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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
4.25⭐ This was a solid read. I really enjoyed and appreciated the sci-fi concepts regarding multidimensional earths/worlds and time. It was quite unique and very intriguing! However, I never really connected with any of the characters and that was a deterrent for me. I also didn't love how frequent the interludes were, even though they did tie in at the end nicely. Overall definitely a book I would recommend, with the knowledge that it is a quite plot driven story!
4.5 stars, allllmost 5. Tchaikovsky is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors! I loved all the ideas in this, and hus vision was almost Star Trek, which gives me hope for humanity.
adventurous
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Lee’s girlfriend Mal went missing years ago after they two of them were exploring reports of a strange creature on Bodmin Moor. Suddenly, she returns. MI5 agents are investigating an attempt on the life of scientist Kay Amal Khan and come across individuals involved who appear to be non human. Doors between worlds seem to be opening and leading to more, stranger activities and various parties strive to understand, undo and exploit them.
I am only occasional science fiction reader and hadn’t read anything by the author before but have heard great things about his previous work, Children of Time.
Doors of Eden follows several characters as the rifts between world start to widen and cause problems in many worlds. The book is high in action and is rather fast paced, it starts off in quite an adventurous way and put me in the mind of Michael Crichton. The characters were likeable, particularly Dr Khan. There were some more science heavy parts which I felt were executed really well in the audiobook and suspect they would have felt a little dry in print.
I did feel like the story did peter out a little towards the end and the ending didn’t quite feel as satisfying as I’d hoped. It was overall enjoyable though and I’d read more by the author.
I thought the narration by Sophie Alfred was excellent. She kept me engaged and was adept at providing individual voices to the characters. As stated above, I thought she brought life to what may have been less interesting parts of the book and I’d be happy to listen to something narrated by her again.
I am only occasional science fiction reader and hadn’t read anything by the author before but have heard great things about his previous work, Children of Time.
Doors of Eden follows several characters as the rifts between world start to widen and cause problems in many worlds. The book is high in action and is rather fast paced, it starts off in quite an adventurous way and put me in the mind of Michael Crichton. The characters were likeable, particularly Dr Khan. There were some more science heavy parts which I felt were executed really well in the audiobook and suspect they would have felt a little dry in print.
I did feel like the story did peter out a little towards the end and the ending didn’t quite feel as satisfying as I’d hoped. It was overall enjoyable though and I’d read more by the author.
I thought the narration by Sophie Alfred was excellent. She kept me engaged and was adept at providing individual voices to the characters. As stated above, I thought she brought life to what may have been less interesting parts of the book and I’d be happy to listen to something narrated by her again.
Review for The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Thank you so much to Orbit for sending me a copy of this to read and review! All opinions are my own.
Summary:
“Lee’s best friend went missing on Bodmin Moor, four years ago. She and Mal were chasing rumours of monsters when they found something all too real. Now Mal is back, but where has she been, and who is she working for?”
My Thoughts
This was a 3.75/5 for me.
We start off following Lee and Mal, as they explore a spooky Moor, when abruptly Mal gets abducted, but Lee has no idea by who or where she’s gone but is determined to find her.
Being an X-Files fan, this was a very promising start for me.
I wanted to stay with just these two characters, but this cast for this continued to expand before I could actually catch up with the last characters that were introduced, which became confusing at times.
This book did a lot and sometimes I felt like it was too much at once.
If you’re looking for something action packed, with very few lulls, then you will probably enjoy this.
As for my personal thoughts, I do think that this may have done better being split into two books. I only had so many pages with each set of characters before we swapped to another group, and I never really felt like I got to relate to or understand (most) of the characters.
I felt like if it had been split into two it would've maybe made this easier for me personal.
However, I did absolutely love Tchaikovsky’s writing style. Being a biologist myself, I really enjoyed the small interludes in between each chapter, and would’ve easily read a whole books worth of them.
