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theawkwardbookw's review against another edition
3.0
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7 teenagers, including Will Besting, have been sent to Fort Eden, an institution that is supposed to cure them of their crippling phobias. When Will escapes when they arrive, he hides in a bunker covered in monitors that show the entire camp. Using these monitors, he is able to watch the 6 other teens go through their ' fear rooms' and come out cured of their phobias. The only thing is, they are now all experiencing weird pains and symptoms after they've been cured. Something isn't right and Will is determined to find out what it is.
The book is told from Will's perspective, which was a nice change from the typical female POV in most YA books. The book is said to be a psychological thriller, but I didn't find it that thrilling or interesting until the last 100 pages or so when the plot twists came into effect. I found it to be rather boring learning about the 6 other teenagers and their fears. The way the big revelations were revealed only at the end of the book instead of through out the story bothered me, I felt a bit cheated to be honest. There was minimal character and plot development. The artwork in the book was a pretty cool twist though!
There's a website (http://enterdarkeden.com/ ) associated with the book which was interesting to look at after I read the book. It includes little videos and audio files that really help you envision the story and camp more.
7 teenagers, including Will Besting, have been sent to Fort Eden, an institution that is supposed to cure them of their crippling phobias. When Will escapes when they arrive, he hides in a bunker covered in monitors that show the entire camp. Using these monitors, he is able to watch the 6 other teens go through their ' fear rooms' and come out cured of their phobias. The only thing is, they are now all experiencing weird pains and symptoms after they've been cured. Something isn't right and Will is determined to find out what it is.
The book is told from Will's perspective, which was a nice change from the typical female POV in most YA books. The book is said to be a psychological thriller, but I didn't find it that thrilling or interesting until the last 100 pages or so when the plot twists came into effect. I found it to be rather boring learning about the 6 other teenagers and their fears. The way the big revelations were revealed only at the end of the book instead of through out the story bothered me, I felt a bit cheated to be honest. There was minimal character and plot development. The artwork in the book was a pretty cool twist though!
There's a website (http://enterdarkeden.com/ ) associated with the book which was interesting to look at after I read the book. It includes little videos and audio files that really help you envision the story and camp more.
xterminal's review against another edition
4.0
Patrick Carman, Dark Eden (Katherine Tegen Books, 2011)
Full disclosure: this book was provided to me free of charge by Amazon Vine.
I have a tendency to flip through books and check number of pages (for the spreadsheet), number of chapters, that sort of thing. This is a mistake with Dark Eden, for the structure of the book changes in the last few chapters, and doing so will give part of the game away as soon as you see them. That said, after catching a few snatches of the text from the back of the book early on, I thought I knew where this book was going, and was very pleasantly surprised to find out I was wrong on that (though the way it DOES end up going is far more conventional in today's teen lit, it's still more satisfying given that way Carman sets it up). But I'm getting ahead of myself. Instead, I should be wailing about the jacket copy, at least the jacket copy on the ARC I got from Vine, which positions the book less as a book to be valued in itself, but as an accessory to go along with online content. I almost threw it against the wall at that point. I'm glad I didn't, but man, that still rankles.
In any case, the plot: seven fifteen-year-old kids, all of whom have been in therapy most of their lives for a deep-seated phobia of some form or other, are recommended by their psychiatrist to go to Fort Eden, a sort of phobia boot-camp out in the middle of nowhere, for a week for more intensive treatment than the psychiatrist can give in the office. (While I don't think it's ever specified, I got the idea that the psychiarist's office is in New York City, and Fort Eden itself is somewhere east of Oneonta, NY. Or maybe southeast.) Fort Eden is run by her mentor, a psychiatrist of great renown but unconventional technique. And if HE can't cure you, she tells her charges, you're not curable. We know all this because Will, one of the seven, has a thing for technology, and a thing for petty thievery, so he lifts all the audio files of the Fort Eden kids from his shrink's computer and knows pretty much everything there is to know about them (save the phobia of one Avery Varone, a quiet girl who refuses in no uncertain terms to discuss what, exactly, she's afraid of). All well and good, you think, but what's Carman going to do to keep the first-person-narrator-with-third-person-omniscience gig going when they get to camp? It's an inventive setup, probably my favorite thing about the book, and when Carman ties it... I'm getting ahead of myself again, AND that would be a major spoiler.
