[Review]—A Shocking Twist Can't Save "Eden's Children" From Becoming a Muddled Mess

To cut to the chase, the last batches of V.C. Andrews novels, ghostwritten by Andrew Neiderman, were a pale shadow of their former selves — or, in other words, they sucked. The quality of Neiderman's writing has degraded with each new book over the past fifteen years. Maybe he's lost his writing abilities or is just getting older, but he's completely forgotten how to create an effective Gothic atmosphere that was crucial to V.C. Andrews' storytelling. Whether it's a modest house, a cramped apartment, or an opulent mansion, the "home" must play a supporting role in the story—right alongside the youthful protagonist—and has been poorly written to the point that the reader can't tell the difference between the characters' voices. The storylines have become repetitive; several novels are without a plot—due to poor writing or laziness. Therefore, I was apprehensive about reading Eden's Children—the first novel in The Eden Series. But then I pondered, "Can it go much worse than Becoming My Sister?"  

The prologue to Eden's Children is considerably better—in terms of writing—yes, there are genuine descriptions and a frightening atmosphere—just in the beginning; as you get to the first chapter, everything gingerly unravels—for the better and the worst.  

The novel is told in the first person and focuses on Faith, a young orphan adopted, along with her older brother, Trevor, by a former teacher, Paula Eden, and her truck driver husband, Big John. Paula is the story's villain, a religious nutcase seeking to protect her adoptive children from the outside world. She homeschools the children in their classroom—yes, there is a classroom in their home—a home with a bedroom that they are not allowed to enter; that's a giant red flag if I ever saw one. Then there's the Cemetery for Unhappiness, a site in the backyard where Paula forces the kids to bury their emotions—literally—digging a hole and everything.  

Let's fast forward; Faith develops feelings for the visiting boy next door and gets caught "fooling about" with him. Paula compels her to remove her clothing and sleep in the prohibited bedroom, which contains a dusty crib and a decaying newborn. If you think that's strange, you'll enjoy this: Paula orders Trevor to "cleanse" Faith. It wouldn't be a V.C. Andrews novel without a bit of incest.

This time, the story is better, with a more gothic tone—absent in the recent ghostwritten outings. Apart from the protagonist, Faith, the rest of the characters are a mess with little to no personality—especially Trevor, an emotionless, one-dimensional character—in need of further development. The home should have been a significant feature— but the author, Andrew Neiderman, opted to describe it in as few details as possible—rather than being a character in its own right, it's just there, serving no function other than to be a building.  

The "twist"—to put it mildly— is disgusting... and unsettling. If the surprising portions were handled better, I would've been mildly interested—maybe even startled—by what happened between the siblings—however—I'm left wanting more from a narrative that could've been written better by someone else—preferably a woman. The sections depicting Faith's first menstrual cycle were poorly worded—giving the impression that they were written by a man—in this case, Andrew Neiderman. The situation—and the character Faith herself—would've been conveyed stronger by a female author.

I can ensure that some readers will find the plot fascinating and others will call it straight-up trash, and some readers won't even pick up the book because it's "ghostwritten"—but will take the time out of their day to post their nasty comments online—even months before the book's release date. For my part, I evaluate books strictly based on their written content; if I enjoy what I read, I will give it high acclaim; if not, I will pick out the last flaw in the book and share my criticism with everyone.

What it boils down to is that I enjoyed Eden's Children—or at least the concept of it. Despite the novel's many—many—many flaws, it's one of the decent V.C. Andrews novels in recent memory—at least fifteen years. ╌★★★✰✰