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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
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
theaurochs's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting book- compellingly written, with a lot of rumination going on under the surface. But that surface, and the barely hidden shallows, feel like incredible familiar waters in lots of ways. The plot is straight out of golden-era sci-fi planetary romance; a small group of astronauts find themselves stranded on a strange new world, and must fight for survival amongst the bizarre ecology. The twist on that tale here is not even fresh; it is Joanna Russ’s nightmare, the exact thing that Russ was railing against in the fantastic We Who Are About To… The male astronauts being intent on the long-term survivability of the human race decide to colonise the planet, for which you need women, willing or otherwise.
Some 150 years later, we find ourselves with the Family on the planet of Eden. Eden is a wonderland of a planet; far from any star, light is provided by bioluminescent trees and animals, all of which have unique and interesting biologies. Our new Adam and Eve were ‘successful’ in creating a large family, with over three hundred souls now gathered around the landing site of the old descent vehicle. They have grown up with half-remembered stories of distant Earth, a place with sunlight and technology and easy living, and a half-believed promise that one day another ship will come from across the stars to take them home. The grip of this history is lesser on the new generation, who see more clearly some of the issues facing the Family, and how strict adherence to a semi-mythical promise might be damaging them. This conflict between the tradition and the needs of the people is a large driver of the plot and provides a lot of the ideological conflict in the book.
The expression of these ideological conflicts is strictly limited by the writing style and choice of protagonists. Having grown up in an essentially tribal society, our characters have half-remembered English which leads to lots of simplistic phrasing and tortured misheard words repeated ad nauseum throughout the book. We are then treated to first-person narration from these characters, complete with garbled idioms and childish language. This is an interesting stylistic choice, but ultimately reading along with it constantly feels tiresome; any charm it may have had wears off quickly. Worse, it means that we can’t have any real investigation of the interesting phenomena on Eden, as our characters quite literally do not possess the vocabulary to talk about it. Similarly with their feelings or with the larger disputes that come up, our childish and ‘innocent’ characters in their literal garden of Eden have no context for how to deal with these things. There are also some really awkward choices with the mangled language- you could have any number of options but choosing to render “Jews” as “Juice” feels edgy and in distinctly bad taste. I’m honestly shocked that an editor didn’t flag this as something to be removed, as it really isn’t necessary and could be replaced with pretty much anything.
The viewpoints also suffer from not being hugely well-rounded characters. The clear main character is John, a member of the fifth generation. Half of the narration from non-John characters is just recounting their opinions about John, what John is doing and how that made them feel. They have little to no agency of their own, and you have to wonder why we didn’t just stick to telling the story from John’s POV the whole time. John is the catalyst for a breakaway from the Family, disregarding the older traditions and family units for a harsh trek across the wilderness. It’s a classic setup for a sci-fi adventure, and we do get some elements of that as the book progresses.
Primarily though the book is interested in the sociological developments- in a large part this frustrates me again that it was written with such a limiting point of view. The parallels between John’s deviation from tradition and that of other members of the family is an interesting nugget and could have been expanded upon a lot more with some more thought. There is a deep philosophical engagement to this book, even if I don’t love the philosophy behind it. In the extreme case it seems to be arguing that rape is acceptable, and in fact a Darwinian necessity- justified by the need to maintain the species. But why, and to what end? Condemning countless generations to lives of hardship and want; are those lives worth it for the small glimpses of happiness they might be able to find, or for the human connections that they might be able to forge, or for any other reason? It’s fundamental stuff, and Beckett produces some interesting if not entirely original takes on these ideas through the course of the novel. The other, related idea is that of legacy; what makes a life worth living and a death meaningful? Beckett’s answer, at least as presented in this book, seems to be to enable continuation of a story. As long as there are those who will follow after you and can tell your story, everything is justifiable. We then get to see how different characters pursue the goal of immortality through the creation of legacy.
As the book draws to a close, it becomes clear that the story we’re actually being told is one of these legacies- that of the original astronauts, told through the warped and filtered lens of their descendants. It is telling that the tale ends when it does; not a conclusive ending for John or the Family, but shortly after the remains of the original astronauts are found, allowing them to be laid to rest, the ending of their story finally known.
