Peter F. Hamilton offers up a different perspective on human colonization of space this time around and instead of unbridled success expansion quickly becomes financially non-viable after the first wave of colony planets are established. With the companies behind the initial expansion going heavily into debt a new form of corporate terrorism begins to arise. Financially failing colonies are purchased by investors on Earth who then send military forces there to conduct "asset realization" missions where they take by force anything that will have value back on Earth. This is a completely legal thing to do from an Earth based perspective but the colony inhabitants don't take too kindly to these "invading" forces and it is one such asset realization mission that acts as the main backdrop for the story of Fallen Dragon.

The story is told from 3 main point of view characters all with very different backgrounds and perspectives. One being a teenage boy growing up on a colony world who dreams of space exploration in an era where the concept is dying quickly, a second being a clone that hold a key role in one of the asset realization military forces, and the third being a colony inhabitant that is part of a resistance cell fighting back against the asset realization forces. Eventually circumstances lead all 3 of these individuals to the crux of the story when it builds to a resolution in typical Hamilton fashion. I don't want to spoil the plot but the real story doesn't actually surface until you understand why the book is titled Fallen Dragon and by that point it is quickly driving to a conclusion.

This is a typical Hamilton novel with a story that explores what it means to be human as the story traverses multiple detailed worlds with lots of interesting future technologies. If you are a fan of his work then you should not hesitate to pick this one up. As is typical for Hamilton's sci-fi audiobooks, John Lee is the narrator and he does his usual excellent job bringing all the characters to life, making this a worthy listen.