Beneath the world, a sea - Chris Beckett

Hardcover, 288 pages

Expected publication: April 4th 2019 by Corvus

Speculative fiction

Thank you Corvus for this review copy

My Thoughts

I will say it, Chris Beckett writes such weird books! But good! But seriously weird. They are so hard to explain.

Right...ok so this cop goes to a strange place in South America. People were dumped there 150 years ago. There are also some strange creatures and the UN wants to protect them. Also if you go there you lose your memory for awhile. And you have no idea what you did then...

This place is so weird. The strange Duende brings our the worst in humans. Near them every thought in your head screams at you and that is why people kill them on sight. Every dark thought you ever had comes forward.

It is surreal, like being on drugs. It is not a place I would want to visit and it messes with everyone. But it is fascinating. A corner of the world not explained. Like what are the Duendes. How does this weird place work?

It is a good, but strange book. And the poor cop soon realises that stopping these murders wont be easy, or even possible. I liked the doubts he had and how he wanted to know during those lost days.

I have never read anything like it. He does write the weirdest books.

Blurb

South America, 1990. Ben Ronson, a British police officer, arrives in a mysterious forest to investigate a spate of killings of a local species called the Duendes. They are silent, vaguely humanoid creatures - with long limbs and black button eyes - that have a strange psychic effect on people, exposing them to their suppressed thoughts and fears.

The crimes have taken place in a landscape known as the Delta and to reach it Ben has crossed the Zone, a territory which wipes the memories of all who pass through. He remembers nothing of the preceding days; what he did or felt or saw.

Ben is uneasy about what he may have done in the Zone and avoids opening the diaries he kept whilst there, busying himself with the investigation instead. He becomes fascinated by the Duendes, but the closer he gets, the more he begins to unravel. As the Delta starts to take hold of his mind, Ben becomes increasingly haunted by the unopened diaries and the terrible secrets they might hold...

Daughter of Eden - Chris Beckett

Angie Redlantern is the first to spot the boats—five abreast with men in metal masks and spears standing proud, ready for the fight to come. As the people of New Earth declare war on the people of Mainground, a dangerous era has dawned for Eden. After generations of division and disagreement, the two populations of Eden have finally broken their tentative peace, giving way to bloodshed and slaughter. Angie must flee with her family across the pitch black of Snowy Dark to the place where it all started, the stone circle where the people from Earth first landed, where the story of Gela—the mother of them all—began. It is there that Angie witnesses the most extraordinary event, one that will change the history of Eden forever. It will alter their future and re-shape their past. It is both a beginning and an ending. It is the true story of Eden. 

Paperback, 400 pages
Published September 1st 2017 by Atlantic Books (first published October 6th 2016)
Dark Eden #3
Science fiction
Library

My thoughts:

This world is so effed up, omg, soooo effed up. But when I am there in the moment I do not see how effed up it is, I just see people struggling to make a living.

Book 1 was amazing, the other two did not live up to amazing, but they are still good. I guess it can only hit you as many times how effed up it is.

The book takes place in the present and a bit in the past (I did prefer the present bit and did want it to be all about that.) In the past we see Angie Redlantern follow a woman, a shadow speaker. They go around and preach the word of Mother Gela.

In the present Angie and her family has to flee as war has come to their planet. The Johnsfolk and Davidsfolk clash (because they are all freaking idiots.) And then visitors from earth comes.

And it hits me, damn, this is effed up! Until that I was in the moment, but then I saw it with the eyes of the astronauts.  They come to find the remains of a woman and man. Stranded on an alien planet 400 years ago. Instead they find people running around in animal skins and fighting with spears. And all these people come from 1 woman and 1 man. Yeah...gross. Many have mutations, facial and feet. Those are then lesser than the rest. They are inbred and indoctrinated. 

This was one freaky series. Dark inbred science fiction.

Spring Tide - Chris Beckett

A thought-provoking collection of contemporary short stories from the winner of the Arthur C. Clarke award 2013.

