Compelling characters on a rogue planet

This story has a great stage. A rogue planet: A planet without a sun where the majority of life on the planet has evolved bioluminescence to survive. There are some good compelling character arches and the plot continues to move throughout.

Performances from both narrators are great. Their voices clearly define different characters and have the range from young to old making both sound comfortable. One little thing that did annoy me is that the characters in the book repeat words to emphasise (saying "cold cold" rather than "really cold") and each narrator delivers this in different ways. Would've been nice to have consistency (I prefer the man's delivery) but this is a very little niggle.

A great read (listen).

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5 people found this helpful

Prolific reader

Great book. Imaginative blend of Adam and Eve and Lord of the Flies. Creates a world of living things in a world without light, seasons or time. Great story, believable characters who are not overly sentimental.

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3 people found this helpful

Stunning start for this trilogy

This is a gripping book in which some fairly flat characters make their way through a hostile world. Some unforgettable themes and situations. The seeds are sown well for the next 2 books in the trilogy. Performances are solid throughout in the audiobook. Highly enjoyable.

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Great story, shame about the distracting grammar.

Great world to discover, Great storytelling. almost gave up in the first chapter because of the grammar. I realise that the inhabitants of Eden have learnt these grammatical errors from their ancestors but are inconsistent and distract from the story.

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humanity rebooted

What did you like best about this story?

A criminal and the cop that chased him were stranded on a faraway planet; this is the story of their descendants 160 odd years later, still waiting to be rescued. They are essentially living in a stone age matriarchal society until an original thinker is born and begins to rock the boat. I found it utterly fascinating and more than a little disturbing to imagine how a society might be completely different if we had only the vaguest notions of earth history and morals.

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6 people found this helpful

A differently told tale that held my interest

I found this story to be very much a look at the different characters of people in a group. From that perspective I found it quite interesting. The story itself was a believable mixture of things which happened to give the characters something to react to and things that logically follow from the actions of the characters.

The narrative is from the first person perspective of members of the groups and that really helps with bringing out their inner thoughts. Often the same event is seen from multiple perspectives. I found that this device worked quite well and never felt the need to "get on with the story".
I liked this book in a large part because of it's novelty value, it's always nice to read something a little different if it's well done.
The story is narrated by two people and I found both very easy to listen to.

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6 people found this helpful

sci fi the John Wyndham way

Would you consider the audio edition of Dark Eden to be better than the print version?

N/A

Any additional comments?

when I was a child I read the day of the triffids and the kraken wakes and the ship that sang, they excited me like this excited me.I found the author and emailed him my thanks, he graciously replied. Innovative yet traditional and so very bright

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6 people found this helpful

thoroughly enjoyable

With good narration, an interesting storyline and back story. only mild bump was the guillotined ending. looking forwards to the next 2.

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good

good story opening. would like to see how the next parts are.. I think this could be either a great first book if the rest of the series is good.. but if other books don't develop, then this isn't so great.
didn't really like j Martin's narration - lacked expression and not a great tone for teenagers.. makes them sound like 40yr old women.

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Strangely adult themes with childish storytelling

The narrators are excellent at bringing to life the voices and sounds, however the storytelling language and vocabulary reads like a children’s book. This contrasts strangely with some pretty adult themes.

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