An interesting premise, with a world that is very well constructed sets the stage for a fascinating tale, but I still didn’t want to continue with the series. It’s a Swiss Family Robinson, but with a crash landing on a planet and with no rescue. What the author did an amazing job with was the slow deconstruction of society. When the crashed crew goes from four to two and then grows to 500, what aspects of the culture are preserved? What taboos are removed? And what new ones put in place? Strip away luxury, knowledge, and history and what make us human? It’s an interesting exploration, but I was glad to be done with it.
Publisher’s Summary
On the alien, sunless planet they call Eden, the 532 members of the Family shelter beneath the light and warmth of the Forest’s lantern trees. Beyond the Forest lie the mountains of the Snowy Dark and a cold so bitter and a night so profound that no man has ever crossed it.
The Oldest among the Family recount legends of a world where light came from the sky, where men and women made boats that could cross the stars. These ships brought us here, the Oldest say – and the Family must only wait for the travelers to return.
But young John Redlantern will break the laws of Eden, shatter the Family and change history. He will abandon the old ways, venture into the Dark…and discover the truth about their world.
Already remarkably acclaimed in the UK, Dark Eden is science fiction as literature; part parable, part powerful coming-of-age story, set in a truly original alien world of dark, sinister beauty–rendered in prose that is at once strikingly simple and stunningly inventive.