For this final post on this week's Mark This Book Monday I have another book for my 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge! I got this one on NetGalley quite a while ago and I'm glad that I'm at least reviewing it the day before release day!
Dark Eden by Chris Beckett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
When I requested Dark Eden on NetGalley, I knew I was up for an interesting science fiction read but I wasn't expecting it to raise such deep issues with such ease!
I wasn't expecting to be approved so thank you Crown Publishing & Broadway Books!
Dark Eden starts and it's a bit confusing at first, since you find yourself in the middle of a different time and place and a different planet, with a different language that takes a while to get used to and that makes you wonder about all the differences and how they came about.
The story is told on alternating chapters with different POVs, most are John and Tina's, but we also get a few others with a different narrator. Those might seem odd but usually are there to give us insight and complete the story in the first person when our usual narrators couldn't.
The characters were quite well written, and I felt that even if I didn't always agree or understand John, I always felt for him, and felt like making an effort to understand him. Tina was somehow easier to relate to and understand, even if due to the circumstances some of her behaviours and choices were not something I could put myself in her place to make.
I won't be going into the plot much because a big part of the wonder of this book is going through all of it and discovering things as they come up in the story. Picking up the pieces here and there to try and get the clearer story of the past, even if we only get enough to understand the present a bit better. I wish we could somehow get a bit more of a backstory, but we don't really need it. The story of this book is about change and fear of change, fear of the unknown and fear of stagnation. Holding onto the past at all costs and trying to make your own place and your own future no matter what the cost.
This book does deal with quite a few disturbing and uncomfortable topics, but it is done in a way that is relevant to the story, and I think the food for thought that it provides is extremely important. The world the author has created, the linguistics, the interactions, the culture... everything is so detailed and believable. This story of a different kind of pioneers in their own Dark Eden is a fantastic kind of science fiction.
The one thing that made me give this book 4 stars instead of the full 5 was the ending. I'm all for open endings and letting the reader to ponder and wonder about what might happen, but when it's done in such an abrupt way that you expect more pages to happen... That might be a bit too much "left to wonder". Still, a very recommended book.
View all my reviews
Dark Eden by Chris BeckettMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
When I requested Dark Eden on NetGalley, I knew I was up for an interesting science fiction read but I wasn't expecting it to raise such deep issues with such ease!
I wasn't expecting to be approved so thank you Crown Publishing & Broadway Books!
Dark Eden starts and it's a bit confusing at first, since you find yourself in the middle of a different time and place and a different planet, with a different language that takes a while to get used to and that makes you wonder about all the differences and how they came about.
The story is told on alternating chapters with different POVs, most are John and Tina's, but we also get a few others with a different narrator. Those might seem odd but usually are there to give us insight and complete the story in the first person when our usual narrators couldn't.
The characters were quite well written, and I felt that even if I didn't always agree or understand John, I always felt for him, and felt like making an effort to understand him. Tina was somehow easier to relate to and understand, even if due to the circumstances some of her behaviours and choices were not something I could put myself in her place to make.
I won't be going into the plot much because a big part of the wonder of this book is going through all of it and discovering things as they come up in the story. Picking up the pieces here and there to try and get the clearer story of the past, even if we only get enough to understand the present a bit better. I wish we could somehow get a bit more of a backstory, but we don't really need it. The story of this book is about change and fear of change, fear of the unknown and fear of stagnation. Holding onto the past at all costs and trying to make your own place and your own future no matter what the cost.
This book does deal with quite a few disturbing and uncomfortable topics, but it is done in a way that is relevant to the story, and I think the food for thought that it provides is extremely important. The world the author has created, the linguistics, the interactions, the culture... everything is so detailed and believable. This story of a different kind of pioneers in their own Dark Eden is a fantastic kind of science fiction.
The one thing that made me give this book 4 stars instead of the full 5 was the ending. I'm all for open endings and letting the reader to ponder and wonder about what might happen, but when it's done in such an abrupt way that you expect more pages to happen... That might be a bit too much "left to wonder". Still, a very recommended book.
View all my reviews
Hmm. I was really liking the sound of this one right up until that open ending Pili! I don't deal well with open endings even though I know sometimes it's the only way a particular story can end, I just like all my questions answered and all the loose threads tied up. I don't want to imagine my own future for the characters, I want to know it definitively. I can't help it! Glad that despite that, this book still worked really well for you:)
ReplyDeleteThis was a fantastic book but yeah the open ending bugged me a bit, and I think I should warn others about it, even if I think this books very much to be recommended!
DeleteThank you, Jenny!
Great review sweetie :D I like this cover, but I don't think I would like the book :p But I'm glad you mostly enjoyed it :) But aw. I'm sorry the ending wasn't that good. Sigh. That always suck. Thank you for sharing. <3
ReplyDeleteThe ending was a bit of a bummer indeed. Thanks sweetie!
DeleteI love the cover of this one, and it's on my TBR list since I first saw it, but I really hate those kind of endings. Thanks for the warning!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed it!
Happy reading!
Lis @ The reader lines
I felt that other readers should know, it's well worth reading anyways but best be forewarned!
DeleteYes Pili! I didn't even touch on the language or that ending in my review. Great points that I totally forgot! I found myself (and still do) mimicking the language! I usually HATE it when books do that but it was done perfectly in this one. That ending let me down too. It felt so anti-climatic. I thought for sure I was missing a page. Great review and I hope others read this book.
ReplyDeleteI think out reviews are quite complementary, cause I forgot to comment on some of the stuff you did address!
DeleteI had the same feeling, like a missing page or two for sure, but I'm guessing it's an open ending after all...