1998; 420 pages. New Author? : No. Genres : Science Fiction; Genetic Engineering;
Space Opera; Anthology. Overall
Rating : 7*/10.
Here’s a bit of recommended reading for those who
are into epic space-opera: Peter F. Hamilton’s The
Night’s Dawn Trilogy. I read it
back in 2011, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
There are some caveats. My science fiction tastes may not be the same as yours, thus you might not be as enamored by Peter F. Hamilton’s
writing as I was. There’s also the small
matter of that trilogy being 3,563 pages long
(1094, 1137, 1332 pages per tome). The books are not standalones; you’re
committing to all three when you begin the series.
Ah, if only there was some way
to get a smaller taste of this trilogy and the author’s writing style. Or, if you’ve already read this series, perhaps a brief aftertaste of the fascinating 27th-century universe Hamilton
creates in this series.
Well, that’s where A Second Chance at Eden enters in. Seven short stories set at various stages
between now and the 27th century, and a total of only 420
pages. That's more than a big enough sample to
see if Peter F. Hamilton’s novels are your kind of sci-fi before committing several months of reading time to it.
What’s To Like...
The seven tales in A Second Chance at Eden are:
01) Sonnie’s Edge (Earth-2070, 24
pages, dueling bots)
02) A Second Chance at Eden (Jupiter-2090,
175 pages, whodunit)
03) New Days Old Times (Nyvan-2345,
25 pages, killing for God)
04) Candy Buds (Tropicana-2393, 42
pages, virtual reality in 400 years)
05) Deathday (Jubarra-2405, 20 pages, sauropod shapeshifters)
06) The Lives and Loves of Tiarella Rosa
(Tropicana-2447, 62 pages, fun with parthenogenesis)
07) Escape Route (Sonora
Asteroid-2556, 69 pages, the worth of gold vs. salvage)
A couple of the stories are
written in the first-person POV, but most are in third-person. Between each tale, Peter F. Hamilton lists a
short timeline to let you know what technological and exploratory advancements
have been made. The book is written in
“English”, not “American”, so distances are in kilometres,
words like speciality and aluminium have an extra “i” in them, and I had to
suss out what narked meant.
My favorite tale was the
eponymous A Second Chance at Eden, which had a
clever murder-mystery plotline that kept me turning the pages and guessing (incorrectly) who the perp was. It is also by far the longest tale,
comprising more than 40% of the text. It
should be noted that in almost all cases when I’m reading an anthology, my
favorite happens to be the longest entry.
I enjoyed reading the
backstory to the vital ability of “affinity” in The
Night’s Dawn universe. This
is a psychic bond between people, or with animals (think:
“spirit animal”), or even between a human and a spaceship or
orbiting space colony, which is what the titular “Eden” is this book. It’s a great way to carry on secret
conversations, and here we learn about the person who first developed it. I can’t wait for it to be invented in our present time.
Interspersed among all the
excitement are some keen insights into more serious topics. Is there some way to still exist after we
die? Can different religions,
particularly the three main Western ones, learn to coexist? Can tarot cards give us insight into what
lies ahead for us? But rest assured, such
musings never overshadow the main storylines in these stories.
Kewlest New Word ...
Narked (v.) : annoyed, exasperated. (Britishism).
Ratings…
Amazon:
4.3/5
based on 469 ratings and 78 reviews.
Goodreads: 4.04/5 based on 4,889
ratings and 107 reviews.
Excerpts...
“I think the personality memory of her
death is perfectly accurate. She walked
out to the lake, and the chimp shot her.”
“Thanks.
Now what can you tell me about Penny Maowkavitz herself? So far all I’ve heard is that she could be a
prickly character.”
Corrine’s face puckered up. “True enough; basically, Penny was a complete
pain. Back at the university hospital
where I trained we always used to say doctors make the worst patients. Wrong.
Geneticists make the worst patients.”
“You didn’t like her?”
“I didn’t say that. And you should be nicer to someone who’s
scheduled to cut your skull open in an hour.” (pg. 53)
Guy climbed up the low wall and sat on top,
his skinny legs dangling over the other side.
“I didn’t like today,” he said solemnly.
She leant forward against the wall, and put
her arm round his shoulder. “Me
neither.”
“Was the fat woman really a police
officer?”
“Yes, I’m afraid so.”
“She didn’t like anybody. Are all police officers like that?”
“No.
You don’t have to be a police officer to hate other kinds of
people. Everybody on Nyvan does it.” (pg. 220)
I tried to tell
myself the day couldn’t get any worse.
But I lacked faith. (pg. 42)
There are a couple of quibbles. There’s a moderate amount of cussing: 16
instances in the first 10% (42 pages) of the book. There are at least three rolls-in-the-hay
and, more disturbing, one clear allusion to intimate relations with a minor.
None of the characters carry
over from one tale to the next, so you have a whole new slate of people to keep
track of every time a new story begins.
This of course, is inherent with reading any anthology, and that's why I
don’t read them very often.
My least-favorite stories are
#1 and #3, which are among the shorter entries, and which is also the norm for
me. They just didn’t fit well into the
Night’s Dawn timeline. But to be fair,
Peter F. Hamilton addresses this in the Introduction section: “As to the stories themselves, some are new, some have
appeared in magazines before, in which case I’ve altered them slightly so they
fit into the Confederation timeline.”
7 Stars. I found the seven stories in A Second Chance at Eden to be a mixed-bag in quality. The majority were good-to-fantastic, but a couple were so-so. But that’s the usual spread for anthologies. If you’re wavering as to whether to plunge into The Night’s Dawn trilogy, this book will be a great help in making your decision. And personally, my recommendation is to dive into it.
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