The Doors of Eden

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Adrian Tchaikovsky has been on my TBR wish-list for years. I couldn’t wait to dive into this! It’s complex; it’s epic; and enjoyable from start to finish. It contains a mystery, other worlds, space and end of time. What’s not to like? Here’s my The Doors of Eden review.

What if—bear with me—a civilization of gigantic immortal spacefaring trilobites didn’t evolve? I know, it seems hardly credible, but imagine, if you will.” This is a lengthy novel with far-fetched events taking place. It needed strong writing, and it delivered. If it was Narnia, it was a Narnia where the White Witch had won. Always winter, forever and forever, in a world that had died a hundred million years before lions might have evolved.’ On the whole I never felt that anyone was in any real peril, so there wasn’t any urgency to see how the assembly of people fixed the problem, because fixing it I was sure they would, though again, the how is left vague and unexplained. As The Doors of Eden is a science-heavy book, specifically physics, there is a lot of mathematics and jargon in the book. I have dyscalculia so I fully understand if that sentence has just made anyone reading this think ‘uh, no this one isn’t for me’. I don’t just dislike numbers; they terrify me. They’re completely alien and unyielding. With that in mind, I still stand by my 5 star rating of The Doors of Eden because while it is a book about calculations, it’s not only about calculations. They are a fundamental part of the plot, and if you finish the book you’ll understand exactly what I mean, but this is still very much a book about life and people.How long, after all, does it take for life to generate sentience, for sentience to generate a civilization that can command its world enough to be proof against disaster? Each branching timeline that we’ve followed is set into motion later than the last. In each new timeline, the previous lords of Earth are suppressed in favour of a new might-have-been, for otherwise the new hopes would be precluded by the old rulers’ presence.”

lesbian saving the world? Please. Do authors just put in non heterosexual characters to meet some sort of quota? I recommend this book to everyone who has an interest in parallel worlds and sometimes stands in front of the mirror wondering how different the world might look today if evolution had gone a different way. (Yes, yes, I do that. Poor mirror probably thinks I'm a bit...odd.) The Private Life of Elder Things (2016), ISBN 978-1911034025. Co-authored by Keris McDonald and Adam Gauntlett. A collection of new Lovecraftian fiction about confronting, discovering and living alongside the creatures of the Mythos.When I began reaching the end of The Doors of Eden, I realised that this ending could possibly be a complete hit or a miss for me, as I’m not usually fond of open endings. You can imagine my relief then, when I actually felt satisfied by the turn of events, even though I was left with many questions. I do believe that the ending was actually quite fitting, I admired its boldness, and it left a myriad of ideas which Tchaikovsky could possibly return to in the future, and so I was content. In fact you could call me mindblown, because well... I was and still am! And for every beginning there also usually is an ending. Seems natural — but a bit chilling when what you talking about is the universe. Lee was devastated, not knowing what had happened to her friend. She thought her lost forever, until four years later she receives a phone call from her friend asking for a meeting. While this is happening a top British scientist, Dr. Kay Khan, has recently begun to theorize there are not only multiple realities, but the fabric between them is wearing down resulting in holes allowing ‘others’ to slip through. Then we have the MI5 agents, Alison and Julian. Alison is also fine. The two of them mostly seem to exist in the story to foil the rest of the characters and argue that strange events the reader knows are happening actually aren’t happening. However, while Alison eventually becomes more integral to the story and has some agency, Julian’s entire deal is to continuously whine about how he doesn’t really love his wife and secretly wants to bone his coworker (Alison). He refers to it as the “unspoken connection” they have, then talks about it in his head constantly. Not a huge fan of him. The Doors of Eden is an incredibly pacey, otherworldly, and fun science fiction adventure -- who would have thought the end of the world would be so delightful? A must-read for fans of Tchaikovsky's work and newcomers alike -- you'll absolutely tear through it!