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Eden
Sheriff Eden Ward lives with her two daughters, Mary and Addie, in the town of Sodaville. People look after each other in this small community. Everyone has a job and their own home. There is no pollution, the threat of global warming has vanished and the environment, including the wildlife, is thriving.
Paradise has been achieved at a cost. Human population growth is controlled. Vaccines and antibiotics are banned. Once every hundred years the government releases a manufactured disease intended to cull the population.
The preservation of nature takes precedence.
When the disease is released, Eden dutifully follows the orders given to her by the government. But when she loses Mary to the disease, her friend Matt Jones reveals that he may know where to find a cure that could protect Addie. Faced with performing her role as the town’s Sheriff or going on the run to save her only remaining daughter, Eden chooses to go on the run.
Hunted by a government Collector, Eden and Matt try to avoid capture while driving across the empty landscape of the former USA. Along the way they meet the dangerous inhabitants of the underground network trying to manufacture the cure, and Eden must confront the growing realization that she’s placed her life, and the life of her daughter, into the hands of one man. A man she doesn’t really know.
Paradise has been achieved at a cost. Human population growth is controlled. Vaccines and antibiotics are banned. Once every hundred years the government releases a manufactured disease intended to cull the population.
The preservation of nature takes precedence.
When the disease is released, Eden dutifully follows the orders given to her by the government. But when she loses Mary to the disease, her friend Matt Jones reveals that he may know where to find a cure that could protect Addie. Faced with performing her role as the town’s Sheriff or going on the run to save her only remaining daughter, Eden chooses to go on the run.
Hunted by a government Collector, Eden and Matt try to avoid capture while driving across the empty landscape of the former USA. Along the way they meet the dangerous inhabitants of the underground network trying to manufacture the cure, and Eden must confront the growing realization that she’s placed her life, and the life of her daughter, into the hands of one man. A man she doesn’t really know.
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Published June 17, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 23, 2021
This turned out to be a pretty good, emotionally charged story. This started out like a quintessential dystopian story. As I progressed more into it, the emotion really started to intensify. I began to feel everything right along with Eden, the main character. As a parent myself, all she goes through is super relatable. Also, the premise as a whole is relatable with everything going on in the world today. I felt like the villain(s) were well written and the author did a good job at getting us readers to dislike them. I wasn't thrilled with the ending but hey, win some/lose some, right? All things considered, I thought this was a well thought out dystopian story and I look forward to reading more from this author.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
February 9, 2021
I did not expect to like this book about a woman living in a post 21Century America which has long ago decided the only way to control over population and over dependence on technology is to periodically release a deadly virus to wipe out most of the world's population.
Not fun pandemic reading for me, but "Eden" had been sitting on my TBR list longer than any other book I received as a giveaway, so I took the plunge.
I am glad I did. It was a very humanely told story, from the viewpoint of one woman, Eden. There is very little horror, a lot of pathos and a great deal of compassion in this work.
The world Eden lives in is a world that has taken a nightmare approach to a nightmare situation we may be facing soon ourselves, a solution that begs the question, Can two wrongs make a right?
We could take this way out now. Take off our masks. Stop vaccinating. The planet is already recovering.
What an awful dilemma.
I received this book free from Goodreads in exchange for an honest review.
Not fun pandemic reading for me, but "Eden" had been sitting on my TBR list longer than any other book I received as a giveaway, so I took the plunge.
I am glad I did. It was a very humanely told story, from the viewpoint of one woman, Eden. There is very little horror, a lot of pathos and a great deal of compassion in this work.
The world Eden lives in is a world that has taken a nightmare approach to a nightmare situation we may be facing soon ourselves, a solution that begs the question, Can two wrongs make a right?
We could take this way out now. Take off our masks. Stop vaccinating. The planet is already recovering.
What an awful dilemma.
I received this book free from Goodreads in exchange for an honest review.
September 7, 2021
This was so different and it really got me thinking about lots of things that are happening right - extinction rebellion, what ever you think of the pandemic cause, our dependence on technology are just some of the things.
