Since the 1990s Tim Lebbon was been one of the most prolific writers of dark fiction, comfortably moving between fantasy, science fiction and horror and it was great to see his outstanding 2015 novel The Silence recently adapted into a decent Netflix film. His back-catalogue is huge, ranging from film novelisations, others connected to franchises, but his best are those when he runs with his own ideas and stories, with Echo City being a personal favourite. Lebbon maintains that high standard with his latest work, Eden, which again blends genres, this time with a strong environmental theme backing up a very entertaining survival story.
These days there are many eco-thrillers on the market and it is can be very easy to fall into the trap of writing yet another novel about global warming, rising tides and temperatures, with the end result being neither fresh or original. Although Eden falls into this literary ballpark, Lebbon wisely avoids these pitfalls by giving us very little background information, forcing the reader to join many of the rather enticing dots. All we know is that it is set sometime in the near future where mankind does indeed suffer from these types of problems, but the story does not dwell on them in the slightest. Every chapter has a very clever (and insightful) quote or anecdote which helps paint the bigger picture, from organisations such as United Zone Council and the Green World Alliance, in addition there are quotes from bloggers, soldiers and anonymous sources. All of which, combined, at the start of every chapter drip feed to the reader information about the troubled current state of the world.
The action opens with a group of adventurers about to enter Eden, which is one of thirteen Virgin Zones which have been created across the world to allow nature to thrive and regroup. People have not been allowed to enter any of these massive thirteen Zones for over fifty years, although adventurers are frequently smuggled into them to either steal wildlife, get their kicks or break a travel record set by a rival extreme-sport group. The Zones are guarded by soldiers who use deadly force to defend them from infiltrators. In these areas everything has been totally reclaimed by nature, which thrives without the interference of mankind, with many of the population itching for a look at one of these mysterious locations.
Eden is the oldest of the Virgin Zones and is trickiest to gain access to and travel across, amongst the secret world of thrill-seeking conquering Eden would be the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest back in the 1950s. Dylan leads a team of adventurers into Eden and intends to cross it with the minimum of equipment, before being met at the other side and smuggled out to safety with bragging rights in the adventure community. Surprise, surprise, things do not go to plan and there is something very nasty in the forest.
Once the novel started to move through the gears, I began to find myself marvelling at the descriptions of the wildlife, the forests and especially the remnants of mankind which has been completely reclaimed by nature in the passing fifty years. When I was a kid in the mid-1980s, in the north of Scotland, we lived close to a ruined mansion called Lessendrum House, which had a rarely used road leading to it and was off the beaten track. At some point this road fell into disuse and when my family revisited five years ago whilst on holiday, you would never have known there was ever a road in the first place, and the house itself was unrecognisable from three decades earlier. So, Tim Lebbon calls it correct, in fifty years nature would reclaim everything as it does in Eden.
This was a beautifully described book, which was perfected paced, even though it took its time getting going, allow yourself to be swept along into the atmospheric and eventually threatening location. Written in the third person, Dylan is the senior member of the group, accompanied by his partner Selina, daughter Jenn and the remainder of the group Cove, Aaron, and Lucy. Although they are all nice enough characters, many of which have their own motives, you might not cry too much as their number’s dwindle. Some readers might think they have it coming as nature takes its revenge. However, Lebbon also does a fine job of painting a picture of why these guys are into this type of ‘extreme’ past-time, even if it is misguided.
You could argue that much of this novel is speculative rather than science fiction, as perhaps in the future locations such as this might really exist. Although there is something nasty out there, in many ways, nature is the true beast and there are some excellent action sequences in the final third which are well worth waiting for with nature the true threat. The build-up is equally intense, it reminded me slightly of the 1980s action classic Predator, where the soldiers were aware of the camouflaged creature, when they could feel it was there, but could not see it. This book tapped into the same type of primeval fear.
Eden was an easy book to get sucked into and before long the atmosphere is so thick you will be hearing the cockatoos squawking in the night as you are dragged into this threatening Virgin Zone. This was an intelligent genre-bending story which did not overdo the supernatural elements and finely balanced this with the power of nature and the respect it needs to be given. Recommended.
