(i hope this isn't a duplicate. I searched for an existing thread but didn't get one.)

I recently finished reading Idlewild. Actually, i immediately started reading it over again as soon as i finished it. That was the most interesting book i've read in a long time. I mean, interesting in that i could barely put it down. That's rare for me.

now i have to read the sequels too!

just wondered who else has read it and what you thought of it.

Really? I did the book on tape of Idlewild because (a) there aren't that many unabridged sci-fi books in stock in stores and (b) Neil blurbed it. I thought it was luke-warm. What was it about the book that grabbed you?

It was just the way the story unfolded. I kept being surprised.

Another blurb for the book talked about how it was essential for the matrix generation, or something to taht effect. I figured, after reading the blurb, I knew how the story was going to unfold. Somehow, the plot still surprised me. I dug the angst-ridden characters and Sagan's take on life/school inside VR. I'll be excited when the sequel comes out in paperback, although it looks like its from the POV of one of the supporting characters in the original.

i think it's POV of multiple characters. The copy of Idlewild that i read contained a chapter or so of the sequel in the back, and Halloween is reduced to a minor character while the story is told by some of the others and their offspring. At least that's how it seemed.

you know there's a third book on the way too . . .

Huh, a third book, too. Looks interesting. And I like the idea that the second book is told from multiple POVs.

So almost exactly a year later, I picked up Edenborn and read it. I really enjoyed Idlewild, specifically Halloween's angsty narrative, so I wasn't sure how this one was gonna turn out. Like Daysleeper Chickie said earlier, it's from different POVs and doesn't really feature Halloween very prominently in the story until the last 1/3.

The plot isn't as straight-forward (and maybe not as thrilling) as the first, and I'm not sure that all the loose ends were tied up, but the author did a pretty good job. However, what impressed me the most about the book again was the narrative style. In this one Sagan does first person POVs from Pandora, Halloween, and three new characters (the book takes place 18 years later after the first novel). And each of the characters has their own voice, each is distinct from the other. Penny, one of the adolescents, is the flip-side of Halloween to a large degree. She's mad at the world but she's just so fucking irritating and as the book progresses and she confides in you, you realize more and more that she's a real bitch. It's almost like Sagan is nodding at us, as if to say, "Yeah, I know. Sometimes brooding, whining teenagers aren't as noble as we'd like to pretend."

If Everfree is anywhere near as good as this, I'll definitely pick it up too (even if it's a year from now).

I liked them both differently. I inherited GM's book on tape, and it kept me very enthralled during a road-trip. I loved it. Edenborn was so very different, I don't know that one can even compare the two, other than having some of the same characters. I still liked Edenborn, but not because it was a sequel to Idlewild.

Totally! They share the same characters (some, at least) but they show off such completely different writing styles and plot devices, they are each hold their own story. It's kind of like reading Alex Garland's the Beach and then reading the Tesseract. Both are great books, but so very different.

Have you read the third one? Is it any good? The excerpt looked interesting.