Dark Eden was first published in 2012 which soon earned its author Chris Beckett a British Science Fiction Association Award  nomination for Best Novel that same year. It then went on to win Beckett the  Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Novel. In 2013 Broadway Books, an imprint of Crown Publishing, acquired the US rights. It was published here earlier this year. I received a review copy for this US publication in exchange for a fair review.

This novel is a science fiction and dystopian story. The story takes place on a planet, or more likely planetoid, called Eden. I say planetoid for two reasons; first, there does not seem to be a central mass or solar system that it orbits. There is no natural sun or close by star. Secondly, the planet appears to be fairly small. Several generations ago a few people from Earth took off into the unknown, followed by police, and landed on Eden. While some attempted to return home, two of them stayed, waiting for the possibility of Earth to return to get them. In the meantime, the two who stayed began their own family and started populating their new home. Jump to present day in the book, there are over 500 people living on Eden, all in the one area where their ancestors first landed. These humans are living on a truly alien planet. Their light and heat come from trees with hot sap pumping through them. The animals somewhat resemble the creatures of earth, yet are wholly different.

The people make the best of what they can in their little piece of this alien planet. The whole community of every human living there is called Family, while subgroups have sprung up named mostly after things around them such as Redlantern and Spiketree. These groups have their own areas within Family. The society is governed by both the group leaders as well as a council presiding over all groups. They have lived this way since the first two, Tommy and Angela, taught them.

One teen, John Redlantern, sees things a bit differently. This main character does not understand why things have not changed. He feels that the traditions are stifling them and not allowing them to grow and reach the level of those who came from Earth. John and small group of friends wish to expand Family. Traditionalists are not happy with this idea and controversy spreads. The story switches tracks from idealism to adventure on this still mostly unknown world.

There is a whole cast of unique individuals. Beckett give you a good taste of all of them, though not in major depth. I can say that while I understood most of the characters, I cannot say that I really liked any of them. Not that I did not like how the author wrote them, I did not like their personalities. I suppose that says they were developed enough to have unlikable characteristics. I started out liking John and the way he saw the world. I later found that I very much disliked him. I began to see past his altruism and saw something else. I also really liked Tina Spiketree at first, but I stopped being able to. Other characters were meant to be hated, and you do in fact hate them as you read.  While the characters were developed, I just personally have trouble getting fully immersed in a story where there is nobody to really relate to.

Another interesting thing was the language. They spoke English, since Tommy ad Angela did. They know of London, Brooklyn, television, electricity, and so on. There was no way to truly understand these things, but they had vague ideas. They however spoke about it in a manner similar to when you are teaching a three year old and they say things how they hear them. The names and words come out in hybrid English/baby talk. That is how a lot of the words in the story were. It makes sense. Slang develops in all cultures and vowel shifts, etc. It is as if you are teaching a child to say things, however you do not correct them, so their mispronunciations are passed down for generations. It worked in the story so it did not bother me most of the time. Occasionally I wanted to yell at the characters to pronounce the words properly, but that is just me. I will even point things like that out at the office.

The story was fairly interesting. The concept of stranded earthlings making their home on a distant and strange alien world is a great science fiction concept. It felt like a Lord of the Flies meets Lost in Space. OK, two classics there so it is not really a negative statement, but I felt that it could have been taken so much farther. I realize that this is only the first book in a series, with the next one slated for release in 2015, I believe. The first story did not jump out at me and make me want to continue though. I tend to have bad luck with award winning novels. Maybe I expect too much going in, or maybe I just have a completely different taste that award committees, but I tend to not love these lauded novels as much as I want to.

The book was not bad, 3/5 in my eyes. I did not love it, but I did not hate it. It seemed right in my wheelhouse, but just did not live up to expectations. Again, Dark Eden was an OK book, but I felt it was too lackluster considering all of the praise. I wanted to love it, instead I just did not mind it.