Chris Beckett's thought-provoking and wide-ranging collection of contemporary short stories is a joy to read, rich in detail and texture. From stories about first love, to a man who discovers a labyrinth beneath his house, to an angel left alone at the end of the universe, Beckett displays both incredible range and extraordinary subtlety as a writer. Every story is a world unto itself - each one beautifully realized and brilliantly imagined.

Hardcover, 304 pages
Published January 3rd 2018 by Atlantic Books
Fiction Short story
For review

My thoughts:

I do not know how to review this one. There are 21 one short stories spanned over 300 pages. Do the math. Maybe just review one here and there then.  That I will do. Here are the best ones in the entire collection.

Cellar

What was up with this cellar? I need more info! How can there be a bottomless cellar?

The end of time

WOW. This one made me feel really really alone. Was it really worth it man?

Lake

Weird....he is really good at these short ones.

The Kite

How we miss things when they are gone. Is this a collection about loneliness? No happy ones so far.

The Steps

This one was good and about something horrible. That poor child...

Rage

Good point at the end, good point. And a sad one

Ooze

A creepy sea creature...

The man who swallowed himself

What the h? These are weird and good

Sky

Nice finish, though not a conclusion to that story, I think this one needs an entire book. I really want to know what's going on

So this was just a few of them. There are others dealing with people growing apart, lost chances and just taking a look at a moment in your life. Some are not a good, some are sad, some are weird, all in all making it one interesting collection of short stories. They all work perfectly just as they are, it's like walking by a window, looking in and moving on. You do not need to know what happened before you walked by, you are there now.

Conclusion:
A good and interesting collection

America City - Chris Beckett

America, one century on: a warmer climate is causing vast movements of people. Droughts, floods and hurricanes force entire populations to simply abandon their homes. Tensions are mounting between north and south, and some northern states are threatening to close their borders against homeless fellow-Americans from the south.

Against this backdrop, an ambitious young British-born publicist, Holly Peacock, meets a new client, the charismatic Senator Slaymaker, a politician whose sole mission is to keep America together, reconfiguring the entire country in order to meet the challenge of the new climate realities as a single, united nation. When he runs for President, Holly becomes his right hand woman, doing battle on the whisperstream, where stories are everything and truth counts for little.

But can they bring America together - or have they set the country on a new, but equally devastating, path? 

Hardcover, 368 pages
Expected publication: November 2nd 2017 by Corvus
Fiction/futuristic/
I received this title for free in exchange for an unbiased review.

My thoughts:

I can totally see this happening, totally. I hope a certain president do not get ideas from it...

The world has gone to hell. And some people still doubt climate change. Yup, I can see that too. The East coast is plagued by super storms. The west coast and inland is a dust bowl. Further south, oh there is nothing there but death and starvation. And the people up north do not want to take care of storm trash and dusters. Yes they might be fellow Amercians but to take them all in, hell no! Not that rapist trash! I can totally see that happening, people looking out for nr 1. It is one thing to help a few, but when the half the country is unlivable...then that is another thing.

And in steps Holly who gets a new job. She is a delicado or as she would have been called now, a snowflake. Yes it is a derogatory term. She will help Senator Slaymaker win the presidential  race, and honestly, I wish Holly had never met him. Holly changes and at the end I do not like her. Or any American for that matter. I can not tell you what happens, but, still at the same time. Looking out for nr 1 is human nature. I get it.

It does make you sad. Because this future is way too real. If we do not stop global warming (eh what warming, fake news!) then this is out future and the world burns.

Conclusion:
It's one of those books that make you think, and fear the future too.

Mother of Eden - Chris Beckett

'We speak of a mother's love, but we forget her power. Power over life. Power to give and to withhold.'

Generations after the breakup of the human family of Eden, the Johnfolk emphasise knowledge and innovation, the Davidfolk tradition and cohesion. But both have built hierarchical societies sustained by violence and dominated by men - and both claim to be the favoured children of a long-dead woman from Earth that all Eden knows as Gela, the mother of them all.

When Starlight Brooking meets a handsome and powerful man from across Worldpool, she believes he will offer an outlet for her ambition and energy. But she has no idea that she will be a stand-in for Gela herself, and wear Gela's ring on her own finger.

