A Second Chance at Eden

Rating:
Summary: Extremely Engrossing
Review: Having never read Peter Hamilton and being leery of picking up the first book of a long series that might disappoint I bought a "Second Chance at Eden". This is a magnificent collection. The first story starts the collection off with a bang with its clever surprise ending. The novella "A Second Chance at Eden" is worth the price of entry by itself. This fine gem is a rare science fiction mystery story that works. You'll not only be stunned by how the crime was done but also why. It is the best novella I have read in a while. The novella "Escape Route" is an engrossing action adventure that in any other story collection would be considered its high point. There is no weak story in this collection. On the strength of this collection I have bought all of Peter Hamilton's other books. I am looking forward to reading them. Do yourself a favor and buy "A Second Chance at Eden".

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the best short story collection by any author.
Review: I am not a fan of everything that Hamilton does, but this short story collection, which I picked up while awaiting the Naked God, was outstanding. If I could give it more than five stars, I would. The first story in particular was riveting.

Rating:
Summary: A Collection of Jewels
Review: I don't usually buy a collection of short stories. Many authors just have one really good story which sells a group of loss leaders. However, I was very much surprised at the uniform quality of all the stories in Hamilton's collection. I especially liked the "Lives and Loves of Tuala..." story whose conclusion's ethics we will probably have to deal with in our world as cloning becomes mainstream. On the basis of this one volume alone, the author shows himself to be a writer of first rank scifi. I have also read his Night's Dawn series and almost like this preamble to that series even better. A collection of jewels.

Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: I first read Hamilton's epic series and mostly continued reading them because the future he envisioned I found fascinating. The story was somewhat predictable. I picked up this book thinking I'd get more of the same. You do get more of Hamilton's interesting world, especially a history of how the social groups and technology he describes in his epic series come about. However, the stories are anything but predictable. Every single story, I thought I had figured out and there would be no more surprises, turned out to have a twist at the end that completely astonished me. It was great being fooled each time. I highly recommend this one to everyone even readers that didn't like his epic series. I think tech and story fans alike will enjoy this one.

Rating:
Summary: A SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL MASTERPIECE
Review: I have been following the Night's Dawn trilogy for a while now and i think that they are great. Some of the best scifi these days (if not the best). Hamilton belongs right up there with the best of them such as Greg Bear and Frederik Pohl. Get it. Live it. Love it!

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I read "The Reality Dysfunction" and "The Neutronium Alchemist" last year. "The Naked God" is on my shelf but I wanted something lighter before I jumped into the 1000-page "Naked God." "A Second Chance at Eden" was a great way to refresh myself about key cultural and technological backgrounds of Hamilton's future-history.

All seven stories in this collection have intriguing premises and the timeline Hamilton provides gives you a great sense of continuity of societal development.

"Sonnie's Edge" has a slick, near-future, cyber-punk mentality and outlines the very beginnings of the "affinity bond" that plays such an important role in the Night's Dawn novels.

"Second Chance at Eden," by far the longest story in the book, describes life aboard the first Edenist habitat. The plot is a murder-mystery: how can there be an unsolved murder inside a conscious asteroid that sees all? Enough twists and turns to keep you guessing until the end.

"New Days Old Times" is centers on the political struggles that emerge when Govcentral tries to force colonists from different ethnic backgrounds to live together.

"Candy Buds" was probably my favorite story in the book. The mafia boss of the planet Tropicana takes in a young girl whose blind brother has the ability to create beautiful fantasies ingestible through edible neuronic symbionts. Despite his intentions, the relationship between the old man and the girl is quite touching, but there's always the undercurrent that not all is as it seems.

"Deathday" is a haunting tale set on a desolate planet where a forlorn widower hunts the chameleon-like xenoc beast that desecrated his wife's grave. The most depressing story in the book, but also very powerful.

"The Lives and Loves of Tiarella Rosa" recounts the tale of a fugitive terrorist who hides from the authorities when he is taken in by a family on an oceanic world. But who is taking advantage of whom?

"Escape Route" features Marcus Calvert, father of our hero Joshua from the Night's Dawn trilogy, as he discovers a derelict xenoc starship while looking for precious metals in an asteroid field. But he's not the only one after riches, as Marcus and his crew struggle against mercenaries with hidden agendas.

This collection is more than a supplement to Hamilton's saga. It's a wonderful way to flesh-out the universe of the Night's Dawn and to gain a deeper appreciation of Peter F. Hamilton's impressive imagination.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful addition to Night's Dawn trilogy.
Review: I read "The Reality Dysfunction" and "The Neutronium Alchemist" last year. "The Naked God" is on my shelf but I wanted something lighter before I jumped into the 1000-page "Naked God." "A Second Chance at Eden" was a great way to refresh myself about key cultural and technological backgrounds of Hamilton's future-history.

All seven stories in this collection have intriguing premises and the timeline Hamilton provides gives you a great sense of continuity of societal development.