I am interested in picking up more of Tchaikovsky’s works, hopefully a book with a slightly less massive cast, because I really did enjoy his writing, as well as how he sets the plot moving and rarely ever slows down.
Overall (TLDR)
If you’re looking for an X-Files+multidimensional story with a huge set of characters and a very fast-paced plot, I really think you’ll enjoy this. The writing is phenomenal, I just wish I had been able to grasp the personalities of each character a little more thoroughly.
Thank you so much to Orbit for sending me a copy, I’m forever grateful.
Go read this, and then find me on Instagram and Twitter!
Instagram
Twitter
Thank you so much to Orbit for sending me a copy of this to read and review! All opinions are my own.
Summary:
“Lee’s best friend went missing on Bodmin Moor, four years ago. She and Mal were chasing rumours of monsters when they found something all too real. Now Mal is back, but where has she been, and who is she working for?”
My Thoughts
This was a 3.75/5 for me.
We start off following Lee and Mal, as they explore a spooky Moor, when abruptly Mal gets abducted, but Lee has no idea by who or where she’s gone but is determined to find her.
Being an X-Files fan, this was a very promising start for me.
I wanted to stay with just these two characters, but this cast for this continued to expand before I could actually catch up with the last characters that were introduced, which became confusing at times.
This book did a lot and sometimes I felt like it was too much at once.
If you’re looking for something action packed, with very few lulls, then you will probably enjoy this.
As for my personal thoughts, I do think that this may have done better being split into two books. I only had so many pages with each set of characters before we swapped to another group, and I never really felt like I got to relate to or understand (most) of the characters.
I felt like if it had been split into two it would've maybe made this easier for me personal.
However, I did absolutely love Tchaikovsky’s writing style. Being a biologist myself, I really enjoyed the small interludes in between each chapter, and would’ve easily read a whole books worth of them.
I am interested in picking up more of Tchaikovsky’s works, hopefully a book with a slightly less massive cast, because I really did enjoy his writing, as well as how he sets the plot moving and rarely ever slows down.
Overall (TLDR)
If you’re looking for an X-Files+multidimensional story with a huge set of characters and a very fast-paced plot, I really think you’ll enjoy this. The writing is phenomenal, I just wish I had been able to grasp the personalities of each character a little more thoroughly.
Thank you so much to Orbit for sending me a copy, I’m forever grateful.
Go read this, and then find me on Instagram and Twitter!
Parallel universes! Alternate timelines! Spy intrigue! Giant rat armies and flying astronaut trilobites!.... wait.
Indeed - you get all those things and more in The Doors of Eden, and because it's written by one of the most creative authors in sci-fi and fantasy, Adrian Tchaikovsky, somehow it all works. I don't want to give too much away, and also it's really hard to summarize a book with so many ideas, but if you're looking for a great and different science fiction book, then try this one. It's great. And, ya know... astronaut trilobites.
Indeed - you get all those things and more in The Doors of Eden, and because it's written by one of the most creative authors in sci-fi and fantasy, Adrian Tchaikovsky, somehow it all works. I don't want to give too much away, and also it's really hard to summarize a book with so many ideas, but if you're looking for a great and different science fiction book, then try this one. It's great. And, ya know... astronaut trilobites.
Very much enjoyed this one. From chasing cryptids to speculative evolution, with parallel worlds and spacefaring trilobites, and a good dose of humor and good old British stiff-upper-lip.
I like Sci-fi but I have to admit that I’m always wary about it because there are so many strands of sci-fi that I really don’t like. Parallel world though, fall under the types of sci-do that I do usually like. Usually. That’s why I wanted to read it, but it turned out that this one just isn’t for me.
It is overly fast-paced, to the detriment of characterisation. There just isn’t space within the super-speed plot to give the characters their due and really flesh them out. They honestly deserved better, because there is such a diverse array of characters here, and so much could have been done with them.
