Reviews - The Doors of Eden

606 reviews for:

I believe Adrian Tchaikovsky has a sci-fi specialty and, with this book, he went a little crazy with it. I believe he did it best with Children of Time, zooming in and spending all of the time with one, specific species and helped me understand everything about the species and the society it created. This one's more concise and yet it also goes all over the place. For Doors of Eden, I would've appreciated drilling down further on these new subjects to learn everything. I'd rather have a master of two or three subjects rather than a jack of all trades.

Despite any criticism I offer, I deeply appreciate Tchaikovsky's brand of imaginative and vivid sci-fi, and I'll be on the lookout for more in the coming years.

tak's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

encgolsen's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The scope and scale of this amazing novel are breathtaking--as with Children of Time, I am in awe of Tchaikovsky's epic imagination. It starts small enough, with two young cryptid hunters setting off to find a monster on Bodmin Moor, and even as it expands to encompass more than those girls ever dreamed of, they are the human heart of the tale: seeking out the unknown, celebrating difference, driven by open-minded curiosity. Loved it!

loutea's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

vivacious_reads's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous funny hopeful medium-paced

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

mantrasong's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

4/5 - I stayed up late to read it, and read during work hours

Yet another entry into the "Adrian Tchaikovski can do no wrong" franchise.

This book reads like Tchaikovsky came up with a ton of wild ideas when he was putting together Children of Ruin, and couldn't put them all in there, so he wrote this instead. What we end up with is something that feels like Children of Ruin crossed with His Dark Materials, and it's excellent. The characters are interesting, though a bit shallow. The concepts and worldbuilding are top notch, as always. The prose is solid, with occasional moments of genius. There is a solid thread of social commentary on fascists and cultural integration that is delightfully informed by the current moment.

Tchaikovsky spider factor: 2/10 - sentient spiders and other creepys get a mention, but aren't a major focus
Queer rep: Lesbian couple, trans main character (warning for intentional misgendering and deadnaming that is clearly framed as wrong), the queer characters are all alive at the end of the book