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A review by ncrabb
Dark Eden by Chris Beckett
4.0
I would not have read this had it not been reviewed by someone I follow here. Her reviews have guided me in amazing and better directions than I ever would have achieved otherwise. I tend to avoid fiction labeled "young adult," mistakenly believing that I'll not be satisfied with the book because it would presumably lack sophistication. My public thanks goes to that reviewer who's work elevates my life in ways she may never fully understand. This book left me with a lot to think about. I am particularly struck by the idea rather well explored in this book that we all build incredible prisons into which we insert ourselves at great cost.
As the book opens, we meet John Redlantern, a 15-year-old young man whose spirit is even more restless than you might encounter in a young man of his age. John lives on a nearly sunless world which draws most of its light from trees and most of its heat from beneath the ground. Young John's ancestors settled the planet centuries earlier, and their descendants dream and hope for the time when an expedition from Earth will come and rescue them. It is that hope, in fact, that keeps the more than 500 members of the colony together. They have strong taboos about leaving the place originally settled by their ancestors, convinced as they are that an expedition to rescue them is inevitable.
this is an unusual colony. There are elaborate ritualistic ceremonies designed to remind the colonists of their past, but there is no marriage ceremony to speak of. It's a rather matriarchal society where kids know who their mother is, but have no idea who their father is. The colony suffers significantly from in-breeding. Many colonists deal with either a cleft palate or club feet.
john is not content to remain passively in this colonial dark Eden forever. He sees on the horizon real problems for the colonists if they can't expand their living area. Like many people with new ideas, John is much misunderstood by his fellow colonists, and it doesn't help that John is struggling to learn much about himself as well. One of the people who helps John on his quest to depart the cold Eden of his boyhood is Tina Spiketree. She's his on-again, off-again girlfriend, but the story is told primarily through her view and John's.
ultimately John proposes to the family that its members branch out and move to different sites. But what he proposes is unspeakably frightening to the other colonists, especially the old ones who strive with such fervor to keep the old stories and traditions alive. They bring out artifacts from the Earth colony every year and make the colonists re-enact plays about the original settlers. These artifacts are nearly worshipped by the old ones who try to force that form of worship onto the young people, known as Newhairs. When John deliberately destroys the most sacred place in the original colony, he is cast out of Eden, so to speak, and he and a handful of his followers set out to explore a world so cold and dark that no other colonists have dared explore it.
just as the scriptural Adam and Eve were introduced to hardship and contention upon their eviction from Eden, John and his followers learn hard lessons about sudden and violent death. But they also discover within themselves a resourcefulness they never believed possible.
This is a book about the precious nature of freedom, the value of seeing possibilities over problems, and the untenable cost of walling oneself off in a prison of his or her making while insisting that the prison is a paradise compared to the unknown that lies just over the hill. It is a well-written story that reaffirms the immense value of "opposition in all things,” as one writer has written.
I'm not a big fan of the casual sex structure of the society created by this author. Granted, he explains how it all started, but a society in which healthy young men pop it to women as old as their mothers so as to nonchalantly propagate the colony creeped me out a bit. As I said, the author does well in explaining why this must be, but it was still a little creepy; not a deal breaker, mind you, just a little unsettling in a place or two. Additionally, I was quickly annoyed by the unconventional profanity here. The original settlers were named Tommy and Angela. The language that passed for profanity in the society referenced those early settlers and their body parts. So there is reference to "Gela's tits" or "Tom's neck" when one of the young people wanted to powerfully express him or herself.
I really loved the way the author placed value on freedom, curiosity, and risk taking. Beckett thoughtfully creates an impressive world filled with dangers and challenges that keep you reading and actively engaged. This isn't merely excellent young adult fiction; it's interesting science fiction as well. I read the audio edition of this, which was narrated by several people, and I thoroughly enjoyed the narration. There's something about Beckett's writing style that is melodic and haunting in a passage or two. He doesn't merely describe the planet as cold. it's "cold, cold." Interestingly enough, what would be written off as redundant in someone else's hands is an interesting way of drawing readers into the Dark Eden universe more fully. I suspect young people would gravitate to this story with its burning need to escape social strictures that are so firmly implanted that no one even thinks to ask why those strictures are in place at all.
