EDEN BY TIM LEBBON: BOOK REVIEW

eden by time lebbon review 

I'll be upfront from the get-go I have been a fan of Tim's writing for a very long time, by my reckoning we have had an author/reader relationship of around 23 years, that's only four years short of the time I have been with my wife. I still remember seeing a review for his debut novel Mesmer in SFX magazine and purchasing a copy direct from the publisher. It was a fantastic first novel, so good that over the proceeding years I have probably put more time into the pages of his books than any other author. Although, Twenty-three years and countless books read does run the risk of making the relationship a bit stale, could Eden be the book that makes me have an extra authorial affair?

Eden is a near-future adventure, horror science fiction mash-up, of a novel set in a world that is just a hair's breadth away from the world that we currently live in.  

In response to the escalation of environmental disasters and world pollution, the governments of the world come together to make the drastic decision to Zone off thirteen areas of the world. These zones have been completely sealed off from human intervention in a last ditched attempt to halt the complete disintegration of the world's ecosystem. Believing that if left to their own devices and devoid of the parasitic nature of humanity, they will find an ecosystemic equilibrium and act as the lifeblood to the world at large.  

The process of the zoning had huge ramifications on thousands of people, forced rehoming, and resettlement of the indigenous populations  is leading to a degree of resentment and hostility to the project. The zones are now protected by an extreme paramilitary force with the power to shoot on sight anyone attempting to break the lockdown. However, that hasn't deterred the most hardened of extreme adventurers. With zones being continuously compromised by teams of people determined to gain notoriety on a sort of dark web, with the thrill of being the first person to traverse all of the thirteen zones is a highly treasured prize.  

The Eden of the book title is the oldest of the thirteen zones, a wild and untamed region that likes to keep its secrets close to its heart and stop at nothing to protect them. Queue a team of extreme adventures, headed up by Dylan and his daughter Jenn, who is not only looking to be the first team to make it across the Zone but are also searching for clues to the disappearance of Kat the wife and mother to Dylan and Jenn. Let's say when they go down to the woods today they are in for a surprise a million times more shocking than a Teddybear's picnic.  

Eden is an explosive novel, with a lot to say about the current situation that the planet faces. Lebbon employs several smart literary techniques throughout the novel, such as preceding each chapter with accounts from various sources not directly connected the main narrative thrust of the novel. These excerpts from personal accounts of those affected by the rehoming and resultant lockdown of the zones and press releases form those tasked with defending the integrity of the zones, add an extra layer of social commentary to the novel. It allows Lebbon to explore the discontent and frustrations of those who have not fully signed on to the concept. It also allows an insight into the workings of the Zone Defence Zone and the fact that they may not be the white knights in shining armour as they would have us believe.  

These accounts and the fact that the main thread of the book is all about people breaking the quarantine rules is a chilling window onto the world right now as we all enter a lockdown in response to the pandemic raging across the globe, with the Zone Defence Force sound more and more like Trump's Space defence force. Lebbon's use of this technique allows him to explore a lot of thoughts and feelings on the subject without ever sounding preachy and hammering his beliefs down our throats. Lebbon's ability to tackle some heavy concepts within the main body of the novel is one of the highlights of the book. It has been four months since I finished the story, and even now in enters my thoughts regularly. The sheer audacity and hubris of humanity is something that makes my blood boil, take a look at the idiots flaunting the global lockdown protocols currently in place, and the parallels to the extreme adventurers flaunting the lockdowns around and in the zones. It's mindblowing how we, as a species, seemed hardwired to bring about our own mutually assured destruction. And even before this happened I spent a lot of time thinking about people like David Attenborough, now stay with me on this, for all the great and good that he has done over the years, wouldn't it be better for the world if people like him stopped visiting all these natural havens and allowed them to exists without even more people heading to them after watching one of his programmes? I have thought on this for days and still can't come up with an answer.

Another of the great literary devices that Tim employs is the sporadic shift in narrative viewpoint from Dylan and Jenn's team to that of Kat. It allows two things to happen; firstly, we are given an insiders perspective of life within the Zone, and its power to mould and shape a person. And secondly, it allows for a cementing of the motivations of Dylan and Jenn. By adding this extra layer jeopardy for them, it adds an extra layer to the narrative. There isn't a vast amount of characterisation within the novel; the leading players can be easily classed into an almost Breakfast Club set of characters, which isn't a criticism as such, as the story doesn't require pages upon pages backstory and motivation. What it does allow for an intense exploration of the dynamics between Dylan and his daughter and the effect of a parent abandoning the family unit.  

Eden is a classic novel of two halves, with the first part of the book a masterclass in tension building as the team head through the Zone. Tim hints at the dangers and nightmares While nothing graphic or in your face occurs during the first act, Tim's tight writing and descriptive prowess, with soon have the reader shivering with fear at the merest hint of a bustle in the hedgerow. This forest does not echo with laughter.

Then at a critical moment in the story, which mixes shades of Clive Barker and Jeff VanderMeer, Lebbon takes the brakes off and plunges the team straight into a heart of darkness. This sudden shift in narrative tempo runs the risk of giving the reader a case of literary whiplash, as Dylan and Jenn face off against the true nature of the Zone in a desperate bid to make it out alive. The term cinematic prose is one that is bandied about far too often. Still, I will stake my reputation that the final act of this book is one of the most genuinely cinematic experiences you will ever have while reading.  

While there is definitely a supernatural/science fiction element to the messed up ecosystem of Eden, Lebbon keeps the more fantastical elements reigned in, don't expect two-headed bears or giant hybrid animals, the team face off against animals that are normal for want of a better word. It is the Zone itself that comes to the four in terms of being the antagonist of the book. I refuse to call it the villain as the Zone is acting like a protective mother, rather than an outright monster.  

Eden is a perfect product of its time, an angry scream at the annihilative nature of humanity, and a consummate example of a high concept adventure novel, multilayered, emotive and thought provoking, it cements Lebbon's place at the top table of genre fiction. 

eden by tim lebbon 

From the bestselling author of The Silence comes a brand-new horror eco thriller. In large areas of the planet, nature is no longer humanity's friend
In a time when Earth's rising oceans contain enormous islands of refuse, the Amazon rainforest is all-but destroyed, and countless species edge towards extinction, the Virgin Zones were established in an attempt to combat the change. Off-limits to humanity and given back to nature, these thirteen vast areas of land were intended to become the lungs of the world.
Dylan leads a clandestine team of adventurers into Eden, the oldest of the Zones. Attracted by the challenges and dangers posed by the primal lands, extreme competitors seek to cross them with a minimum of equipment, depending only on their raw skills and courage. Not all survive.
Also in Dylan's team is his daughter Jenn, and she carries a secret - Kat, his wife who abandoned them both years ago, has entered Eden ahead of them. Jenn is determined to find her mother, but neither she nor the rest of their tight-knit team are prepared for what confronts them. Nature has returned to Eden in an elemental, primeval way. And here, nature is no longer humanity's friend.

---