Customer Reviews

Edenborn

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

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.

In Idlewild, the first of this 3-part story, we meet the protagonist, Hal, a teen who battles first the computer host of the Matrix-like virtual school he attends and then one of his fellow students who has become homicidal.



Now, 18 years have passed and we meet a second generation of teens, human and post-human clones. While the 1st genners are working to cure the plague, their children seem content to bicker and fight all the time, spoiled no doubt by being the only children on the planet. The story is told from (too) many points of view, with Penny, an angry teen offering the most input. Half way through the book, Hal gets more involverd. I quickly got tired of the bickering among the teenagers.

We see that in this ideal community, this Eden, a place of material plenty and no threats from outsiders, human nature is the serpent, the source of conflict. Anger and violance, jealousy and revenge exact a terrible toll on the group. Is it possible for humankind to survive itself? We're not sure.


Plot issues: The ability to keep things running after so long is never really addressed. Where does power come from? Utilities? Look, I know it is a work of fiction, but these people are making trans-Atlantic flights in jets and helicopters (?) that have sat idle for two decades. I suppose it could be worse. The record for old-equipment-reuse goes to L. Ron Hubbard who have uneducated humans flying jets that had set idle nearly 1000 years. The book never explains that, or how they keep eating from food stores. Other than Spam and Twinkies, what else lasts that long? I suppose that if you can re-animate a frozen person, you can thaw out some broccoli.



I feel like some reviewers are rating these books high because of their admiration for the late father of the author. But these books must stand by themselves. Like the first of this set, Idlewild, I like the idea but the execution could be better.

To those with an interest in astronomy matters, Nick Sagan has been famous since he was a child; it is his voice, after all, that any alien civilization coming across the Voyager spacecraft in the depths of interstellar space will hear bidding them "Hello from the children of planet Earth." In 2003, Nick emerged fully from the shadow of his illustrious father Carl Sagan (the absolute hero of my youth) with the publication of his first novel. Idlewild consisted of a fascinating story surrounding a group of gifted young people at a very special school. Their education took place in a virtual reality setting, as did their leisure hours during the school year. They could visit any time or place, and instead of dorm rooms they had their own elaborate domains built to suit their tastes. As they neared their eighteenth birthdays, however, the fabric of their virtual reality school began to fray. One student came up missing, and another one, Halloween, lost his memory as a result of an attempt on his own life. As things went from bad to worse, Halloween's desperation to escape led to a revelation that would change him and his fellow students forever. Their entire lives, not just their time at Idlewild, had been lived in virtual reality - in the real world, the Black Ep virus had wiped humanity off the face of the planet, and these special, genetically engineered children represented the last ditch effort of scientists to keep the human race alive. Upon maturity, when the youngsters would learn the truth, it would be up to them to hopefully find a cure for the virus and begin repopulating the earth.

The Idlewild students entered real life prematurely - and reduced in number. Edenborn takes up their story some eighteen years later. The survivors divided the earth between them, and two of them (including Halloween) retreated into isolation, leaving only four individuals to pursue the mission they were given. Even with these four, divisiveness reigned. In a world population of just over a dozen people, two different families have come into existence. The European family consists of female clones engineered to be resistant to Black Ep (and thus not entirely human); the African family consists of clones who are essentially human and, as such, dependent on vitamins and drugs to keep the deadly virus at bay. One family maps a purely technological path to the future, while the other seeks a more human, spiritual path that looks both backwards and forwards at the same time. Student exchanges take place periodically, which makes for an interesting mesh of worldviews. The European girls reflect the austere scientific mindset of their "mothers," while the Africans follow the Islamic teachings of their "father." Meanwhile, Halloween, the protagonist of Idlewild, is almost completely absent from the scene until the latter stages of the book.

This carefully constructed new world soon finds itself in grave danger. The African children come under the attack of a variant of the Black Ep virus, while an unknown outside entity invades the virtual reality component of the European society, unleashing secrets that could tear that family apart. These changes are made most manifest in a child named Penny. Genetic engineering or no, Penny displays all-too-human traits; regarding herself as the best and brightest, she rebels when she doesn't get her way. That rebellion, in combination with the destabilization wrought by an outsider, threatens the very founders of this new world.