As the book opens, we meet John Redlantern, a 15-year-old young man whose spirit is even more restless than you might encounter in a young man of his age. John lives on a nearly sunless world which draws most of its light from trees and most of its heat from beneath the ground. Young John's ancestors settled the planet centuries earlier, and their descendants dream and hope for the time when an expedition from Earth will come and rescue them. It is that hope, in fact, that keeps the more than 500 members of the colony together. They have strong taboos about leaving the place originally settled by their ancestors, convinced as they are that an expedition to rescue them is inevitable.
this is an unusual colony. There are elaborate ritualistic ceremonies designed to remind the colonists of their past, but there is no marriage ceremony to speak of. It's a rather matriarchal society where kids know who their mother is, but have no idea who their father is. The colony suffers significantly from in-breeding. Many colonists deal with either a cleft palate or club feet.
john is not content to remain passively in this colonial dark Eden forever. He sees on the horizon real problems for the colonists if they can't expand their living area. Like many people with new ideas, John is much misunderstood by his fellow colonists, and it doesn't help that John is struggling to learn much about himself as well. One of the people who helps John on his quest to depart the cold Eden of his boyhood is Tina Spiketree. She's his on-again, off-again girlfriend, but the story is told primarily through her view and John's.
ultimately John proposes to the family that its members branch out and move to different sites. But what he proposes is unspeakably frightening to the other colonists, especially the old ones who strive with such fervor to keep the old stories and traditions alive. They bring out artifacts from the Earth colony every year and make the colonists re-enact plays about the original settlers. These artifacts are nearly worshipped by the old ones who try to force that form of worship onto the young people, known as Newhairs. When John deliberately destroys the most sacred place in the original colony, he is cast out of Eden, so to speak, and he and a handful of his followers set out to explore a world so cold and dark that no other colonists have dared explore it.
just as the scriptural Adam and Eve were introduced to hardship and contention upon their eviction from Eden, John and his followers learn hard lessons about sudden and violent death. But they also discover within themselves a resourcefulness they never believed possible.
This is a book about the precious nature of freedom, the value of seeing possibilities over problems, and the untenable cost of walling oneself off in a prison of his or her making while insisting that the prison is a paradise compared to the unknown that lies just over the hill. It is a well-written story that reaffirms the immense value of "opposition in all things,” as one writer has written.
I'm not a big fan of the casual sex structure of the society created by this author. Granted, he explains how it all started, but a society in which healthy young men pop it to women as old as their mothers so as to nonchalantly propagate the colony creeped me out a bit. As I said, the author does well in explaining why this must be, but it was still a little creepy; not a deal breaker, mind you, just a little unsettling in a place or two. Additionally, I was quickly annoyed by the unconventional profanity here. The original settlers were named Tommy and Angela. The language that passed for profanity in the society referenced those early settlers and their body parts. So there is reference to "Gela's tits" or "Tom's neck" when one of the young people wanted to powerfully express him or herself.
I really loved the way the author placed value on freedom, curiosity, and risk taking. Beckett thoughtfully creates an impressive world filled with dangers and challenges that keep you reading and actively engaged. This isn't merely excellent young adult fiction; it's interesting science fiction as well. I read the audio edition of this, which was narrated by several people, and I thoroughly enjoyed the narration. There's something about Beckett's writing style that is melodic and haunting in a passage or two. He doesn't merely describe the planet as cold. it's "cold, cold." Interestingly enough, what would be written off as redundant in someone else's hands is an interesting way of drawing readers into the Dark Eden universe more fully. I suspect young people would gravitate to this story with its burning need to escape social strictures that are so firmly implanted that no one even thinks to ask why those strictures are in place at all.