This book sounded so amazing to me which is why I requested it but it’s failing to deliver so I have to dnf it at this time

This was a great futuristic dystopian read, I love all things dystopian and spec fiction and this didn't let me down. The whole premise was so intriguing; homosapiens are slaves to another race.
It was like a more grown-up Hunger Games, worrying and thought provocative.

Elsie was a wonder to follow. I loved following her thrilling journey.
Fingers crossed for a sequel.

This was a fast read, but enjoyable. AE Warren has a deft hand at description - I could see the buildings, the Museum, the displays, so vividly. I greatly appreciated a female protag who wasn't all about hooking up or getting a boyfriend; it was a very welcome change.

Elise and Kit and Luca and the others were interesting and distinct. The events that led to this 'separation' of species is lightly sketched, and I personally would like a closer look at those cataclysmic happenings. A sequel is not hinted at, but would not be a bad thing, as the story is gripping.

Reminded me of a Hunger Games esque novel. I can imagine it be translated to a film production and I am already awaiting the sequel/follow up. Good storyline, kept my interest, liked the characters. I would recommend.

I received an ARC of this from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book so much so that I devoured it within 24 hours. Granted, it's not incredibly long, but still. In fact, I wish it was longer because I really want to know what happens to those characters next. This book would make a fantastic series (hint hint).

The premise is that humanity has undergone some kind of apocalypse and 200 or so years later, humans are living in 4 colonies (that we know of) and each colony has it's own museum. Now this isn't your typical museum. No, it's a museum of extinct species that have all been resurrected and are living in their own pods. This includes Neanderthals who live in isolation from one another though they are allowed to have a companion that spends time with them on a daily basis. Did I also mention that humanity is now divided into 3 different castes/categories/etc for lack of a better word. We have Sapiens, the bottom of the barrel regular humans, Medius, the middle with some gene enhancements, and finally the Potior, the creme de la creme and these guys rule society.

Our heroine is of course a Sapien, however she has a few special traits which she has to keep hidden. She becomes the companion to a Neanderthal and starts to shake things up in different ways. There's a great cast of endearing characters as they challenge the barriers of their society. It's a totally refreshing take on a post apocalyptic world.

I really enjoyed it and I would recommend to others. I also really wish there was another book in the works but I'll take what I can get.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2343917705 - A very enjoyable first novel by A E Warren, let down by an abrupt and unsatisfying ending. Could do with running an extra few thousand pages.

A very promising start but I had too many questions about the science behind the world Warren created to really be able to sink into the book.

A different dystopian novel. In years past the Pandemic, class and separation of people is still alive and well, as is the need to understand only parts of the past. A look at the engineering of people and traits and its consequences. Leaves the reader wanting a book two.

In THE MUSEUM OF SECOND CHANCES by AE Warren, Elise, a Sapien, has just been hiring to work at the museum as a companion to a Neanderthal in hopes that one day, with the right care and consideration, the Neanderthal can be a prized exhibit at the museum. In this dystopian future, civilization imploded on itself and from those remains came Sapiens (the remaining humans who are now reduced to menial work and are considered a lesser species), Medius (the middle class, having some genetic engineering, they hold jobs like police, scientist, administrative support, etc), and Potior (the ruling class, very few in the world, genetic engineered to the max, they make and implement all of the laws on the world). So to study where we all came from, the Potiors have opened museums and have created extinct species, including Neanderthals, in a lab and giant habitats for all of those creations to live. Elise is anxious about her new job and it turns out to be so much more than she thought and she discovers more secrets and lies than she ever imagined. And Elise has some secrets as well.
With such a class system created from societal destruction, THE MUSEUM OF SECOND CHANCES reminds the reader of the class systems in HUNGER GAMES and RED RISING series. By seeing how this world is set up and then plays out in the book, Warren presents challenging ideas and opinions that can mirror what goes on with our own governments. Warren creates a vast museum with seemingly endless boundaries and countless passages, secret areas, and viewing areas. I think Warren could have had an entire Appendix that maps out the entire museum that many of the readers would have enjoyed. As the story progresses, Warren does a good job of parceling out the secret history and intimate desires of the main characters. The reader quickly develops a deep sympathy for the Neanderthal, since while many people at the museum feel captive to their duties, the Neanderthal's entire life has been decided for him. Warren carries the book to a rewarding end with a hope that societal change is coming.
At its core, THE MUSEUM OF SEOCND CHANCES is the search to find out who one really is, not what society has told them to be.

