From one of the world's leading science fiction writers comes a provocative look at the days not too long after tomorrow.
Misspent Youth
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Amazon Review
Peter Hamilton is famed for SF blockbusters of far-future interstellar adventure. By contrast Misspent Youth is a social comedy set in the year 2040 in England. When gene therapy rewinds Jeff Baker's age back to his early 20s he finds that wisdom and experience are no match for hormones...
The rejuvenation treatment, developed by federal Europe to impress laggard America, is so complex and expensive that only one person every 18 months can receive it. Jeff is the first because he's a celebrity inventor, father of the "datasphere" which superseded the Internet.
Family upheavals follow. An "arrangement" with his much younger, still beautiful wife Sue lets her enjoy lovers while the aged Jeff turns a blind eye: now things are different. Meanwhile their 18-year-old son Tim is struggling ineptly with teenage sexual pangs and the impossibility of understanding girls. All part of growing up, but Jeff's renewed youth brings farcical complications.
It's not just that Jeff now fancies Sue again. He can't resist even younger women. An early one-night stand is publicised all over the datasphere. Embarrassment escalates when he's seduced by the granddaughter of a long-time pub companion. Worse, several of Tim's ravishing female schoolmates are interested in Jeff the celebrity stud. The dishiest of all is Tim's latest, most hopelessly adoring girlfriend.
Can it be coincidence that the action mostly happens in Rutland?
This comedy of embarrassments and revelations has a darker background: Europe is plagued by separatist movements whose terrorist habits make the old IRA look like pussycats. The turning point in Jeff's tangled relationships comes when he attends a London conference surrounded by protest that breeds riot--with Tim among the protesters.
A foreshadowed twist leads to a finale that mixes cynicism with sentiment. En route Misspent Youth is a lot of fun. --David Langford --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
From the talented Hamilton, a provocative look at the days not too long after tomorrow. It is 40 years into the future and, following decades of research on genetics, Europe is finally in a position to rejuvenate a human being. The first subject for treatment is chosen: Jeff Baker, the father of the datasphere (which replaced the Internet) and philanthropist extraordinaire. After 18 months in a German medical facility, the 78-year-old patient returns home looking like a healthy 20-year-old. Misspent Youth follows the effect his reappearance has on his family and also on his long-term pals who are now all pensioners, and starting to resent what Jeff has become. Standing quite apart from his previous novels, a very welcome new SF outing by a British leader of the field.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Classifying this book as science fiction would seem to be against the Trade Descriptions act. It would seem to belong in a genre that has more to do with xenophobic old men's sexual fantasies. I had read and enjoyed all of Peter Hamilton's books up to this one. His usual story telling style was absent. No captivating threading of the story and no substance to the story by the way of clever science fiction props and setting. Right up to the end I kept hoping the story would get going but it just didn't. Very disappointing but I'll allow him this one based on past performance.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By P. Millar
Format:Paperback
Having reviewed and highly praised Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy for The Times (those are my quotes about 'interstellar overdrive' and 'recapturing the high ground for British scifi), I picked this up expecting more of the same. Instead, this is a simplistic plot with a predictable denouement and some trite generalisations about humanity, all as a thin disguise for a rant about Britain and the EU, and Hamilton's dearly-beloved Rutland. In short, it's not science fiction at all; in fact, it's barely fiction, and certainly not readable, unless you want a political pamphlet with a shabby story line. Disappointing. He might be better advised to give up writing and start a fringe political party.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By MR M L JONES
Format:Hardcover
Rarely have I been so let down by the new works of one of my favourite authors. This book fails on many levels: The characters are unbelievable and shallow. Our Hero, like previous Hamilton heros, is highly charged but lacks any of the humanity which the previous characters fell back on. The plot is thin, without any surprises or turns and it all leads to a dissapointing fanale.
Hamilton has been a fantastic SF writer - previoulsy his books have felt more like rock videos than films. But take away the excitement, guns and spaceships and youve just got the rich people having sex, which reads more like Jilly Cooper. I dunno, perhaps hes intentionally switching audiences - I certainly will be casting a more cynical eye over his next work before it reaches the checkout.
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
By Theriex
Format:Paperback
I'm just going to make this short to save you the trouble:
If you read the night's dawn trilogy and thought Mr Hamilton was a pretty good writer, I would strongly advise you to not read the utter waste of paper that "Misspent Youth" is...
It's shock full of sex-fueled-teenage-angst-soap-opera-isms and (regrettably) very short on actual content...
Plese, if you will, stay very, very far away from this travesty...
39 of 43 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This is one of the worst books I have read all the way through in a long time. In a perverse way that's a compliment to the author: it was only my faith in Peter F. Hamilton from my enjoyment of his previous books that kept me going.
I've read and enjoyed the rest of Peter F. Hamilton's output, starting with the epic space opera of the Night's Dawn trilogy and working back through the near-future Greg Mandel series. Most recently Hamilton returned to space opera with the excellent Fallen Dragon.
Misspent Youth is set around 40 years in the future. Septuagenarian Jeff Baker, inventor of the "Datasphere" which replaced the Internet, has been chosen as the first recipient of a rejuvenation treatment. The book tells the story of his return after an 18 month hospital stay as a newly-invigorated 20 year old.
An interesting premise, I suppose, though not exactly a novel one (I couldn't help remembering "I Will Fear No Evil" by Robert Heinlein). But that's about as far as it goes. Hamilton seems to have no clue how to take that theme and turn it into something interesting. We have a set of dull characters (Jeff himself, his teenage son Tim, a gaggle of Tim's schoolfriends and various of Jeff's friends and family) to which basically nothing happens. Nothing. For 439 pages. The tedium is indescribable.
