The Eternal Flame

By: Greg Egan

Narrated by: Adam Epstein

Greg Egan’s The Clockwork Rocket introduced us to an exotic universe where the laws of physics are very different from our own, where the speed of light varies in ways Einstein would never allow, and where intelligent life has evolved in unique and fascinating ways. Now Egan continues his epic tale of alien beings embarked on a desperate voyage to save their world . . . .

The generation ship Peerless is in search of advanced technology capable of sparing their home planet from imminent destruction. In theory, the ship is traveling fast enough that it can traverse the cosmos for generations and still return home only a few years after they departed. But a critical fuel shortage threatens to cut their urgent voyage short, even as a population explosion stretches the ship’s life-support capacity to its limits.

When the astronomer Tamara discovers the Object, a meteor whose trajectory will bring it within range of the Peerless, she sees a risky solution to the fuel crisis. Meanwhile, the biologist Carlo searches for a better way to control fertility, despite the traditions and prejudices of their society. As the scientists clash with the ship’s leaders, they find themselves caught up in two equally dangerous revolutions: One in the sexual roles of their species, the other in their very understanding of the nature of matter and energy.

The Eternal Flame lights up the mind with dazzling new frontiers of physics and biology, as only Greg Egan could imagine them.

©2103 Greg Egan (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

More mechanical than 'Clockwork Rocket'

Because this sequel is such a direct continuation of events from Book 1 in the series, I recommend reading it quickly after that novel, so that you don't suffer the same confusion I did on returning to the series after many months. Like most of Egan's work, this story is a tribute to the process of scientific discovery, using a few characters and a plot, although only by necessity. Seriously, if you removed all the mathematical and laboratory discussions, you'd only have about 30 pages or so of narrative. Nonetheless, it has interesting ideas and a fairly strong feminist theme, as did "Clockwork Rocket".

Classic egan

Pervocitive wile mind balowing and made me contemplate a lot two thums up frome me

Like reading a science paper, in the best way

I had high expectations for this book, and it totally lived up to them! The characters are all new, the problems facing them are interesting, and the science - oh god - the science is so hard, and so AWESOME! Not to spoil too much, but the inhabitants of the Peerless make great breakthroughs in both physics and biology. There is some political and social strife, sexism, etc., but it doesn't spoil this fun read. After all, big scientific progress often provokes social resistance. Some of the action is really awesome, like the voyage to the orthogonal space object, and there's even a scene where someone is rescued from being lost, floating in space! I can't wait to read the third book...

Couldn't Get Past The Horrible Narration !

The narrator speaks every sentence with a similar higher inflection on the last word.
Regardless of what was happening in the story, the tone, pacing and inflection pattern seemed immutable in its constancy.
I don't think I've ever heard Adam Epstein narrate before, but I hope this monotonous style in "The Eternal Flame" was the result of the producers and/or directors interference with the voice acting.