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A review by rujein
A Second Chance at Eden by Peter F. Hamilton
4.0
Was introduced to Peter Hamilton by a friend and found out he specialised in space operas, which wasn't very appealing to me, so I read this collection of short stories instead. While the writing and language were average as to be expected of any hard scifi writer, I liked the ideas Hamilton depicted through his stories.
Hamilton's pet idea is the affinity bond, which is a sort of telepathic connection between humans and other animals (including humans) which allows them to communicate non-verbally and even see things as one another. This idea has the potential to raise lots of interesting questions, about the connection between individual humans, and the type of society which might emerge (and that's skipping past questions about the 'rules' governing the use of such technology - who gets to use it, is it mandatory, are there certain thoughts/parts of the mind which are off-limits etc.?). His (smaller) pet idea is the idea of 'biological technology' which is more about genetic engineering than hardware, and kind of a combination with software.
The big twist of "Sonnie's Edge" is that what we thought was a fight between animals controlled by humans with affinity bonds to then, actually features a human mind within the body of the animal itself, and that it is the fear of the human mind facing an aggressive beast and fighting for survival which is giving our protagonist an "edge". The twist works particularly well and has great shock value in the context of this story - if I recall correctly, Sonnie is described as a slim young woman, and to imagine that this woman (or indeed any human) is one with a grotesque beast is a 'visually' shocking one for our human sensibilities. Makes us realise/question how much of our humanity is tied to our physical form.
This story also reflects the oft-featured theme of the ultimate 'superiority' (though in this case it is perhaps more of an 'advantage') of human nature/emotions against technology - ironically , despite all the biological technology ("bitek") put into the beasts, it is the very human emotion of fear which drives the string of victories.
[One issue I have with this story is that Sonnie's fake 'edge' which she initially shares with a rival is her hatred of men stemming from a sexual assault, which makes it seem as though this could not be as 'strong' a driver of Sonnie's battlefield performance as fear . First of all, this justification sucks because then she could be easily beaten by any other woman? Second of all, this reason is basically the same as the real one, is it not? The prevailing emotion is still fear. To me, comparing them implicitly in this way trivialises the experience of a sexual assault.]
"A second chance at Eden" is rather longer and more convoluted. It's a typical space detective story, with typical characters - the competent and principled male detective who manages to figure out the mystery, the genius inventor(s in this case), the attractive and intelligent young woman who somehow manages to fall for (or in this case, had sex with) the middle-aged protagonist (bonus: she gets pregnant too but she doesn't want commitment from the man!!), down to the luddite wife - as well as a rather typical plot with the motive being less about profits/business and more about personal issues/principles and the detective figuring out the plot in the end. In short, nothing particularly interesting. What interested me in this story was the motive of the murderer - the other genius inventor, who wanted to prevent the murdered genius inventor from dying after him and being the first to access his new invention, a neural network which would allow human consciousness to live on after the death of the physical body (i.e. immortality), because he judged that she had a streak of the dictator in her and he didn't want her to dominate the network (in my mind this is rather thin as a reason, considering there's probably loads of other smart people out there who also have a dictatorial streak). It made me wonder if the end justified the means, and also raised the question about who has the (moral?) authority to gatekeep access to a new technology. Afterall, it was one man alone who made the judgment that the victim was too dangerous to be allowed on this technology. While arguably he was the inventor and should have the right to decide who got to use his technology, what happens when the technology is revolutionary enough to affect the entire human race (and decide life and death matters essentially)? Should he still have the sole right to that?
Felt that there were a bit too many things going on in the story, from the detective's luddite wife who refused to get affinity-bonded (though she did bring up interesting questions about the impact of such a technology on society as a whole - generally in the book it's portrayed that society is much better because everyone understands one another better and can empathise more, but the 'religious' view is that this is making us lose touch with the divine), to the attractive young woman being a clone of the murdered genius inventor and having this backstory of being a glorified escort (although for some reason her creator decided she needed to be super smart??).
(Also, what I consider a loophole - if everyone on the planet is affinity-bonded, and the planet knows everything that happens on it, then how can there be any mystery at all on the planet...)
I also really liked Candy Buds and The Lives and Loves of Tiarella Rosa. I noticed that these two stories had the same trope of an attractive young woman dooming a powerful older man. Feel a bit put-off by the femme fatale trope, but at the same time, enjoy seeing women being active players driving the plots (although they still don't get the chance to have stories told from their point of view).
For Candy Buds, the idea of what is basically a drug which is so strong that it can literally alter memories is interesting, but I actually enjoyed the plot quite a bit for this story. The twist of the girl turning out to have taken Laerus on a ride was interesting, but I think the entire story had small twists at every turn which kept it interesting. From a more crime thriller-like focus on Laerus getting his hands on the new drug, to an exploration of the wonder of scientific discovery (or even an exploration of sensation, given Hamilton's in-depth description of the experience of taking the candy buds), to a family dynasty sort of story, then the twist back to the crime thriller. I enjoyed the twist in our perception of the girl as well, from an innocently-attractive young child to a master plotter.
For The Lives and Loves of Tiarella Rosa, I was quite captivated (and honestly a bit horrified) by the reveal that Tiarella had literally bred clones of herself and her deceased husband so that their romance can keep on going (even though she won't experience it herself!!). On one hand I was awed by how strong her emotion was? On the other hand, it seemed a bit obsessive, and also very unfair to the clones whose lives she basically directed from the start (and of course, unfair to the protagonist whom she had basically used to create certain conditions in what was essentially her self-directed film). Story-wise, I liked how the protagonist was initially an important member of a group of political rebels and the story was shaping up to be a bit of a space opera, but then it turned into a more personal story and the protagonist basically ditched that whole plot and the questions which came up turned more personal.
