Before you continue reading this, please remember that this is the second book in a series. My review of the first book can be found here.
In the interest of full disclosure, I did not love the first book. The childish language used with adult topics just did not appeal to me. I understand and can appreciate it as device. It is really clever and certainly adds something to the evolution of the culture, but I just could not get into it. Many other people loved it. The story itself was fine, I just did not like the dialect that was created. I enjoyed the plot well enough, but I could have loved it if the dialogue was a bit different. It seems strange, but I find myself disagreeing with almost every other review I read on this second book. I think I may be the only person who like this better than the first book. Not only did I like it better, I actually enjoyed it significantly more. The characters and world were both very well developed in both, however I felt that this was a much more mature book.
Now that we got that out of the way, on to the main course: Mother of Eden by Chris Beckett. The first thought I had when I put the book down was, as I said earlier, “Wow, I liked this much better than the first book” though I was not exactly sure why. Mother of Eden picks up a few generation after the events of Dark Eden. None the characters from the first novel are still around, however the main characters are now the subjects of their own mythology, much like Gela and Tommy became in the prior story. The world is much more spread out now since the events of the previous novel as a result of John Redlantern, and different cultures have emerged. There is still heavy striation between Johnfolk and Davidfolk, though there is some trading between them. There also seem to be some outliers, those who wish to be outside of the divisions or have chosen to follow a path other than the main two. That is where this book begins.
Starlight Brookling comes from a small fishing Island where the people identify themselves as Jeff’s followers, an independent offshoot of John’s followers. They prefer to live simple, basic lives under the radar of the other factions on Eden. While this lifestyle works to the contentment of most of the island’s inhabitants, Starlight is too adventurous to be confined. Starlight convinces her uncle, as well as her friend Angie, to take a trip to the mainland. Not everyone is in favor of this, but when she sets her mind to something, Starlight is fairly persistent. The mainland shows these simple island folk a whole different culture with strange dress, real metal, advanced ships, and odd accents. What they do not know is that Starlight’s life is about to become more different than she could ever comprehend.
Without giving too much of the story away, Starlight finds herself in a land far more distant than she originally planned. Thrown into a situation that she can hardly comprehend, she must adapt quickly to strange customs, not just to fit in, but to survive. This other land is a stark contrast to the simple island. There is a much more civilized and advanced culture with political structure there. It seems that the people here have really evolved their civilization. The cost, however, seems so be that the darker and more manipulative nature of humankind emerge under these conditions. Now, faced with the recovered ring of Gela herself, Starlight must balance a responsibility to her new people, her conscience, and her life.
I really think Chris Beckett did a fantastic job in his follow up novel. The character development is really great in this book. I felt that it was pretty good in Dark Eden as well, but it felt stronger in Mother of Eden. The world building was also much richer and more in depth. With the emergence of new subcultures, it fleshed the world out even more. He re-imagined a familiar fantasy trope and made it his own in a new and unique world. If you like the first novel, this is a must read. If you didn’t love the first novel, I personally think this is a redeeming next installation. The dialect that is used still bugs me a bit, but with the richer story, less so. I gave it 4 stars for that reason. I almost passed it because of my general indifference to the first, but I am really glad that I gave it a chance.
The third and, according to the author, final book in the Dark Eden series is currently in the works. It will be titled Daughter of Eden (<-check the link) and will feature Starlight’s friend Angie living among the Davidfolk. No release date has been announced yet, but I will check it out as soon as I ave the opportunity.
Disclaimer: I receive this review copy through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.