The Doors of Eden

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Eventually, the plot is spanning all sorts of times and beyond, and it's quite an epic conclusion. I think this is certainly a story which builds in the telling and I really enjoyed the journey through the science and beyond. And you know what? It's VERY good for the imagination. For us, as readers, to think through the implications and dream and dream about what all those others that might/could/should become a vast side-series. In my wildest moments, I did not, never ever contemplate Tchaikovsky could write a book as shitty as this.

You never quite know what to expect from a new Adrian Tchaikovsky novel, but you can safely assume it will involve sentient creepy-crawlies. The British sci-fi and fantasy author memorably brought a civilisation of intelligent spiders to life in the award-winning Children of Time, but his latest book, The Doors of Eden, takes this idea one further, uplifting species across the whole of Earth’s evolutionary history. Lee and Mal are a fun pair. Lee is in over her head as soon as world starts colliding, but she knows what she wants: Mal. She’ll deal with anything if it means she stays by Mal’s side – even if she doesn’t know what’s going on.

There’re a lot of characters in The Doors of Eden, and I can’t do them all justice. I loved the representation of sexuality though and typically, it’s the humans that are the douches, not the ‘aliens’. The lesson here is that the Earth doesn’t care; that bad things happen; that it could so easily have been us.” Dude wasn't even trying to make an engaging plot and God forbid he took time out to write characters that would even try to be engaging. I don't know if it's some weird proud thing for some scifi writers to write a book that only serious science people can maybe appreciate but this whole "book" belonged in a science publication.

We start hunting monsters. We end up deep in space with three different species trying to save the world by stopping dimensions crashing into each other.hrpanjwani on Reading The Wheel of Time: Taim Tells Lies and Rand Shares His Plan in Winter’s Heart (Part 3) 5 seconds ago Up next we actually have an antagonist, sorta. The real antagonist of the story is the heat death of the universe, but Lucas is the right-hand man of another man who isn’t improving things. Lucas is a complicated character who falls into being a bad guy and doesn’t know how to stop. He doesn’t necessarily have a redemption arc, but his story does an amazing job exploring how the tiny choices we make build momentum into who we become, and in some ways how our circumstances–not our inherent nature– determines whether we are good or bad. His story is great; you will have to read the book to understand it better than I can reasonably explain here.

Well damn. I just accidentally deleted my review and I was on a real roll. Damn iPad! Damn pinky finger! You’are quiet, now, subdued by what we’ve shown you. How many times can you watch the world end, after all, even if it’s not your world? And Nazi Jeff Bezos is another example. In Children of Time all of the “evil characters” had understandable motivations. They had a goal, and were willing to do what it took. But NJB’s felt entirely dependent on what the author need from a bad guy. In the beginning he’s portrayed as ruthless in trying to achieve his ambitious and selfish aims. He has no loyalty or ideology outside of power, and is willing to sacrifice anyone and anything to do so. Later he talks about pursuing immortality with help from the rats, and it implies he wants this unchanging dystopian hellscape where he is eternally in charge. That makes sense. But then at the end of the book his ambition changes to saving England and transplanting it to some untouched Eden so he can plunder there? And he’s willing to sacrifice the vast majority of human technology, progress & luxuries to rule over the rubble and rule as a petty fascist? AND he’s willing to abandon his goal of immortality (since he abandoned all non humans and most of their research) to be a petty Oswald Moseley for a couple decades? This makes no sense. He was always willing to use those people, and certainly seemed to have some sympathy for them but he was using them like he used everyone else. The motivations are just so inconsistent, and seemed to change depending on what a super bad evil bad man would do at the moment. By the end he has as much depth as a Captain Planet villain. For with The Doors of Eden Tchaikovsky has created something which is not only a great story, but manages to make it relevant to what’s happening in our world today. He not only shows us the ugliness of nationalism and bigotry, but gives us the message we have to change the way we are if we’re going to survive. The Doors of Eden is truly epic is ambition and scale. The novel follows its main characters across many alternative Earths. Each world has changed - and creatures have evolved differently - across these multiple timelines. In Tchaikovsky's science fiction masterclass Children of Time, we were presented with highly intelligent spiders. Here, we're witness to extremely advanced rat-creatures, bird-like tribal dinosaurs, and science-savvy cavemen too. There are even village-sized insects that can act as flying vehicles. Tchaikovsky's imagination is bizarre, mindboggling yet at the same time is utterly brilliant.Or rather, histories. Tchaikovsky’s world-building is some of the best in modern sci-fi and now he has made an enchanting multiverse of parallel Earths.