Edenborn

by Nick Sagan

Book Overview

Edenbornbegins with a stark landscape-a microbial apocalypse called Black Ep has wiped humanity from the globe-yet all is not lost. Six individuals have survived the epidemic and are now committed to the task of rebuilding a peaceful civilization. But not everyone shares the same vision, and soon two very different societies begin to form. As we follow a child from each "family," someone-or something-begins to threaten their innocence. And as the...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399151869
• ISBN13: 9780399151866
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group
• Length: 311 Pages
• Weight: 1.19 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.5" x 9.4"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Nick Sagan rocks

This is the second book in the series, I would definitely recommend reading the first one first (Idlewild). Sagan doesn't try to make his writing pretty nor does he sugar coat the story with convoluted stories of love. His writing is raw and to the point.

Masterful sci-fi with poignant insight into the human condition

To those with an interest in astronomy matters, Nick Sagan has been famous since he was a child; it is his voice, after all, that any alien civilization coming across the Voyager spacecraft in the depths of interstellar space will hear bidding them "Hello from the children of planet Earth." In 2003, Nick emerged fully from the shadow of his illustrious father Carl Sagan (the absolute hero of my youth) with the publication of his first novel. Idlewild consisted of a fascinating story surrounding a group of gifted young people at a very special school. Their education took place in a virtual reality setting, as did their leisure hours during the school year. They could visit any time or place, and instead of dorm rooms they had their own elaborate domains built to suit their tastes. As they neared their eighteenth birthdays, however, the fabric of their virtual reality school began to fray. One student came up missing, and another one, Halloween, lost his memory as a result of an attempt on his own life. As things went from bad to worse, Halloween's desperation to escape led to a revelation that would change him and his fellow students forever. Their entire lives, not just their time at Idlewild, had been lived in virtual reality - in the real world, the Black Ep virus had wiped humanity off the face of the planet, and these special, genetically engineered children represented the last ditch effort of scientists to keep the human race alive. Upon maturity, when the youngsters would learn the truth, it would be up to them to hopefully find a cure for the virus and begin repopulating the earth. The Idlewild students entered real life prematurely - and reduced in number. Edenborn takes up their story some eighteen years later. The survivors divided the earth between them, and two of them (including Halloween) retreated into isolation, leaving only four individuals to pursue the mission they were given. Even with these four, divisiveness reigned. In a world population of just over a dozen people, two different families have come into existence. The European family consists of female clones engineered to be resistant to Black Ep (and thus not entirely human); the African family consists of clones who are essentially human and, as such, dependent on vitamins and drugs to keep the deadly virus at bay. One family maps a purely technological path to the future, while the other seeks a more human, spiritual path that looks both backwards and forwards at the same time. Student exchanges take place periodically, which makes for an interesting mesh of worldviews. The European girls reflect the austere scientific mindset of their "mothers," while the Africans follow the Islamic teachings of their "father." Meanwhile, Halloween, the protagonist of Idlewild, is almost completely absent from the scene until the latter stages of the book. This carefully constructed new world soon finds itself in grave danger. The African children come under the

Much of Edenborn takes place inside a virtual world

Fans of Sagan's debut novel Idlewild will find Edenborn a suitable follow-up: it's set in the future when a disease known as The Black Ep has wiped out most of humanity, leaving the remaining survivors divided into to camps: one which believes in technological innovation, the other an anti-technology back-to-the-land survivalist colony. Add multiple narrators to reinforce the ideas and you have a powerful setting all the more enhanced by the idea that much of Edenborn takes place inside a virtual world which the characters can manipulate.

Another brilliant book in the series

Basically, if you liked Sagan's debut novel, Idlewild, you'll love Edenborn, its sequel. The only minor quibble I have about the story is that Halloween plays a much smaller part than he did in the first novel. However, it's clear that Sagan maybe wanted to experiment with the voices of some of the other characters, and it really does work out brilliantly, especially for Pandora, whom I easily identified with (what girl hasn't tried to play it tough and cool on the outside, while all the while she's pining for some guy all her friends tell her isn't worth his weight in pebbles?) As opposed to the slightly hacked theme of reality vs. illusion (e.g. the Matrix) we saw in Idlewilde, Edenborn deals more with ethics, and whether these people really do have a right to combat Mother Nature and try to repopulate the earth with their genetically engineered "children." But beneath all the philosophical stuff (which isn't heavy-handed; I'm not a sci-fi reader in general) is some really great writing, along with some really identifiable characters. Definitely recommended.

strong speculative fiction apocalyptic thrillers

Humanity and the other primates are on the verge of extinction. The bioengineered weapon Black EP caused the deaths of all the humans on Earth but all was not lost. The scientists of Gedaechthis genetically engineered humans with unbelievable immune systems and since nobody was left alive to care for them they were raised in Immersiveve Virtual Reality. Six of these children survived all carriers of Black EP and all committed to repopulating the earth via clones and artificial wombs. The next generation of post-humans is getting ready to take their place in society to carry on the work of their parents and try to find a cure for Black Ep. Most of the people alive spend as much time as they can in virtual reality because it is a much better place than the decimated earth. However, some unknown person is tinkering with the VR and letting secrets out that cause divisiveness and leads to that person going on a killing spree aimed at the last of the humans. A new form of Black Ep has surfaced and if a cure is not found, the end of the human race is at hand. Although Edenborn takes place in an unspecified future, the technology that the book is based on exists today in a more primitive form. One has to admire these people who refuse to let mankind become extinct even though at times they want to give up because they don't see any progress made. Nick Sagan has written a compelling work that will appeal to fans of speculative fiction and apocalyptic thrillers. Harriet Klausner