A Second Chance at Eden

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!

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.

After reading Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy (The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist and The Naked God) I found myself WANTING to learn more about the universe that he had so wonderfully created.I found this little book full of short stories set in the same universe as that series and was totally impressed. There are hints to the stories in A 2nd Chance at Eden in The Naked God (When Calvert tells Ione that his dad had once traveled through time and she didn't believe him, for example.)There is also a VERY valuable and fascinating story of Edenism which paints its esteemed leader in a much different light than most would think after reading the entire Night's Dawn series.So, check it out, and enjoy!

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.

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".