Finally, a book from an unknown author and an unknown publisher that’s actually good. I knew there had to be one somewhere. Granted it had me at Neanderthals, a subject that has always had an enormous appeal for me. But the thing with Neanderthal stories is that traditionally they are set either in present time (discovery has been made) or the past (and that’s how they lived) and this book takes it to the future. Already hugely auspicious. AE Warren creates a dystopian world where mankind (is that politically incorrect now? should it be (wo)mankind or something?) has finally done the civilization in through aggression and starvation and from those ashes new genetically advanced species have emerged, so now there are tiers to the society…Sapiens at the bottom (what remains of the original population), Medius appropriately in the middle with some genetic improvements and Proptiors at the top of the ladder, exceptionally advanced beings. The latter on a sort of quest to repay for the mistakes of their genetically average ancestors have decided to bring back to life all the bygone species, hence the eponymous Museum of Second Chances. The Neanderthals however tend to get lonely, depressed and suicidal, they require companions and into such a job our protagonist a Sapien girl is hired. And no this isn’t some sort of inane Girl meets Neanderthal romance and no this isn’t YA, despite the young ages of the characters, both them and the narrative is too mature for that. This is actually quite a fascinating story about a divided society and the real meaning of progress and biological/genetic advancements. It’s a well written book with terrific descriptions and engaging characters, I was completely engaged throughout, the author has smartly chosen to not get tangled up in tangentials (there isn’t a prerequisite love story here for one thing), in favor of spending more time presenting her fascinating artificially natural or naturally artificial world. In fact the only detractor here was the seemingly abrupt ending…was it meant to be sequel ready? The story does have a resolution, but it seems, I don’t know, sudden. Then again it’s a fictional universe well worth revisiting if the author choses to go in that direction. And for a standalone it’s a very good read, thought provoking and entertaining at the same time. Second book I’ve read recently that played like a movie in my brain, which I enjoy tremendously. Not sure how to classify it as a genre, but it’s somewhere along science fiction, dystopian lines that give the story the contours within which the sociological ramifications of genetic manipulations play out. Not sure of that sounds exciting enough to do the book justice, so instead…it’s pretty awesome. Thanks Netgalley.

I really liked the premise for this, but I felt the story got a little lost in the details.

Elise is a Sapien, living with her family within a small community of other Sapiens - humans not genetically engineered, and held responsible for the destruction of nearly all life on the planet. Due to near extinction, and driven to preserve life, a series of higher life forms have been genetically engineered - those with a few 'extra traits' and those so altered they have ceased to resemble humans as we knew them. Faster. Stronger. More intelligent. They rule over the lives of Sapiens, and seek to regenerate the earth by bringing back to life those animals that have since been made extinct. A second chance. But this second chance comes as a price, as Elise soon realises when she seeks employment within one of the museums that houses these animals.

The plot was well written, well paced, and there's a decent build up of action and character building to the final scenes. The world's back story was also reasonably well described, slough I would have liked more insight into the supposed rebellion Elise's parents were a part of, and what happened to the rebels. It's all left very much up in the air. Also, not much is mentioned in the way of the 'outside' world, other than the Sapien community Elise is a member of and the main base where 'her' museum is. The other 'bases' are mentioned briefly, and not much is known about them or expanded on, which would have been helpful to the plot. I did like that they were named after the nucleotide bases of DNA though. It strangely reminded me of the film GATTACA with Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke (watch it, it's really good). There's also a rather large 'information dump' near the beginning of the plot when Elise joins the museum which didn't really hold my attention very well. It was too much all at once and left me a little confused.

The main thing I enjoyed was the camaraderie between the characters. Elise is a solid main character, although I was unimpressed with her supposed 'hidden talents'. I thought they were unnecessary and didn't add anything to the plot. However, she's likeable and has Kit's best interests at heart. Samuel is socially awkward, clever and reserved. I liked that although there was a hint of sexual tension between the pair, it never fully took over the plot and the friendship progressed naturally and wasn't forced. Georgina was one of my favourite characters. She is good natured, outgoing and warm hearted, sacrificing her position to be friends with lowly Sapiens. Kit by comparison is the most enigmatic, and I felt the least connected to him. He communicates so infrequently with Elise, for his own reasons, that I felt as emotionally unattached to him as everyone else. He only really comes into his own at the end of the book.

Fintorian, in comparison to the main group of friends, seems more like a bit of a pantomime villain. We see him so infrequently that I never really forged an opinion of him other than he's suppose to seem almost ethereal. It perhaps would have helped to have seen some other members of his 'race' to gain a better insight into whether his personality was really so bad, or if that is the general concensus of his species.

I did have some niggling bugbears throughout the novel. One involved a scene with Kit and Elise, where Kit shows Elise a carved statue of a baby Neanderthal wrapped in a shawl. Kit is a Neanderthal who has been kept completely secluded from the outside world, unable to even visualise anything that falls outside of the time period in which he originally inhabited. He has also never been allowed to hunt or kill other animals to make clothes. If this is true - how does he know what a shawl is? To me, the description of a shawl means a knitted garment, or something more modern. That's just a personal issue however, and in no way reflects the overall well written story.

I did think that the story itself finishes quite abruptly however, and things are left a little unfinished in my opinion. I like a story that's all wrapped up at the end, and this felt more like it was building to a crescendo that never fully arrives. I had just got really into the story, and grown to enjoy these characters and then it stops. The story could have done with being slightly longer, and I would have liked to have seen more of the world outside the base.

Overall, a good story but left a little unfinished for my liking.

Young Adult themed post-apocalyptic with strong female protagonist, genetic manipulation, and genomic restoration.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from NetGalley and Cameron Publicity & Marketing Ltd in exchange for an honest review.