In another flashback to classic sci-fi, there is a deep undercurrent of misogyny in this book. A lot of it can be explained away by the survival imperative, but this doesn’t make it any less unpleasant to read; especially as the book progresses and the changes in society show a reduction in the autonomy and power of women. It’s also ridiculously horny. You’re lucky if you get a few pages without mention of sex or anatomy; again this is all presented from the viewpoints of our childish (or in some cases actual child) characters, making the whole thing a little unpleasant.
Ultimately it does what good sci-fi should do, and gives you material to think about our world through a slightly different lens. It is shackled by stylistic choices which don’t really pay off, and hindered by sticking to conversation points that I really thought we’d moved past about 50 years ago. It touches on some interesting and deeper themes, and does manage to have interesting things to say about them but still has a feeling of ick about the whole thing. I often comment that I won’t buy books with Daily Mail quotes on the cover; which this book has. While it is less explicitly pedagogical, it is easy to see what agenda the Daily Mail might be pushing by recommending such a book. Fear and division abounds; tradition is king, women are marginalised as much as possible, and there’s some weird sexualisation going on. A great book as a talking point, less great to actually read.
Some 150 years later, we find ourselves with the Family on the planet of Eden. Eden is a wonderland of a planet; far from any star, light is provided by bioluminescent trees and animals, all of which have unique and interesting biologies. Our new Adam and Eve were ‘successful’ in creating a large family, with over three hundred souls now gathered around the landing site of the old descent vehicle. They have grown up with half-remembered stories of distant Earth, a place with sunlight and technology and easy living, and a half-believed promise that one day another ship will come from across the stars to take them home. The grip of this history is lesser on the new generation, who see more clearly some of the issues facing the Family, and how strict adherence to a semi-mythical promise might be damaging them. This conflict between the tradition and the needs of the people is a large driver of the plot and provides a lot of the ideological conflict in the book.
The expression of these ideological conflicts is strictly limited by the writing style and choice of protagonists. Having grown up in an essentially tribal society, our characters have half-remembered English which leads to lots of simplistic phrasing and tortured misheard words repeated ad nauseum throughout the book. We are then treated to first-person narration from these characters, complete with garbled idioms and childish language. This is an interesting stylistic choice, but ultimately reading along with it constantly feels tiresome; any charm it may have had wears off quickly. Worse, it means that we can’t have any real investigation of the interesting phenomena on Eden, as our characters quite literally do not possess the vocabulary to talk about it. Similarly with their feelings or with the larger disputes that come up, our childish and ‘innocent’ characters in their literal garden of Eden have no context for how to deal with these things. There are also some really awkward choices with the mangled language- you could have any number of options but choosing to render “Jews” as “Juice” feels edgy and in distinctly bad taste. I’m honestly shocked that an editor didn’t flag this as something to be removed, as it really isn’t necessary and could be replaced with pretty much anything.
The viewpoints also suffer from not being hugely well-rounded characters. The clear main character is John, a member of the fifth generation. Half of the narration from non-John characters is just recounting their opinions about John, what John is doing and how that made them feel. They have little to no agency of their own, and you have to wonder why we didn’t just stick to telling the story from John’s POV the whole time. John is the catalyst for a breakaway from the Family, disregarding the older traditions and family units for a harsh trek across the wilderness. It’s a classic setup for a sci-fi adventure, and we do get some elements of that as the book progresses.
Primarily though the book is interested in the sociological developments- in a large part this frustrates me again that it was written with such a limiting point of view. The parallels between John’s deviation from tradition and that of other members of the family is an interesting nugget and could have been expanded upon a lot more with some more thought. There is a deep philosophical engagement to this book, even if I don’t love the philosophy behind it. In the extreme case it seems to be arguing that rape is acceptable, and in fact a Darwinian necessity- justified by the need to maintain the species. But why, and to what end? Condemning countless generations to lives of hardship and want; are those lives worth it for the small glimpses of happiness they might be able to find, or for the human connections that they might be able to forge, or for any other reason? It’s fundamental stuff, and Beckett produces some interesting if not entirely original takes on these ideas through the course of the novel. The other, related idea is that of legacy; what makes a life worth living and a death meaningful? Beckett’s answer, at least as presented in this book, seems to be to enable continuation of a story. As long as there are those who will follow after you and can tell your story, everything is justifiable. We then get to see how different characters pursue the goal of immortality through the creation of legacy.
