Number of times Eden refers to all blacks as them (with italics): 22

Number of times Eden refers to Bramford as ‘beast’ or ‘beastly’: 24

Number of times Eden refers to Bramford as ‘creature’: 5

Adjectives attached to ‘beast’: scary, monstrous, savage, selfish, primitive, sadistic, wild, angry

Also, this person is doing a chapter-by-chapter if you still really want one. 

Had Peach forgotten that Eden’s skin only had a dark coating?  Maybe she was passing, after all.

What?  Body paint/blackface counts as “passing” in this world?  Author, in addition to not understanding the insulting history that blackface has, you don’t even understand how it works.  Plus, everyone in her office knows she’s white and it’s stated that everyone has an publically accessible personal file on their version of the internet, which would also say that she’s white.  “Passing” is supposed to mean you can convince people around you that you are white- erm, black? in order to gain the privileges of the ‘upper’ class.  No one is going to believe that Eden is anything other that what her official file says.  There is no possibility of “passing” in this world.  I seriously doubt the author actually realizes this, though.

In fact, I get the impression she thinks that “passing” just means conforming to white- erm, black beauty standards and doesn’t realize the multitude of things that privilege/racism affects.

Images of Pearls in their natural coloring were forbidden.

Why?  Why do this?  Is this just to show off the “oppreshun” of the whites, because the author couldn’t recognize the kind of stuff that actually goes on?  …or did she think that ‘real’ racism just isn’t bad enough, so she had to kick it up to evilolz levels?

That bitch Ashina was now fifteen minutes late

Eden, supposedly so oppressed that she actually buys into the hatred of her own race (supposedly), refers to her supervisor as “bitch” multiple times, sometimes in place of her name.

Also, both “Coals” and “Pearls” are introduced as being “racist terms,” and yet absolutely everyone uses them exclusively.  The narration uses them.  All the characters use them.  There’s no other terms for black or white people, period.  It would be like walking around referring to everyone you meet as “n—–” and “cracker” (since, come on, ‘pearl’ isn’t actually derogatory) and that’s it, no other terms, period.

Other people have already covered how little sense the terms make.  Black people are the only race in this book to get non-gemstone names, because this book is just normal-racist, not inverted-racist.

Because of [her father’s] high intelligence scores, they had overlooked his race and given him the position of lead scientist

This book really doesn’t understand how racism works.  It has just the image of white people being illegal, but it’ll let white people take whatever job they’re qualified for. Because it’s not like racism keeps qualified people from jobs, or talented people from the education they need to get those jobs, amiright?

No.

Notice, also, that in this book about oppreshun and racism, the “downtrodden” girl and her family are still special.  Not just special, but openly recognized as special.

[Bramford’s] list of World-Band experiences simply revealed mandatory ones, such as Earth Before the Meltdown or Death by The Heat.  Even his genome was fake, a standard model she recognized.

People’s statistics, hobbies, and genetic makeup are all publically available over the internet.

Rumors of what was done to sick people in the name of research filled her with dread.

So…there’s a small population and they require women to make babies in order to further the human race, but they’re willing to use sick people as guinea pigs?

Part of me wants to blame the fact that it’s a dystopian government of people living underground, so of course they’d get more extreme.  But let’s face facts.  Even if that’s what the author intended, the fact is that she’s portraying a society run by black people as being needlessly cruel, repressive, invasive, and flat-out stupid.

Naturally, she was a Coal and wore the distinctive red jacket of the Ethics Corps.

So, there’s a problem in modern books that everyone who’s what gets assumed white, and everyone who’s a different color has to have their skin tone pointed out and described.  White is the basic standard, and only deviants are noted.  In this book, where that should be backward, black people are still pointed out as being black.

“We cannot afford to supply precious resources to those who do not contribute to the continuation of our species.”

But you can afford to spend them on kids?

Really, if Eden had a kid, they’d feed her and the kid.  So they clearly have no qualms about giving her food.  If she didn’t have a kid, that would be one less mouth to feed.  And she’d be contributing; she’s (supposedly) very intelligent and holds down a steady job.

But that doesn’t count, only kids count.  Because fuck feminism, that’s why.

She twisted the knob on a small chute and out popped a perfectly balanced meal, three pills in varying proportions: white carbohydrate, blue protein, and red fat.

…what that fuck am I even looking at?  Really?  Decades of food research, and this book thinks all that can be boiled down to “carbs, protein, and fat”?  In pill form?  Even if she got everything she needed in a pill, the fact that it is a pill and not actual food would fuck over her digestive system.  We evolved to eat food, and when we don’t, our insides rebel.

