Currently Reading│Book Beginning : The Murder of Adam and Eve by William Dietrich

Currently Reading #53

Name: The Murder of Adam and Eve
Author: William Dietrich
Number of Pages: 306 pages in Paperback
Published: September 25th 2014
by Burrows Publishing
Genre: Adventure, Young Adult, Science-Fiction

In this fast-paced and though-provoking thriller, two teens time-travel to prehistoric Africa to judge whether to save our ancestors: the genetic “Adam” and “Eve” whose descendants will go on to populate the world. When 16-year-old Nick Brynner explores an old fort on a forbidden island for a school history project, he stumbles onto a time wormhole. What follows is a mysteriously deserted village with a prowling sentry that looks like a gargoyle, and narrow escape with the help of fellow teen Eleanor Terrell. The two are hurtled into a grim series of challenges by an alien race called the Xu, which are considering a Reset of human history because of our poor planetary stewardship. If Adam and Eve are murdered, will another couple, or another species, do better? Nick and Ellie are ruthlessly deposited onto the African savanna of fifty thousand years ago, and the hunt is on. The Murder of Adam and Eve is a coming of age story, a love story, a war story, and an environmental fable with a deliberately provocative ending, inspired by such books as “Walkabout,” “Ishmael,” “Lord of the Flies,” and the author’s own “Getting Back.”

This is one of my pending books on NetGalley so I’m still keeping up on clearing it. Time travel it is. Based on my reading experience, time travel books can either be good or never mind so I hope this will turn out okay at least. The blurb looks promising though. Anyway, here’s a five star, three star and one star review respectively. Got them from book lovers on Goodreads. 😀

The story flowed smoothly, and I can only recall a single line in the story that I had to reread because it was unclear. The characters were very believable and I enjoyed this story immensely. I highly recommend this story to not only sci-fi and fantasy readers, but also those interested in the potential origins of religion. While this isn’t a story specifically focused on religion, I see themes that relate to my own studies of religion and psychology.
— Mark of Article 94

The book started slow for me, but once I found my pace with it, it turned out to be an enjoyable read. I liked the premise, and found the idea of time traveling to save Adam and Eve from a group trying to kill them was interesting. Later in the book, I saw how it pinned aspects of environmentalism and humanity against each other. The book raised some interesting questions, ones that were thought out and debated between the two main characters. A good, quick read, one I probably won’t read again, but one I liked for what it was.  
— Amanda of Amanda’s Daily Grind

I started reading and was immediately disappointed by the main character Nick (stereotypical dump YA Boy) and the information dump of his boring life. After the initial information dump from the narrator (why oh why write a boring stupid boy as the narrator) Nick the story picks up. It is really faced paced and has lots of twist and turns. However it does not make any sense!
— TM Corbett of TMBA Corbett Tries to Write

There were few negative reviews so I guess that’s saying something. A lot has enjoyed the book so I’m really hoping I would to. Happy reading to me for now! Book review to follow. 😀

Book Beginnings on Fridays is hosted by Rose City Reader, where we share the first sentence (or so) of the books we are reading, along with initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

Here’s the book’s beginning:

“Goat Island is forbidden. As in, “No Trespassing.” Hands off. Keep out. Get lost, kid. Which is why I paddled like a madman toward the island’s abandoned Fort Whitman when hidden by fog.”

I wonder why the island is forbidden. Perhaps they have a thousand of gold goats and they’re afraid someone might steal them and I also wonder why the protagonist wants to go there. Maybe he wants to go goat watching? Haha! What do you think of the book’s beginning? You could share book beginnings on your current read too. Comment the link of your own Book Beginnings on Fridays so I can check it out and have an idea of amazing books that I would want to read. Come on! Join us!