Peter Hamilton but with a difference...

Peter Hamilton is the master of exploring the impact deferent technologies would have on a world, looking at every aspect and facet from the functional to the social political and economical, it's one of the reasons his world building is so exceptional and creates such believable universes.

This book is a tighter focused work on the introduction of just one piece of technology (Rejuvenation) and its impact on individual people and the society as a whole. It does an excellent job of exploring the social difficulties this introduces and some of the moral dilemmas it causes.

This book feels like Peter Hamilton is exploring a slightly different writing style, and a different kind of story telling. With such a tight focus this book doesn't have the epic scale that you might be used to from a Peter Hamilton book or the widespread science fiction elements.

As a prequel book to the Commonwealth Saga it unfortunately falls short of it's potential to give us an interesting insight into what the main character from the original books were doing at this early point in the Commonwealths history. Some of the characters do appear but this book for the most part feels like a standalone story that could just as easily not be set in the Commonwealth universe.

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Not his best

I love Peter F. Hamilton and have read and thoroughly enjoyed all of his books, this one not so much. I read it when it first come out and thought I would give it another go. It is an overblown story of a extremely intelligent but very silly self centered man who after rejuvenation goes on a screw fest. At the end it sinks into sentimentality. I think it might have been good as a (very) short story.
Other than the rejuvenation aspect there is no science fiction in it, much more of a bum-wincing soap opera.
On the audible web sight it is coming up as part of the Commonwealth Saga but it is not, it's a stand alone book.

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Peters erotics fantasies

His books always have a bit grot in them but this was just unbearable. Be better as a script for some cos play porn site.

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A Little Obsessed

I have to say that I love the commonwealth saga books but I found this a bit too obsessed with sex. The story is good and the characters interesting but I felt that it could have been a short story rather than a full novel because there was a lot of padding, in my opinion.

The main thing that might make some people uncomfortable is that it is quite sexist in places. Peter F Hamilton never has shyed away from see in any of his books but for the most part they don't objectify one sex over the other. This story is a bit over balanced in that request.

The narrator is good and easy to listen to but he's no Toby Longworth or John Lee.

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Very disappointed! Don't bother, trust me!

This prequel is very, very disappointing! From chapter 1 to chapter 45 the ONLY thing that happens is the inventor of the memory crystal, that will allow the Unisphere and SI to exist, is the first human to receive rejuvenation. He then steals his son's 18-year-old girlfriend. That is IT!! Until chapter 45 the ONLY thing that happens is rejuvenation and stealing his son's girl. Nothing more, honestly!! It is a poorly written soft-porn travesty. I want my time back and my money back! This book adds nothing to the well-written Commonwealth Saga and Hamilton should not have wasted his time writing it, and you should not waste your time listening to it. It is no wonder John Lee didn't narrate it; he would have been embarrassed to read what is just a badly written pornographic, steaming pile of poo, and I'm being kind describing it as that.

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So glad I read The Commonwealth Saga first

As this review title states, I really am so glad that I read The Commonwealth Saga before this; had I read/listened to this first, I never would have continued with any of Peter F. Hamilton's other stories. As it stands, I'll avoid any standalone books from here on out, but I hope the next series that I read of his brings the amazing story-telling ability that I saw back in the first two Commonwealth storylines back; this story was 95% sex, and concludes with a disappointing ending (in my opinion).

I did enjoy the narrator's performance, though the sound itself fluctuates in the extreme throughout (from very, very quiet to very loud due to having to turn the volume up just to hear the quiet parts). Overall rating 3 out of 5.

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kind of just meanders along.

decent story but doesn't really go anywhere. doesn't setup the rest of the commonwealth story arc, doesn't really tell much of a story that has any impact further than this book. the character narrative happens a little easy and despite everything that happens people just accept each thing that's said, no debate, no push back, it just happens. also got predictable from about half way through.

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Poor Narrator

Probably not Peters best book and the narrator totally killed it for me... Gave up half way through. If you want to give Peter Hamilton a fair go I would suggest Great North Road

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Do not get your hopes up

I had read numerous reviews of this novel beforehand, with many of them unfavourable, so I really wanted to buck this trend, enjoy the story and write a great review.

The theme of the novel is essentially bodily rejuvenation, a technological advance similar in scale to the first Industrial Revolution. A leap forward so awe inspiring and far reaching in its possibilities, that it begins to recreate human society in a very different image and, in this case, a narcissistic one.

Much has been made of the morbid fascination contained within this story of younger women's bodies being desired by much older (powerful) men. But I find this criticism unjustified with these sordid themes better assessed as the figurative obsession media and society has with the pursuit of youthfulness generally, and the unending sacrifice made willingly to achieve this. You are supposed to be repulsed by it and to dislike the people involved - that is the whole point.

Hamilton stays focussed on the societal impact of rejuvenation above the science, and fashions his analysis with an exposition of a troubled father(rejuvenated)-and-son relationship characterised by their lust for the same girlfriend. Potentially top-drawer stuff, but its execution feels disappointingly lightweight, further underlined by the silly voices the narrator gives to the characters. It deserved a fuller treatment than this.

There is some interesting narrative detailing events as they unfolded during the twenty-first century which felt oddly satisfying, giving the story added credibility. The sprawling European Union features throughout, an amoral political system largely bereft of moral compass and benefiting a corrupt and undeserving elite intent on maintaining their own power and regulating the lives of the masses ranged below them, not dissimilar to the hostile alien species encountered in later Commonwealth novels. However, this critique is not particularly absorbing and carries with it an undercurrent of sniping and point-scoring.

Did I enjoy Misspent Youth? It is not one of Hamilton's best, but it what it is and worth a read if you are a fan of the Commonwealth saga, if only for completeness. Just don't get your hopes up. My advice - read Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained first, otherwise you may never read them at all.

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Weak

I loved the commonwealth saga but this book was really a waste of time. Cheesy sex obsessed plot and thin story. The narrator was badly chosen too, sounded far too stuff for the material. Was glad to get it over with.

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