I’ve heard it said that Adrian Tchaikovsky is an incredible writer. I’ve heard The Doors of Eden hailed on Goodreads as ‘an extraordinary feat of the imagination’. Well, I’m here to say I wholeheartedly agree. In fact I didn’t even understand what roles Lee and Mal had in this, I mean what they contributed to the group in terms of knowledge or skill. They were main characters but... why? A new book from Adrian Tchaikovsky, one of my favourite authors, is always an exciting event. The Doors of Eden was a book that immediately caught my attention with its stunning cover and intriguing concept. I had sky-high expectations for this book, and I am so pleased to say thatthey were absolutely met! The Doors of Eden is an incredibly accessible, fun, and thought-provoking science fiction story with Tchaikovsky's signature twist. For the only way to save the universe is for all the beings in it to get along. Co-existence not isolation will have to be the path forward. Something it would do all of us well to remember.

He was now looking forward to a few centuries of hale heartiness with which to dominate the multiverse.

The vignettes have no specific characters and are told from a distant academic point of view. The present story has a myriad of characters that I had mixed feelings about. The first (and greatest) character is Kay Amal Khan – a male to female transgender math god who is leading the ‘keep reality from ending’ effort on the human side. She is funny, fierce, brilliant, and has both a scientific and personal arc that I was heavily invested in. Tchaikovsky managed to give a lot of time exploring the discriminatory garbage that trans people have to put up with while also losing none of his signature sci-fi concepts. She is wonderful and I would die for her. 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 imagery Tchaikovsky creates is sensational throughout, especially when depicting these alien worlds. Some of the set pieces are phenomenal. One moment springs to mind instantly which is when two Earths cross over when members of the ensemble are on the ninetieth floor of a skyscraper. The ending sequence(s) were intriguing and presented in a very clever way. Overall, The Doors of Eden was an outstanding and entertaining thriller that deserves to be Tchaikovsky's next science fiction megahit. Highly recommended. 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.

This book was provided for free by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to review this book. In my wildest moments, I did not, never ever contemplate Tchaikovsky could write a book as shitty as this. Why not? If this is the road we are offered, I am willing to walk down it and curious to find out where it leads. Most of the book takes place in contemporary London though, dealing with increasing interference in current affairs from those alternative evolutionary universes. And that was the part that left me less than thrilled. A combination of ghostbusters hunting for the Loch Ness monster or BigFoot and of government agencies engaged in high stakes spy games didn’t bring anything new in terms of plot or characterization. The author seemed more interested in playing gender politics and in feeding conspiracy theories than in advancing the story. In a nutshell, The Doors of Eden has a simple premise: the end of the universe. Not just ours, but every division that’s been occurring since the beginning of time. Then I'm going to throw in some bigot character just for the hell of it because why not. Does it really do anything for the plot? Nah. But doesn't your blood just boil when bigots do/say/ act (in) disgustingly bigot ways?hrpanjwani on Reading The Wheel of Time: Taim Tells Lies and Rand Shares His Plan in Winter’s Heart (Part 3) 5 seconds ago Wright, Jonathan (September 2009). "Meet a Brit author in the vanguard of the new heroic fantasy…". SFX Magazine. Archived from the original on 8 March 2010 . Retrieved 15 March 2010. 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. Following the discoveries, the breadcrumbs so to speak, was seriously cool and I adore the author for how he handled the alternate-Earth-trope. On the plus side, Tchaikovsky is still fascinating when he engages in his favorite game : anthropomorphic presentation of our evolutionary partners. Whether you believe in spacefaring trilobites the size of aircraft carriers or not has little relevance to the actual story. Early science-fiction had a similar cavalier attitude to rigorous scientific arguments, being more concerned with the BIG ideas and with the fate of humanity as a whole [they were also often sketchy about character development]. By those early standards, mr. Tchaikovsky has written a classic of the genre, a daring feat of imagination and an engaging call to arms to save our own Eden while we still can.

Let me just start by saying that I don’t think Adrian Tchaikovsky is actually capable of writing a bad book, but some are definitely better than others. When it comes to The Doors of Eden, I would probably place it somewhere in the middle as I quite enjoyed it, but I also didn’t think it was his best. Once again, we may have high expectations to blame here. Interview with Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Shadow of the Apt series". www.londoncalling.com . Retrieved 23 January 2019. 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. There's also dinosaurs, evolution, biology and more. The interludes of the book tell us about all sorts of changing cultures and creatures throughout the ages, and eventually we see how these research interludes connect into the overall plot too. Hell, I was personally wondering what the hell it had to do with anything. Of course, with a little patience, it turns out to have EVERYTHING to do with EVERYTHING.Lastly, do remember that this is Tchaikovsky’s book, you might as well prepare yourself to meet terrifying creatures. And spiders. Adrian Tchaikovsky is one of my must-buy authors. He effortlessly moves between science fiction and fantasy, and he makes it look easy. His vast imagination is mindblowing, and his ideas always turn into fascinating thought experiments. 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!