As the book draws to a close, it becomes clear that the story we’re actually being told is one of these legacies- that of the original astronauts, told through the warped and filtered lens of their descendants. It is telling that the tale ends when it does; not a conclusive ending for John or the Family, but shortly after the remains of the original astronauts are found, allowing them to be laid to rest, the ending of their story finally known.
In another flashback to classic sci-fi, there is a deep undercurrent of misogyny in this book. A lot of it can be explained away by the survival imperative, but this doesn’t make it any less unpleasant to read; especially as the book progresses and the changes in society show a reduction in the autonomy and power of women. It’s also ridiculously horny. You’re lucky if you get a few pages without mention of sex or anatomy; again this is all presented from the viewpoints of our childish (or in some cases actual child) characters, making the whole thing a little unpleasant.
Ultimately it does what good sci-fi should do, and gives you material to think about our world through a slightly different lens. It is shackled by stylistic choices which don’t really pay off, and hindered by sticking to conversation points that I really thought we’d moved past about 50 years ago. It touches on some interesting and deeper themes, and does manage to have interesting things to say about them but still has a feeling of ick about the whole thing. I often comment that I won’t buy books with Daily Mail quotes on the cover; which this book has. While it is less explicitly pedagogical, it is easy to see what agenda the Daily Mail might be pushing by recommending such a book. Fear and division abounds; tradition is king, women are marginalised as much as possible, and there’s some weird sexualisation going on. A great book as a talking point, less great to actually read.
ziro102's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
blodeuedd's review against another edition
4.0
I liked liked this book (yes the repetition is there for a reason and shows how their language changed.)
The book was good, creepy and made me think about, well everything. It was not even 200 years ago since a man and a woman got stranded on an alien planet. Now there are 500 people there, yes you figure it out. To start the human race again you need lots of incest and it shows as some people have what they call batfaces, and clawfeet. The law later does say that you should not "slip" with close relatives. But to get it started, they did.
I liked how the society was formed and how it was rooted in fear, they HAD to stay where they were so earth would find them. Even though food was scarce now. But tradition was everything and no one really thought of new things anymore.
But like with all things rooted in tradition someone will have an idea and that is John. Was he a god hero? Not really, sure he thought of things but at the same time he was a man (another thing I liked here later how it show female vs male power.) But his was not the only POV. There were other with their strengths and thoughts.
A truly alien world, a new world being built and I could not put it down. This is a series so I checked book 2 at once which takes place long after. And the end was an end, but not really so I am very curious to see how these people survive.
Totally cool sci.fi.
The book was good, creepy and made me think about, well everything. It was not even 200 years ago since a man and a woman got stranded on an alien planet. Now there are 500 people there, yes you figure it out. To start the human race again you need lots of incest and it shows as some people have what they call batfaces, and clawfeet. The law later does say that you should not "slip" with close relatives. But to get it started, they did.
I liked how the society was formed and how it was rooted in fear, they HAD to stay where they were so earth would find them. Even though food was scarce now. But tradition was everything and no one really thought of new things anymore.
But like with all things rooted in tradition someone will have an idea and that is John. Was he a god hero? Not really, sure he thought of things but at the same time he was a man (another thing I liked here later how it show female vs male power.) But his was not the only POV. There were other with their strengths and thoughts.
A truly alien world, a new world being built and I could not put it down. This is a series so I checked book 2 at once which takes place long after. And the end was an end, but not really so I am very curious to see how these people survive.
Totally cool sci.fi.
jmkemp's review against another edition
4.0
This is an interesting book in many ways, linguistically, sociology and the convincing alien world it is set on. The premise is that the main characters are the descendants of two people stranded on an alien planet. The Family (as they refer to themself) are waiting for the day when the rescue mission will come to take them all to Earth.
