Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
97th out of 101 books
—
7 voters
Manhattan In Reverse
A major collection of short fiction from Peter F. Hamilton, New York Times bestselling author of Pandora’s Star, The Dreaming Void, and many other epic science fiction novels—including a brand-new novella starring detective Paula Myo
Fans of the Commonwealth Saga will enjoy the return of Paula Myo, the genetically engineered police investigator whose single-minded pursuit o...more
Fans of the Commonwealth Saga will enjoy the return of Paula Myo, the genetically engineered police investigator whose single-minded pursuit o...more
Hardcover, 1st Edition, 260 pages
Published
October 7th 2011
by MacMillan
(first published October 1st 2011)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
1,164)
This book is a collection of 7 short stories by Peter F. Hamilton, with three of the stories taking place in the same universe as the Commonwealth Saga and Void Trilogy books, the rest being stand alone in some fashion.
In a slight change, I’m going to review each of the stories as I go (even though at this point I’m nearly finished with the whole book), and base my rating on an average.
“Watching Trees Grow” – The first story deals with a murder mystery set in an alternate history where Rome ne...more
In a slight change, I’m going to review each of the stories as I go (even though at this point I’m nearly finished with the whole book), and base my rating on an average.
“Watching Trees Grow” – The first story deals with a murder mystery set in an alternate history where Rome ne...more
This short story collection is available on audio (not anymore??) and ebook, but doesn't seem to be in US stores in print yet (came and gone I think).
I read the title story (40 pages?), which features Paula Myo from the Commonwealth universe. (She is genetically engineered to fight crime. I'm a sucker for chicks that kick ass.) Kind of a Western mystery on another planet. Not the most thrilling in the world, but a pretty good story. The title actually has a more special meaning than I expected....more
I read the title story (40 pages?), which features Paula Myo from the Commonwealth universe. (She is genetically engineered to fight crime. I'm a sucker for chicks that kick ass.) Kind of a Western mystery on another planet. Not the most thrilling in the world, but a pretty good story. The title actually has a more special meaning than I expected....more
2 likes · like · see review
Ce livre contient 7 nouvelles, pas loin de la novella pour certaines :
- En regardant pousser les arbres : une enquête s'étendant sur plusieurs siècles, dans une uchronie basé sur une évolution de ',empire romain par le croisement des gladiateurs. Et en même temps, on suit une évolution technique grandissante. Intéressant, notamment pour la découverte progressive et entre les lignes (pas d'info dumps) de la société du narrateur.
- Un électorat en marche : dans une Angleterre en crise et sans aveni...more
- En regardant pousser les arbres : une enquête s'étendant sur plusieurs siècles, dans une uchronie basé sur une évolution de ',empire romain par le croisement des gladiateurs. Et en même temps, on suit une évolution technique grandissante. Intéressant, notamment pour la découverte progressive et entre les lignes (pas d'info dumps) de la société du narrateur.
- Un électorat en marche : dans une Angleterre en crise et sans aveni...more
This collection and I got along fine for the first 80%. I picked it up because it seemed like an easier way to try Hamilton without commiting to one of his doorstops. This was a mistake, since most of the collection is tie-ins to his cifi universes, and without that knowledge they're pretty limp. I did like "Watching Trees Grow," the one about the alt universe Roman semi-immortal who uses progressive technology to solve a troubling murder over the course of several centuries. Cool, if obvious, m...more
Before we get started properly, just take a look at that page count.
No, that’s not a misprint.
Peter’s latest book is about a third to a quarter of the size of his usual blockbusting tome. This is Peter’s second short story collection, the first being A Second Chance At Eden in 1998.
As Peter says in his Introduction, ‘I’m not the most prolific of short story writers’, and this does show here, but the good news is that what we lose in length we gain in a little more variety.
There are seven stori...more
No, that’s not a misprint.
Peter’s latest book is about a third to a quarter of the size of his usual blockbusting tome. This is Peter’s second short story collection, the first being A Second Chance At Eden in 1998.
As Peter says in his Introduction, ‘I’m not the most prolific of short story writers’, and this does show here, but the good news is that what we lose in length we gain in a little more variety.