And she has no idea of the enemies she will make, no inkling that a time will come when she, like John Redlantern, will choose to kill... 

My thoughts:

What to do when you crash on an alien planet and there are two of you left? You have a few babies, but hey what next? Yes, euww. And then 400? years later there are a lot of people on this planet, and they are all related. There are some major birth defects too, and those without them are treated better. It is a stone age society that in some parts have gone over to the iron age.

And it is a fascinating world. In the last book we saw how John Redlantern wanted to explore more of the world. Now 200 years later people have spread, and built more villages. But as society changes things also gets worse. It is a world who is all Mother Gela would have wanted us to this! And also a society where men now have taken power and look at women as lesser. As society changes it is not always for the better. Now they also kill those who do not think like them.

In this world we have Starlight, a woman from a tiny fishing village. But she wants more from life, and who can blame her, there is a whole world to explore, and she is stuck on a tiny island. She is naive, but so are they all. She is impulsive in her quest for more. But she is smart.

Greenstone, oh poor guy, he was just too kind and they meet and she gets to explore the world across the Pool. Which takes out to another society, and one of the bad ones. When people make rules there are always those who suffers.

There are actually many POVS in this one. We follow Starlight, but we gets bits and pieces from others around her and how they feel about things. Those she left behind. Those who rule. Those who follow.

People are idiots. ...but Not all, Starlight's village was a good one, they treated each other fairly and felt like everyone is equally important. They had fled the others and the squabbling. But the rest, oh people.

There will be another book, and I look forward to that one. I wonder where that book will take us. I do wonder if Earth will finally get here and what they will think of these inbred idiots who think they rule the world....

Conclusion:

A great sci-fi. Even the language had evolved. So interesting. 

Cover

meh

Paperback, 480 pages
Published April 7th 2016 by Corvus (first published May 12th 2015)
Dark Eden #2
Sci.fi
Library

Dark Eden - Chris Beckett

On the alien, sunless planet they call Eden, the 532 members of the Family shelter beneath the light and warmth of the Forest’s lantern trees. Beyond the Forest lie the mountains of the Snowy Dark and a cold so bitter and a night so profound that no man has ever crossed it. 

The Oldest among the Family recount legends of a world where light came from the sky, where men and women made boats that could cross the stars. These ships brought us here, the Oldest say—and the Family must only wait for the travelers to return. 

But young John Redlantern will break the laws of Eden, shatter the Family and change history. He will abandon the old ways, venture into the Dark…and discover the truth about their world.

Already remarkably acclaimed in the UK, Dark Eden is science fiction as literature; part parable, part powerful coming-of-age story, set in a truly original alien world of dark, sinister beauty--rendered in prose that is at once strikingly simple and stunningly inventive.

My thoughts:

I liked liked this book (yes the repetition is there for a reason and shows how their language changed.)

The book was good, creepy and made me think about, well everything. It was not even 200 years ago since a man and a woman got stranded on an alien planet. Now there are 500 people there, yes you figure it out. To start the human race again you need lots of incest and it shows as some people have what they call batfaces, and clawfeet. The law later does say that you should not "slip" with close relatives. But to get it started, they did. And it's not like anyone knows who their dad is either since everyone do it with everyone.

I liked how the society was formed and how it was rooted in fear, they HAD to stay where they were so earth would find them. Even though food was scarce now. But tradition was everything and no one really thought of new things anymore.

But like with all things rooted in tradition someone will have an idea and that is John. Was he a god hero? Not really, sure he thought of things but at the same time he was a man (another thing I liked here later how it show female vs male power.) But he was interesting and his was not the only POV. There were other with their strengths and thoughts.

A truly alien world, a new world being built and I could not put it down. This is a series so I checked book 2 at once which takes place long after. And the end was an end, but not really so I am very curious to see how these people survive.

Conclusion:

Totally cool sci.fi.

Cover

Really pretty up close

Paperback, 448 pages
Published April 1st 2014 by Broadway Books (first published January 1st 2012)
Dark Eden #1
Science-fiction
For review