Edenborn

Rating:
Summary: Another brilliant book in the series
Review: Basically, if you liked Sagan's debut novel, Idlewild, you'll love Edenborn, its sequel. The only minor quibble I have about the story is that Halloween plays a much smaller part than he did in the first novel. However, it's clear that Sagan maybe wanted to experiment with the voices of some of the other characters, and it really does work out brilliantly, especially for Pandora, whom I easily identified with (what girl hasn't tried to play it tough and cool on the outside, while all the while she's pining for some guy all her friends tell her isn't worth his weight in pebbles?)

As opposed to the slightly hacked theme of reality vs. illusion (e.g. the Matrix) we saw in Idlewilde, Edenborn deals more with ethics, and whether these people really do have a right to combat Mother Nature and try to repopulate the earth with their genetically engineered "children." But beneath all the philosophical stuff (which isn't heavy-handed; I'm not a sci-fi reader in general) is some really great writing, along with some really identifiable characters.

Definitely recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Much of Edenborn takes place inside a virtual world
Review: Fans of Sagan's debut novel Idlewild will find Edenborn a suitable follow-up: it's set in the future when a disease known as The Black Ep has wiped out most of humanity, leaving the remaining survivors divided into to camps: one which believes in technological innovation, the other an anti-technology back-to-the-land survivalist colony. Add multiple narrators to reinforce the ideas and you have a powerful setting all the more enhanced by the idea that much of Edenborn takes place inside a virtual world which the characters can manipulate.


Rating:
Summary: strong speculative fiction apocalyptic thrillers
Review: Humanity and the other primates are on the verge of extinction. The bioengineered weapon Black EP caused the deaths of all the humans on Earth but all was not lost. The scientists of Gedaechthis genetically engineered humans with unbelievable immune systems and since nobody was left alive to care for them they were raised in Immersiveve Virtual Reality. Six of these children survived all carriers of Black EP and all committed to repopulating the earth via clones and artificial wombs.

The next generation of post-humans is getting ready to take their place in society to carry on the work of their parents and try to find a cure for Black Ep. Most of the people alive spend as much time as they can in virtual reality because it is a much better place than the decimated earth. However, some unknown person is tinkering with the VR and letting secrets out that cause divisiveness and leads to that person going on a killing spree aimed at the last of the humans. A new form of Black Ep has surfaced and if a cure is not found, the end of the human race is at hand.

Although Edenborn takes place in an unspecified future, the technology that the book is based on exists today in a more primitive form. One has to admire these people who refuse to let mankind become extinct even though at times they want to give up because they don't see any progress made. Nick Sagan has written a compelling work that will appeal to fans of speculative fiction and apocalyptic thrillers.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: A bittersweet mixture of tradgey and self discovery
Review: There's a fascinating sadness about Nick Sagan's EDENBORN.

It builds, page-by-page, into a gut level conviction that all the hope and potential combined in his futuristic characters will not be enough to overcome the relentless extinction of humanity. In fact, we readers may well be traveling the last journey with our not-so-distant descendants.

Sagan builds on some speculative premises already familiar to science fiction fans of all periods and persuasions: worldwide plague wipes out all but a few dozen humans; super-sophisticated technology allows remaining humans to isolate themselves from infection; technology combined with old-fashioned human vices proves an even greater threat to their survival. Will there be another generation? Will the deadly disease strike again without warning?

Sagan provides much information but deliberately few direct answers. So if the ending is a drop-kick into almost certain biological oblivion and the means are well-worn genre cliches, is there a point to it all? I'm glad to assert there is --- and it's expressed with a riveting poignancy far beyond most writers of such recent emergence.

Drawing on the imaginative energy of young minds caught in a psychological web between real time and virtual existence, Sagan unfolds EDENBORN as a series of interwoven personal narratives by a cast of chemically constructed new humans. Nurtured in a utopian virtual reality "womb" by infertile adults desperate to preserve the human genome, their children must face the challenge of being weaned into a devastated planet where humans no longer matter.

Yet each member of Sagan's eccentric, winsome, and fatally flawed family is drawn with an eloquent devotion and care that raises EDENBORN far above the usual plague-tale formula. The outcome is a bittersweet mixture of tragedy and self-discovery that will resonate with readers of all ages, and leave us all asking better questions about the future we are making now.

--- Reviewed by Pauline Finch ([e-mail])