I can't really say anything as anything I saw is a plot spoiler.
Please if this is your genre read it.
If you want to think about our current society please read it.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I can't really say anything as anything I saw is a plot spoiler.
Please if this is your genre read it.
If you want to think about our current society please read it.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
October 3, 2021
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Eden is a light Science Fiction, Dystopian, and Speculative Fiction novel published in 2017 by D.A. Howe. It is a fast-paced story about a woman named Eden set in the town of Sodaville, West Virginia, in the distant future.
The front-cover of the book and the blurb intrigued me. I have to say it is an amazing look into the life of one person in a possible future that feels quite plausible when one considers the unfortunate events of living during a pandemic. It might even be called a prophetic look at one potential future. Given the date of publication, it cannot be said Eden was ripped from recent headlines, but it is a chilling story with brilliantly written characters and fascinating world building. Eden is emotionally charged and will make readers laugh and cry, but most of all, it will make one think about our own future.
As the world become more and more inundated with technology and industry, Forrester's Disease suddenly culled the population. At first, there is chaos and mayhem everywhere. Governments fall or become transformed. Technology is shunned and populations abandon large cities and gather in smaller communities to survive in a more agrarian style of living.
In the United States, most of the population lives in the east where people have learned to live in harmony with nature. They have learned to accept while nature can provide bounty, it can also be cruel and bring disaster. Crime and war have been eliminated and everyone has a place in the community where there is no class conflict, no rich or poor, and no ambition other than taking care of each other. On the surface, it would seem humanity has achieved a utopian existence.
Eden Ward is the sheriff in and around the town of Sodaville. Her job is simple; keep in touch with the people under her jurisdiction and help them whenever the need arises. The only crime she is required to investigate is that of people called Loners. Everyone is required to contribute to the community, and no one may be an outsider. Those that choose not to take part in the good of the community are apprehended and sent to work in the mines.
Eden is the widowed mother of two daughters who attend school every day. They have a home and are happy living their lives in the simplicity of being in harmony with nature. That is, until tragedy strikes and Forrester's Disease returns, as it seems to do periodically. When Eden's teenaged daughter contracts the disease and dies, Eden becomes fearful of the fate of herself and her remaining daughter.
With the help of a friend, and the promise of a vaccine, Eden embarks on a remarkable journey of discovery, full of twists and turns, all the while being chased by a representative of the government in DeeCee.
Eden Ward is the widowed mother of two daughters. She has been appointed the sheriff of her area around Sodaville and spends most of her days interacting with the people of her community. While she is friendly, she is not afraid to uphold the law. Her daughters, Mary and Addie, are the center of her world. When not working, she spends nearly all of her time with them, helping them learn to exist under the rule of DeeCee (the center of government in Washington, D.C.). When she encounters a representative, she believes what she is told by him and his underlings. She has a friend who also tells her things in conflict with what she is told by the DeeCee representative. When she has a choice to make, she is more interested in her family's safety than in what is legal. She is forced into making an unenviable choice.
Tanner Keane is the representative from DeeCee charged with a nefarious task, but he doesn't see it as such. He is just carrying out orders. He is not an evil person, but a reader might see him as one. During the parts of the book featuring Tanner, I found some of my favorite passages. Tanner, and those who accompany him to Sodaville, make discoveries of things not common to this vision of life in a simple world.
Matt Jones is Sodaville's accountant. He works closely with Eden in keeping records and reporting to DeeCee. Matt's job is basically to keep track of population numbers and reporting food production to the government. He has a romantic interest in Eden, and she seems interested in him as well, but Eden is reluctant to allow the relationship to escalate beyond a close friendship. Matt has secrets he protects that, if discovered, might cause him problems with the government.
Forrester's Disease is an ever-present character. It causes fear in everyone, even though most people see it as 'nature’s way' of controlling the population. Nature seems to be the religion everyone follows. Everyone tries to live in harmony with natural processes. Forrester's is not considered natural, but the results of contracting the disease, or any other, is considered a natural part of life in this world.
