Dark Eden by Chris Beckett

We are taken to a breathtakingly original world in which the "family" rules and the world is dark, sometimes dark dark or even dark dark dark. The only light comes from the local fauna which inhabits the Circle Valley, in which the children are batfaced and clawfooted due to inbreeding, as they are all descendants of Tommy and Angela, the two who decided to stay behind on Eden. But everything is not going well for John Redlatern. After 163 years and now over 500 people the food is running out, space is limited and John decides to press out into the Dark. 

The originality of the world is what first drew me into the fantastic novel which won the Arthur C. Clark Award and has been praised by many. The novel was a little slow to start as we grow accustomed to the world of Eden and our main characters. John Redlatern is brave, his cousin Gerry will follow him off a cliff, Jeff who is Gerry little clawfooted brother and Tina who is smitten for John. But once this was out of the way the story begins to pick up as we relate to John and the questions that he raises about the world in which he grew up and the customs that go along with it.

I like to think of John as a anti-hero, since he has his flaws and he fully admits them, but he still pushes on with his goal because he knows that it is the right thing to do. On top of that there are times when you almost hate John for the way he thinks and acts, but it is all to achieve something greater. John is an everyman who wants to change the world.

I would recommend this novel over and over again. Some people may object to it saying it is dirty and obscene, but through some of these scenes we better understand the culture and the hardships of our characters lives. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story by Chris Beckett and couldn't put it down once I got into it.

Overall: 4/5

Book Press Release

http://crownpublishing.com/news/arthur-c-clarke-award-winning-author-chris-becketts-brilliant-us-debut-dark-eden/#.U2ghVoFdV8E

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review