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neens_m's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest
Moderate: Sexual content and Sexual assault
Minor: Murder and Domestic abuse
octobyte's review against another edition
1.0
I'm so terribly disappointed in this book. I read the summary and was so excited about the idea of this book that the reality of it left me heart broken and with a bad taste in my mouth that I just couldn't finish it.
I listen to books on audio format. So with that in mind, the child like language this stranded group of humans that are several generations later from the original crew was distracting to say the least. I get what the author was going for, but repeating worlds to emphasize their meaning is just annoying and I don't see this as a plausible possibility. Think Lord of the Flies but grandparent age to children. If something is really cold, you use a different word, like freezing not "cold cold".
That part I could have over looked. I get it...you are trying to show a distinct language growing out of an ostracized group of humans, I don't agree with how you are doing it, but I get it. What killed the book for me was the complete obsession with sex (or slip). I understand sex is a big part of western culture, but I'm not a fan of it being one of the main points and constant thoughts of the characters...all the characters. This one think of I Am Legand, the book, not the movie. I want my books to have substance. If you want to put sex with substance, fine. If you want to make a character or two obsessed with sex, fine. But in the 5 chapters I listened to every character (boy, girl, young, old) obsessed over sex and bragged about it to each other...even an old blind man who's only memory of someone's grandmother he felt like talking about was the sex she gave him and how good it was.
Maybe it gets better, hell there are three books in the series already, but I just couldn't anymore. Sorry.
I listen to books on audio format. So with that in mind, the child like language this stranded group of humans that are several generations later from the original crew was distracting to say the least. I get what the author was going for, but repeating worlds to emphasize their meaning is just annoying and I don't see this as a plausible possibility. Think Lord of the Flies but grandparent age to children. If something is really cold, you use a different word, like freezing not "cold cold".
That part I could have over looked. I get it...you are trying to show a distinct language growing out of an ostracized group of humans, I don't agree with how you are doing it, but I get it. What killed the book for me was the complete obsession with sex (or slip). I understand sex is a big part of western culture, but I'm not a fan of it being one of the main points and constant thoughts of the characters...all the characters. This one think of I Am Legand, the book, not the movie. I want my books to have substance. If you want to put sex with substance, fine. If you want to make a character or two obsessed with sex, fine. But in the 5 chapters I listened to every character (boy, girl, young, old) obsessed over sex and bragged about it to each other...even an old blind man who's only memory of someone's grandmother he felt like talking about was the sex she gave him and how good it was.
Maybe it gets better, hell there are three books in the series already, but I just couldn't anymore. Sorry.
michalice's review against another edition
4.0
First of all I want to say a HUGE thank you to Midas PR for giving me the chance to review this book via Audible.
Thank you's over, now its time to see what I thought. I had not heard of Dark Eden, so when I was asked If I would be interested in reviewing it I did a bit of research before saying yes. The book sounded very interesting, and although the cover isn't bright and colourful, it definitely caught my eye. I quickly replied with a 'yes' and had the wait of a few days before I was able to download it. Listening to Dark Eden took longer than what I expected, first with real life issues, and then that fact that it was so long, 13 hours and 20 minutes.
I love audiobooks and listen to them every chance I get, going to work, doing paperwork, cleaning, cooking, and going to sleep. One thing that first caught my attention when I began Dark Eden were the accents by the narrators, I am English yet the voice of Oliver sounds so much more English than mine it was far too easy to fall under its spell. Listening to audiobooks isn't for everyone, but for me to enjoy it I need to find the narrator interesting and captivating, even the best audiobook doesn't stand a chance if I find the narrator boring or droning, and Oliver and Jessica managed to do just that.
Dark Eden is told in multiple points of view from members of family and Johns group so we get to see how individuals feel about what is happening but also get alternating chapters from the narrators which helps to keep you focused if their voices didn't already draw you in..
I love how the author, Chris Beckett, has made this world and although there are a few 'earth' thing in it, a lot of the words and passages of time are 'family' words, waking is a day, they measure time by womb time and only oldies use years. Lets take a closer look at family. Family is the group name of all the people who live together on Eden, but there are also different communities, Spiketree, Redlantern, Batmouth, London, Brooklyn etc. Each community does different things for example red lantern group harvest the red lantern trees getting sap from them and they all have their own waking times, and sleeping times. Family is a happy place for people to live but soon it starts to break, John, no longer happy with being stuck where they are, unable to move or unable to explore starts to retaliate. Speaking out in meetings when he shouldn't, moving stones from Circle , the place where the first people, Angela, Tommy, and the three companions landed on Eden, and where family look after the stones in the hopes that someone from earth will return and take them to earth. This eventually leads to his banishment from Family.
