What if – bear with me – a civilization of gigantic immortal spacefaring trilobites didn’t evolve? I know, it seems hardly credible, but imagine, if you will. [p. 71]
Two young women go cryptid-hunting on Bodmin Moor, and find more than they expected. Mal vanishes completely, pursued by Birdmen: Lee is left to mourn her girlfriend and make a living writing about conspiracy theories and blurry photographs. And all the while, she is almost certain that she saw something utterly different from anything alive in the present day. Meanwhile, MI5 operative Julien Sabreur, and his analyst friend Alison Matchell, are investigating an attempt to abduct brilliant mathematician Kay Amal Khan -- an attempt which was foiled, with extreme prejudice. Who's protecting Dr Khan, and is the kidnap attempt merely the work of bigotted white supremacists (Khan is Indian, and trans)? Could it be connected to her work on parallel universes?
Chapters of the novel alternate with essays about alternate Earths where evolution has played out differently. I was charmed by the scenario in which sabre-toothed cats, in cooperation with a souped-up version of the toxoplasmosis parasite ('the little passenger'), rule over a peaceful planet of adoring snacks minions; awed by the space-faring trilobites; moved by the poor pterosaurs... I don't always get along with Tchaikovsky's novels (see Cage of Souls) but The Doors of Eden was great, an immensely fun and pacy technothriller with fascinating alternate prehistories, an ensemble cast of likeable protagonists (including queer, trans, and non-white) and dastardly villains, great locations, and some cinematic action scenes. (The Shard!) It's also quietly philosophical, and often very funny: and I very much appreciated the depiction of Khan, cowed by being forced to present as a man, ebullient as her real self.
Now, where do I find a copy of Other Edens: Speculative Evolution and Intelligence by Professor Ruth Emerson?
Oh, mild vexation: "‘Mr Hinton has the dubious distinction of being the first human being in sixty-five million years to be killed by a dinosaur.'" [p.178] So dinosaurs and humans coexisted?
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