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A review by alibrareads
Dark Eden by Chris Beckett
4.0
Wow. This wasn't what I expected when I picked up this book years ago. I expected the people of Eden to act/sound like humans do today, the descendants of Earth people making a life on a new planet.
This was a nose-crinkling look at what would happen if the hypothetical one man and one woman scenario actually played out, but on an alien world. It's full of people with deformities which isn't surprising considering everyone is related, so of course there would be birth defects when you're breeding with your own kin. It was kind of horrifying to think about.
The linguistic aspect was fascinating and the simplicity of it made for a strange juxtaposition to the dark world and situation they were in. I had this overall feeling that everyone on the planet by this point had some kind of mental disability from the interbreeding, and certainly that was the case with some characters, but then it finally clicked that they would repeat words for emphasis because they lacked the vocabulary to express anything deeper verbally. But they had very normal human thoughts and needs, expressed in the way that a young person might who didn't really understand what it was they were going through and didn't have words for it.
This book seems to takes the angle that men are by nature creatures who desire power, and even on an alien planet with very little Earth culture as an influence they will inevitably try to establish themselves as the dominant gender over women.
I would love to see some art of this world: a dark place where there is no star to act as a sun, and life comes from deep beneath the ground from the core of the planet and shines from pretty glowing trees. I think what drove me through this story was a desire to explore this world more and see what sights and creatures they would discover.
The ending was meh... It certainly leaves things open for a sequel, but didn't feel very satisfying. For a long time you are preparing for a conflict, and Beckett just totally leaves you hanging and wondering what, or even IF, that conflict will ever happen. It does make me want to see how the Eden societies will evolve after all of the progress they made in this book: how close they get to following Earth or how they diverge.
I did enjoy it, but the ending was very abrupt and not satisfying. You could just read this as a stand-alone novel I think. If you like coming-of-age stories, survivalist stories, and interesting linguistics with a sci-fi twist, this is for you.
This was a nose-crinkling look at what would happen if the hypothetical one man and one woman scenario actually played out, but on an alien world. It's full of people with deformities which isn't surprising considering everyone is related, so of course there would be birth defects when you're breeding with your own kin. It was kind of horrifying to think about.
The linguistic aspect was fascinating and the simplicity of it made for a strange juxtaposition to the dark world and situation they were in. I had this overall feeling that everyone on the planet by this point had some kind of mental disability from the interbreeding, and certainly that was the case with some characters, but then it finally clicked that they would repeat words for emphasis because they lacked the vocabulary to express anything deeper verbally. But they had very normal human thoughts and needs, expressed in the way that a young person might who didn't really understand what it was they were going through and didn't have words for it.
This book seems to takes the angle that men are by nature creatures who desire power, and even on an alien planet with very little Earth culture as an influence they will inevitably try to establish themselves as the dominant gender over women.
I would love to see some art of this world: a dark place where there is no star to act as a sun, and life comes from deep beneath the ground from the core of the planet and shines from pretty glowing trees. I think what drove me through this story was a desire to explore this world more and see what sights and creatures they would discover.
The ending was meh... It certainly leaves things open for a sequel, but didn't feel very satisfying. For a long time you are preparing for a conflict, and Beckett just totally leaves you hanging and wondering what, or even IF, that conflict will ever happen. It does make me want to see how the Eden societies will evolve after all of the progress they made in this book: how close they get to following Earth or how they diverge.
I did enjoy it, but the ending was very abrupt and not satisfying. You could just read this as a stand-alone novel I think. If you like coming-of-age stories, survivalist stories, and interesting linguistics with a sci-fi twist, this is for you.