Lee thought she’d lost Mal, but now she’s miraculously returned. But what happened that day on the moors? And where has she been all this time? Mal’s reappearance hasn’t gone unnoticed by MI5 officers either, and Lee isn’t the only one with questions.
Julian Sabreur is investigating an attack on top physicist Kay Amal Khan. This leads Julian to clash with agents of an unknown power – and they may or may not be human. His only clue is grainy footage, showing a woman who supposedly died on Bodmin Moor.
Dr Khan’s research was theoretical; then she found cracks between our world and parallel Earths. Now these cracks are widening, revealing extraordinary creatures. And as the doors crash open, anything could come through.
I think I have an Adrian Tchaikovsky problem. Which is to say, he’s got a ton of books out & I want to read them all. But then I get a bit overwhelmed by how many of his books there are to choose from! I think I have a rough idea of which books/series of his I’m going to tackle soon, and THE DOORS OF EDEN has been way high on the list.
I didn’t know much about this going in, but even then, this book was nothing like what I imagined. Maybe it’s just the Arthur C. Clarke award badge on the cover & the cool spacey cover art that had me thinking this was in the realm of space opera.
But oh my. It is not. THE DOORS OF EDEN is one of the most wildly original and unpredictable books I’ve ever read.
Lee & Mal are college students, in love with each other, and also avid cryptid hunters. So straight away, I am just loving this. I had no idea the book had anything to do with cryptozoology, and everything to do with Lee & Mal completely captivated me from the start.
The women travel to Bodmin Moor to investigate some sightings of creepy (CREEPY) bird people. It’s just another fun & thrilling outing for Lee & Mal… until it’s not. Mal vanishes, and Lee spends the next few years of her life with no way to explain what happened to her girlfriend.
And then one night, Mal calls Lee. But is it really her?
What follows is one of the twistiest novels I’ve read in ages, a story that refuses to be any one thing. There are quite a few POV characters to keep track of, and Tchaikovsky does a great job giving each of them their own motivations & backstory.
Along with Lee & Mal, Kay Amal Khan is the character that stood out most to me. A trans woman and one of the most brilliant mathematicians of her time, she finds herself the target of an online community of racists. An attempt on Kay’s life does not go the way these racist trolls plan, and the end result is…something too bloody & grotesque to be explained. There are forces at work here beyond explanation, and along with MI5 agent Julian Sabreur, this wild story begins to unfold.
Take the many-worlds theory, throw in a dash of Jurassic Park & The X-Files, and well…that still doesn’t describe just how wild this book is!
This is a hard review to write…fuck, it was really hard to even get it started. This is a book you need to read to believe, like…there’s just SO MUCH happening here. There’s lots to do with biological evolution, the book is deeply political, but there’s also lots of bonkers action sequences & humor & some quirky/awkward romance as well.
I am definitely at the bottom of the hill looking up when it comes to reading Adrian Tchaikovsky’s backlist, but the two books of his I’ve read couldn’t be more impressive, and I’m thrilled to have so much more of his work to explore!
Grimdark Dad 
This was such a nutty journey, but so good! His writing and storytelling are so incredible I want to read more of his books, but The Doors of Eden was so dense that I’m a little afraid, haha.
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