Review: Eden

Eden by Tim Lebbon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Took half a book for this one to get going, but once it did it didn't stop!

The story revolves around a 'Virgin Zone' known as Eden. Eden is one of several zones around the world released back to nature in a future where humans feel the need to atone for the mess they've made of the planet. No one is allowed in these zones, but there are adventure racers that take crossing these zones as a challenge. Jenn and her dad, Dylan, are part of such a team and Eden is their next challenge. But no one has ever made it out of Eden alive ...

I love the setup of this, and the notion of this completely wild, abandoned area of death. Things were always going to go awry for the team, but the 'nature fights back' aspect is one I was really looking forward to.

The first half of the book is more of an adventure story - it's about the team entering the zone, the gear they take, the whole notion of the zones and adventure racing, and the looming fact that Jenn's mother, Kat, was last heard from via a text saying she was taking on Eden. There's almost a repetitive focus on Kat, and the relationship between her and Dylan. It was a little tedious for me, and I was really anxious to get to the action instead of dealing with all the personal drama.

That halfway mark, though, sees things take a turn for the worst and suddenly the team are really fighting to survive.

The ecological horror was real and fresh, and I loved the way plants became truly terrifying to me. I was honestly afraid for this team from the time of that first confrontation through to the end because it seemed like literally everything around them was trying to kill them.

There is a lot of talk of relationships and personal connections, where I kind of just wanted more carnage. This is a balanced sort of novel, and there's a logic to it that almost makes it too real. I was expecting a little more horror and fast energy, but this novel takes time to talk about how these people feel as they're dealing with all these horrors.

I also found it a little hard to picture at times, but that's possibly on me and my wonky imagination. This is a wild race across wild, abandoned terrain, and it was hard for me to grasp just how extreme the nature-takeover was.

At the end of the day, though, it was a fast, unique horror featuring a homicidal mother nature figure that kept me thoroughly entertained.

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