Overall, I enjoyed Hamilton's ideas, which were a bit more different from the usual male authors (though not as different as Ursula Le Guin), but would not read Hamilton's long novels which I think would be more space opera-ish.
Hamilton's pet idea is the affinity bond, which is a sort of telepathic connection between humans and other animals (including humans) which allows them to communicate non-verbally and even see things as one another. This idea has the potential to raise lots of interesting questions, about the connection between individual humans, and the type of society which might emerge (and that's skipping past questions about the 'rules' governing the use of such technology - who gets to use it, is it mandatory, are there certain thoughts/parts of the mind which are off-limits etc.?). His (smaller) pet idea is the idea of 'biological technology' which is more about genetic engineering than hardware, and kind of a combination with software.
The big twist of "Sonnie's Edge" is that what we thought was a fight between animals controlled by humans with affinity bonds to then, actually features a human mind within the body of the animal itself, and that it is the fear of the human mind facing an aggressive beast and fighting for survival which is giving our protagonist an "edge". The twist works particularly well and has great shock value in the context of this story - if I recall correctly, Sonnie is described as a slim young woman, and to imagine that this woman (or indeed any human) is one with a grotesque beast is a 'visually' shocking one for our human sensibilities. Makes us realise/question how much of our humanity is tied to our physical form.
This story also reflects the oft-featured theme of the ultimate 'superiority' (though in this case it is perhaps more of an 'advantage') of human nature/emotions against technology - ironically , despite all the biological technology ("bitek") put into the beasts, it is the very human emotion of fear which drives the string of victories.
[One issue I have with this story is that Sonnie's fake 'edge' which she initially shares with a rival is her hatred of men stemming from a sexual assault, which makes it seem as though this could not be as 'strong' a driver of Sonnie's battlefield performance as fear . First of all, this justification sucks because then she could be easily beaten by any other woman? Second of all, this reason is basically the same as the real one, is it not? The prevailing emotion is still fear. To me, comparing them implicitly in this way trivialises the experience of a sexual assault.]
"A second chance at Eden" is rather longer and more convoluted. It's a typical space detective story, with typical characters - the competent and principled male detective who manages to figure out the mystery, the genius inventor(s in this case), the attractive and intelligent young woman who somehow manages to fall for (or in this case, had sex with) the middle-aged protagonist (bonus: she gets pregnant too but she doesn't want commitment from the man!!), down to the luddite wife - as well as a rather typical plot with the motive being less about profits/business and more about personal issues/principles and the detective figuring out the plot in the end. In short, nothing particularly interesting. What interested me in this story was the motive of the murderer - the other genius inventor, who wanted to prevent the murdered genius inventor from dying after him and being the first to access his new invention, a neural network which would allow human consciousness to live on after the death of the physical body (i.e. immortality), because he judged that she had a streak of the dictator in her and he didn't want her to dominate the network (in my mind this is rather thin as a reason, considering there's probably loads of other smart people out there who also have a dictatorial streak). It made me wonder if the end justified the means, and also raised the question about who has the (moral?) authority to gatekeep access to a new technology. Afterall, it was one man alone who made the judgment that the victim was too dangerous to be allowed on this technology. While arguably he was the inventor and should have the right to decide who got to use his technology, what happens when the technology is revolutionary enough to affect the entire human race (and decide life and death matters essentially)? Should he still have the sole right to that?
Felt that there were a bit too many things going on in the story, from the detective's luddite wife who refused to get affinity-bonded (though she did bring up interesting questions about the impact of such a technology on society as a whole - generally in the book it's portrayed that society is much better because everyone understands one another better and can empathise more, but the 'religious' view is that this is making us lose touch with the divine), to the attractive young woman being a clone of the murdered genius inventor and having this backstory of being a glorified escort (although for some reason her creator decided she needed to be super smart??).
(Also, what I consider a loophole - if everyone on the planet is affinity-bonded, and the planet knows everything that happens on it, then how can there be any mystery at all on the planet...)
I also really liked Candy Buds and The Lives and Loves of Tiarella Rosa. I noticed that these two stories had the same trope of an attractive young woman dooming a powerful older man. Feel a bit put-off by the femme fatale trope, but at the same time, enjoy seeing women being active players driving the plots (although they still don't get the chance to have stories told from their point of view).
For Candy Buds, the idea of what is basically a drug which is so strong that it can literally alter memories is interesting, but I actually enjoyed the plot quite a bit for this story. The twist of the girl turning out to have taken Laerus on a ride was interesting, but I think the entire story had small twists at every turn which kept it interesting. From a more crime thriller-like focus on Laerus getting his hands on the new drug, to an exploration of the wonder of scientific discovery (or even an exploration of sensation, given Hamilton's in-depth description of the experience of taking the candy buds), to a family dynasty sort of story, then the twist back to the crime thriller. I enjoyed the twist in our perception of the girl as well, from an innocently-attractive young child to a master plotter.
For The Lives and Loves of Tiarella Rosa, I was quite captivated (and honestly a bit horrified) by the reveal that Tiarella had literally bred clones of herself and her deceased husband so that their romance can keep on going (even though she won't experience it herself!!). On one hand I was awed by how strong her emotion was? On the other hand, it seemed a bit obsessive, and also very unfair to the clones whose lives she basically directed from the start (and of course, unfair to the protagonist whom she had basically used to create certain conditions in what was essentially her self-directed film). Story-wise, I liked how the protagonist was initially an important member of a group of political rebels and the story was shaping up to be a bit of a space opera, but then it turned into a more personal story and the protagonist basically ditched that whole plot and the questions which came up turned more personal.
Overall, I enjoyed Hamilton's ideas, which were a bit more different from the usual male authors (though not as different as Ursula Le Guin), but would not read Hamilton's long novels which I think would be more space opera-ish.