The unrest from John begins slowly at first, with hints and thoughts from him, but even when he has it in his mind what he wants to do it takes nearly all the first part of the audiobook to do something, and then once its done things seem to progress quickly, he ends up with lots of people joining him and going out further to explore. The first half of Dark Eden seemed repetitive, with the same history and story being told to us, but as soon as John leaves I found myself really enjoying Dark Eden and wanting to know what would happen to this small group that followed John, how could they survive in Eden without Family.
Listening to Dark Eden ;and seeing how they have learnt to survive, the clothes they wear and the methods they follow in order to survive, and even though the characters don't sound particular smart, you have to admire them for still being alive. When I began learning about their history I had to stop and think about the book, the people of family all came from a small group of people, and the babies that are being born are from parents that are also related too, and while I thought this was definitely strange and a bit freaky, when you look at why they do it, to survive and keep family alive, it's kind of easy to shrug that bit of detail off, come on how else would people still be on Eden hundreds of years later when only a few people stayed.
The twists and turns in the plot ensured I never knew what was going to happen next and I found myself turning it on again for another half an hour after it had switched off to find out what happens, as my iPod had a knack for stopping at the most nerve wracking times. The ending had me saying WTF out loud, which is a good thing that I was home and not on the bus. I was disappointed with the ending but once I found out another book was in the works, Gela's Ring, I felt slightly better about it.
Dark Eden is a captivating story and I will definitely be keeping my eye open to learn about what happened next.
Thank you's over, now its time to see what I thought. I had not heard of Dark Eden, so when I was asked If I would be interested in reviewing it I did a bit of research before saying yes. The book sounded very interesting, and although the cover isn't bright and colourful, it definitely caught my eye. I quickly replied with a 'yes' and had the wait of a few days before I was able to download it. Listening to Dark Eden took longer than what I expected, first with real life issues, and then that fact that it was so long, 13 hours and 20 minutes.
I love audiobooks and listen to them every chance I get, going to work, doing paperwork, cleaning, cooking, and going to sleep. One thing that first caught my attention when I began Dark Eden were the accents by the narrators, I am English yet the voice of Oliver sounds so much more English than mine it was far too easy to fall under its spell. Listening to audiobooks isn't for everyone, but for me to enjoy it I need to find the narrator interesting and captivating, even the best audiobook doesn't stand a chance if I find the narrator boring or droning, and Oliver and Jessica managed to do just that.
Dark Eden is told in multiple points of view from members of family and Johns group so we get to see how individuals feel about what is happening but also get alternating chapters from the narrators which helps to keep you focused if their voices didn't already draw you in..
I love how the author, Chris Beckett, has made this world and although there are a few 'earth' thing in it, a lot of the words and passages of time are 'family' words, waking is a day, they measure time by womb time and only oldies use years. Lets take a closer look at family. Family is the group name of all the people who live together on Eden, but there are also different communities, Spiketree, Redlantern, Batmouth, London, Brooklyn etc. Each community does different things for example red lantern group harvest the red lantern trees getting sap from them and they all have their own waking times, and sleeping times. Family is a happy place for people to live but soon it starts to break, John, no longer happy with being stuck where they are, unable to move or unable to explore starts to retaliate. Speaking out in meetings when he shouldn't, moving stones from Circle , the place where the first people, Angela, Tommy, and the three companions landed on Eden, and where family look after the stones in the hopes that someone from earth will return and take them to earth. This eventually leads to his banishment from Family.
The unrest from John begins slowly at first, with hints and thoughts from him, but even when he has it in his mind what he wants to do it takes nearly all the first part of the audiobook to do something, and then once its done things seem to progress quickly, he ends up with lots of people joining him and going out further to explore. The first half of Dark Eden seemed repetitive, with the same history and story being told to us, but as soon as John leaves I found myself really enjoying Dark Eden and wanting to know what would happen to this small group that followed John, how could they survive in Eden without Family.
