Edenborn

Nick Sagan

Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)

It is eighteen years after Idlewild and the survivors are now adults. Though Halloween - bitter and disillusioned - has chosen to exile himself, his peers seek to repopulate the Earth and rebuild civilization. They are mankind's last, best and perhaps only hope. But an ideological split has divided them into two very different societies. One looks to resurrect the human race, while the other is committed to improving humanity via genetic manipulation.

And so a new generation of children is born, but as they mature it becomes clear that all is not well. Someone - or something - is moving against them, even as Black Ep, the plague that claimed billions of lives, returns in search of new victims. The survivors must work together, but to save the future Halloween must first let go of the past...

Thrilling, post-apocalyptic yet written with an arcing sense of wonder, Edenborn is the next visionary chapter in the Idlewild story by one of speculative fiction's most exciting new voices.

Review by Nigel (300904) Rating (8/10)

Review by Nigel
Rating 8/10
BookLore was very happy to receive a copy of Edenborn from the publisher and I personally was over the moon as Idlewild was such a good book I was eagerly awaiting the sequel.

It is 18 years since the events depicted in Idlewild and the survivors are rebuilding society while trying to defeat Black Ep, the virus that wiped out humanity.

Two distinct camps having evolved; the Northern camp, based in Munich, using genetic engineering and the Southern camp, at Luxor, using various medications. Pandora is acting as support for the two camps while the two other survivors, Halloween and Fantasia, are missing doing their own thing...

The story unfolds as we learn how the last 'humans' deal with Black Ep. The next generation are developing with very different ideologies, courtesy of Vashti and Champagne in the North and Isaac in the South.

When Pandora's systems are hacked all hell breaks loose and Halloween is the prime suspect. What unfolds, however, leaves all parties trying to bring humanity back from the brink as the new generation start to fall to Black Ep.

When the dust settles at the end you have found out that nothing has really been learned and the remnants of humanity are just as susceptible to the everyday vices and greed that plague the modern world.

This is pure conjecture on my part, as I'm not really qualified to comment. I suspect, however, that in most cases writing a sequel is much harder than writing a first novel. With the initial story the author has had a good idea, put it all together over a period of time and generally laboured long and hard. The book is then a success and the inevitable sequel is demanded… how to make it as good, or better, than the first. The problems are you already have your characters and setting so you lose half the book these introductions would normally take. In other words you simply have to write a damn good story.

I'm happy to report Nick Sagan has managed this with ease. OK, I'll admit I didn't find it as good as Idlewild, since that had twists and turns to rival The Matrix.

What Edenborn does do, however, is take the characters from Idlewild further along their development and examines what would happen when quite damaged minds are left in control. After all, the survivors from Idlewild, on whose shoulders rest the survival of mankind, definitely did not have a normal upbringing.
Nigel (30th September 2004)