Line #40 Literature/Edenborn


1	Eighteen years after the students were released from Idlewild Academy, the six survivors have become adults and put down roots in the depopulated world. Three settlements separated by philosophies cooperate to survive the elements and raise the next generation, with Black Ep's resurgence always a possibility. In Europe, Vashti and Champagne raise metahuman children to fight the plague and rekindle Renaissance civilization. In Africa, Isaac focuses on preserving the spirit of humanity and the ancient world. Halloween keeps his own company in North America.
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3	Nick Sagan's ''Literature/{{Edenborn}}'' is the 2004 sequel to ''Literature/{{Idlewild}}''. It was followed by ''Everfree''. As with the first volume in the series, spoilers abound below.
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5	!This work provides examples of:
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7	* AbductionIsLove: [[spoiler:Deuce to Penny.]] Lucky for him she's absolutely into it, partly because he's been leaving gifts for her in IVR.
8	%% * ArtificialIntelligence: Malachi.
9	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Halloween ends his hermitage and there is hope for a cure for Black Ep, which would mean the return of civilization. On the other hand, Pandora is crippled, five of the next generation are dead, and two more are on ice.]]
10	* BodySurf: Dr. Hyoguchi's recorded memories request that he be cloned, then overridden on the clone's brain so he could live again. He wasn't the only one to suggest this.
11	* ClonesArePeopleToo: [[spoiler:Deuce.]] He demonstrates that even when exposed to the exact same childhood experiences, he still reacts differently. The original is surprised but eventually accepts this.
12	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: When he travels to Europe to meet his cousins, Deuce is warned to mind fire safety since he's a PyroManiac. Once Deuce starts slinging explosives through the facility, he takes time to stamp out fires.
13	* CrapsackWorld: After Black Ep and twenty years of neglect, the world ain't pretty. Apes as a family have been wiped out and nature is reclaiming civilization.
14	* {{Cyberspace}}: Immersive Virtual Reality is still up and running, albeit only in Germany and with a heavy hand from Vashti. It's heavily monetized as an incentive for good behavior from her children.
15	* DeadlyPrank: [[spoiler:Hessa]]'s death, as it turns out, was a result of someone switching her lifesaving medication with a laxative as petty vengeance.
16	* DesignerBabies: The Waterbabies were genetically designed, like their parents, to resist Black Ep. It's implied that Champagne and Vashti are still pulling from various ethnic backgrounds just like the Ten.
17	* FalseSoulmate: [[spoiler:Deuce]]'s eventual realization; after he's dedicated a great deal of time to romancing his soulmate, the idea that she is actually a toxic person is shattering.
18	%% * FirstLove: [[spoiler: Deuce and Penny]] late in the book.
19	* GrandRomanticGesture: Abused to hell and back by [[spoiler: Deuce]] with IVR gifts and a dramatic swashbuckling rescue. Given his age and background, this was probably his only understanding of romance.
20	* TheHermit: Halloween, who has had the entire continent of North America to himself for the past couple decades with occasional visits from Pandora.
21	* HiddenEyes: Deuce, hiding under his mop of hair during his confinement at Vashti's.
22	* HidingBehindReligion: [[spoiler:Isaac,]] practitioner of the PathOfInspiration below.
23	* LastRequest: Penny to Deuce, but the worst possible one: [[spoiler: wouldn't it be romantic if we were the last two people alive because you murdered everyone else?]]
24	* LogicalWeakness: The Ten seem to have overcome their allergies from the first book, but the women have determined that pregnancy is impossible due to their antiviral defenses.
25	* MedicationTampering: [[spoiler: Penny]] swaps Hessa's meds as a prank with lethal consequences.
26	* MondegreenGag: Penny claims her name was from a Lung Butter lyric "play Penelope", actually "play the melody." It's unclear whether she reached this on her own or if Champagne misinformed her.
27	* ParentsAsPeople: Most of the parents are too distracted with their own issues to be the caregivers the children probably need.
28	** Vashti and Champagne see maintaining humanity as their highest goal. Thus they raise many children but don't spend too much energy on any one of them, which leads to tensions between Penny and her siblings. Vashti spends most of her time researching; Champagne spends hers on studying and composing artwork.
29	** Isaac sees the spirituality of humanity as a key component of its revival and does not accept rebellion against his fundamentalist principles. This drives a wedge between him and his teenage son, as well as between his fundamentalist oldest child and the younger siblings.
30	** Halloween teaches his son all the skills that Halloween needed to survive. He does not adapt to the circumstances around them, nor does he train Deuce to address novel situations.
31	* PathOfInspiration: [[spoiler:Isaac is raising his children as religious fundamentalists not because he thinks it's best, but because religious belief is helpful in [[BodySurf overwriting their minds with the brain scans of dead scientists]].]]
32	* {{Pride}}: Penny's defining trait.
33	* PyroManiac: Deuce, but not a malicious one.
34	* RuleOfRomantic
35	** Deuce wooing Penny long-distance.
36	** Later, Penny manipulating Deuce.
37	* SelfInducedAllergicReaction: [[spoiler:Penny persuades Deuce that she's dying by using strawberry jam to fake an attack of Black Ep.]]
38	* SlidingScaleOfParentShamingInFiction:
39	** Type II: Halloween. [[spoiler:He gave Deuce too much freedom and not enough judgment or socialization, resulting in two deaths and almost a third.]]
40	** Type III: Champagne and Vashti. Champagne withdraws from childrearing whenever it becomes difficult, and Vashti is amoral and manipulative to further her goals.
41	* SpySatellites: Pandora and Malachi against Halloween, to extend her already-meager contact with the man she loves.
42	* SterilityPlague: The antiviral defenses that preserve the women against Black Ep also prevent them from conceiving.
43	* SwitchingPOV: Characters get signature styles in their back-and-forth chapters.
44	** Penny's chapters appear as titled journal entries.
45	** Haji's chapters are introspective and contain no quotations, instead documenting his reception of dialogue.
46	** Deuce's chapters are scattered and frenetic.
47	* TokenReligiousTeammate: Devout Sufi Muslim Isaac, to the Ten.
48	* UnreliableNarrator: chapter-specific due to SwitchingPOV.
49	** Penny's take on the world is quite slanted toward her own ego.
50	** Even Deuce isn't capable of tracking and understanding his own actions.
51	* UterineReplicator: Given the [[SterilityPlague effects of Black Ep defenses]], artificial wombs are the only effective method of reproduction.

Context Literature / Edenborn