I finished this two weeks ago, give or take, and at the time I gave it three stars (above average, though nothing special). But the longer I let the book sit with me, the more I get where some of the seemingly smaller pieces fit in (and one of them gets automatic points; any YA novelist who even mentions Kobo Abe's Woman in the Dunes, much less takes some central tenets from it, is probably worth reading), and as a result, the more I like it. I'm not going to argue that there aren't some really cheesy moments, or that Will's voice can get annoying at times, or that there are places where the book seems like a commercial for Clif bars. And I'm still outraged by the whole “this is an accessory” gig; a book should stand on its own, and any “online content” or what have you should be the accessory (and it certainly shouldn't be a major selling point, as the marketing strategy here promises it would be). But it's a good thriller with a few sci-fi elements here and there that don't distract with blinding science (one could almost pass them off as magical-realism elements instead), engaging characters, and a sense of plot that's finely-honed indeed. I liked this one a good deal. *** ½
Full disclosure: this book was provided to me free of charge by Amazon Vine.
I have a tendency to flip through books and check number of pages (for the spreadsheet), number of chapters, that sort of thing. This is a mistake with Dark Eden, for the structure of the book changes in the last few chapters, and doing so will give part of the game away as soon as you see them. That said, after catching a few snatches of the text from the back of the book early on, I thought I knew where this book was going, and was very pleasantly surprised to find out I was wrong on that (though the way it DOES end up going is far more conventional in today's teen lit, it's still more satisfying given that way Carman sets it up). But I'm getting ahead of myself. Instead, I should be wailing about the jacket copy, at least the jacket copy on the ARC I got from Vine, which positions the book less as a book to be valued in itself, but as an accessory to go along with online content. I almost threw it against the wall at that point. I'm glad I didn't, but man, that still rankles.
In any case, the plot: seven fifteen-year-old kids, all of whom have been in therapy most of their lives for a deep-seated phobia of some form or other, are recommended by their psychiatrist to go to Fort Eden, a sort of phobia boot-camp out in the middle of nowhere, for a week for more intensive treatment than the psychiatrist can give in the office. (While I don't think it's ever specified, I got the idea that the psychiarist's office is in New York City, and Fort Eden itself is somewhere east of Oneonta, NY. Or maybe southeast.) Fort Eden is run by her mentor, a psychiatrist of great renown but unconventional technique. And if HE can't cure you, she tells her charges, you're not curable. We know all this because Will, one of the seven, has a thing for technology, and a thing for petty thievery, so he lifts all the audio files of the Fort Eden kids from his shrink's computer and knows pretty much everything there is to know about them (save the phobia of one Avery Varone, a quiet girl who refuses in no uncertain terms to discuss what, exactly, she's afraid of). All well and good, you think, but what's Carman going to do to keep the first-person-narrator-with-third-person-omniscience gig going when they get to camp? It's an inventive setup, probably my favorite thing about the book, and when Carman ties it... I'm getting ahead of myself again, AND that would be a major spoiler.
I finished this two weeks ago, give or take, and at the time I gave it three stars (above average, though nothing special). But the longer I let the book sit with me, the more I get where some of the seemingly smaller pieces fit in (and one of them gets automatic points; any YA novelist who even mentions Kobo Abe's Woman in the Dunes, much less takes some central tenets from it, is probably worth reading), and as a result, the more I like it. I'm not going to argue that there aren't some really cheesy moments, or that Will's voice can get annoying at times, or that there are places where the book seems like a commercial for Clif bars. And I'm still outraged by the whole “this is an accessory” gig; a book should stand on its own, and any “online content” or what have you should be the accessory (and it certainly shouldn't be a major selling point, as the marketing strategy here promises it would be). But it's a good thriller with a few sci-fi elements here and there that don't distract with blinding science (one could almost pass them off as magical-realism elements instead), engaging characters, and a sense of plot that's finely-honed indeed. I liked this one a good deal. *** ½
hollowspine's review against another edition
3.0
Dark Eden, the name implies a paradise, but a shadowed one. I was drawn to the concept of children being sent off to the mysterious Fort Eden, deep in the forest, where, as they say, no one can hear you scream. I will try not to reveal any of the books secrets, though in part they are what most baffles me about this story.
