The Doors of Eden

The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I just read one of my new favorites not just for this year... but perhaps for this entire decade.
Or rather, let's just scratch that and say it's one of my favorites.
Period.

Adrian Tchaikovsky himself said, about this book, "I have quite the trip in store for readers," and he wasn't joking around. The opening seems rather scientific and dry, and perhaps some people will appreciate the little primer on evolutionary science through deep time, the first building blocks of life through Earth's current cycle.

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.

Adrian Tchaikovsky has repeatedly brought OTHER intelligent life to us in so many different forms and thought patterns. Just look at Children of Time (intelligent spiders butting heads with humans) or Children of Ruin (that includes intelligent squid) in a full space opera. Or let's look at his fantasy series with tons of animals (and insects) with their own societies in an epic fantasy! He has a thing for biology. And he takes it further in Doors of Eden than he's taken it anywhere else.

This book is simultaneously MORE accessible, more down-to-earth Modern Earth, than any other book (not including novellas) that he's ever written. But it is ALSO one of the hardest SF novels he's ever written.

Yeah. That tickles me to death, too. How can it be light and heavy at the same time? Because he pulls in real science, truly fantastically creative speculation on how Earth's own species could arise to intelligence if luck had JUST been on their side, and he wraps it all up with excellent modern technothriller sensibilities.

I can't even begin to count how many tropes Tchaikovsky brings in to stand on their head, change forms, and then come back out like a cyborg of its original form.

Or, I COULD, but then I'd be simply listing all the fantastic ideas and how he made them even more fantastic and how the novel kept growing and growing and growing in scope until I felt like it had forever ruined the best aspects of Sliders for me while also sticking a fork in the best First Contact novels I've ever read. :)

To sum up... this book should win all the awards. It's not only accessible, but it does all the Hard-SF ideas justice.

Mezmerizing! Mind-blowing! Stunning! I don't know which word is strong enough to describe this book! An unique and strong work of science-fiction that every readers of this genre should read. I can't recommend it enough!

he Doors of Eden is a tome at over 600 pages, but is written so beautifully that is doesn’t feel like 600 pages. It was a delight to read.

I had a really difficult time writing this review. I wrote and rewrote my review before taking a break and then make this final attempt. My review doesn’t do this book justice and some aspects of the book I found had my opinion waffling over whether this was a Very Good Book or just A Goo Book. In the end, regardless of my struggles, the crux of this review is: Its a worthy read and you wont be sorry you read it!

This is my first Tchaikovsky book, so going in I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Sure, Tchaikovsky is known as a brilliant voice in fantastical literature, but sometimes an author everyone loves can, frankly, be a slog or often over-hyped. I recently read the Book of Koli by M.G. Carey which had rave reviews on Goodreads, but undoubtedly was one of my least favourite novels of the year thus far. Unpopular opinion? Yes. But a very good example of how a really popular and beloved novel may not work for everyone. Fortunately, this was not the case for The Doors of Eden and I think I found a new favourite author.

The Doors of Eden is an extremely expansive story that tries to tie in science, fantasy and politics in a cohesive but fun package. It was a pleasure to read and captured my attention from the start. The novel also explores the many parallel earths theory without getting too complex or ungainly.

What if cockroaches become sentient long before humanity, or dinosaurs or even plants? What would such a world look like? I loved the “intermissions” between chapters where the history of each parallel earth is outlined and further develops the reader’s understanding of the different parallel universes and how a slight change in Earth’s history lead to divergent evolution.

I also loved that Tchaikovsky captured the feeling of being a government spook. The main characters Julian and Allison work for an intelligence agency and felt surprisingly authentic (or so i imagine) given the fantastical nature of the story overall. I think Tchaikovsky tried to develop a cast of characters who are the modern day “every man” in a diverse set of circumstances: a cryptologist, a set of spies, a touch of LGBTQ and even a CEO with nazi-esque leanings. All of the characters have a part to play at the end of time – some of their roles surprising, some not.

The characters themselves made this review so difficult for me to write: near the end, many of the characters became politicized or unlikable making the story a little less enjoyable. Also, with all the diversity represented in this book, the lack or respect for certain minor characters soured me on the ending somewhat. Regardless, the story itself was fun and filled with so many interesting things and unexpected plot twists, that the characters became secondary to the story itself.

In addition, the end felt a little rushed and could have used some more TLC – but it wasn’t a deal breaker. I’d immediately TBR and pre-order a follow up novel in this universe because I loved Tchaikovsky the uniqueness of The Doors of Eden and am incredibly curious what other creatures exist in this really complex and ODDLY realistic world.