The world is the familiar story book jungle with a strange alien weirdness to it. For a start the sky is dark and the trees and animals luminesce. The typical body plan is six legs and very large eyes, as one might expect on a dark planet. Metal is known but unavailable to the Family, they only have primitive technology despite folklore of the advanced tech.
The family is getting larger and has just over 500 members living a hunter gatherer existence. There are matrilineal groups within the family, and the people are classed developmentally. The inbreeding inherent in a population derived from two individuals has a level of genetic disorder, 'batface' and 'clawfoot' to use the vernacular of the book. This is played very well into the character interactions in the story.
The Family lack a lot of the hangups that we would have, but they have their own taboos which make sense in their environment. They also have a rich oral history and the vestiges of written records. There are also relics from the spaceship and the first people. In fact the oral history and stories from the first people resonate through the whole story and form much of the basis for the Family's society.
The regression from technology to hunter gatherer and the inability to produce mass written material has made their language evolve a little. It's easy enough to read, all the words in use are recognisably common English words. Some of the flora and fauna of Dark Eden are compound words, e.g. Whitelantern, woollybuck. Others have descriptive names, the slinker is like a giant millipede.
Another aspect is the names for people's ages is generally given in wombs. This is an easier and more meaningful counting system when there are no seasons, nor any other way to measure the passage of time. A day is referred to as a waking. The Family groups sleep in staggered shifts so that there are always people around.
The story itself is told from multiple points of view to show the reader the overall picture. Most of it is shown from two main characters though. John Redlantern is the main mover in it all, breaking the taboos and stirring things up. Tina Spiketree is the other primary character and she supports and moderates John to begin with. Both of them are newhairs of about 14 years old when the story starts.
I enjoyed the experience of Dark Eden as much as I liked the story. My only gripe with it was that the ending was a bit abrupt. I went forwards and back three times on the kindle app before realising that there was no error it was the end. While the conclusion is a good one it wrapped a little too fast.
Overall I would recommend this if you are interested in language, sociology, world building or just like a good story. It has all of those.
The world is the familiar story book jungle with a strange alien weirdness to it. For a start the sky is dark and the trees and animals luminesce. The typical body plan is six legs and very large eyes, as one might expect on a dark planet. Metal is known but unavailable to the Family, they only have primitive technology despite folklore of the advanced tech.
The family is getting larger and has just over 500 members living a hunter gatherer existence. There are matrilineal groups within the family, and the people are classed developmentally. The inbreeding inherent in a population derived from two individuals has a level of genetic disorder, 'batface' and 'clawfoot' to use the vernacular of the book. This is played very well into the character interactions in the story.
The Family lack a lot of the hangups that we would have, but they have their own taboos which make sense in their environment. They also have a rich oral history and the vestiges of written records. There are also relics from the spaceship and the first people. In fact the oral history and stories from the first people resonate through the whole story and form much of the basis for the Family's society.
The regression from technology to hunter gatherer and the inability to produce mass written material has made their language evolve a little. It's easy enough to read, all the words in use are recognisably common English words. Some of the flora and fauna of Dark Eden are compound words, e.g. Whitelantern, woollybuck. Others have descriptive names, the slinker is like a giant millipede.
Another aspect is the names for people's ages is generally given in wombs. This is an easier and more meaningful counting system when there are no seasons, nor any other way to measure the passage of time. A day is referred to as a waking. The Family groups sleep in staggered shifts so that there are always people around.
The story itself is told from multiple points of view to show the reader the overall picture. Most of it is shown from two main characters though. John Redlantern is the main mover in it all, breaking the taboos and stirring things up. Tina Spiketree is the other primary character and she supports and moderates John to begin with. Both of them are newhairs of about 14 years old when the story starts.
I enjoyed the experience of Dark Eden as much as I liked the story. My only gripe with it was that the ending was a bit abrupt. I went forwards and back three times on the kindle app before realising that there was no error it was the end. While the conclusion is a good one it wrapped a little too fast.
Overall I would recommend this if you are interested in language, sociology, world building or just like a good story. It has all of those.