ijprest 's review for:

The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky
2.0

Very dull. It got off to a good start with the first couple of chapters, but then it loses all momentum until the last 10% or so (at which point it ends way too quickly & easily). I was nodding off every time I picked it up to read.

The "evolutionary biology" interludes are especially dull, which is disappointing because it's really the only thing Tchaikovsky's actually good at.

The villain is cartoonish in his villainy. He's a racist, homophobe, transphobe, captain-of-industry, willing to sacrifice his entire planet (and the rest of the universe) for personal gain. Basically he's the far-left's fever-dream of evil personified. And his plan is incredibly stupid. (Better-written books make you think that the villain might have a point. But this isn't one of those books.)

Lots of deus ex machina. There's literally an all-knowing, all-powerful god computer. Pretty ridiculous.

It's also pretty heavy-handed in its messaging. I don't mind "message" books, if they're subtle, but this one isn't.