The Doors of Eden

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This was a book I was really looking forward to as soon as I heard that Adrian Tchaikovsky had written a new SF novel (a.k.a doorstop) and after I had the privilege to hear him and Christopher Paolini discussing their new novels and the research and ideas that went into them. The book did not disappoint, and I ended up doing a combination of reading and also audiobooking it. Interview with Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Shadow of the Apt series". www.londoncalling.com . Retrieved 23 January 2019. Adrian Tchaikovsky is among my favorite science fiction writers, a prolific writer maintaining brainy inventive quality in all of his works, not afraid of venturing out into difficult concepts and making them fascinating. And his exceptional forte seems to be exploration of sentient life different from what we are used to, going past the humanoid bipedal relatable lifeforms and venturing into the worlds of spacefaring spiders and technologically advanced octopuses — and why not the worlds of spacefaring trilobites and frozen fish computers? Apparently, the man studied (not “read”, but studied “Lee was studying zoology at Reading, Mal was reading English Lit at Oxford—an establishment so exclusive that they had a whole other verb for what you did there”) Zoology for a reason. The Doors to Eden is essentially a by-the-seat-of-your-pants hard sci-fi thriller, balanced with mind blowing scientific theory on evolutionary biology and Tchaikovsky's wild imagination. It will make you question your understanding of the history of the Earth, our universe and our place in it, as well as the meaning and significance of sentience. The story is not only thrilling, but endearing and humorous, masterfully written with exceptional balance and pacing. A central driving theme, also shared with Star Trek, is the notion of IDIC - Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations - the idea that we are all made better, stronger and smarter, by combining the diverse talents and perspectives of everyone. Imprerium Czerni i złota – Adrian Tchaikovsky" (in Polish). Rebis. Archived from the original on 9 October 2010 . Retrieved 12 October 2010.

On 23 January 2019, Tchaikovsky was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of the Arts by the University of Lincoln. [13] Career [ edit ] For with The Doors of Eden Tchaikovsky has created something which is not only a great story, but manages to make it relevant to what’s happening in our world today. He not only shows us the ugliness of nationalism and bigotry, but gives us the message we have to change the way we are if we’re going to survive. How long, after all, does it take for life to generate sentience, for sentience to generate a civilization that can command its world enough to be proof against disaster? Each branching timeline that we’ve followed is set into motion later than the last. In each new timeline, the previous lords of Earth are suppressed in favour of a new might-have-been, for otherwise the new hopes would be precluded by the old rulers’ presence.” All that build up lead to an absolutely amazing final quarter. It looked to be heading one way, then he'd magician another possibility out of the sci-fi hat. What a pleasure it must have been for a writer, getting to play with all those possibilities! (spoiler!) Seriously, mind blown starting at the space-faring trilobites. And Fungus as God. Oh, and what an eye-roll at that pandering cat-world! Everything more I could say would be spoilers, so I won't. As an aside, if you thought Dark Matter failed to live up to the sci-fi premise, this is the book for you. I went from considering abandoning it, to a better mood, to wondering if it was another entry by T. into Sci-Fi Canon.

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I recommend this book to everyone who has an interest in parallel worlds and sometimes stands in front of the mirror wondering how different the world might look today if evolution had gone a different way. (Yes, yes, I do that. Poor mirror probably thinks I'm a bit...odd.) The Doors of Eden is an incredibly pacey, otherworldly, and fun science fiction adventure -- who would have thought the end of the world would be so delightful? A must-read for fans of Tchaikovsky's work and newcomers alike -- you'll absolutely tear through it! This is a multiple of firsts for me, as not only was this my first novel by Tchaikovsky, but this was also the first contemporary sci-fi I have read. I must note, I had some reservations to begin with - I’ll freely admit to not really being a fan of contemporary settings as I like to escape into worlds that have very little connection to our present. Yet I found Tchaikovsky’s prose to have a captivating quality to it, one that slowly drew me in and allowed me to vividly visualise the scene and the characters. There was also an underlying atmosphere of creepiness, a sort of haunted feeling, which held my curiosity. From a young age I’ve been fascinated by the idea of deep time, the millions of years of life that passed before ever a human eye opened to examine the world. I’ve been fascinated, too, by all the many ‘What if?’ scenarios inherent in that span of time. I’ve been inspired by books like Stephen J. Gould’s Wonderful Life and Dougal Dixon’s After Man, looking at the process of evolution and asking ‘Did it have to go this way?’ Tons of supporting characters make for memorable clashes and encounters with each of our PoV characters – the absolute stand-outs are Sabreur’s boss, Leslie Hind, who is a cold-blooded badass, and Dr. Rat, a mad genius of the most entertaining variety.