As I read this story, I saw very little I would enjoy about living in the world created by the author. It is sad how the people have been forced to accept ignorance as a way of life. Then again, at the same time, one hallmark of life in Sodaville is how the people accept care of each other.
This story made me feel conflict within myself. While there are many positive things about life, there is also much that seems negative. As a reader, I often felt uncomfortable with situations. It caused me to brood over things as a great story should.
My takeaway from Eden is how nothing and no one is exactly what they seem. No one is purely good or evil, they just seem to go about their lives. I would label Tanner is the bad guy in the story and Matt as the good guy. But both are surprising in that neither one is what they seem.
I could not put this book down. It is an amazing story by a skilled writer that created a complicated world.
While Eden it is touted to be a science fiction story, it isn't bogged down with a lot of jargon. It is a story about people and how they react to situations and challenges. Readers of Eden will become invested in the principal character's plight. I found myself running a full spectrum of emotional involvement with Eden and the people she cared about.
There are a number of great plot twists as this story drives to its conclusion
Highest recommendations for this amazing, well-written story.
Eden is a light Science Fiction, Dystopian, and Speculative Fiction novel published in 2017 by D.A. Howe. It is a fast-paced story about a woman named Eden set in the town of Sodaville, West Virginia, in the distant future.
The front-cover of the book and the blurb intrigued me. I have to say it is an amazing look into the life of one person in a possible future that feels quite plausible when one considers the unfortunate events of living during a pandemic. It might even be called a prophetic look at one potential future. Given the date of publication, it cannot be said Eden was ripped from recent headlines, but it is a chilling story with brilliantly written characters and fascinating world building. Eden is emotionally charged and will make readers laugh and cry, but most of all, it will make one think about our own future.
As the world become more and more inundated with technology and industry, Forrester's Disease suddenly culled the population. At first, there is chaos and mayhem everywhere. Governments fall or become transformed. Technology is shunned and populations abandon large cities and gather in smaller communities to survive in a more agrarian style of living.
In the United States, most of the population lives in the east where people have learned to live in harmony with nature. They have learned to accept while nature can provide bounty, it can also be cruel and bring disaster. Crime and war have been eliminated and everyone has a place in the community where there is no class conflict, no rich or poor, and no ambition other than taking care of each other. On the surface, it would seem humanity has achieved a utopian existence.
Eden Ward is the sheriff in and around the town of Sodaville. Her job is simple; keep in touch with the people under her jurisdiction and help them whenever the need arises. The only crime she is required to investigate is that of people called Loners. Everyone is required to contribute to the community, and no one may be an outsider. Those that choose not to take part in the good of the community are apprehended and sent to work in the mines.
Eden is the widowed mother of two daughters who attend school every day. They have a home and are happy living their lives in the simplicity of being in harmony with nature. That is, until tragedy strikes and Forrester's Disease returns, as it seems to do periodically. When Eden's teenaged daughter contracts the disease and dies, Eden becomes fearful of the fate of herself and her remaining daughter.
With the help of a friend, and the promise of a vaccine, Eden embarks on a remarkable journey of discovery, full of twists and turns, all the while being chased by a representative of the government in DeeCee.
Eden Ward is the widowed mother of two daughters. She has been appointed the sheriff of her area around Sodaville and spends most of her days interacting with the people of her community. While she is friendly, she is not afraid to uphold the law. Her daughters, Mary and Addie, are the center of her world. When not working, she spends nearly all of her time with them, helping them learn to exist under the rule of DeeCee (the center of government in Washington, D.C.). When she encounters a representative, she believes what she is told by him and his underlings. She has a friend who also tells her things in conflict with what she is told by the DeeCee representative. When she has a choice to make, she is more interested in her family's safety than in what is legal. She is forced into making an unenviable choice.
Tanner Keane is the representative from DeeCee charged with a nefarious task, but he doesn't see it as such. He is just carrying out orders. He is not an evil person, but a reader might see him as one. During the parts of the book featuring Tanner, I found some of my favorite passages. Tanner, and those who accompany him to Sodaville, make discoveries of things not common to this vision of life in a simple world.
