Thank you NewSouth publishing for this book in exchange for an honest review
Synopsis:
Many millennia after the fall of Eden, Adam, the first man in creation, still walks the Earth – exhausted by the endless death and destruction, he is a shadow of his former hope and glory. And he is not the only one. The Garden was deconstructed, its pieces scattered across the world and its inhabitants condemned to live out immortal lives, hiding in plain sight from generations of mankind.
But now pieces of the Garden are turning up on the Earth. After centuries of loneliness, Adam, haunted by the golden time at the beginning of Creation, is determined to save the pieces of his long lost home. With the help of Eden’s undying exiles, he must stop Eden becoming the plaything of mankind
Review:
I live a very religion free lifestyle and when I read the synopsis for this I was actually going to give it a hard pass except that it was published by Titan Books and that fricken cover is oh so pretty that I got tempted. God, I’m such a magpie!
For those that are curious, this is more entertaining than one would originally think. That may be because it is more involved in the animals of the garden of eden and their interactions with Adam and really the removal of god or rather just his absence from everyday situations. Basically, instead of religion you get a heartfelt book that is dark and full of sad moments.
It did take some stepping stones before I found myself warming up to the character that is Adam, it could be my anti-religious brain going into defence mode, but by mid book, he wasn’t totally irritating. While this had real Gaiman vibes about it, I really struggled with the violence against the animals. Really struggled.I understand that the animal violence adds to the story and yadda yadda but it just didn’t sit well with me and made the pit of my stomach turn, which is a sign of a good writer too. With that in mind, it was an interesting read, but overall I’m not sure if I love it or am disappointed in the violence and religion… It is a bad of mixed nuts over here.
Rating: 3/5
Publisher: Titan Books
ISBN: 9781989094817