Dark Eden

An ensemble cast delivers the compelling story of a young man who forces part of his "family" to set out and explore the strange sunless planet where they are marooned, rather than just sit and wait for help. The story is told from the points of view of different characters. Matthew Frow does a notable job as the bold John Redlantern as do the narrators who portray the members of the "Bat-face" tribe, people born with cleft palates because of generations of inbreeding. All speak with rough British accents except for the word "family," which comes out as snide and childlike with a drawn-out "a" sound, an odd choice but one that eventually begins to sound appropriate. This production is impossible to turn off. M.S. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

February 3, 2014
On an alien world, the inbred descendants of a cop and a criminal grapple with their future, but predictability mars a solid concept. Teenager John Redlantern sees a future beyond waiting for voyagers from Earth to rescue the Family, but his battles against tradition and the elements lead to only minor losses, while technology is recreated too easily to be credible. Beckett (The Peacock Cloak) hews too closely to historical patterns, such as the change from communal matriarchy to aggressive territorial patriarchy. The use of multiple narrators is clever, as are creatures like singing leopards and the changes to English over generations, but it’s not enough. The ending just confirms what readers will have suspected from early on—the last in a long series of missed opportunities. Agent: Michael Carlisle, Inkwell Management.