Children of Eden: A Novel

I saw that this book had a perfect rating and just glanced at the reviews super quick before I bought it. I didn't know anything about the author or his apparent YouTube channel, and I thought the cover and concept looked cool, so what the heck? Children of Eden failed to deliver on what could've been an amazing story. When you're working in such a niche space as YA dystopian fiction, its going to be hard not to overlap with some of the other well known books out there, but I expect a certain level of originality, as well as quality with books. The ideas within the book aren't new, but that's not what put me off of the book, it's the fact that the author didn't try to hash out the ideas and make them believable/unique. World has gone to hell, and now you have a girl who doesn't belong and is trying to change that. Cool, I'm down for that. You run into your conspiracy theory, you characters dangerous plan to save the world, and then leap towards their happy ending. Except there is no consequence of anything in this story. Your character finds the conspiracy theory...and, it doesn't matter. Okay.. I guess? Your character starts to work into this huge plan to change her station in society...oh but no one wants to talk about what that plan really entails...? Okay... sure? There was definitely an attempt, but I don't think it was well executed. Now, the one highlight of this book is Rowan's sexuality. Being bi myself, I loved the idea of a bi character and how the author flawlessly introduced her sexuality without making a big "coming out" scene. That was a major highlight for me, but the fact that the author then threw Rowan at every person (the *only* people) she meets just doesn't sit well with me. Honestly, I didn't make it to the end of the book, but from what I read, I'm not missing much. The writing quality was poor and predictable. Very much a 'tell' book and not a 'show' book. The dialogue is cringey at times and we are just expected to know and care about the characters with very little knowledge about them. This book would be great for young teens (12-15 yrs) but for anyone who actually falls in the Young Adult range (16+), you're better off picking up a book with a better plot line, writing, and character development.

Children of Eden was an very interesting & good book to read. It has a wonderful story that really piqued my interest throughout every chapter.The book primary revolves around a young girl named Rowan. Rowan has grown up in a society where second children (e.g. her) are not allowed in society. The world has collapsed in a catastrophic event called the Ecofail 300 years ago. The remainder of humanity now lives in a protective city called Eden. As a means to control resources, and ensure the continued survival of the human race—measures are taken to ensure a continued balance. As such, part of that balance limits one child per family. Rowan has been raised, and has grown up in a secret with the help of her family. However, events unfold that illicit her departure to a new family—for her safety and that of everyone she loves. Rowan must depart and become a part of Eden's society (albeit in secret). However, things do not always go according to plan.The book takes us on a journey of friendship, love, tragedy, adventure and mystery. Each chapter is delicately woven into a larger fabric that unfolds with each page, and submerges the reader into the deep dark mystery & conspiracy that Eden has hidden for discovery.Overall I really enjoyed reading this book. I felt that while some of character development & interactions were good, they weren't altogether great. Especially with some of the situations that unfold & develop. I felt that some character involvement was just too unrealistic to some degrees. For that reason it made my immersion into the story somewhat disconnected, but the author definitely has amazing insight into emotional connections that made me care about the characters. The ending was very disappointing to me, as it just leads into the second book unfortunately.I'd like to add that I also listened to this as an Audio Book, and Sarah Grayson as the narrator was spectacular. Her voice inflections and acting gave the audio book excellence with her performance.

I was really bummed...the premise looked like it had potential and the reviews are generally good so I was expecting some really good writing, characters, world-building, etc. No, unfortunately not the case at all. The story just repeats the same few melodramatic statements throughout (though I have to admit to skimming after the first bit because I just couldn’t take it). It’s the stereotypical story that has been told over and over lately - a stereotypically annoying main character in a dumb love triangle and TONS of glaring plot holes (a pretty flimsy plot to begin with) and the world-building/characters themselves are not written well enough to get past all the glaring mistakes. Yikes. Save yourself some time on this one.

For a while now, I’ve been in a reading slump. I couldn’t find books that interested me, I’m extremely busy with college, and finding the time and desire to just sit down with a book was nearly impossible. When Joey announced his final book of Eden was coming out, I decided to buy the series. And well, if this tells you anything, I finished this in just four days. I seriously couldn’t put it down. The characters were fascinating, especially since finding a bisexual protagonist nowadays is nearly impossible, and the world building exceeded my expectations. In fact, the only reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 was that it had every characteristic of a teen dystopian book would have, but soon after beginning “Children of Eden” I found that it didn’t even matter. The typical dystopian elements were tweaked and enhanced just enough for me to ignore the slightly unoriginal idea and love it for exactly what it is—a page-turner, unique, riveting, beautiful book that focuses on a bisexual female in a secret-filled, futuristic world that involves the environment, illegal second children, technology, and underground rebels. I mean come on, sign me up!Thanks Joey for writing this awesome book. Can’t wait to read the next!

This is an interesting YA Sci-fi book set in a dystopian future on Earth after the Ecofail (when the Earth died, which might be more fact than fiction before long). We follow the protagonist Rowan a teenager confined to living in secret while her family go about their business as usual and hide her from the outside world. Soon however her whole world will change but is it for the better?The concept of Eden, the new land where humans live controlled by AI is really interesting and well done although a little predictable at times.It’s a good storyline, although not the most complicated plot, you know where it’s going but it has some nice likeable characters and it goes along at a good pace. It is exciting albeit a little immature at times, however it makes for some easy reading.I really enjoyed the ideas and themes in this book: the EcoFail, the EcoPanoptican which looks after/controls all humans and what it means to be free. The story however is so close to the book 1984 and the concept of big brother it felt almost like plagiarism at times. It has some of the same ideas throughout and on occasions it is incredibly similar. If you liked this book and haven’t read 1984 you should definitely give it a go.I’m rating this 3.5 (it would higher but I feel some of the ideas are not exactly original) however I am rounding up as it was a good enjoyable read, rounding down wouldnt be fair.

I really liked reading the book. I loved that it did not matter what gender the person had to stir the main caracters affection.

Daughter was delighted with this she’s a big fan

In my opinion the book has an interesting topic but it is poorly executed would not recommend.

My son bought this and was very happy with the book and can't wait for the next one