Dark Eden [Hardcover]

Patrick Carman (Author), Patrick Arrasmith (Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: November 1, 2011

Fifteen-year-old Will Besting is sent by his doctor to Fort Eden, an institution meant to help patients suffering from crippling phobias. Once there, Will and six other teenagers take turns in mysterious fear chambers and confront their worst nightmares—with the help of the group facilitator, Rainsford, an enigmatic guide. When the patients emerge from the chamber, they feel emboldened by the previous night's experiences. But each person soon discovers strange, unexplained aches and pains. . . . What is really happening to the seven teens trapped in this dark Eden?

Patrick Carman's Dark Eden is a provocative exploration of fear, betrayal, memory, and— ultimately—immortality.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A spooky, psychological thriller. With seven different characters who have seven different fears, there is bound to be someone for readers to relate to in one way or another...the supernatural twist at the end will leave teens with more questions than answers. (School Library Journal )

“A compelling read that transposes the best aspects of classic horror storytelling onto a modern backwoods adventure reluctantly experienced by seven terrified teens.” (Los Angeles Times )

“DARK EDEN is a fast-paced thrill ride.” (Los Angeles Times )

“The added supernatural twist...maintains Fort Eden’s air of doom and gloom to the very end. (Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books )

About the Author

Patrick Carman is the New York Times bestselling author of such acclaimed series as the Land of Elyon and Atherton, the teen superhero novel Thirteen Days to Midnight, and the first Dark Eden book. A multimedia pioneer, Patrick authored The Black Circle, the fifth title in the 39 Clues series, and the groundbreaking Skeleton Creek and Trackers books. An enthusiastic reading advocate, Patrick has visited more than one thousand schools, developed village library projects in Central America, and created author outreach programs for communities.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (November 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062009702
• ISBN-13: 978-0062009708
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #771,969 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I have been a lifelong writer and storyteller. Salem, Oregon is where I spent my formative years and I graduated from Willamette University. After college, I spent a decade living in Portland, Oregon where I worked in advertising, game design, and technology.

I've written young adult and children's books for Scholastic, Little Brown Books For Young Readers and Katherine Tegen Books/ HarperCollins Publishers.

I've been fortunate enough to have had some bestselling series work: The Land of Elyon, Atherton, Elliot's Park, 39 Clues, and Skeleton Creek. Here's a fun note...the books have been translated into approximately two dozen languages. Currently I'm developing a few new-media projects. Check out DARK EDEN to experience this type of cross-platform project.

When I'm not writing or creating a story, I spend my free time supporting literacy campaigns and community organizations, fly fishing, playing basketball and tennis, doing crosswords, watching movies, dabbling in video games, reading (lots), and (more than anything else) spending time with my wife and two daughters.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I've read in a long time September 22, 2011

By JJ TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

It may sound like a cheesy or cheap way to describe this book, but I truly have to say that it was a page-turning thriller which I couldn't put down. "Dark Eden" is twisted but only in a good way, giving the reader a psychological trip that won't be forgotten anytime soon. I don't rate books on Amazon with 5 stars frequently, but I think that this book deserves all 5 stars because of the excellent storytelling, character development, and technical writing present in this work.

STORY - Will Besting has a fear. Will doesn't have a normal little phobia, though, such as being scared of heights or creeped out by snakes. No, Will has an irrational, nightmarish fear that has caused him to need counseling for a very long time. The counseling doesn't seem to be doing much good, however. His doctor finally admits that she can't do anything else for him except send him off on a week-long retreat with six other patients that have equally frightening fears which she hasn't been able to cure either. Will doesn't want to go, but his parents overrule him and send him to a place they are confident will heal him. A place where the cure to fear is believed to be fear itself. A place where the teens may leave, never able to be cured again.

WRITING STYLE - The story is fantastic, but I will admit that it started out a bit slow, seeming like it was simply describing a field trip instead of a trip to a healing mental retreat. However, the story quickly picked up speed early on and never slowed down again.

With the exception of an intro and epilogue-like ending, the book is divided into six main chapters: one for each of the teens at the retreat with two of the boys squeezed into the same chapter. In each chapter, you will find out a little bit more about each of these teens and how they ended up at this mysterious place. Their uniquely irrational fears are developed very well as are their personalities. Meanwhile, you will also be finding more and more about Will who the story mostly revolves around. There is also development of the workers at the retreat while not revealing exactly whether they are really trying to help the teens or harm them.

As you get about halfway into the story, you will start to experience twists and turns galore, but they never get too radical or crazy. To me, they all added to a certain horror/shock factor that made this book so chilling. The ending was very solid and not a cliffhanger at all, but it also left room for a possible sequel, which I would personally snap up as soon as it became available.

Something incredibly unique about this book is that it can be accompanied by an app that can be purchased in the iPod/iPhone/iPad app store. While the app itself is free, you will have to shell out money to unlock all chapters of the app's story. It basically follows the same storyline while utilizing short audio, video, and literary clips instead of a full book form. It's simply an addition you could access if you enjoyed the story immensely; it can stand alone, accompany the book, or not be used at all.

