Birds of Paradise

By: Oliver K. Langmead

Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe

American Gods meets The Chronicles of Narnia in this adult fantasy about the Biblical Adam recovering the lost pieces of the Garden of Eden.

Many millennia after the fall of Eden, Adam, the first man in creation, still walks the Earth - exhausted by the endless death and destruction, he is a shadow of his former hope and glory. And he is not the only one. The Garden was deconstructed, its pieces scattered across the world and its inhabitants condemned to live out immortal lives, hiding in plain sight from generations of mankind.

But now pieces of the Garden are turning up on the Earth. After centuries of loneliness, Adam, haunted by the golden time at the beginning of Creation, is determined to save the pieces of his long lost home. With the help of enlisting Eden's undying exiles, he must stop Eden becoming the plaything of mankind.

Adam journeys across America and the British Isles with Magpie, Owl and other animals, gathering the scattered pieces of Paradise. As the country floods once more, Adam must risk it all to rescue his friends and his home - because rescuing rebuilding the Garden might be the key to rebuilding his life.

©2021 Oliver K. Langmead (P)2021 W F Howes

Critic reviews

"Birds of Paradise sits in a place between Plato and John Wick, a place which frankly I didn t know existed. And it is profoundly human too: whoever has ever known loss will resonate with it." (Francesco Dimitri)

This is an interesting take on what happened to Adam after he left the garden of Eden.

The story itself started out with a lot of action but at some point Adam begins to mull over his life. A great deal of the time the main character is in his head considering his feelings and memories. This story has a great deal of imagery, brooding and dialogue. The characters were unique and fleshed out well and eventually when the storyline moves forward to a successful conclusion the plot really comes together but getting there can be difficult. I also found all the shapeshifting animals hard to swallow. On a side note what happened to Eve I found hard to stomach as well. Adam how could you?

a great book, but not a great audiobook

I agree with the previous reviewer who asked why everyone sounded like a Looney Toons gangster- it was hard to differentiate between characters. The main character's accent goes haywire in chapter 10 and never really settles again. I actually stopped listening to it for a few weeks because it was irritating. The story itself was good, and I really liked that it dealt with the biblical creation myth but didn't explore man's relationship with god and religion.

Weird voice acting choices

Why is everyone a 1930s looney tunes wise guy? It really took me out of the story.

I could not finish it

I am trying to appreciate the writing but the narration is too distracting. Why do all the voices sound like cartoon gangsters from the 1930's. It is awful. The only reason I started this book was because it was free from the Plus library and due to be pulled. I wish I had not started it. It sucks and and I do not feel compelled to finish it. I am more than half way in and I cannot justify any more time. DNF.