The best example of this is The Ice Queen Priestess. I just put the book down and can't remember half the characters names, but if you've read it you'll know who I mean. Her defining character trait is her religious devotion to The Ice Computer. She's its high priestess and her sole goal is communion with her god. So why in the world, at the climax of the book, would she destroy the entire multiverse, except for one reality, at the behest of Nazi Jeff Bezos? Her motivation made sense when she was helping NJB to ruthlessly allow the vast majority of the multiverse to be destroyed so a small portion could be saved. Her god would be saved. That's what matters. But at one point in the novel NJB decides to allow everything except for one single reality to be destroyed, and she continues to help him, even when his plan explicitly involves killing her god. Tchaikovsky still uses role-playing games to help develop his stories, but now also uses live action role-playing, which assists in describing the numerous action and battle sequences in his books. He is currently involved with the LARP game Empire. [15] Or rather, histories. Tchaikovsky’s world-building is some of the best in modern sci-fi and now he has made an enchanting multiverse of parallel Earths. How many times can you watch the world end, after all, even if it’s not your world?”It’s only natural - and very conceitedly tempting - to think of humanity as if not the pinnacle of evolution then at least the inevitable and logical result of its natural progression. From the unicellular organisms deciding that strength is in numbers to the ill-fated trilobites of the Cambrian explosion, to Devonian Age of Fishes, to the devastation of the Great Dying of the Permian extinction, to the ill-fated dinosaurs side-eyeing that mercilessly approaching asteroid, to mammalian dominance until finally, elbowing out of the way our less fortunate Neanderthal cousins we, humans, emerge onto the global scene as the ultimate lottery winners.Julian is your typical spy-behind-a-desk – not as used to action as he likes to think. I really liked Julian: he’s overwhelmed for most of the book but always stayed true to his principles. Julian’s “wait, what?” often gave the readers the chance to catch their breath.

There’re a lot of characters in The Doors of Eden, and I can’t do them all justice. I loved the representation of sexuality though and typically, it’s the humans that are the douches, not the ‘aliens’. The Doors of Eden is truly epic is ambition and scale. The novel follows its main characters across many alternative Earths. Each world has changed - and creatures have evolved differently - across these multiple timelines. In Tchaikovsky's science fiction masterclass Children of Time, we were presented with highly intelligent spiders. Here, we're witness to extremely advanced rat-creatures, bird-like tribal dinosaurs, and science-savvy cavemen too. There are even village-sized insects that can act as flying vehicles. Tchaikovsky's imagination is bizarre, mindboggling yet at the same time is utterly brilliant. The Doors of Eden is told through multiple perspectives which are all kind of jumbled and layered on top of each other, because this is a novel involving parallel worlds and alternate timelines. We begin with childhood-friends-turned-lovers Lee and Mal, two young women who’d bonded over a lifelong interest in cryptozoology, heading off into the Bodmin Moor to investigate rumors of a creature known as the Birdman. But something strange happened to them out there in the wilderness, something Lee knows she can’t explain without coming across like she’s completely lost her mind. All that mattered was that at the end of the day, only she emerged from the moorlands while Mal was gone, vanished without a trace. The imagery Tchaikovsky creates is sensational throughout, especially when depicting these alien worlds. Some of the set pieces are phenomenal. One moment springs to mind instantly which is when two Earths cross over when members of the ensemble are on the ninetieth floor of a skyscraper. The ending sequence(s) were intriguing and presented in a very clever way. Overall, The Doors of Eden was an outstanding and entertaining thriller that deserves to be Tchaikovsky's next science fiction megahit. Highly recommended. Clute, John (13 June 2022). "Tchaikovsky, Adrian". In Clute, John; Langford, David (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (4thed.).To win the arms race of this Cambrian is to have the strongest shell. It is to be hauled up from the sediment by the the anomalocarids' fearsome arms, ground between their spines, gnamed at by their toothed ring of a mouth, then abandoned for flimsier prey. From such a forge, here is what will fight its way to dominance... When at last they take to the land, their shells fend off the killer radiation of the sun and their respiratory surfaces hold enough water for brief seaside strolls. Their articulated legs are initially only strong enough to drag their jointed bellies in the sand, but that will change." Tchaikovsky delivers a very diverse cast. I always enjoy reading about lesbian and trans characters that feel fleshed out and three-dimensional. Then we move to the lesbian teenagers in love, Lee and Mal. They are fine. Their story isn’t particularly interesting, and they don’t feel like they mesh well with the urgent narrative – but their budding relationship is still enjoyable and they have relatable personalities. They felt like they were around to catalyze a few “aha” moments for other characters and I wish they had a little more agency in the actual story.