"Sonnie's Edge" has a slick, near-future, cyber-punk mentality and outlines the very beginnings of the "affinity bond" that plays such an important role in the Night's Dawn novels.

"Second Chance at Eden," by far the longest story in the book, describes life aboard the first Edenist habitat. The plot is a murder-mystery: how can there be an unsolved murder inside a conscious asteroid that sees all? Enough twists and turns to keep you guessing until the end.

"New Days Old Times" is centers on the political struggles that emerge when Govcentral tries to force colonists from different ethnic backgrounds to live together.

"Candy Buds" was probably my favorite story in the book. The mafia boss of the planet Tropicana takes in a young girl whose blind brother has the ability to create beautiful fantasies ingestible through edible neuronic symbionts. Despite his intentions, the relationship between the old man and the girl is quite touching, but there's always the undercurrent that not all is as it seems.

"Deathday" is a haunting tale set on a desolate planet where a forlorn widower hunts the chameleon-like xenoc beast that desecrated his wife's grave. The most depressing story in the book, but also very powerful.

"The Lives and Loves of Tiarella Rosa" recounts the tale of a fugitive terrorist who hides from the authorities when he is taken in by a family on an oceanic world. But who is taking advantage of whom?

"Escape Route" features Marcus Calvert, father of our hero Joshua from the Night's Dawn trilogy, as he discovers a derelict xenoc starship while looking for precious metals in an asteroid field. But he's not the only one after riches, as Marcus and his crew struggle against mercenaries with hidden agendas.

This collection is more than a supplement to Hamilton's saga. It's a wonderful way to flesh-out the universe of the Night's Dawn and to gain a deeper appreciation of Peter F. Hamilton's impressive imagination.

Rating:
Summary: A great addition to a future history
Review: I really think that Mr. Hamilton is one of the best future history writers since Issac Asimov. Mr. Hamilton's short story compilation is just what his fans have been looking for. Even if his readers have finshed the Night's Dawn story, Second Chance gives insight into characters and Mr. Hamilton's history. The only thing better will be Mr. Hamilton's Confederation Handbook that won't be ready for awhile. Some of the stories are better than others, the title story being the best of them, but the work as a whole is worth the time spent reading it. After reading The Night's Dawn trilogy and Second Chance I look forward to reading other works by Mr. Hamilton.

Rating:
Summary: Not quite _The Naked God_...
Review: I strongly disagree with Amazon's calling this book a superb collection of short stories. What this book does contain is the author's first attempts (and very early attempts at that) at writing good fiction.

I read this book after I read the Nights Dawn trilogy, and I read it mainly for "educational value." That is to say, I wanted to know a little more about the author.

While I wasn't expecting much, I was still disappointed. The writing is just nowhere near as engrossing or interesting as his later works.

I dont suppose I would be able to convince any Hamilton fan not to read it, but for those of you who arent sure you want to spend $6 on this book -- don't.

It doesn't offer any new insight into any of the characters you've come to like. The stories are written in what seems to be great haste, and they lack the depth and feeling present in Night's Dawn.

Hopefully Hamilton will write some new fiction, maybe even in the same universe as this book and Night's Dawn. Until then, however, I think I am going to wait before reading any more Hamilton.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific Sci Fi Collection
Review: I'm so pleased that I came across this book. Quite by accident, I've been introduced to Peter F. Hamilton's work, and if the rest of his material is this good, I guarantee I'll be reading it all. I disagree entirely with the reviewers who claim that a reader has to know Hamilton's six volume trilogy (!) Night's Dawn to get maximum pleasure out of the stories--in the foreward Hamilton says that some of these stories predate the concept of the trilogy, and one of them (Candy Buds) even gave rise to it. I certainly had no trouble knowing where I was, thanks to the time lines provided by Hamilton, and each of the stories seemed admirably self-contained in terms of the necessary plot points.

To the stories themselves--there's an excellent mix here, some mostly snapshots, others quite long and detailed. Some deal with an individual at a time of personal crisis (Deathday, which owes much to Ray Bradbury's Mars is Heaven), others concern paradigm shifts for the entire Human civilization (A Second Chance at Eden, a truly beautifully written and plotted story). Hamilton is at the gentler side of hard sci-fi. While his stories all contain technology far beyond our current grasp, there's no necessity for a Ph.D. to understand it. He's much less demanding than Greg Bear in his most substantial works. Indeed, the technology is mostly there for the context, and the stories are primarily about human motivations rather than fun sci-fi toys. For the most part this isn't escapest space opera at all, but a keen examination of man's condition. And like the best literature, it's so well written that the reader is mostly unaware that this is the case--the sole exception being New Days Old Times, which is a bit more obvious in its message. Nevertheless, I highly recommend this collection, and I look forward to the delivery of my copy of the first volume of Night's Dawn, which I ordered even before finishing this book!