Matt Jones is Sodaville's accountant. He works closely with Eden in keeping records and reporting to DeeCee. Matt's job is basically to keep track of population numbers and reporting food production to the government. He has a romantic interest in Eden, and she seems interested in him as well, but Eden is reluctant to allow the relationship to escalate beyond a close friendship. Matt has secrets he protects that, if discovered, might cause him problems with the government.
Forrester's Disease is an ever-present character. It causes fear in everyone, even though most people see it as 'nature’s way' of controlling the population. Nature seems to be the religion everyone follows. Everyone tries to live in harmony with natural processes. Forrester's is not considered natural, but the results of contracting the disease, or any other, is considered a natural part of life in this world.
As I read this story, I saw very little I would enjoy about living in the world created by the author. It is sad how the people have been forced to accept ignorance as a way of life. Then again, at the same time, one hallmark of life in Sodaville is how the people accept care of each other.
This story made me feel conflict within myself. While there are many positive things about life, there is also much that seems negative. As a reader, I often felt uncomfortable with situations. It caused me to brood over things as a great story should.
My takeaway from Eden is how nothing and no one is exactly what they seem. No one is purely good or evil, they just seem to go about their lives. I would label Tanner is the bad guy in the story and Matt as the good guy. But both are surprising in that neither one is what they seem.
I could not put this book down. It is an amazing story by a skilled writer that created a complicated world.
While Eden it is touted to be a science fiction story, it isn't bogged down with a lot of jargon. It is a story about people and how they react to situations and challenges. Readers of Eden will become invested in the principal character's plight. I found myself running a full spectrum of emotional involvement with Eden and the people she cared about.
There are a number of great plot twists as this story drives to its conclusion
Highest recommendations for this amazing, well-written story.
June 7, 2021
The action starts with Sheriff Eden, a widowed mother of two, living in a provincial town in the States. The community is strictly utilitarian, and lives off the land rather than working with sinful technology and machinery. Nature, both kind and cruel, is revered as their God.
Soon, it becomes clearer that this is a dystopic world, where edicts followed on from Deecee are obeyed without question. Those who refuse to conform are labelled loners, not pulling their weight, and worked to death in mining centres. After all, we would not want to return to those even more dystopic lre-pandemic bad days, where the human population spun out of control, robots did all the work, and humans related more to their computers and phones than to other people, and inner-city violence and anomie reigned supreme.
Sheriff Eden never questions the new world nor her place within it, until an official from Deecee descends upon the ccommunity to declare that a new pandemic of a old scourge has returned.
After Eden's community is decimated and having experienced a massive loss of her own, Eden is now ready to question what she has been taught. Could it be that a killer bug is being deliberately used to it maintain an ideal population?
So it does not take much for an old friend to convince her to run away with him so that they can track down a fabled vaccine. But does this friend know as much as he claims, and just how trustworthy is he?
The novel then explores whether pandemics might not have their Gaian role to play with the grander scheme of things, whether humans bring such things opn themselves or not. There is then the issue of how much social control in smaller areas of life is too much. Questions over loss and coping with it prove to be particularly hard-hitting here, there are no feel-good 'happily ever-after endings here.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Soon, it becomes clearer that this is a dystopic world, where edicts followed on from Deecee are obeyed without question. Those who refuse to conform are labelled loners, not pulling their weight, and worked to death in mining centres. After all, we would not want to return to those even more dystopic lre-pandemic bad days, where the human population spun out of control, robots did all the work, and humans related more to their computers and phones than to other people, and inner-city violence and anomie reigned supreme.
Sheriff Eden never questions the new world nor her place within it, until an official from Deecee descends upon the ccommunity to declare that a new pandemic of a old scourge has returned.
After Eden's community is decimated and having experienced a massive loss of her own, Eden is now ready to question what she has been taught. Could it be that a killer bug is being deliberately used to it maintain an ideal population?
So it does not take much for an old friend to convince her to run away with him so that they can track down a fabled vaccine. But does this friend know as much as he claims, and just how trustworthy is he?