All right, there is a bit of action. Jeff's newly-regenerated nadgers mean he's a sex-crazed teenager with the mind of a dirty old man. So the main suspense in the book is whether he'll be able to get two of Tim's girlfriends into bed at once. (I'll save you the trouble - he does). While there is apparently a lot of sex in this book, it's long on teenage wish-fulfilment and short on detail.
It is hard to feel sympathy or even interest in any of the characters in this book.... Read more ›
I've read and enjoyed the rest of Peter F. Hamilton's output, starting with the epic space opera of the Night's Dawn trilogy and working back through the near-future Greg Mandel series. Most recently Hamilton returned to space opera with the excellent Fallen Dragon.
Misspent Youth is set around 40 years in the future. Septuagenarian Jeff Baker, inventor of the "Datasphere" which replaced the Internet, has been chosen as the first recipient of a rejuvenation treatment. The book tells the story of his return after an 18 month hospital stay as a newly-invigorated 20 year old.
An interesting premise, I suppose, though not exactly a novel one (I couldn't help remembering "I Will Fear No Evil" by Robert Heinlein). But that's about as far as it goes. Hamilton seems to have no clue how to take that theme and turn it into something interesting. We have a set of dull characters (Jeff himself, his teenage son Tim, a gaggle of Tim's schoolfriends and various of Jeff's friends and family) to which basically nothing happens. Nothing. For 439 pages. The tedium is indescribable.
All right, there is a bit of action. Jeff's newly-regenerated nadgers mean he's a sex-crazed teenager with the mind of a dirty old man. So the main suspense in the book is whether he'll be able to get two of Tim's girlfriends into bed at once. (I'll save you the trouble - he does). While there is apparently a lot of sex in this book, it's long on teenage wish-fulfilment and short on detail.
It is hard to feel sympathy or even interest in any of the characters in this book.... Read more ›
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By R A E Mayhew
Format:Hardcover
In Misspent Youth Peter Hamilton tackles a potentially fascinating subject, and a likely possibility in the future, when introducing the rejuvenated Jeff Baker. Baker, a philanthropist who developed the 'datasphere' was chosen by an evolved EU as the first lucky recipient of this highly expensive rejuvenation technology.
After a period of time in treatment he emerges, a lean, handsome youth, with the wisdom of an 80 year old, plenty of money, the sex drive of an 18 year old and the inhibitions of a randy mongrel. The driving force behind the rejuvenation, for the EU, seems to be a desire to better the USA, rather than to provide a technological benefit to better the individual citizens of the EU. The futuristic, undemocratic and totalitarian EU comes in for much critisism.
The book does not challenge the moral aspects of the technology, however. European reasoning behind the rejuvenation is that as more people undergo the treatment, so the cost of treatment will decrease. How the EU plans to accommodate these people, for example, is not touched.
The political situation, in a book set within the lifetimes of most of us, (forty years hence) could have made this book. Instead the book seems to descend into a teenage mini soap, where their sex lives become the chief focus of the story, as does Jeff Baker seeming to become an eighteen year old alongside his 'genuine' eighteen year old son. There is plenty of casual sex, plenty of high jinx, and a little background information on a potentially explosive situation among a deeply unhappy citizenry across the country.
Alas, the initial promise of the book is not fulfilled, it simply teases the reader as the story unfolds.
... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not to his usual standard
Apart from the fact that I had already read this book under a different cover, I was dissapointed that it was about one persons journey through life (again) in a younger body and... Read more
Published 1 month ago by brad
5.0 out of 5 stars
Social Science fiction!
I didn't manage to lay this book down! It presentet event of to day's Europe and science, and took it into 2040. I will not tell of what it contained of plot's. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Arne Leonhardsen
1.0 out of 5 stars
I could not finish it. I did try. Really.
If this were a film it should have been consigned to the cutting room floor. To call this book SF contravenes the trades description act! Read more
Published 3 months ago by David Blake
4.0 out of 5 stars
This was first published in 2006 but roar those who have never read...
This was one of the first Peter Hamilton books I read and did enjoy. For fans of this author, this book will have been read by you all in past when first published
Published 3 months ago by James McVean
3.0 out of 5 stars
Misspent Youth
I enjoyed Misspent Youth. Having read the Nights Dawn books, Commonwealth Saga and Void trilogy I think it should be pointed out that this is not standard Hamilton. Read more
Published 3 months ago by GPickup
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good fun!
Having just started on Peter F Hamilton's books with the superb epic Great North Road, I picked this book up after reading so many outraged remarks about it! Read more
Published 5 months ago by DomTH
4.0 out of 5 stars
Why all the hate?
I'm baffled at the hate being directed at this novel.
It's loads different to the rest of the things Hamilton has written but that is by no means a bad thing. Read more
It's loads different to the rest of the things Hamilton has written but that is by no means a bad thing. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Dr. Dinosaur
1.0 out of 5 stars
Unrecognisable
The author of this book is unrecognisable as the Peter Hamilton who wrote the Night's Dawn Trilogy and so many other truly original and inventive books. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Typograf
4.0 out of 5 stars
Thought-provoking vision of the near future
As I've often stated I'm not that well-read on the SF side of speculative fiction. Not having a hard science bone in my body, made me think I wouldn't understand the science in... Read more
Published on 27 May 2011 by W.M.M. van der Salm-Pallada
1.0 out of 5 stars
By far his worst
A horrible book. The characters are all so loathsome that it is impossible to empathize with any of them. I couldn't actually finish reading it all. Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2011 by OxfordDon
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