A Second Chance at Eden

By: Peter F. Hamilton

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

Acclaimed best-selling author Peter F. Hamilton has taken the science fiction world by storm with his stunning, grand-scale epic: The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist, and The Naked God. Now, with this collection of six stories and a short novel, Hamilton spans more than five centuries in the future history of bitek, affinity genes, Edenists, Adamists, xenocs, the Saldanas, and the starship Lady Macbeth. This outstanding anthology includes "Escape Route", which has been chosen for Gardner Dozois' prestigious collection The Year's Best Science Fiction.

©1998 Peter F. Hamilton (P)2016 Tantor

Narrator alert: Steven Crossley is no John Lee

The balance of the Night's Dawn series is narrated (Brilliantly) by John Lee. Steven Crossley is a hack by comparison. I normally listen to fiction at 1x speed, treasuring every moment. In this case I listened to it at 1.25 X or 1.5 X so that I could enjoy the reasonably good stories and minimize my exposure to Crossley's voice. I scanned the list of books he had narrated, and was not impressed.

On the stories, they are good exploratory essays for the ideas to come. Hamilton has since become a much better writer.

Good short stories

enjoyed the background info and connection to Reality Disfunction series. The short stories were disjointed but fun to listen to.

enthralling space opera!

wonderful little stories from a great imagination. I look forward to more from Peter F. Hamilton

Short story collection from Night's Dawn trilogy

A Second Chance at Eden by Peter F Hamilton is a collection of short stories set in his Night’s Dawn trilogy universe. Each tale is set in a distinct temporal period progressing forward in time. The longest tale is the title story and is set near the beginning of ‘affinity.’ One of the founders is found dead and the new police chief must investigate as a possible homicide. Much of the focus is around the cultural and societal acceptance for affinity.

The other tales showcase Hamilton’s ability to perceive societal evolution with emerging technology. The last tale, Escape Route, is engrossing with the interplay of where and when.

The narration is solid with good character distinction. Pacing is smooth.

Pretty Good

A pretty good selection of short stories. As can be expected, the character development is fairly minimal, and the stories are wrapped up in a rapid way. But they are fun and interesting. Good light reading.

well done but not what I expected...

Loosely tied to the previous books. well written and good narration. had expected a stronger tie with the other books

Good stories, found reader irritating

Enjoyed these stories but found the reader too idiosyncratic--especially in terms of pauses and inflections--for my tastes. Worth the listen nonetheless if you're a Hamilton fan.

Moved quickly and a good read

This book was made up of short stories that was based on the series. A prequel, I actually enjoyed this book or better than the three books series.

not what I was expecting

Struggled to finish, way to confusing. jumps from different character to character to set up time line.

This book provided good Night's Dawn history info.

Good background information regarding Night's Dawn history. Always wondered who formed first: the Adamists or the Edenists. Also, finally answered what happened to the Lady Macbeth to get her mothballed.