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The Doors of Eden

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About this listen

They thought we were safe. They were wrong.

'A terrific timeslip / lost world romp in the grand tradition of Turtledove, Hoyle, even Conan Doyle' – Stephen Baxter, author of the Xeelee Sequence

Read by Sophie Aldred (Doctor Who)

Lee and Mal went looking for monsters on Bodmin Moor four years ago, and only Lee came back. She thought she’d lost Mal forever, now miraculously returned. But what happened that day on the moors? And where has Mal been all this time? Mal's reappearance hasn’t gone unnoticed by MI5 either, and their officers have 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 come crashing open, anything could come through . . .

Adrian Tchaikovsky brought us far-future adventure with Children of Time. Now, The Doors of Eden takes us from Cornwall to London and alternate versions of earth. This is an extraordinary feat of the imagination and a thrilling adventure.

‘Inventive, funny and engrossing, this book lingers long after you close it’ – Tade Thompson, award-winning author of Rosewater

©2020 Macmillan Publishers International Ltd (P)2020 Macmillan Publishers International Ltd Adventure Romance Science Fiction Fiction

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Critic reviews

Full of sparking, speculative invention . . . The Doors of Eden is a terrific timeslip / lost world romp in the grand tradition of Turtledove, Hoyle, even Conan Doyle. If you liked Primeval, read this book (Stephen Baxter, author of The Thousand Earths)
The Doors of Eden shows a combination of tight, evocative prose combined with erudition. In a story whose scope is the broad canvas of the history of all life in the universe, Tchaikovsky manages to zoom in on human moments without breaking a sweat. Inventive, funny and engrossing, this book lingers long after you close it (Tade Thompson, author of Rosewater and Far From the Light of Heaven)
What a ride . . . talks like big-brained science fiction and runs like a fleet-footed political thriller (John Scalzi, author of Starter Villain)
With The Doors of Eden, Tchaikovsky has created a fantastic and highly imaginative new genre: evolution SF (Peter F. Hamilton, author of Salvation and The Reality Dysfunction)
Unlike anything I've read in a very long time, and all the better for it . . . Tchaikovsky is clearly at the top of his game right now (James Oswald, author of the Inspector McLean novels)
As all right thinking people know, Adrian is the best . . . But this, my friends, is the best of the best (Ian McDonald, author of Luna)
This is more science fantasy, than hard science fiction, like the Children of series. In this novel AT looks at different minds and how if evolution had stuck with certain designs, how life on Earth could be different, using the idea of parallel multi verse as the way of viewing these different takes on evolution from Space fairing Trilobites to an Ice mind made by fish. It definitely plays a homage to TV shows such as Sliders and Doctor Who, with great world building and enjoying the vocal work of a former Doctor's assistant, is just Ace! For me there were a few moments in the story that didn't quite work, the bad guy was a bit too Nigel Farage for me, not very smart but irritating as hell! Then there was the lack of character awareness, the UK government spooks seemed to be very slow and dim, not very smart at all. I know this is a standalone novel, but it does seem itself up for a sequel, maybe in a few years, after the events at the end of the book and the world changing to deal with these events.

Ace Narrative

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certainly not as good as other books of his I have read. confusing in places, lots of statements I couldn't make head nor tail of and I did struggle to finish it. narrator did an incredible job though. I do like her voice and she does good mimics of characters.

story was a little boring and confusing in places

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This was compelling, with some extraordinary invention (including a surprising biological space ship) set on a huge stage of alternative worlds with very different inhabitants, all based on evolutionary timelines. It took a while to get into it, but persistence was greatly rewarded. The periodic Interlude chapters are not just interesting views of possible evolutionary scenarios, but do tie into the main story near the end - I did find them annoying at first.

I found the so-called 'woke' elements a very minor part of the whole - while some key characters are lesbian or trans, this is only occasionally relevant, and little time is spent on these aspects (in fact these characters, like most others, are not very well developed). If you hate the idea of such characters, don't get this book - if you are neutral, I doubt it will bother you.

Not quite as amazing as Children of Time or Shards of Earth, but hugely engaging and well worth a listen.

Mind-expanding sci-fi

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I love Tchaikovsky’s writing and this exciting and original story did not disappoint. Sci fi at its best.

Superb as always

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Very good performance, nice cutting between alternate histories and the main narative. A very strong story with a premise thats a bit on the edge of plausability but the author manages to make it work. With the exception of one or maybe two protagonists the fleshing out of the characters is pretty good. Its entertaining and you wont regret listening to it because its a pretty solid tale all the way through.

BUT...

Ok, so it felt like the author didn't know quite how to play out the finale. So he used a mechanism to get around this that really works well apart from a few of issues. The first is the critical setting at the end is little expounded upon and rushes away to a completion. I think thats a shame. The second is there seems to be a little plot hole in the actions leading to the concluding solution surrounding the motivation and lack of control that a lead character has. I wont say much more for fear of spoiling it, but think about it, did the villain really act in charracter and consistent with his opportunities. And finally the story required a bit of convoluted 'fluff' to happen to allow the structure of the ending.

Despite this its a good book and well worth it.

Engaging throughout but...

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I should've liked this. Fringe and Sliders like multiverse time branchlines with a soupcon of TimeBandits chaos. But I just couldn't. I really looked forward to reading this but .....I was underwhelmed. I eventually just let it wash over me until the meh end. The characters were unengaging and the 'villain' was believable but half-cooked. And yes, as a Brit, I recognised the subtexts. All in all...🤷🏻‍♂️

It just doesn't work and I don't know why.

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Here we have a dynamic trip through spaces and times. Believable characters in thought provoking situations. And, maybe a good ending.

out there

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Loved this audiobook. It's the first I have listened to from this author but I am happy to see there are many more for the future. Wonderfully creative and intriguing.

Thoroughly enjoyed.

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A scream of frustration at human pettiness and selfish and a fierce reminder that we're at our best we we look at what we have in common. Unity saves. Devision destroys.
Tchaikovsky does it again and Sophie Aldred effortlessly bring his novel to life.

A brilliant, angry and pointed novel

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This is a daft review system states it is optional then insists something is written. That is my review of this software as for the story I enjoyed it very much.

Excellent original story

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