Content levels
Trigger warnings
Protagonist archetypes
Tropes
Synopsis
A crew of six crash-land on Eden, fourth planet from another sun. They set forth into a strange world that grows ever stranger. The sun is not completely circular. The desert ground is soft, spongy, it exudes acrid vapors. Thickets of plants are shaped like hanging spiders; trees, violet and blue, breathe noisily; flower petals lift into the air like a flock of startled pigeons. The men come to a wall that moves in rhythmic waves; they enter an automated factory where mysterious objects are created, destroyed, and created again in a meaningless cycle. They meet an inhabitant of Eden, a large, humped, pearl-colored, naked torso from which protrudes another, smaller torso with a child's head and two small arms -- a "doubler," they call him. One doubler leads to another, to whole communities, to a world of flying saucers and genetic engineering. And everywhere, death. Swollen bodies in ditches and in wells, a beehive structure filled with clusters of glass eggs -- a skeleton within each egg.
Eden: content & age rating
Intended for adult readers (18+).
This science fiction novel contains disturbing body horror imagery (mutated alien beings, skeletal remains in glass eggs, swollen corpses), mass death, and grotesque alien anatomies. The oppressive atmosphere and death imagery make it inappropriate for younger readers.
What to know going in
This book has strong violence, no sexual content, and mild language. Content notes include death, mass death, and body horror (see the full list above).
Who'll love this
Adult readers who enjoy unsettling alien worlds and biological horror will find this mysterious and disturbing.