A Window into Time

By: Peter F. Hamilton

Narrated by: Chris MacDonnell

Length: 3 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's Summary

Whip-smart 13-year-old Julian Costello Proctor - better known as Jules - has an eidetic memory. For as long as he can remember, he has remembered everything. "My mind is always on," he explains. But when an unexpected death throws his life into turmoil, Jules begins to experience something strange. For the first time, there are holes in his memory.

But that's not the strangest part. What's really weird isn't what he's forgotten; it's what he remembers. Memories of another life, not his own. And not from some distant past. No, these memories belong to a man who's alive right now.

With bravery, ingenuity, and quirky good humor, Jules devises a theory to explain this baffling phenomenon. While tracking down the identity of his mysterious doppelgänger, he finds himself enmeshed in the hopes and dreams of a stranger and caught in the coils of a madman's deadly plot.

©2015 Peter F. Hamilton (P)2016 Tantor

Memory is not always a good thing

Peter F Hamilton's A Window into Time is a short story about a young boy with an amazing memory. Regarded as a bit odd by his schoolmates, he also experiences the accidental death of his mother forcing him to live with his father who has since remarried. Into this somewhat typical youthful situation comes the occurrence of his experiencing what appears to be someone else's memories. At first, the memories are from the past, but gradually, he comes to realize that that they may also foretell future events. In true millenial detective fashion, he hunts for the mystery owner of these memories.

While not technically science fiction, as the tale can be viewed more as fantasy, the concept of time travel, at least in the sense of information flow cannot be dismissed. Ultimately, this is a coming of age tale about a young man with a very unique talent who nevertheless must still learn, adapt, and overcome his own ignorance as well as adult intervention for his own good.

The narration is quite well done given that the bulk of the tale is from the perspective of a teenage boy. Given the short length, pacing is respectable.

3 people found this helpful

A very Different Story From Peter F. Hamilton

Where does A Window into Time rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Very high a really interesting read

Who was your favorite character and why?

Julian ~ Read the book

What about Chris MacDonnell’s performance did you like?

It sounds like the characters are real

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

You never know where life will lead you.

1 person found this helpful

Slow, overly detailed, carefully crafted

Seemed to nowhere for such a long time. Bright, innovative ending. Might have been better at half the length.

2 people found this helpful

very different for P. Hamilton

well written, really enjoyed it once I got past waiting for the hard sci-fit to emerge. never does. but entertaining none the less, and very well done.

1 person found this helpful

surprisingly dissappointing

I have read every single novel Peter F. Hamilton has published, and I wait eagerly for each new one to come out. He is my very favorite modern science fiction author. So I was quite surprised at this story.

I am sure that the childish narration had some to do with it, but I did not enjoy this short story much at all. And I definitely did not care for being charged the full novel price for a short story. This title should have cost about a third of what it did.

1 person found this helpful

Charming, lovely, engaging!

Lovely short recording. Had I known how short it was I doubt I would have purchased it, so I'm glad I didn't check to see the novel's duration. The narrator was perfect and enhanced the story (which is ideal, right? since that's their entire purpose). I love time paradox so that added to my enjoyment of the story. The 13 year old narrator is endearing and characters are kept to a minimum so those of you who are sometimes confused with numerous characters and/or story lines won't have that issue here. I'll keep my review brief by saying the story is just as my headline says, charming, lovely, engaging.

2 people found this helpful