There are seven stori...more
In his one page introduction, Peter Hamilton notes that he writes about one short story a year, favoring novels instead. Having read these, that makes sense; the least compelling, by far, is the brief 'Forever Kitten". "Watching Trees Grow" is a wonderfully conceived mystery that unfolds across several centuries of an alternative history in which (it seems) Rome never fell. The solution fits the narrative perfectly, but also delivers an unexpected and appalling sting. The book includes two myste...more
For an author with a reputation for writing very long novels it is maybe appropriate that the two longest stories in this short story collection were the best in it. Watching Trees Grow (which I'd read before many years ago) packs a lot of world-building into 80-odd pages and has an interesting premise (a murder investigation taking centuries with the investigator using newly invented technologies to go back to look at the case), although the characterisation was a bit flat and some aspects of t...more
“Manhattan in Reverse” is (for me) the latest book of Peter F. Hamilton. It is a very good compilation of short stories. I've just finished The Demon Trap featuring Paula Myo as Senior Investigator of the Serious Crimes Directorate together with Christabel Agatha Halgarth. Again a masterful crime story set in de Commonwealth. Wormholes and Octattoos are casual subjects used to travel between worlds light-years apart and direct virtual access to all the information you could ever dream of. Defini...more
Peter Hamilton is one of my favourite authors, and is arguably the best writer of space opera going around today. His novels are grand and vast in scope, and he writes comfortably in that style. He isn't so comfortable in writing short stories. This collection is a mixed bag, some are stand-outs, some just average, but none are bad - although "The Forever Kitten" is almost too short to form an opinion of.
The best story in this collection, for me, is "Watching Trees Grow", which is also the openi...more
The best story in this collection, for me, is "Watching Trees Grow", which is also the openi...more
Peter F. Hamilton and Short Stories are not things one would think of together. His books tend to be long and incredibly full of detail and span a huge distance, not just time but space. So reading short stories of his is a little bit incongruous. There are 7 shorts in here, two of which feature the indomitable Paula Myo who is a genetically engineered police investigator who can not leave justice unmet. The other stories involve time travel and the consequences of going back in time, or in some...more
This is a collection of short stories from the master of space opera. Peter F Hamilton takes us on a journey from a murder mystery in an alternative Oxford in the 1800s to a brand new story featuring Paula Mayo, Deputy Director of the Intersolar Commonwealth's Serious Crimes Directorate.
the alternative Oxford story is intriguing, but Manhattan in Reverse (the title story, and the last one) is the one that has stuck with me in the 2 weeks since i finished the book.
although Mr Hamilton was writin...more
the alternative Oxford story is intriguing, but Manhattan in Reverse (the title story, and the last one) is the one that has stuck with me in the 2 weeks since i finished the book.
although Mr Hamilton was writin...more
I'd not read Peter F Hamilton before- think the sheer size of his novels put me off.....However, I now realise what I've been missing.
This is a recently released volume of short stories, all of which are extremely good. Although there is some major hard sci-fi underpinning his work, he never lets that get in the way of the stories , all of which are well-written & a joy to read.
Characterisation in short stories can sometimes be "hit & miss", simply due to the constraints of the format, b...more
This is a recently released volume of short stories, all of which are extremely good. Although there is some major hard sci-fi underpinning his work, he never lets that get in the way of the stories , all of which are well-written & a joy to read.
Characterisation in short stories can sometimes be "hit & miss", simply due to the constraints of the format, b...more
Hamilton may not be the most exaltedly literary of modern British SF writers, but dammit, he is still one of my favourites. This short collection shows off some of his range, which is rather broader than the epic doorstop blockbusters for which he's best known.