The book was not lacking in atmospheric detail, it had almost an edge of your seat level of suspense at some points. The descriptions of Fort Eden, the rooms and the equipment were well done. I enjoyed the way Carman separated our narrator from the group as the outsider, a voyeur like the reader themselves. I had a hard time accepting the twist on the story however. I felt disappointed in the set up, not to say that I didn't see it coming. Because I did. I kept hoping that the story would not take that pathway, so well used and dull.
However, the mystery once solved was not what I was expecting at all. So although some of the twists were a bit foreseeable, the ending was for me at least, unexpected. The final twist so bizarre that I would never have thought of it.
The book was not lacking in atmospheric detail, it had almost an edge of your seat level of suspense at some points. The descriptions of Fort Eden, the rooms and the equipment were well done. I enjoyed the way Carman separated our narrator from the group as the outsider, a voyeur like the reader themselves. I had a hard time accepting the twist on the story however. I felt disappointed in the set up, not to say that I didn't see it coming. Because I did. I kept hoping that the story would not take that pathway, so well used and dull.
However, the mystery once solved was not what I was expecting at all. So although some of the twists were a bit foreseeable, the ending was for me at least, unexpected. The final twist so bizarre that I would never have thought of it.
upsidedown10's review against another edition
4.0
What a good book! It was a really good psychological thriller that kept me guessing and surprised me several times. I liked that the readers didn't know everything the narrator knew. When they switched sections, I was expecting to switch narrators, but it stayed with Will the entire time. I was tempted to flip through the book and see what everyone's fear was, but I managed not to because that was part of the joy of reading this book.
I loved this book as a stand-alone novel, so I'm not sure if I will read the second.
I loved this book as a stand-alone novel, so I'm not sure if I will read the second.
dailyjulianne's review against another edition
So...this was a book.
I'm gonna put a massive disclaimer on this book: This isn't my kind of book. This isn't what I read normally. Obviously, I'm biased.
I felt no real connection to the characters. They weren't necessarily bad characters, though they could be a little irritating, they were pretty well done. Each had their own personality, but I just never felt connected. The whole book seemed like it was about Will and the girl he likes. And even then, I just never had any connection with them.
The story was an interesting concept, but it didn't interest me the way it probably interests other people. The writing and the story idea kept me reading, but I was never really into it as much as I wanted to be.
The ending came along and it was...fascinating? Weird? Creepy? I'm still not really sure how I felt about that ending. I think even if you love this book, you could hate the ending or vice versa. For me, it was just another weird event in the book. Weird things happen often, so there you go.
This book messed with my head a little bit and it was a great idea. It just wasn't a great idea for me and the characters and I never really connected. But some of you guys could really love this book!
I'm gonna put a massive disclaimer on this book: This isn't my kind of book. This isn't what I read normally. Obviously, I'm biased.
I felt no real connection to the characters. They weren't necessarily bad characters, though they could be a little irritating, they were pretty well done. Each had their own personality, but I just never felt connected. The whole book seemed like it was about Will and the girl he likes. And even then, I just never had any connection with them.
The story was an interesting concept, but it didn't interest me the way it probably interests other people. The writing and the story idea kept me reading, but I was never really into it as much as I wanted to be.
The ending came along and it was...fascinating? Weird? Creepy? I'm still not really sure how I felt about that ending. I think even if you love this book, you could hate the ending or vice versa. For me, it was just another weird event in the book. Weird things happen often, so there you go.
This book messed with my head a little bit and it was a great idea. It just wasn't a great idea for me and the characters and I never really connected. But some of you guys could really love this book!
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