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joe_thomas25's review against another edition
4.0
The Doors of Eden is a smart, slick sci-fi thriller exploring parallel worlds, evolution and human history in an unusual new way. The books start from the perspective of Lee and Amal, two Cryptid hunters who are dedicated to chronicling some of the world’s more unusual goings on. When they go to explore reports of ‘birdmen’ near a local spot stone circle called the Six Brothers, the pair are thrust into a tale beyond even their wild imaginations. What follows is an intricate, epic exploration of what the Earth could look like if the evolutionary scales had been tipped ever so slightly in another direction, and the varying ways that humanity would react to the knowledge that we’re not alone.
To many degrees, what I loved the most about this book was the exciting sense of exploration and discovery. The parallel worlds are all incredibly well formed and there’s just enough science involved for these to feel very authentic. My absolute highlights of the book were the entries, dotted throughout, describing other worlds, how they diverge from ours and the end result of each. I’d love a spin-off which just explores tons more of these parallel worlds.
Overall, this is a very thorough, well-paced read that fluctuates between clever world building and action-packed sequences to good effect. The characters are strong and largely well formed, though maybe a slight streamlining of the cast might have made it easier to invest in them more powerfully. Nonetheless, it’s very well crafted sci-fi combining great plot and adventure with a perfect veneer or science to make it all seem authentic. Highly recommended.
To many degrees, what I loved the most about this book was the exciting sense of exploration and discovery. The parallel worlds are all incredibly well formed and there’s just enough science involved for these to feel very authentic. My absolute highlights of the book were the entries, dotted throughout, describing other worlds, how they diverge from ours and the end result of each. I’d love a spin-off which just explores tons more of these parallel worlds.
Overall, this is a very thorough, well-paced read that fluctuates between clever world building and action-packed sequences to good effect. The characters are strong and largely well formed, though maybe a slight streamlining of the cast might have made it easier to invest in them more powerfully. Nonetheless, it’s very well crafted sci-fi combining great plot and adventure with a perfect veneer or science to make it all seem authentic. Highly recommended.
meshuggeknitter's review against another edition
3.0
3 1/2 stars. My biggest problem was with the Interlude sections- I didn’t find them that important to the story and the narrator’s “California” accent was really hard to listen to - attempt at a non-accent resulted in a mix of flat vowels and occasional Brooklyn accents. I ended up just skipping over these sections, I just could not listen to them. Otherwise the narrator was spot on and great.
sparkatito's review against another edition
3.75
Multiple earth timelines, technologically advanced neanderthals, dinisaur-bird men, lesbian cryptid hunters, trans scientist, evil billionaire. Somewhat convoluted, but still a good tale of how to join together to prevent the end of the universe.
bunrab's review against another edition
4.0
Evolution SF, like his Children of Time and Children of Ruin. Enjoyable, fascinating, but a bit too long - running through more scenarios than we needed in order to get the idea, because he had all these good ideas and couldn't resist throwing all of them in. 597 pages, so the print copy's a bit hefty to carry around to read on the bus or at Starbucks.
amir_hamza's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Transphobia, Cursing, Racism, and Homophobia
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Sexual content
hank's review against another edition
4.0
I am very pleased that I liked this book. This is my third Tchaikovsky book and sort of my first test to see if I like Tchaikovsky or if I just like his Children of Time series. Fortunately for me it was great. Perhaps not as great as Children of Time but still very good. Tchaikovsky returns again to his main theme of "What if..." In this case, instead of exploring if one or two species evolving intelligence along side or with the help of humans, he explores the idea of completely separate (until now) Earths with different evolution and paths to intelligence.
One of the things that drew me as a kid and still continues to fascinate is the idea of other worlds just waiting to be explored. Portal type fantasies have always been one way to do this but those never fully captured my sense of exploration. Getting in a space ship and traveling to a different planet with different "things" always hit my sweet spot. Doors of Eden is a compromise between those two that completely works for me. Like one of the characters in the book, Mal, I love the options in the novel and shuddered at the thought of being limited to only one and Tchaikovsky, as usual, does an awesome job of setting up believable and very different Earths.
Themes of sacrifice, bigotry, societal power structures all found their way into the narrative and made my mind wander off thinking about environmental impacts on societal structure and then thinking about why civilizations found in our Earth's temperate zone ended up being more successful and so on. Always a sign of a good book for me if it opens up doors of thought in my own head.
I rounded half a star down because I have been bugged about too obvious and bigoted antagonists lately, this one being exactly that without much dimension to his evil plots although I did like the mostly failed moral struggle of the henchman.
One of the things that drew me as a kid and still continues to fascinate is the idea of other worlds just waiting to be explored. Portal type fantasies have always been one way to do this but those never fully captured my sense of exploration. Getting in a space ship and traveling to a different planet with different "things" always hit my sweet spot. Doors of Eden is a compromise between those two that completely works for me. Like one of the characters in the book, Mal, I love the options in the novel and shuddered at the thought of being limited to only one and Tchaikovsky, as usual, does an awesome job of setting up believable and very different Earths.
Themes of sacrifice, bigotry, societal power structures all found their way into the narrative and made my mind wander off thinking about environmental impacts on societal structure and then thinking about why civilizations found in our Earth's temperate zone ended up being more successful and so on. Always a sign of a good book for me if it opens up doors of thought in my own head.
I rounded half a star down because I have been bugged about too obvious and bigoted antagonists lately, this one being exactly that without much dimension to his evil plots although I did like the mostly failed moral struggle of the henchman.
ammbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Innovative ET storyline. I enjoyed the tale once I got into the rhythm. Highly suggest you read this on a weekend when you won't have lots of interruptions. The back and forth between the main storyline and the professor's "lecture" can get confusing.
annakak's review against another edition
4.0
Interdimensional lesbians team up with space arthropods to save the world and defeat fascists? Yeah, I could be into that.
arachnichemist's review against another edition
4.0
This book has some of the more fascinating hard sci fi concepts I have read. The alternate evolution on earth were extremely well done and believable. The race to find a solution to the overarching crisis was a ton of fun and I loved the resolution. My main issue is how cartoony the primary antagonist was. Everyone else was so well done that this character really pulled me out of my immersion once his ultimate goal was revealed. Now, maybe this is some kind of satire character for UK politics and as an American I am missing it. Regardless, it knocked a full start off a book that could have otherwise been one of my all time great sci fi reads.