Eve of Destruction (Dark Eden #2) by Patrick Carman - Guest Post

Published: April 2012

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Pages: 277

Copy: Library

Summary: Goodreads

Will Besting and the other teens whose phobias were "cured" at Fort Eden have been summoned back by Mrs. Goring. Her dying wish is to see them together one last time. Or is it?

Ensnared in a dangerous, ever-deepening mystery, Will must lead his friends through a perilous underground trap masterminded by two devious souls at war with each other. It's a game of cat and mouse, and not everyone will be alive when it's over. Can Will outwit both Rainsford and Goring, ending their reign of fear forever?

Patrick Carman's "Dark Eden: Eve of Destruction" offers a harrowing journey into the depths of fear, love, revenge, and--ultimately—redemption.

My jury is still out on this book, so it’s a tough one to write a review for. I finished the book – which I seldom will do if I don’t like it. But, it was just so...unbelievable! I know that characters often make decisions that leave you screaming “Why? WHY!?” loudly at the book.

But before I get there, let’s talk about Carman’s use of multimedia this time around. It was actually pretty neat. The first few chapters of the book have footnotes scattered throughout that instruct you to visit www.willbesting.com and enter various passwords. Each password opens up a new video clip, of stuff Will saved on his recorder back in Dark Eden #1. They were well done, and I think added a great element to the book (yay transliteracy!), although given their content I think I would have loved them twice as much if they had been available in book one. I was also disappointed when the footnotes ended after a few chapters, and there were no more clips. But still, a great integration!

On to the book itself – Will has gathered up the gang that was cured back in Dark Eden and returned at the bequest of Mrs. Goring. Why? I don’t know. Yes, they were each left with supposedly debilitating ailments from their cures. But they are things that millions of people in the world already live with each and every day – and that there are medicines and devices designed to assist with. So instead, you head back to a place where you traded a paralyzing fear for a debilitating ailment...thinking what? And where were the parents here? Why would you allow your child to return? Why wouldn’t you have done something after the first bout?

Unfortunately, the book was also a little predictable. I figured Amy out quickly, and that of course lead to outing Avery. Yet, I still finished the book. And rather quickly too – I tend to drag through novels I don’t enjoy but am determined to finish...often I’ll even start another book. So what was it about this that made me stick with it, and not even all that grumpily?

I don’t know. All I know is that I wouldn’t call this Mr. Carman’s best – but I must have still enjoyed it, and if you’re considering reading it, don’t let my own ambiguous feelings towards it deter you.

Yet again, Special K has jumped into the breach - thank you.