying a big secret but I found that I thought that the book lost it's way after half way through .There was a fair amount of soul searching by Owen that felt false and the power struggle between different factions on the ship and fight towards the end of the book was so unbelievable it all felt a bit silly. Several chapters reflecting on encounters that happened during school days added nothing to the story and upset the flow. Space exploration with ships carrying big secrets has been a regular feature of sci fi for decades and the secret here was quite a good one , but I didn't find the book satisfying. Thanks to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for theARC.
July 1, 2026
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest evaluation of its merits.
The storyline was good and filled with tension (the faith element was fascinating), but I really struggled to connect with characters on an individual level. I cared about what happened, but not about the people it happened to, unfortunately.
The storyline was good and filled with tension (the faith element was fascinating), but I really struggled to connect with characters on an individual level. I cared about what happened, but not about the people it happened to, unfortunately.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews