The Doors of Eden - Tak's Reading Room

609 pages

English language

Published Nov. 12, 2020

ISBN:: 978-1-5098-6592-5
Goodreads:: 48643567

(1 review)

From the Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning Adrian Tchaikovsky, The Doors of Eden is an extraordinary feat of the imagination and a page-turning adventure about parallel universes and the monsters that they hide. They thought we were safe. They were wrong. Four years ago, two girls went looking for monsters on Bodmin Moor. Only one came back. Lee thought she'd lost Mal, but now she's miraculously returned. But what happened that day on the moors? And where has she been all this time? Mal's reappearance hasn't gone unnoticed by MI5 officers either, and Lee isn't the only one with questions. Julian Sabreur is investigating an attack on top physicist Kay Amal Khan. This leads Julian to clash with agents of an unknown power - and they may or may not be human. His only clue is grainy footage, showing a woman who supposedly died on Bodmin Moor. Dr Khan's research was …

From the Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning Adrian Tchaikovsky, The Doors of Eden is an extraordinary feat of the imagination and a page-turning adventure about parallel universes and the monsters that they hide. They thought we were safe. They were wrong. Four years ago, two girls went looking for monsters on Bodmin Moor. Only one came back. Lee thought she'd lost Mal, but now she's miraculously returned. But what happened that day on the moors? And where has she been all this time? Mal's reappearance hasn't gone unnoticed by MI5 officers either, and Lee isn't the only one with questions. Julian Sabreur is investigating an attack on top physicist Kay Amal Khan. This leads Julian to clash with agents of an unknown power - and they may or may not be human. His only clue is grainy footage, showing a woman who supposedly died on Bodmin Moor. Dr Khan's research was theoretical; then she found cracks between our world and parallel Earths. Now these cracks are widening, revealing extraordinary creatures. And as the doors crash open, anything could come through.

2 editions

Leaving_Marx@wyrmsign.org reviewed The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky

A Standalone a.t. novel

4 stars

Content warning Very general spoilers

This was not the novel I was expecting. Following up the children of time series with this standalone book was really useful cause it put into perspective that Adrian Tchaikovsky is a solid sci-fi biologist, choosing to explore world's and evolution among so many creatures beyond mammals.

Some of the highlights of this book include communist Neanderthals and solid queer representation, to the point that this book felt like a subtle nod to his take on the culture wars and progressive inclusion. While not revolutionary, I feel like this novel produced a solid soft spot in my heart for the author, whom previously I could infer had some systemic critiques of power, but this book felt less like I needed to read into that understanding.

As for the content and story overall, it was a bit of a slow burn in many ways, with a lot of world building and some classic sci-fi motifs. Sometimes books give you just enough info about the world that your yearning for more, but this novel I found gave me so much that I wish the balance of world building and plot narrative had skewed just a bit away from world building Into the story arch.