WARNINGS - Mild Language, Mild Violence, Peril, Horror

OVERALL - While adults may still enjoy it, the writing, story, and character elements are obviously meant for teens. I personally loved everything about this book, though, and can classify it as one of the best books I've read in the past few years. It's enthralling, creepy, and exciting all at the same time, and I definitely recommend it highly to anyone who enjoys a psychological thriller, especially teens.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Review From Gypsy Book Reviews February 11, 2012

By Ashelynn Hetland

Format:Hardcover

Dark Eden is something else; it's all about fears and being "cured." And what I liked is it's told from Will Beasting's POV, who is if you haven't guessed it, a boy. In YA fiction! The horror!

Dark Eden is an okay book. It hooked me at first, mostly because I wondered what Will's fear was and you don't learn that until near the end. There wasn't much action, emotional or literal, and it just got kinda boring in the middle. Readers never see more into the fears or the cure itself--and most of it is revealed toward the end. Actually, it is the end where it's revealed. You don't know what's coming when they explain what is wrong with Fort Eden and such because there's no clues for it. The ending did remedy it for me, though, because I like it when it's twisty. But I like it more when there's clues toward the ending.

There's a paranormal aspect for this book. It's at the end, when everything is revealed. There's also a "romance" which really bothered me. Basically Will meets Marisa on the day they're going to Fort Eden and ends up falling in love with her after she says one sentence to him. There's a point in the book where everybody is talking about Will and they don't know he's listening, and he wants Marisa to defend him. It's... just weird how instant their romance was because there was no build up. No chemistry between them, except we're supposed to believe they're in love? They said two words to each other before they were in love!

I will have to say for a "scary" book, it didn't scare me at all. I don't know if the cure process was supposed to scare me, because it didn't. I did like it, though, for the ending. It just wasn't a mind bending twist that I love. Okay, actually I just remembered something that did make me go "WHAT?" in a mind bending twist ending. But the fact that I forgot it probably indicates that it wasn't that amazing. ;) Oh well!

Also, there isn't a cliffhanger ending, and I thought it worked well as a standalone, but apparently it's a series? I don't know how many books, but probably three books. I don't think I'll pick up the sequels unless the summaries catch my eye.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark Eden by Patrick Carmen November 13, 2011

By Amber @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Format:Hardcover

Dark Eden is an exciting physiological thriller brimming with action, unexpected twists and an unique but fascinating main character. The entire time I was trying to figure out the angle for Eden while watching what it did to its patients. While I could foresee something, others hit me with a curve ball and I was definitely not expecting the ending. But even better than the twisting and surprising plot was the impact that hits hard and true. In this surprising sincerity is where Dark Eden truly excels.

In the beginning, I just didn't really care about Will. I thought he was a different character with incredibly unique qualities but I just didn't feel emotionally connected with him. Maybe it was all his snooping in the beginning or his refusal to immerse himself in the program but I just didn't click with him. But as his resourcefulness came out and as he started taking very large risks to discover the truth behind Eden, I beginning to reach out. Then, when his big revelation came, I found that I was tremendously effected and really felt for him. As if over night, I'd started to feel for the guy who treats noise like most people treat their favorite food. I'm really glad that I was able to break through whatever was bothering me about him and start to connect with Will because he is a really great edition to a female saturated market.

I wish I'd gotten to know the other six kids in Dark Eden a little bit better. I was interested in their stories and what made them tick but because Alex chooses an alternative route to the regular treatment, we don't get to know very much about them . However, it is nice that each had their own fear and by the end, I could tell each kid apart. The other characters were interesting. I had no idea what Rainsford and the groundskeeper were up to and how Doctor Stevens played into all of the things going on.

The atmosphere of Eden really lende to the terrifying feel of the novel. Nestled deep into the woods and surrounded by crows, Eden is an old fort that goes very deep underground. The trapped feeling of the walls plus the darkness of the woods was very scary. I liked that with Will we got to see how the treatments were working and what the kids were afraid of. I did find that I had a problem though because I felt like Will was keeping information from the reader that he already knew. For instance, he knew what everyone was scared of before they ever started their journey but the reader only got to find out as it was happening to them. I'll admit that a lot of the reason I read was to find out for myself but I found it frustrating that our main character was sharing information earlier.

Without revealing too much, I'll say that I had no idea where the story was going. Though the story starts off a bit slow, the ending makes up for it. After Will finds out the secrets behind Eden, it makes the entire thing that much more creepy. I've read some reviews where people have said that they didn't like what Eden was hiding, that it wasn't believable. For me, it added to the story, expanding it in a way I didn't think was possible for the novel. That makes the slow beginning worth it. I also like how the story is told in small bits of conversation, borrowed notes and sometimes straight first person. It gives it an organic feel and the fact that it is broken up with pictures is also a fun detail.

Though I haven't yet, I plan to check out the animated website that goes along with this novel and see if it adds anything to an already interesting novel. Bottom line is Will is a great new voice, the plot is unexpected and the concept is killer. If the study of fear and/or adventure is your thing, Dark Eden is definitely a novel to check out.