There are excerpts of a fictional, non-fiction book scattered throughout the story to give us a deeper insight into the other worlds and the creatures that populate them. In theory, it’s a good idea but I hated it. I just found it boring and ending up skim reading whenever they popped up.
I seem to be in the minority here, because other reviews seem to overwhelmingly positive thus far, but I just really, really didn’t enjoy this.
*Thanks to the publisher for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*
It is overly fast-paced, to the detriment of characterisation. There just isn’t space within the super-speed plot to give the characters their due and really flesh them out. They honestly deserved better, because there is such a diverse array of characters here, and so much could have been done with them.
There are excerpts of a fictional, non-fiction book scattered throughout the story to give us a deeper insight into the other worlds and the creatures that populate them. In theory, it’s a good idea but I hated it. I just found it boring and ending up skim reading whenever they popped up.
I seem to be in the minority here, because other reviews seem to overwhelmingly positive thus far, but I just really, really didn’t enjoy this.
*Thanks to the publisher for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*
Two British girls Lee and Mal write articles for Fortean Times which specializes on speculations about anomalous phenomena, Cryptozoology (think of Yetis), or conspiracy theories. Out in the Wales landscape, they encounter a mysterious bird man, and it seems that their journalistic dream came true. Only that one of them got lost for several years. Four years later, the story sets off by slowly opening the doors to alternative Earths in parallel universes. Don't expect Werewolfes jump scaring you like in an Urban Fantasy. Instead, Tchaikovsky explores diverging paths in Earth's history where other entities could have developed intelligence - there are the Neanderthals of course, but also rat populations, as well as far more bizarre developments like huge immortal cambrian trilobites conquering the solar system and beyond, or super intelligent squids.
This mixes well with a secret agent story arc around MI5 agent Julian and intelligence analyst Alison working from their London offices. They try to save and rescue a kidnapped mathematician Khan who should solve the multiverse puzzle - because the universe is collapsing.
Last time I read something from Tchaikovsky was Children of Time in 2015, and it went very well. First of all, I like Tchaikovsky's style in this novel: His tongue in the cheek telling of cryptoid hunting girls uncovering an alternate reality. Interleaving the story, pseudo scientific articles extrapolate how biology could have evolved. Also, I loved the setting - the landscape of Great Britain with London as a focal point as a welcomed divergence from so many SF novels, with its insights to British culture like the weird magazine Fortean Times. I found the pacing very good with a slow exposition turning to high speed James Bondish stunt action resolving in a thoughtful unexpected ending. All characters are relatable and charming in their diversity. I just miss a single main protagonist that I could focus on.
It is certainly a different story than his Space Opera Children of Time or his fantasy novels - as it is set in our time and our world (mostly). But then again it is not so much different, as there are spiders and WhatIf scenarios about alternate biological developments.
I'd like to recommend this book on your watch list, it will be published at May 28th 2020.
This mixes well with a secret agent story arc around MI5 agent Julian and intelligence analyst Alison working from their London offices. They try to save and rescue a kidnapped mathematician Khan who should solve the multiverse puzzle - because the universe is collapsing.
Last time I read something from Tchaikovsky was Children of Time in 2015, and it went very well. First of all, I like Tchaikovsky's style in this novel: His tongue in the cheek telling of cryptoid hunting girls uncovering an alternate reality. Interleaving the story, pseudo scientific articles extrapolate how biology could have evolved. Also, I loved the setting - the landscape of Great Britain with London as a focal point as a welcomed divergence from so many SF novels, with its insights to British culture like the weird magazine Fortean Times. I found the pacing very good with a slow exposition turning to high speed James Bondish stunt action resolving in a thoughtful unexpected ending. All characters are relatable and charming in their diversity. I just miss a single main protagonist that I could focus on.
It is certainly a different story than his Space Opera Children of Time or his fantasy novels - as it is set in our time and our world (mostly). But then again it is not so much different, as there are spiders and WhatIf scenarios about alternate biological developments.
I'd like to recommend this book on your watch list, it will be published at May 28th 2020.