I'd already read some of the stories - /Watching Trees Grow/ is an excellent little novella which has been published as a modern "Ace Double" sort of thing, for example. Another, a splendid time-travel novel which leapt straight into my pe...more
I'd already read some of the stories - /Watching Trees Grow/ is an excellent little novella which has been published as a modern "Ace Double" sort of thing, for example. Another, a splendid time-travel novel which leapt straight into my pe...more
How can I not have heard of Peter F. Hamilton before? Well, I suppose it's because I've been avoiding contemporary speculative fiction since paranormal romance came to dominate the genre, and the glut of hoary fantasy themes before that. In any case, this anthology serves as a great introduction to Hamilton's post-transhumanist universe, and a very clever universe it is. It seems that is based on an alternate history where the Romans bred their gladiators for longevity, ala Heinlein's Howard Fou...more
The latest book by Peter F. Hamilton that takes place in his popular Commonwealth universe. The determined Paula Myo appears in two of the several stories the novel contains. Several short stories fill in several plot gaps that were alluded to in his Judas Unchained and Temporal Void books. Since the book is divided into short stories, none of the new characters get as developed as in his longer works. I imagine the main appeal this book would hold for a reader unfamiliar with Hamilton's other w...more
I've been a Peter F Hamilton fan for a long time, in fact the reason I read sci-fi nowadays is because of Pandora's Star. The last collection of short stories by Peter F Hamilton was A Second Chance at Eden released way back in the late 90's, but it was a collection of Confederation exclusive stories based on his Night's Dawn universe. On hearing about this new collection I was rather excited, hoping to see all of the stories that he's written since then. Aside from one glaring omission this is...more
This short story collection contains mostly previously published material, among others the stellar “Watching Trees Grow“, which it was a pleasure to re-read. There are three more standalones, one of which is a very short vignette. The last three stories are set in the Confederation Universe, with the two longer ones featuring investigator extraordinaire Paula Myo. (The third is Blessed by an Angel.) Myo is a very interesting character and could easily be the protagonist of a novel two of her ow...more
The best material Hamilton has written has all been less than 400p long and some of the very best less than 100p. This volume continues to show this "quality is inversely proportional to length" phenomenon in his writing to be true, with a couple of his best ever tales showing up here.
It's unfortunate for me that both of my favourites in this volume were stories I had come across elsewhere. One is the kind of SF-detective genre mash-up that is both Hamilton's most uniquely distinctive writing tr...more
It's unfortunate for me that both of my favourites in this volume were stories I had come across elsewhere. One is the kind of SF-detective genre mash-up that is both Hamilton's most uniquely distinctive writing tr...more
Great short story collection from an author who doesn't seem to write many short stories. The first story I had read originally in the novella collection 'Futures.' I was happy to read it again here, though. A few good stand-alone stories followed, including a really interesting time-travel mystery. The book finished with more stories about Paula Myo from the Commonwealth universe. I was really happy to see these stories in here, because I'm not sure if there will be any more Commonwealth books...more
I am somewhat unsure what my exact opinion on this book is but I have come to appreciate Mr Hamilton's style a fair bit more. I found that the first two stories were to my liking more than the rest of them, the first one due to its scope and the second due to a very interesting scenario concerning the rule of Mr Brown.
I would recommend people to read this also if you're looking to see whether Mr Hamilton's created worlds are to your liking since by my understanding two of the places created her...more
I would recommend people to read this also if you're looking to see whether Mr Hamilton's created worlds are to your liking since by my understanding two of the places created her...more
I definitely enjoyed this book. The first broken up story was quite good and I liked his projections on society in the future, longevity, and of course the detective case. The alternate history scenario made it that much better. I also enjoyed the two stories with Paula Myo as the only other Hamilton books I have read were the two from the Commonwealth series and these two stories fit in nicely. Finally even his very short stories threw new ideas out making them very good even if very short. I s...more
Hamilton writes very accessible space opera type sci fi and these stories are no exception. I suspect some people look down on his work because it remains so accessible, - lots of hard science but easy familiar social structures. But this would be unfair as the ideas in these books are still original and clever - in particular the title story. On the other hand it would be nice to see him try for something a little more unfamiliar without loosing that hard science core - stories such as those by...more
PeterF.Hamilton is not an author known for writing small stories. Most of his novels are big enough to make young maidens blush and old women cackle inappropriately. In fact, what are the dimensions of an average Hamilton book, Eddie?
