The Doors of Eden

The first quarter or so of this one is really good and drew me into an intriguing mystery. The climax is exciting, satisfying and technically interesting. So why did I find this to be such a frustrating book? The ideas are good, and the set up is strong, but it sags badly in the middle. There's a large principal cast, and the momentum is slowed dramatically as the author tries to find something for each of them to do. In all honesty, I think this could have been a much better book if some of them had been amalgamated, scrapped or relegated to a smaller role. It also doesn't help that the villain turns out to be fairly unimaginative and one dimensional. Another draft or a ruthless edit could have produced a really good book, but we've had settle for something that is less than that. It's decent and readable, but it won't last long in the memory I fear.