Nothing draws distant "relatives" together like looming tragedy, but the reunion of all but one Idlewild survivor by no means guarantees that disaster will be averted. We follow the whole story through the eyes of several narrators: a young voice from each family along with the seasoned voice of one of the founders. The blend of spirituality with scientific artificiality makes for an interesting contrast in lifestyles, while the madness of young Penny works like a virus of its own, distorting the whole experience into something increasingly dark and deadly. One longs for the return of Halloween, the voice and main character of the first novel, for his is in many ways the real voice of reason in this crazy post-apocalyptic world. His eventual return to the fold, however, comes too late to truly save the day. As in the utopia which inspired this novel's title, an outside agent succeeds in seducing one of the innocents and bringing about a dramatic fall from grace. Edenborn ends with both tragedy and a sense of hope, setting the stage for what should be a fascinating third entry in the series.

I listened to the audio book and found it to be an enjoyable "read". The plot was a little hard to follow at first, but played out nicely. Didn't read Idlewyld, probaby should have first.

Nick Sagan's first novel, "Idlewild" was engrossing, convincing and fun to read. It had a Matrix-like premise in that the young characters were living in a virtual reality world and returned to a real world that turned out to be just another one of the VR neighborhoods. But they aren't prisoners of nefarious aliens; they are survivors of a plague that wiped out humanity.

In "Edenborn" they've returned to that devastated real world, and some have borne (or synthesized) children. We learn more about their world and their histories, as well as our world and our history, but this novel is less concerned with story than the various and compelling voices of its characters.

The result is unique. Neither familiarity with the first book nor a special taste for science fiction is necessary to find this book highly enjoyable and illuminating. The ensemble characters are well-wrought, and several of the more prominent characters with the most individual voices will simply be unforgettable.

This is a masterful work, and has me primed and ready for the next installment.

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 (paulinefinch@rogers.com)

I seem to be reading quite a bit of dystopian science fiction lately, whether it has been something that's been overpraised like Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake" or a sensational, truly spellbinding, novella like Rick Moody's "The Albertine Notes". And I think it is only fair to mention Nick Sagan's trilogy - of which "Edenborn" is the second (I might add too that it is the first I have read so far.) - since it delves into many of the same issues which both Atwood and Moody have considered in their relatively recent tales. Moreover, Nick Sagan demonstrated long ago that he's emerged from his distinguished late father's shadow, by being one of the finest young screenwriters specializing in science fiction in the past decade, due to his excellent work for both the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "Star Trek: Voyager" television series. Much to his credit, Nick Sagan does a fine job in scientific extrapolation, especially in his depiction of viral outbreaks, and demonstrating just how flawed an "Intelligent Designer" humanity has become in creating the genocidal plague "Black Ep" that virtually wipes it out, and a potential viral cure which ultimately backfires in "Edenborn" (It is an important lesson which someone like acclaimed Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood could have heeded in her novel "Oryx and Crake", which reads more like an ecologically-oriented bit of science fantasy than a credible dystopian science fiction novel.). However, is "Edenborn" a great example of science fiction?

I am reluctant to give Nick Sagan's "Edenborn" a very strong endorsement for several reasons. Sagan has travelled along a well-worn path which has included eloquent recent work from a masterful science fiction writer like Dan Simmons ("Ilium", "Olympos"), and more recently, from emerging talent like Richard Morgan and Chris Moriarty. While Sagan is a fine writer in his own right, his literary eloquence falls short of such elegant stylists as William Gibson and Bruce Sterling among modern science fiction writers, and clearly, that of both Margaret Atwood and Rick Moody too in their recent work (Indeed Moody's "The Albertine Notes" may be the most engrossing recent piece of dystopian science fiction I have read.). And yet, "Edenborn" still earns ample praise from me for its excellent scientific, especially medical, extrapolation, and for creating several intriguing communities of human and post-human adolescents, who are now the sole survivors of humanity. It's sufficient high praise for me to consider reading the rest of Sagan's trilogy.

This is the second book in the series, I would definitely recommend reading the first one first (Idlewild). Sagan doesn't try to make his writing pretty nor does he sugar coat the story with convoluted stories of love. His writing is raw and to the point.

Very enjoyable sequel to Idlewind, with some fast paced moments that makes it hard to let go of the book. If you liked the first book, you'll sure like this one. Nick Sagan found a nice and fresh narrative style, with very human and believable characters and solid scientific background.If you haven't read Idlewind, I strongly recommend that you do it before reading Edenborn.