Thanks, Eddie. Here are some interesting facts, interesting-fact fans. In 2009 PeterF.Hamilton's writing made up 10% of the books I read but almost 30% of the pages. For every ten books I read that year, one of them was written by Hamilton, but for every ten pages I...more
Thanks, Eddie. Here are some interesting facts, interesting-fact fans. In 2009 PeterF.Hamilton's writing made up 10% of the books I read but almost 30% of the pages. For every ten books I read that year, one of them was written by Hamilton, but for every ten pages I...more
I’ve been meaning to read Peter F. Hamilton for years. I own a few of his books, but I haven’t read them yet. If you’re familiar with Hamilton, I’ll bet you know why. His books are HUGE, and most of them are part of a series. Every time I look at them on my shelf, they scream “MAJOR TIME COMMITMENT,” so there they stay. Thus, I was pleased to come across Manhattan in Reverse, a slim and inviting collection of seven stories by Peter F. Hamilton:
“Watching Trees Grow” — This novella was originally...more
“Watching Trees Grow” — This novella was originally...more
2 likes · like · see review
I will admit straight away that I love Peter Hamilton; I think the Epic Space Opera he creates is superb and I am always quick to try and pick up his books. So, when "Manhattan in Reverse" was released I made sure that it was right at the top of my reading pile. This is a collection of some of his short stories and as I haven't actually read any of his short stories before I was really looking forward to seeing what he could do in this format, especially considering he is an author who normally...more
Manhattan in Reverse is the original story by Peter Hamilton that ends and names his upcoming collection - I read all the other stories from the collection as they were published across the years and most are awesome - and I liked it quite a lot.
Another Paula Myo outing, this time set more as a puzzle on a world in a rush development after the end of the war in Judas Unchained; not her typical case, but despite her war heroics, Paula Myo finds herself quite unpopular after prosecuting successful...more
Another Paula Myo outing, this time set more as a puzzle on a world in a rush development after the end of the war in Judas Unchained; not her typical case, but despite her war heroics, Paula Myo finds herself quite unpopular after prosecuting successful...more
1 like · like · see review
This is the first thing I've read of Hamilton's so I don't know if the ideas in this collection are typical of his work, but it was a nice variety. Certainly compelling enough to allow me to tune out obnoxious conversations on the bus. I have inferred from other reviews that Paula Myo is a character from other novels, and I look forward to spending more time with her.
I am never sure how much I find a library e-book loan compelling vs. feeling pressured to finish a book in 21 days (which is very...more
Very satisfying short story collection for fan's of Hamilton's work. There are three stories set in the Commonwealth, two of which contain one of the most interesting characters in modern SF, Paula Myo. The "Watching Trees Grow" short saga is also a fun ride. "Footvote" is a very human-scale look at what might happen when a wormhole to a new world suddenly forces people to choose sides — stay or go? It grapples with the politics involved in a very plausible way. Hamilton is a master at world-bui...more
Mixed bag of short stories. Hamilton is a much better read when he doesn't have to explain the world in which we find ourselves so the two Paula Myo stories - set in a universe he's already created elsewhere - towards the end are much more satisfying than the others. The first story in the collection, concerning a murder mystery spanning man's advancement over many many years is clever. The Forever Kitten, which runs to a grand total of about 3 pages, is a decent demonstration of story creation,...more
Good. The first story seemed a bit rushed by the end, but cool. I'd love to read a whole book or series written in that world, Kinda steam punk ear "what if the Roman Empire never fell" idea. The last two stories where also very good, nice brain food. Been mulling over the ideas for a few days now.
If you like Hamilton, you won't be disappointed, and because they are all short stories he doesn't really get to waffle as much as he is prone to do.
If you like Hamilton, you won't be disappointed, and because they are all short stories he doesn't really get to waffle as much as he is prone to do.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goodreads Librari...: Merge 3 book pages | 1 | 18 | Oct 18, 2011 04:31am |
Peter F. Hamilton is a British science fiction author. He is best known for writing space opera. As of the publication of his tenth novel in 2004, his works had sold over two million copies worldwide, making him Britain's biggest-selling science fiction author.
More about Peter F. Hamilton...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
Little? What an understatement!
Make sure you read the Void trilogy :-)
Great review.
Jul 10, 2012 03:42am
Little? What an understatement!
Make sure you read the Void trilogy :-)
Great review."
Thanks! I'm...more
Jul 10, 2012 06:18am