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keeksmonster 's review for:
The Doors of Eden
by Adrian Tchaikovsky
4 stars. A little denser than my average read and it read more like watching a movie than going on an adventure with friends, but still very enjoyable. The science was unique and brilliant, the world building intense and precise, the complexity incredibly creative.
Alternate history is usually discussed in very human-centric terms that revolve around fixed points in human history. Here, however, Tchaikovsky took alternate history to the next level and suggested a universe in which parallel Earths emerged at significant points in evolutionary history. This concept offers a limitless playground, and oh how much fun I had meeting Dr. Rat and his translator (from a world in which rats are the prosperous race), the dinosauroids (from a world in which the dinosaurs did not die out so mammals never really rose), or the space saavy Neanderthals.
These worlds all must work together to save the universe from going from fissuring to shattering, and at the helm is our Earth's most brilliant mathematician, Dr. Khan (who is a Trans woman, by the way, and how refreshing to see a badass lead Trans character), a not-couple-but-acts-like-a-couple from the secret service, and two cryptid hunters who were in a relationship since their youth until one woman was separated from the other on a cryptid hunting mission and disappeared for four years.
I'll remember the concepts more than the individual characters, but honestly a really fun and creative read.
Thank you to Hachette Book Group and Edelweiss for the ARC!
Alternate history is usually discussed in very human-centric terms that revolve around fixed points in human history. Here, however, Tchaikovsky took alternate history to the next level and suggested a universe in which parallel Earths emerged at significant points in evolutionary history. This concept offers a limitless playground, and oh how much fun I had meeting Dr. Rat and his translator (from a world in which rats are the prosperous race), the dinosauroids (from a world in which the dinosaurs did not die out so mammals never really rose), or the space saavy Neanderthals.
These worlds all must work together to save the universe from going from fissuring to shattering, and at the helm is our Earth's most brilliant mathematician, Dr. Khan (who is a Trans woman, by the way, and how refreshing to see a badass lead Trans character), a not-couple-but-acts-like-a-couple from the secret service, and two cryptid hunters who were in a relationship since their youth until one woman was separated from the other on a cryptid hunting mission and disappeared for four years.
I'll remember the concepts more than the individual characters, but honestly a really fun and creative read.
Thank you to Hachette Book Group and Edelweiss for the ARC!