レビュー要約

• 題材の切り取り方と人物描写を評価する声がある一方、静かな展開や重い主題をじっくり読む作品として受け止められている。

レビュー

• Amazing sci-fi story about human nature

  I definitely recommend looking at content warnings for this book before reading, but if you can live with those and are a sci-fi fan, this book is probably for you. It really blew me away. It was a teensy bit like reading Lord of the Flies in HS, but actually being old enough to appreciate the implications. I'm immediately going to start book 2 of the trilogy.

• ホモサピエンスの行きつく先は・・

  １６０年ほど前に遠く暗い星に不時着した宇宙船。乗員２名から今では５００人を超す大家族となり、近親交配の奇形を産みつつも地球からの迎えを待つという信仰で暮らしている。本を手にとったときは星間を駆ける大パノラマを期待したがそうではなく、ここで懸命に生き延びようとする人間たちの苦悩が語られる。現状にしがみつく古老と独自の生き方を探る若者たちの反発など くどい展開で読み進むのに辛抱が要るが、終わるころには人類の痛ましい未来が垣間見える結構重い一冊だった。（本書は「超圧縮地球生物全史」ヘンリー・ジー ダイヤモンド社（これは☆５つ）の“ホモサピエンスの滅亡の可能性”の章で引用されていたので知ったものです。）

• an interesting story in many ways, linguistically, sociology and the convincing alien world

  This is an interesting book in many ways, linguistically, sociology and the convincing alien world it is set on. The premise is that the main characters are the descendants of two people stranded on an alien planet. The Family (as they refer to themself) are waiting for the day when the rescue mission will come to take them all to Earth. The world is the familiar story book jungle with a strange alien weirdness to it. For a start the sky is dark and the trees and animals luminesce. The typical body plan is six legs and very large eyes, as one might expect on a dark planet. Metal is known but unavailable to the Family, they only have primitive technology despite folklore of the advanced tech. The family is getting larger and has just over 500 members living a hunter gatherer existence. There are matrilineal groups within the family, and the people are classed developmentally. The inbreeding inherent in a population derived from two individuals has a level of genetic disorder, 'batface' and 'clawfoot' to use the vernacular of the book. This is played very well into the character interactions in the story. The Family lack a lot of the hangups that we would have, but they have their own taboos which make sense in their environment. They also have a rich oral history and the vestiges of written records. There are also relics from the spaceship and the first people. In fact the oral history and stories from the first people resonate through the whole story and form much of the basis for the Family's society. The regression from technology to hunter gatherer and the inability to produce mass written material has made their language evolve a little. It's easy enough to read, all the words in use are recognisably common English words. Some of the flora and fauna of Dark Eden are compound words, e.g. Whitelantern, woollybuck. Others have descriptive names, the slinker is like a giant millipede. Another aspect is the names for people's ages is generally given in wombs. This is an easier and more meaningful counting system when there are no seasons, nor any other way to measure the passage of time. A day is referred to as a waking. The Family groups sleep in staggered shifts so that there are always people around. The story itself is told from multiple points of view to show the reader the overall picture. Most of it is shown from two main characters though. John Redlantern is the main mover in it all, breaking the taboos and stirring things up. Tina Spiketree is the other primary character and she supports and moderates John to begin with. Both of them are newhairs of about 14 years old when the story starts. I enjoyed the experience of Dark Eden as much as I liked the story. My only gripe with it was that the ending was a bit abrupt. I went forwards and back three times on the kindle app before realising that there was no error it was the end. While the conclusion is a good one it wrapped a little too fast. Overall I would recommend this if you are interested in language, sociology, world building or just like a good story. It has all of those.

• This is a tour de force in world-building fiction and a darn good yarn, as well

  I don't get the one and two-star reviews. Really. This is a tour de force in world-building fiction and a darn good yarn, as well. We can cavil about the way the characters talk, but the speech mannerisms make sense and are consistent. And maybe the story does not light everyone's fire, but Dark Eden is a rare accomplishment. The suspense built just right, and the reader is able to figure out -- before the evidence is found -- that no help is likely to come, rather than being a surprise coming out of left field (which would have happened in bad fiction). A little over 500 people inhabit a world tidally locked to a red dwarf star, the descendants of two spacefarers marooned there. It is dark there by Earth standards, and only parts of the planet Eden are hospitable to humans. There is a grimness to the story. Life on Eden is small, and hard. There is almost no technology, in fact almost no memory of technology, except for a few non-working pieces of kit that have been elevated to mythic and devotional status. The struggle between the two main characters becomes the focus of the story at some points, and its intensity has a Lord-of-the-Flies feel. Just as this conflict is coming to a head, the book ends, and I think that (whether reviewers say so or not) the abrupt end contributed to some of the poor reviews. If you prefer your science fiction with unruly, dashing and irresistible protagonists who manage to save the planet/galaxy/universe/all human life with astonishingly beautiful female foils thrown in somewhere, avoid Dark Eden. But though not perfect, Dark Eden has earned Mr. Beckett a secure and consequential place in the science-fiction firmament; mark my words.

• Excellent read

  This is a fascinating look at how a human community evolves in a harsh environment. Very easy to read with plenty of twists and turns.

• Awesomely imagined, brilliantly written

  A habitable planet without a sun: Dark Eden may well be the most original world ever imagined in SF - I certainly have a hard time thinking of any other world that comes close to being so alien. The fact that the society he imagines is palpably human makes this stand out all the more. Beckett tells his story from multiple first-person perspectives, each one clearly distinct in terms of both their viewpoints and use of language. The author has undertaken something more than ordinarily difficult, and has succeeded decisively.

• A Different Sci-Fi

  This book is definitely not the usual sci-fi, with lasers, robots and starships it is more an anthropological sci-fi. Well written, original, but something is still missing. The plot was intriguing, but also slow and repetitive. Maybe if the author would of cut a hundred pages it would have made the book less slow. I still found the book to be an enjoyable and refreshing read. Recommended.

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