The reviews for this here seem to be quite mixed, with some people loving it and some thinking it was overrated. I fall firmly into the former camp. This was a truly excellent sci fi novel, well conceived and constructed, beautifully imagined and full of great characters. Really first class ( )

A crashed-ship/lost-colony tale, "Dark Eden" takes place several generations after two stranded humans leave descendants on a sunless planet; Beckett allows that the culture spawned has somehow persisted for 163 years, making his story directly from the difficulties that such a genetic and cultural bottleneck would create. Founder Effect, cargo cult, recessives on display, linguistic simplification: you got it.

Setting this story apart from others of this type, DE is told in the first person from a number of different characters' p-o-v, in the limited vernacular of the lost children. The strengths and weaknesses of oral tradition both keep things going and restrict innovation; this group has decided over time to eschew innovation or exploration in favor of staying in one place and in one state of being until longed-for rescue occurs. Beckett makes good use of that fertile ground. This book is both stimulating and a bit menacing: there's a bit of "Lord of the Flies" determinism explicit throughout, but that's not too unexpected given the times in which Beckett wrote it. The angsty adolescents of DE represent not just a metaphorical future, but the only hope for a future the residents of Eden have. The clipped but expressive language used underscores that, the way Huck Finn's dialect drives Mark Twain's classic novel. ( )

El Extraño Gato del Cuento

Cuando terminé de leer, puse esto en GoodReads: "Esta reseña va a ser interesante, espero poder abarcar todo lo que me dió este libro." Y sigo esperando poder lograrlo.

Primero, es el primer libro completamente, puro purito, ciencia ficción que leo, por lo que no tengo nada con qué compararlo. Prácticamente me ha desvirgao' este libro (?). Voy hacer esta reseña por puntos... En serio, no sé como hablar del libro, ya pasó un mes exacto desde que lo terminé y no logro agrupar las ideas muy bien.

Narrativamente me fue complicado adentrarme en la historia, la manera en que está escrito es bastante peculiar, hay palabras del tipo "Elek-trikity" (creo que así lo escribe), y esa es la más fácil de entender, varias palabras las va cambiando. Es como un teléfono malogrado, la pronunciación de las palabras se va perdiendo con el transcurso de las generaciones, algo que me pareció frustrante en algunas partes porque no entendía lo que decían, y en cierta forma también tierno, como cuando los niños recién aprenden a hablar. Otra de las razones por las que estuve perdida durante un tiempo también es que cambia de narrador en cada capítulo, a veces es John, otras Tina, a veces aparece Sue, y con la memoria que tengo a veces no recordaba quién era quién.

La Familia, la pequeña sociedad donde viven, como dije con lo del teléfono malogrado, no solo transformó algunas palabras, sino también la historia en sí, por ejemplo vemos que Jesús fue colgado por Hittler. Eso fue lo que se les contó y es lo que ellos creen. Es un libro un poco inquietante, por la forma en la que no están dispuestos a cambiar de pensar (al parecer aún estando en otro planeta, los seres humanos seguimos tercos) o la manera en la que... eh... se reproducen, no encontré otra palabra, quise poner cortejo, pero no tendría nada que ver con el libro. En Eden es así: todas las chicas a partir de cierta edad, 16 si es que recuerdo bien, pueden dormir con cualquier hombre que ellas decidan (lo que está bien, mujeres fuertes e independientes y todo eso) lo que me fue un poco, díganme mojigata, es que no existe algo parecido al matrimonio, cada quién puede crear con quién guste. Y con los chicos no es diferente, básicamente desde que pueden tener una erección pueden empezar a reproducirse. Seeeh, a mí me dijeron que era un libro juvenil, así que cuando empezó cierta cosa así de repente, tuve que leerlo varias veces para entenderlo, es que es tan frío. Soy una romántica, me gusta el porno con amor (?)

En cuanto a lo ciencia ficción, jo, lo amé. Como anuncié al principio, Dark Eden was my first. Eden es hermoso, en su aterradora manera.

Luego de unos capítulos empecé a pensar que le daría bajo puntaje, pero con el transcurso de mi lectura la historia me empezó a fascinar, aun así no es un libro que recomiende a todo el mundo, es bastante pesado seguirle el ritmo. No digo que sea malo, solo que es ese tipo de libro que no es para todos.

El Extraño Gato del Cuento
( )

The book starts slowly which is good as it introduces not just unfamiliar words but a setting that is quite alien in flora, fauna, and understanding of its inhabitants. By the 40% mark I was beginning to tire until BAM! everything started moving quite quickly. The time spent with our core characters in the beginning was a wise investment as it lets the book's action sequences hit more dramatically with a sense of depth behind small actions. Overally this is a really interesting read that meshes some of those feelings I had from Clan of the Cave Bear with those of Lord of the Flies. I will most likely read the other two books in the trilogy. ( )

Like a lot of reviewers, I'm not sure how I feel about Dark Eden. It didn't bore me, which is always a good thing - the question is whether the total sum reactions are positive or negative. In the end I came down with "positive".

And if you're wondering how that's possible, allow me to use American Presidential elections as a simile; the overall result will be a landslide, yet every state is too close to call in advance type scenario.

That's how I found DE going through it. I was on the fence for almost every aspect but enough "categories" won out.

The underlying sociological stuff is good, very good. Usually this sort of thing is done poorly in spec fic and the author's efforts do pay off here. There was a genuine organicness to the setting that didn't feel tacked on or papered over, and some interesting insight (imo) into a hypothetical society with almost no patriarchal bias.

The story of Angela Young, the story's "Eve", (including the tribal retellings and re-enactments of her life) are incredibly powerful, despite the fact that she is long since dead and gone.

My main difficulty - and this, I suspect, is where it garners a lot of hate - was the almost physical pain of having to sit through a novel where every POV character is little better than a caveman in terms of narrative capacity. Don't get me wrong, it's immersive and probably well done, not to mention it creates a very distinctive voice. But the temptation to flee into a different book with a more conventional set of characters is pretty strong.

John and Tina are a head and shoulders above the others in terms of readability, almost to the point of dubiety given their upbringing and low level of education, but I can't complain about that too much; I was honestly just relieved to have a more straightforward set of POVs to go through.

This is of course very personal as a bias. Whenever possible I'd rather have a lucid, literate character, however much that constrains the setting or prose (and frankly, it's rare that it does - this is probably an unusual case as a result).

The plot is not remarkable; I would compare it to a coming of age story, in the sense that you already know what the ending is going to be and you're only reading to assess how well the author puts the characters through their paces. The book feels exploratory rather than decisive, which is really not a bad thing.

The final element which tips this to positive for me is a certain insouciant rebellion on my part against this trend of high-action, pretend-to-be-a-thriller madness which is currently gripping modern fiction (even spec fic). I admire a book that is confident and calm and thoughtful, which takes its time rather than dragging you from pillar to post with a series of carefully scripted marketing hooks.

This is a book for advanced or experienced readers of scifi I feel. ( )