The novel then explores whether pandemics might not have their Gaian role to play with the grander scheme of things, whether humans bring such things opn themselves or not. There is then the issue of how much social control in smaller areas of life is too much. Questions over loss and coping with it prove to be particularly hard-hitting here, there are no feel-good 'happily ever-after endings here.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
October 3, 2021
This book is a complete story that in the end leaves some loopholes that could easily start a new book in this univers down the road, one can not easily start to speak about this book without giving spoilers.
The story takes place many years in the future, after a terrible disease that killed almost all the population of the US, we dont know much more about the rest of the world... the world where sheriff Eden Ward lives, resembles a bit the wild west but she drives a sun charged car, there isnt really crime, and her main problem are people that are tagged as lonners, people who want to be left alone far away from other neighbours, after this book I wont hear the words "as intended" just the same as I did before.
Eden is the sheriff, but before that she is the mom of two beautiful daughters, widow for years, when the disease comes back, she sees all that death around her, and she takes a definitive leap... and I wont talk more about the plot, because this is what you could already know about the book reading the synopsis.
I did like this book very much, I read it in a couple of days, always thinking in comming back and reading the rest, I did care for the characters, I got sad with it, I got enrraged, I got all the rollercoaster of emotions with this book, this is the reason why I gave it a 4 stars avaliation, I was sweept in the story, how far would you go to protect your children? this is the question that stays with you in the end...
Thank you D. A. Howe for this rolercoaster of emotions.
I got an ARC of this book through BookSirens and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The story takes place many years in the future, after a terrible disease that killed almost all the population of the US, we dont know much more about the rest of the world... the world where sheriff Eden Ward lives, resembles a bit the wild west but she drives a sun charged car, there isnt really crime, and her main problem are people that are tagged as lonners, people who want to be left alone far away from other neighbours, after this book I wont hear the words "as intended" just the same as I did before.
Eden is the sheriff, but before that she is the mom of two beautiful daughters, widow for years, when the disease comes back, she sees all that death around her, and she takes a definitive leap... and I wont talk more about the plot, because this is what you could already know about the book reading the synopsis.
I did like this book very much, I read it in a couple of days, always thinking in comming back and reading the rest, I did care for the characters, I got sad with it, I got enrraged, I got all the rollercoaster of emotions with this book, this is the reason why I gave it a 4 stars avaliation, I was sweept in the story, how far would you go to protect your children? this is the question that stays with you in the end...
Thank you D. A. Howe for this rolercoaster of emotions.
I got an ARC of this book through BookSirens and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
April 12, 2021
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This book tackles the subject of over-population and the dilemma of how do you control it - is it fair to stop people breeding or having children - is it fair to cull a population if there are not enough resources to feed and harbour people. Eden is an admirable character and her story is not an easy read. This is a realistic novel with death in it................
I enjoyed it greatly but was perturbed by the subject matter of quelling or thinning of the number of humans.
I enjoyed it greatly but was perturbed by the subject matter of quelling or thinning of the number of humans.
May 23, 2021
I received a free copy of this book from Book Sirens in return for an honest review.
Wow! A bit close to home, following on from Covid! Was hooked from the start; Eden's inner dialogue - the conflict between being a mother and a sheriff really resonated. Impossible choices, grief and loss along with broken promises, but she still picks herself up and forges onward - a woman's strength should never be doubted!
Eden kept me thoroughly engrossed, finished in three days, would highly recommend and will look for other books by this author!
Wow! A bit close to home, following on from Covid! Was hooked from the start; Eden's inner dialogue - the conflict between being a mother and a sheriff really resonated. Impossible choices, grief and loss along with broken promises, but she still picks herself up and forges onward - a woman's strength should never be doubted!
Eden kept me thoroughly engrossed, finished in three days, would highly recommend and will look for other books by this author!
December 14, 2018
Very interesting take on population control by those in power. Beginning seemed slow to me but the information imparted was important to the story line. Pace seemed a little uneven, but overall it was an enjoyable read. Ending was a surprise which I like in books.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews