This book was everything I never knew I wanted, all crammed into one fantastic, bizarre, whirlwind of a book.
It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Adrian Tchaikovsky's writing - I've read and loved both his Tiger and the Wolf trilogy and Children of Time, as well as its sequel, Children of Ruin. But Doors of Eden is the first I've read in a world that is recognisably ours - and I loved it all the more for it.
The Doors of Eden started strong, with lesbian cryptid-hunters, and only went from strength to strength. I loved all the characters - especially the lesbian couple, it must be said - and the way they interacted with each other. The villain was eerily believable, with his belief in proper English values and preserving England (but only his version of it) at all costs, and I adored the character of Dr Kay, with her chain-smoking and genius, and it's so rare to see transgender characters written so well.
The world, and the idea of other versions of our earth where different lifeforms evolved sentience, was totally unique and fascinating. Near the end, I wasn't sure I liked the direction the novel was taking - but the way things actually ended more than made up for my initial apprehension.
Honestly, I could wax lyrical about this book all day, but instead I will simply say - if you're looking for a great standalone sci-fi, this is it.

I'm sure Sci-fi fans will enjoy this book but sadly it just wasn't for me.
It started off well but then it lost me along the way. There were some interesting characters and it's a well thought out story but I found myself skimming through just to get to the end.
Hard to know how many stars to give as not for me but I'm sure other people will enjoy it.

This was a great sci-fi read, featuring parallel worlds, multiple POVs and portals. It did take me a little while to get into it, but I am in a bit of a reading slump right now. After a few chapters, I had settled into the flow of the story.

Unfortunately I couldn't get into this book. I think it was based on my reading mood/concentration levels rather than the book and I'll try again in the future.

I had this as both a review copy and an audiobook from Netgalley. I usually listen to audiobooks on my phone. I'm not sure what the difference is between a Netgalley audio and an Audible audio, but while listening my phone got so hot that I had to switch it off. So I listened to the first half and read the second half. The audio was well read by Sophie Aldred, but I think I got more out of the text.

Two girls (lovers) went tramping over Dartmoor to hunt cryptoids, and only one came home. Despite investigations and search parties, Lee survived but Mal was never seen again… until four years later. Julian Sabreur, MI5 agent, is investigating an attack on top scientist Kay Amal Kahn – an attack dramatically and violently thwarted by strange-looking people who might be agents of an unknown power. And there in the grainy CCTV footage is an image of a girl, missing, presumed dead on Bodmin Moor.

Cracks between worlds are opening up and might be about to end all life in the universe. This book goes from a small-scale mystery to a major crisis involving parallel worlds. Sciency but still portraying interesting characters this is a book that delivers on many levels.

My first Tchaikovsky novel. I've heard quite a bit about his work, so I was looking forward to jumping into this standalone. I enjoyed it quite a bit, though I get a sense that this wasn't the best his best work to date.

One of the biggest strengths was how intimate the story started, first focusing on a tale of lost love, laying a foundation of the relationship between Lee and Mal that stays true throughout the book. But the escalation ramps up in blinding speed, incorporating parallel dimensions, multiple timelines, representation and inclusion, conflict, exploration, eldritch space creatures, and quite a few POVs to pull off a mind-bending, time-crunching mish-mosh of a story that mostly works.

There were some genunine scares and some impressive feats of thread-weaving that came together nicely in the end, but there were also a few instances where I thought things felt a bit forced in order to get things from A to B. But overall this was a fun story that kept me thinking and challenged me to puzzle out the various pieces of story while considering many of the big ideas it presented--both fictional and scientifc.

Very cool story, recommended, though somewhat of a dense read and might not be for everyone. 4.25 / 5

The Doors of Eden is just one of those books that will blow your mind to freaking shreds! If I had one thought at the end of reading this tome, that was, that my teeny tiny brain just pales into comparison with some of the greatest minds in our world. I was in awe; I was in heaven but most of all that science fiction itch was scratched to the bone! If you haven’t read any of Adrian Tchaikovsky, have you been sitting underneath a freaking rock? He has written an immense number of books but ashamedly I haven’t read any of the others, rectifying that immediately.

Let it be known that I have never read anything like this!

Science fiction is not a genre that I have dipped my toes into very often. I guess I feel intimated by it. The technical jargon, the character names, the trajectory of the plot. I’ve DNF’d more than I’d care to admit. I’ve never found my glue, that passion to read more in the genre…until I discovered The Doors of Eden. Adrian Tchaikovsky is the living and breathing proof that the human imagination can span the galaxies. He has pushed the boundaries both with research and a narrative that will imprint itself in our skies.

The story introduces us to Lee and Mal, lovers and cryptid hunters. Their current mission is to go searching for The Birdmen on Bodmin Moor. How is it possible that only one girl can come back? How can one girl just vanish into thin air? Four years later, in the current timeline, Lee receives a call from Mal. Why is she making contact now, when Lee has painstakingly brought herself to believe that Mal was dead? If the Doors of Eden do one thing well, then that’s, teasing the reader into asking question after question, and really these questions are a drop in an excessively big ocean.

I thought I knew what I was getting into before I started this story but really, in brilliant Jon Snow fashion – I knew nothing! This story had me all in. All the bets were off. I did wonder if Tchaikovsky has the secret ingredient into making his stories into mind blowing works of art. The narrative and the plot development were carried out with laser precision. The author had an uncanny ability to tap into our deepest desires and lay them bare for all to see. He knows how human nature evolves and he made us question why we are the way we are.

Tchaikovsky gave me everything that I didn’t know that I needed in a science fiction novel. Parallel worlds. Inter-dimensional creatures. Cracks in the universe. Power struggles. The author isn’t frightened of throwing punch after punch and giving you one more just for good measure. The emotion, the connections but above all the coming together to preserve this universe, good or bad. The diversity of themes running through it only strengthened the story and gave us a multi-layered story, science and evolution being at its core.

The Doors of Eden is at its centre a story but love and our need to preserve our history. Each character, although different, are multi-faceted but strangely normal and that’s what I got onboard with instantaneously. I fell in love with out much the author highlighted that nothing is black and white. The author started with a blank canvas but ended up with Edvard Munch’s Scream masterpiece. No apologies and no mercy.

I’m not completely sure where I sit with this, parts of this fantasy/adventure story had me gripped and fascinated but then other parts completely lost me and I wasn’t sure what was going on, The idea was great, but in reality I just didn’t feel that it worked that well.

I feel like this book just wasnt for me. I've seen some rave reviews and can completely see where the reviewers were coming from. There was nothing specifically wrong with this book, it had a really intriguing magic system and I enjoyed the almost parallel worlds concept, I just found myself not caring and a little bored.

It's a weird mix of genres that for me just didn't blend well together, I found the writing style didn't flow at all and struggled to keep up with what was happening in parts. I had to DNF this one at around 30%

An intriguing book. I did find the book difficult to get into and follow with so much going on. It will obviously appeal to the hard-line sci-fi enthusiasts but unfortunately not for me.

In his latest novel, Adrian Tchaikovsky takes his imagination into a new area of SFF: portal fantasy. It quickly becomes clear that this is more evidence that the author really can turn his hand to anything. An intriguing mix of mystery, fantasy and science fiction. I enjoyed this.

I started reading The Doors of Eden when I was in quite a book funk. Typically, this can prevent me from enjoying anything I try to read. Luckily, this novel is packed with interesting and cool ideas, an engaging and diverse cast of characters, and some fantastically imaginative elements. As a result, and coupled with Tchaikovsky’s excellent, clear prose, this was a good read. That being said, I think the pacing wasn’t as even as some of his other novels, which did trip up the momentum on occasion.

I don’t really want to go into the plot too much, as there are plenty of surprises and developments that change things up quite frequently. What I would say is that it’s excellent: I loved exploring not only the lives of the characters in the real world, but also as the weird and otherworldly starts intruding on their lives — some of them are maybe semi-prepared, most are… not — seeing them adjust and adapt. (You know, I think this is the first book by Tchaikovsky that I’ve read set even a little bit in the now.) The author’s prose and descriptions are kept in control, and things never get out of hand, overly descriptive, or info-dumpy. The transitions between worlds, in particular, was very well done — disorienting, yet also subtle at times. The author does a great job of writing his characters’ confusion, bafflement, horror, and wonder at this reality.

If you’ve only read Tchaikovsky’s sci-fi — for example, his superb and award-winning Children of Time — and aren’t sure about something more in the fantasy genre, then I’d recommend giving this a try. It has a nice balanced feel of fantasy and sci-fi. I also liked the elements from British crime and mystery fiction dropped in (sure, some of this is just because characters are cops, but still, I liked it). There are also some good moments of social commentary, expertly woven into the story. If you enjoyed the evolutionary science portions of Children of Time and Children of Ruin, then I think you’ll also find a lot to like in the interlude “excerpts”.

The Doors of Eden isn’t my favourite of Tchaikovsky’s novels (although, I’m not sure how I’d pick a favourite — perhaps Guns of the Dawn and/or Children of Time), but it’s still a very good novel. If you’re a fan of portal fantasy, or sci-fi novels with a contemporary setting, then I’d definitely recommend it.

The Doors of Eden is the clever and compelling tale of two girls who looking for monsters on a remote moor. While there something strange happens and only one comes back. Reeling from the loss of her friend, Lee is shocked when she discovers that Mal has returned from where she disappeared too. Whilst Lee is attempting to understand what’s really going on, MI5 agent Julian Sabreur is working on discovering who is behind an attack on physicist Kay Amal Khan. He has very little clues except that whoever is behind it might not be human. As Julian begins to learn more about Khan’s research into parallel Earths, they soon learn that their Earth might not survive much longer.

This is my first time reading a full length novel from Adrian Tchaikovsky – I’ve read his novella Firewalkers and some of his short stories – and it was such a wild ride of a tale. This is a fast paced and complex tale, full of incredibly creatures and mind bending science. Tchaikovsky has such a brilliant writing style and the story is packed to the brim with action, adventure and humour – the story grips you from the very first chapter and doesn’t let you go till the very last page.

The story is told from the points of view of several different characters and each one was well developed. I really liked Lee and Mal, it was really interesting seeing them attempt to reconnect after all these years as well as deal with everything going on around them. My favourite character was definitely Kay Amal Khan though – she’s a brilliant scientist but she’s also an incredibly sarcastic and kick ass character.

The world building is well executed in this story and despite there being multiple threads to the story Tchaikovsky weaves them together seamlessly. There is quite a lot of science involved but it’s also really accessible for those that don’t read too much science fiction. The Doors of Eden is a gripping read and one that takes the reader on an adventure though many worlds, encountering many brilliant creatures. If you’ve been curious about this one I’d definitely recommend picking it up.

I absolutely loved this. Adrian Tchaikovsky has this way of intricately weaving a backstory alongside character development that makes you feel like you're living in the situation, rather than looking at it from the outside. You feel everything the main character is feeling. I felt this was the case with Lee in particular for me, as well as Julian. These two characters were by far my favourites,

The split viewpoints was a necessity for this one as there was just so much happening in each timeline it would have been difficult to fully understand and appreciate otherwise.

Then we reach the point where it all clicks. I love when that happens, particularly in Tchaikovskys books as we go from being completely confused to it all making sense in the blink of an eye.

Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this.

I'm a massive fan of Adrian Tchaikovsky. Nobody inhabits alternative consciousnesses the way he does. This is a little different, in that the minds we visit are primarily human. However, he has a lot of fun with alternative possible realities, pulls in some interesting characters, and introduces us to the Cousins. Oh yes.

I didn't find this as compelling as, say, Children of Time, maybe because it's a bit more about "stuff" and a bit less about "minds". I also read it very fast, because I really wanted to find out what happened next, and how he was going to get there. It's one that I'll read again, more slowly.

First of all, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book. Now about the book, unfortunately, I think that the story was a little more hard sci-fi than I can handle. I can appreciate may things that this book did but ultimately I don't think it was for me.

Things I liked:

-I really appreciate the imagination that when into the book. I mean the amount of detailed that Tchaikovsky created for each parallel word is impressive.

-There is GBTQ+ representation and I felt it was done well. The characters are how they are and he doesn't turn them into a big deal just like he would do for the straight characters in the book.

-I really liked Khan. She is very interesting, smart, witty, strong and stands for herself and demands people to respect how she is.

-I enjoyed the non-human character and their differences in personality in comparison to other species. 
I both listen to the audiobook and read the E-Arc and I thought the narrator was really and she did a good job with different accents and coming up with how the other species might sound.


Things I didn't like:

-In my opinion, the main focus of the book was the world-building. It felt like the author really wanted to show his imagination and how far he can take it and as a result, the plot and the character felt to me like the took the back seat.

-We have six different POV and I think maybe it was a little too much. Because of this, I felt like we never really got the opportunity to get attached to the characters and explore their personality which meant that to my they were flat and one dimensional. They all have a personality trait (Mel was lost in another dimension, Lee is clinging to Mel, Julian is the inspector, Alison the computer freak, Khan the math freak, etc.) but that about it.

-Interludes. The author chose to tell us about all the different Earths and other dimensions using interlude in the forth of articles from a scientist. Unfortunately, I didn't like this format. It took me out of the story and felt like an infodump, I would have prefered if had learned about those alternative universes in a more organic way and to be somehow tidy into the action of the main plot. Even when Mal and Lee get stuck in another world we spend 2 half chapters there before they are conveniently taken back to our Earth and during this 2 half chapters is all about bombarding us with info instead letting the two characters show us this new world, it's inhabitants and their history.

-Even in the story we constantly get explanations, backstories and anecdotes that don't add anything apart from words count and if general it was too wordy for me for no reason.

Overall I think it was a little too hard Sci-fi for me and too much world-building and science. But I can see the appeal and I'm sure a lot of people, especially hard sci-fi fans will love this book.

DNF at 50%.

Lots of big ideas in this book but it just never really gripped me, so it's a DNF I'm afraid. I actually felt it was strongest in the 'interlude' sections which described the evolution of different realities. The main body of the book, which dealt with characters in our reality, was less compelling.

Lots to admire here and I'm sure many sci-fi fans will love it but this book wasn't a match for me.

Adrian Tchaikovsky is, I believe, a titan of British SFF. His works cover both fantasy and science-fiction, and range from short stories to full-length novels.

The hallmarks of his work are high-concepts, intelligent plots plus incredibly fleshed-out characters.

The Doors of Eden is all of that and more, quite possibly Tchaikovsky’s most remarkable novel yet.

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It starts off simply enough with Lee and Mal off roaming Bodmin Moor on the hunt for a beastie spotted on some relatively low-quality You-Tube footage. Contrary to the laws of Cryptid hunting, they actually find what they are looking for.

This discovery then acts as a catalyst for a story involving multiple alternate Earths and a variety of ‘other’ sentient species working together/against a handful of more terrestrial players in a desperate attempt to save everything.

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The Doors of Eden is a genre-defying novel that combines multiple themes, and triumphs at every single one of them. To nail some tags to its otherworldly bulk, I’d label it a contemporary anglo-science fiction techno-thriller.

Narratively it is crisp and flows unimpeded across its substantial 608 pages. The concepts of alternate Earths with alternate paths of evolution, would in the hands of a less skilled author yield something complexly cumbersome, but not here though it is accessible and understandable.

- For a moment Julian felt that he was on the verge of truly appreciating what she was telling him - and that made him feel faint.’

Between the main chapters of the story, there are ‘Interludes’ in which we are given details on alternative earths and the sentient creatures, which evolved there. These are glorious little vignettes that read almost like a scientific paper but not quite as technical.

If you’ve read Tchaikovsky’s ‘Children of Time’ series, you’ll already be aware of how amazing he is at creating something alive but other. His background in zoology and psychology is utilised to tremendous effect to create beings and societies, which feel as though they could exist. Behind everything from ecosystem to civilisation, there are scaffolds of genuine rules which allow for the creation of profound and rich systems.

Tchaikovsky isn’t just a world-builder, he’s a universe-builder, creating universes that fractiously rub shoulders with neighbouring universes.

While Children of Time has sentient spiders and cephalopods, The Doors of Eden has much more, though many are solely detailed in the smaller Interlude segments. It was a joy to discover them as I raced through the book, and I don’t wish to deprive you of a similar joy, so I’ll just say that my favourite species were the cats and the rats!

The human characters are just as fun and engaging as their alternate counterparts, there’s such diversity within the cast too. You have trans representation in the wickedly sarcastic and scientific genius Dr Kay Amal Khan, a sapphic romance between Mal and Lee plus very British sexual tension crackling between the reserved MI5 operatives Julian and Alison.

- Except some of them were men, only they had to become women to do the priesting - wear the clothes, walk the walk, all that, and that made them women. So as far as they’re concerned, it’s all part of the way the world works - your gender is like your calling.

** There are a few instances of dead-naming and misgendering primarily by a single character, just as a warning.

It’s such a good ensemble cast, and they all add something personal and unique to the story. It may not mean anything to most, but as I approached the final pages it felt like a team I had assembled, imagine your favourite Mass Effect 2 multi-species team as you’re just about to start the final suicide mission, it had those vibes. Just to push the ME2 reference a little further, Rove Denton is a piece of work and reminded me a great deal of the illusive man.

Tchaikovsky’s prose too is delightful, it is clean and descriptive without being overly florid, and I love how it feels very British, with words like cadge and hoik.

As the central story bounces around multiple universes, so does the conclusion. Once you’re aware what’s happening it’s easy to just let yourself be pulled along, but it could illicit a few initial head scratches. Without dropping a spoiler there was one ‘eventuality’ which resulted in a rather extreme form of Brexit, it was just so bizarrely dastardly.

From start to finish The Doors of Eden was adrenaline fast and so gripping. There was so much going on at all times I felt a constant desire to read more. Frequent shootouts, some while shifting between universes, chases through strange alien forests, and discovering new cultures.

The Doors of Eden is an all-encompassing story, from the cold void of space to the raging fires of human emotion it has it all.

It’s an intelligent and thoroughly entertaining story from a tremendously articulate and creative author.

Pure magic.

I don't often read Adrian Tchaikovsky as I have a great deal of respect for his work, but rarely enjoy it. However, I couldn't resist the pitch for The Doors of Eden, and I'm ever so glad I didn't - it's great!

Expect another boatload of big ideas - this time, a tale of evolutionary alternatives and parallel realities, in which a small group of disparate souls from this Earth and others must find a way to save the collapsing multiverse. The Doors of Eden is an extravagant act of imagination that is distinctly Tchaikovsky (who else would give us societies of trilobites and sea scorpions?) with a side helping of acerbic commentary on our times and a big-hearted cast I adored.

Engrossing, compelling stuff (if perhaps a little over-long).

Crucially, no spiders.

I just didn’t enjoy this at all. It started great, but it just got confusing and I kept getting lost as to who was where, and who was who, etc. I did keep picking it up again, but then I’d lose it again.

Sorry, it just wasn’t for me.

My thanks for the advance copy.

Thank you Tor Books and NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book.

I'm not sure what I expected from this book but it definitely wasn't what I got; i hadn't expected the whole parallel worlds and so it kind of threw me off and made me realise they just aren't my thing, especially when mixed with MI5??

I had to DNF this book because I just wasn't enjoying it and honestly it sent me into such a massive reading slump I have barely picked up a book for the last two weeks. I just couldn't get into it at all and feel like i needed to just leave it be and realise it's not for me.