Books like Eden: It's an Endless World, Volume 10

Stuff I Read - Eden: It's an Endless World Vol 10 ReviewSo I finally got my greedy little mits on the next volume of Eden, which has been an interesting post-apocalyptic science fiction manga so far. Incredibly grim and gritty, with a focus on violence and morality in a fallen world, it keeps things rolling along in this volume, which skips a few years to check in on our characters since we've last seen them. I have to say, one of the rather alarming things about the series is its focus on violence against women, which has been ever-present and definitely continues here. I want to believe that this choice is rather conscious, that it's a commentary on the culture that has spawned this apocalyptic world. That it's the culture that creates victims out of everyone, but especially women because it survives based on exploitation, which is rather more difficult when there's gender parity.Still, it continues to be rather disconcerting that every woman is basically a whore or a virgin, and that, again so far, both can basically expect sexual violence and then death. This volume does introduce an awful lot of new female characters, though, which is nice. Some, sadly, don't make it through the volume, but many of them do, and seem like they will be anchoring this new phase of the series. A phase that is further complicated by an evolution of the Closure Virus into the rather interestingly named Disclosure Virus. A reversal from the way the Closure Virus basically created walls between everyone, this new phase is something else. Something…intelligent. Instead of closing things down, it doesn't recognize difference and so everything, organic and not, are incorporated into the self. It's no less fatal for humans, but it shows an interesting development in the metaphor of the sickness plaguing the world.Basically, the story so far has been about the walls people build. The Closure Virus has only been the most extreme example of people isolating themselves. Refusing to drop their guard. Committing violent acts. The Disclosure Virus shows the flip, where everything is open. And it has created a sort of new life, something that is certainly not human but life nonetheless. I want to know where the series will go with this, but for now it's fascinating and definitely ramps up the science fictional aspects of the world, making this more than just an unknown virus. Elijah is back, though, a little older and still seeking himself, now fully into the family business but obviously trying to do it his way. Instead of running he is trying to work from within, but here too he accepts the system as it is and so becomes a part of the problem.This volume is mostly just a way of changing gears slightly. Moving some plots along and clearing some players from the board so that entirely new concepts and plots can be laid down. And it all works to revitalize the series, promising a renewed energy with the introduction of the new characters. I will admit that I'm trusting the series in many ways to not be completely awful. I think the violence is mostly present to show how people trying to "do the right thing" (like Elijah) leads to the proliferation of pain and tragedy, how it's those people's privilege and selfishness (that is never allowed to be wholly sympathetic) that cause everything to continue. Elijah joined the game, and the people around him are still dying. And in the end I'm willing to go along with the series for a while longer, because it continues to be challenging and visceral. It continues to provoke, and for that I'm giving this volume an 8/10.