Customer Reviews

The Eden Cycle

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While I've finally overcome a decades-long addiction to science fiction novels, this book is one of the handful of sci-fi works I still hold in the highest esteem. I never understood why Mr. Gallun didn't share his authorial gifts more profusely, nor do I understand why Hollywood has ignored the cinematic potential of this wonderful tale. Its Rousseauian romanticism still resonates in this era of "greener than thou." And its highly creative take on metempsychosis fits well with the increasing popularity of belief in reincarnation.

I just finished reading The Eden Cycle, and I have to say it is one of the most innovative, wild, and exciting science fiction novels I have read in years. Maybe ever. Written by Raymond Z. Gallun, The Eden Cycle is set in one of the coolest possible worlds I have ever read about.

The story starts off in what appears to be a small town right before the Great Depression. Two kids. A boy and a girl. Growing up. Falling in love. That sort of thing. Then, the girl starts to think that nothing in their lives is actually real. She starts having these dreams and impressions that it's all just an illusion, and when she talks to the boy about it all, he begins to agree with her, and together, they will themselves out of their reality, instantaneously to a faraway beach in a virtual but real-seeming world.

Before long, they learn that they've been alive for hundreds or maybe thousands of years, living countless virtual lives within a huge virtual system the instructions of which were radioed to the earth long ago by an alien civilization. Now, almost every human has had his and her identities transferred into tiny, shimmering balls, and within those balls, people have the power to do anything, go anywhere, do whatever they want, in the virtual past, the virtual future, with superpowers, immortality, et cetera, with it all seeming perfectly real. (Some of the best parts are when the main character goes back to experience the discovery of fire, or the emergence of modern humans, and that sort of thing.)

It's CONTACT meets THE MATRIX, though it predates them both. It's a thoughtful and evocative treatise on solipsism and free will and reality and consciousness and what it means to be human. It goes all over the place, with the people choosing to forget and start over sometimes, choosing to remember at others, learning more and more about the system's origins, and waxing wonderfully philosophical about what it means to be able to do whatever you want...but for nothing you ever do to make the slightest difference.

How the characters deal with that situation, over apparent millennia, and the questions it raises is just awesome.

Great book, great ending, great everything. I really loved it.

Highly, highly, highly recommended.

Long before Neo woke up to reality, the characters in this book were discovering a similar truth. The situation is very different in this book, but the experience of wanting to live a real life will resonate.

Synopsis:
The book starts out with the 2 main characters living an increasingly dissatisfying life in mid-20th century middle America. They eventually discover that they are in a Matrix-like dreamworld and are creating their own reality. They spend a lot of time having a blast, doing whatever they want and going wherever they choose, but that also starts to lose its appeal. I won't spoil the end, but let's just say that reality turns out to be harsh but hopeful, as it does in the Matrix trilogy.