Dark Eden (ARC)

Well I'm back with another review of another ARC (from Around the World ARC tours). This time it's Dark Eden by Patrick Carman, the author of the 5th book in the 39 Clues series, which is my favorite of that series.

Summary: Fifteen-year-old Will Besting is sent by his doctor to Fort Eden, an institution meant to help patients suffering from crippling phobias. Once there, Will and six other teenagers take turns in mysterious fear chambers and confront their worst nightmares—with the help of the group facilitator, Rainsford, an enigmatic guide. When the patients emerge from the chamber, they feel emboldened by the previous night's experiences. But each person soon discovers strange, unexplained aches and pains. . . . What is really happening to the seven teens trapped in this dark Eden?

Patrick Carman's Dark Eden is a provocative exploration of fear, betrayal, memory, and— ultimately—immortality.

Everyone's afraid of something, we all know that. Except what happens when their phobias get bigger and bigger and then cripple their entire life? Well, you send them to Dark Eden, a prison-like bunker in the middle of the woods of course! This book explores the same concept as The School of Fear except a lot darker, more serious, and much less funny.

The one flaw that really weighed down this book was the main character, our narrator Will. He was very boring, he would just recite everything that happened but never actually do anything, except sit in a bomb shelter eating Cliff bars. Aside from Will I didn't mind all the other characters in this book. Meresa, Will's love interest, stands out in particular. She's very thoughtful and doesn't want to be the center of attention which I guess is the perfect girl for Will, who has a phobia of being around most of his peers and hanging out in groups. The other five teens at Dark Eden weren't around enough for me to decide if I liked them or not. I also enjoyed Davis, even after we find out... (won't say anymore so not to spoil the book for anyone else).

Sound plays a big part in the book and I think that part was interesting. Will makes little audio sessions on his recorder and sometimes we get to hear them and that fascinated me. There is also a Dark Eden multimedia app where the story is told in video, sound, and text. I think that is perfect for this book and it will only be a matter of time in until we see this in the movie theaters.

Patrick Carman has a nice writing style that matches the book very well. His narrative was so suspenseful!

This story was so much to take in and I really wish Carman had made it a trilogy or longer because it's so complex. This book was a cool, suspenseful, mystery that has lots of potential.

4/5

Book Battle Update: This is my 19th book read in the book battle, Maddz has read 17!

Thanks for Around the World ARC tours for providing this ARC.

Dark Eden will be released November 1st, preorder it on Amazon.