Listening to Dark Eden ;and seeing how they have learnt to survive, the clothes they wear and the methods they follow in order to survive, and even though the characters don't sound particular smart, you have to admire them for still being alive. When I began learning about their history I had to stop and think about the book, the people of family all came from a small group of people, and the babies that are being born are from parents that are also related too, and while I thought this was definitely strange and a bit freaky, when you look at why they do it, to survive and keep family alive, it's kind of easy to shrug that bit of detail off, come on how else would people still be on Eden hundreds of years later when only a few people stayed.
The twists and turns in the plot ensured I never knew what was going to happen next and I found myself turning it on again for another half an hour after it had switched off to find out what happens, as my iPod had a knack for stopping at the most nerve wracking times. The ending had me saying WTF out loud, which is a good thing that I was home and not on the bus. I was disappointed with the ending but once I found out another book was in the works, Gela's Ring, I felt slightly better about it.
Dark Eden is a captivating story and I will definitely be keeping my eye open to learn about what happened next.
bl0ndekitten's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
beastreader's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to love, love this book but in reality, it was more that I liked this book. None of the characters really popped and I grew a connection with. Well other than maybe John and Tina. Everyone else in this story was bland. I can not really remember anything interesting about them. Lucky for me it was not about the characters but about the world that John and the rest of the people lived in. I could picture the world as if I was one of them. Just waiting until the people from Earth came back for me. I liked that John questioned the norm but I wished that he had a louder voice. I thought that he moved slowly in his actions and not just because he was thinking them out fully. Warning for a younger audience as there is some description about sex between the younger men and the older women that might not be suitable for this crowd. Nothing too graphic and luckily the scene was short. However I did not like how casual the sex was and felt it was not even needed for the story. Not a lot of action, just a lot of talk and world building. The ending is alright. It is supposed to leave you waiting to read the next book in this series. Dark Eden is a nice read.
literarylover37's review against another edition
4.0
The concept of this book was very unique and the story moved along quickly. I liked how all of the characters were multi-layered. Through the various characters perspectives (which were well handled) you got to see each of their feelings on the other which helped you understand each character better and both like and dislike some characters. It felt like these characters were fully fleshed out and as if the author had been very intentional about each character's motivations. There were a few points when the story started to drag but for the most part I felt like Beckett did an excellent job world building. I will be reading the sequel.
tisreece's review against another edition
3.0
I have to say this one took a while to get into. The writing is done in a way that might reflect the mind of a tribal person which is a really great writing style but it does take a while to get up to speed, especially when combined with learning the names of places and animals on their planet.
I also felt as though the main character would have been a tad better if he was a bit older rather than a 15 year old because his characteristics felt a bit disjointed. On the one hand he was incredibly smart and able to foresee problems ahead but on the other he would be incredibly hot headed and immature. In fact, many of the other characters felt the same way, such as Tina who would often want John to open up and then shut him down whenever he did. It made many of the characters difficult to like.
The worldbuilding however is really good, and starting a world from Adam/Eve style characters, the issues of genetic illnesses from inbreeding and the formation of essentially a religion around space age human relics is something I've not seen in a book before and is really intriguing. Despite the fact I gave this book a solid middle-of-the-road, average rating, I will probably purchase and read the next books in the series as I'm interested in the planet and how this group will explore and relearn things about the old society - but I'm not so interested in the characters themselves.
I also felt as though the main character would have been a tad better if he was a bit older rather than a 15 year old because his characteristics felt a bit disjointed. On the one hand he was incredibly smart and able to foresee problems ahead but on the other he would be incredibly hot headed and immature. In fact, many of the other characters felt the same way, such as Tina who would often want John to open up and then shut him down whenever he did. It made many of the characters difficult to like.
Spoiler
The story also did not seem to go anywhere, the blurb seemed to indicate a truth to the planet but the truth was simply that there was more out there than just one place, which was pretty obvious to start with from the reader's perspective. There was no big revelation for the reader at all, at least for this book.The worldbuilding however is really good, and starting a world from Adam/Eve style characters, the issues of genetic illnesses from inbreeding and the formation of essentially a religion around space age human relics is something I've not seen in a book before and is really intriguing. Despite the fact I gave this book a solid middle-of-the-road, average rating, I will probably purchase and read the next books in the series as I'm interested in the planet and how this group will explore and relearn things about the old society - but I'm not so interested in the characters themselves.
lk17's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0