Eden at the Edge of Midnight

Eden at the Edge of Midnight

by John Kerry

SYNOPSIS:

The Vara of Yima, the original Garden of Eden, sealed from the rest of the world and populated with the fittest of men and women. A secret paradise that 150 years ago became ravaged by smog that choked out the skies.

Now the Vara exists in a permanent state of darkness and its people need a champion, a chosen one to save them from the smog that threatens to fill the realm and poison its inhabitants.

That’s what they needed. They got Sammy Ellis instead. She isn’t important enough for her dad to stick around for, never mind saving a realm or junk like that. Her only responsibility was to help the chosen one open the gateway into the Vara, but not only has she entered the realm in their place, she’s also locked them out in the process.

Stuck in a twilight land of giant mushrooms, pursued by dark forces and still in her pyjamas, being unimportant back in the real world is starting to seem way more attractive.

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I rarely read a book I know nothing about – and yes, I do remember reading the synopsis at some point, but when I picked it up to read it I didn’t remember anything from it.

eden2As the cover shows, Eden at the Edge of Midnight describes a fantastic and vibrant world, so different than our own, filled with strange creatures and other wonders, and I really loved how rich the descriptions were.

The setting was creative, beautiful and scary even, it made for a very exciting reading experience. I could picture it all in my head and I loved that feeling – discovering this world step by step, with the good and the bad, with what makes it unique and fascinating.

The story itself was engaging – I loved the switch of perspective, Perseopia’s historical references, the mystery and all those turnarounds that didn’t let me trust the characters and made me question their hidden motives. I also loved the fact that the main character was not supposed to be quite the classical paranormal heroine (also it kept us guessing if she was the saviour or the destroyer or if there was more to her story) and the romance was pretty tamed and not that typical either.

Though the pacing was a bit slow at times, there was plenty of action and it really managed to pick up near the ending – the same one that left us with so many questions regarding Sammy, her purpose, what did she achieve with her actions and how will those resonate in Perseopia and (who knows?) maybe even our world.

I am curious about what comes next also because I want to know what happens with all the other characters, as this story doesn’t follow Sammy alone, but some of the other characters too.

eden1And to be honest I might have liked them a bit more than I liked the main character.
Because, this being said, on the bad side there were only 2 things that bothered me: Sammy and the dialogue.

I can’t be sure what in those conversations didn’t ring particularly true to my ears, it was just a feeling that lingered and made me cringe a bit, but when it comes to the main character I know for certain that she must be one of the most immature girls I’ve read about in a quite a while.

Sammy was really selfish, self-centered and didn’t think things through, she took all these rush decisions, acting like a child and pretending to be a “young adult“.. Still, I am sure that this must have been intended this way – because even Sammy knows just how annoying she can be. But no matter if a character evolves or not through a story (and she didn’t, not by much), when you feel like punching that character every time she opens her mouth, well.. something is not right. She took away some of the pleasure of reading and she made me want to scream “just grow up already!”.

There were some things that weren’t fully developed, so I still want to know more about Sammy’s home life, and some details about other characters, but there is time for those in the next instalment. It’s hard to judge a story when it’s not over yet, because sometimes all those missing pieces that you can’t seem to wrap your head around are the spice of the story. So I will wait and see…

Conclusions:

I loved this dark world, I enjoyed being transported to this land of adventure, inhabited by people next to dinosaur pets and mushroom trees and crab monsters, I loved following the myths that held the key to Sammy’s return to our world, and even though the narrator was not on my likings Eden at the Edge of Midnight was an enjoyable read.

Happy midnight reading!

Book source: Copy provided by the author for review. Thank you very much!

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2 responses to “Eden at the Edge of Midnight”

  1. Amber says:

    I didn’t enjoy this book at all. I thought it was very weakly written. The metaphors were over used and the characters were not developed well at all. 0 out of ten.

    • Ari says:

      It’s pretty sad when we don’t enjoy a book, I hate that feeling too, but there is plenty fish in the sea so I hope that the book you will read next will be amazing. Happy reading!

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