If only she had more curves.  Still, the silky garment was sexy and well worth every uni-credit it cost.

Eden is basically trying to seduce a guy named Jamal into marrying her.  Supposedly love doesn’t exist and everyone “mates” based on genetics, but she’s trying to get him to fall in love/lust with her anyway.  If she doesn’t, she dies.

Once again, we have a book where women are forced into using their bodies/sexuality/romance, and if they don’t, they die.

And yet, [Jamal had] stared at her with an openness that had made Eden blush.  No one had looked at her for so long or with such interest.

Supposedly, this is a good thing instead of extremely creepy.

Book, even though we have White Western beauty standards, that doesn’t mean that black women aren’t sexually harassed or objectified.  There’s plenty of men, white or otherwise, who view black women as being powerless in face of unwanted advances, and they’ll take advantage of that.  There’s plenty of men who will fetishize black women and sexually desire them, but that doesn’t mean that they view said women as being equal peers.  Saying that sexual interest is the same as being “colorblind,” when we have a long history of whites sexually using blacks, is truly, truly disturbing.

The jaguar’s only natural enemy, the green anaconda, Eunectes murinus, contributed its cold-blooded resistance to heat [to the human/man hybrid].

…whaaaa….?  Cold-blooded doesn’t mean you have literally cold blood.  It means you don’t have an internal temperature regulator.  It’s actually quite easy for a snake to overheat.  When keeping pet snakes (or any cold-blooded pet) it’s extremely important to keep the temperature at the proper level, not too cold or too hot.

Strange how she didn’t feel deep hatred for the albino, as she had been taught in school.

Yes, very strange that she’ll be tolerant to the extra whitey white person, despite her cultural upbringing, but not to the black people.

And for some reason, these people go insane around albinos and view them as a threat to society as a whole.  Why?  It’s not like albanism is catching.  Just don’t let that person have kids, there, problem solved.  Well, not really solved, because eugenics isn’t a great thing, but at least better than forming a mob and lynching the poor kids.

“Warning!  REA will self-destruct in five minutes.  Please proceed to the nearest exit.”

So, Eden sets fire to the lab when some militia guys come in and try to take her hostage.  (Oh, wait, sorry.  She gets rid of some sort of “firewall” and lets in a forest fire that’s outside on the surface, even though they’re underground.  Fire rises, you moron, and it doesn’t burn through the ground.)  Anyway, so this highly advances technically facility’s automatic response to a fire outbreak…is to self-destruct?  Not to turn on some fucking sprinklers or close off portions of the lab to keep the fire contained?  What?

Somehow the fire makes Bramford turn more panther than anticipated.  He was just supposed to take on the coloring and some non-external adaptive features.  Instead he got a partially-cat body and cat face and cat eyes.  What, they didn’t take out the parts of the genome that they actually wanted?  Did they just thrown panther DNA into a vat and cross their fingers?  If you take out the “color” parts of the DNA, you don’t get the “cat face” part with it.

Eden liked him much better when he seemed mute.

Eden only becomes attracted to Bramford after he turns into an animal, and she likes him especially when he seems at his most animalistic.  She doesn’t like him talking or showing intelligence.  (In fact, every time he does that, she calls him “arrogant,” as if it’s such a crime that he be in a position of power and competence.  Her father, messing with the very fabric of nature and ignoring those around him rudely, is never called “arrogant.”)

Basically, in this book, a black man is only sexy when he conforms to the racist stereotype of being brutal, savage, aggressive, and instinctual-over-intelligent.  And, much like black women are fetishized and sexually exploited, black men suffer this as well.  Eden cares not for his personality or anything about him; she’s entirely focused on how the sexy, sexy black man-beast makes her vag tickle.

For the record, treating someone as a sexual object instead of a person: it will never not be disgusting.

And something else also warmed her heart.  She traced his broad chest down to slim and muscled thighs.

That ain’t your heart that’s getting warm, honey.

Also?  I’m not one to complain about bestiality, since Bramford isn’t a non-consenting animal, and she can be attracted to whatever she wants.  But shit like this shows up like every other page or so, and after…well, the first time, it’s really fucking creepy.  Yeah, she can be attracted to him, but this isn’t attraction.  It’s like she’s been hit with some sort of alien lust pollen that fanfics love so much; it’s just lust, all the time, 24/7, with no end and nothing else.  She’s exclusively focused on his body, and every mention of his personality or actions repels her instead of attracts her.  She falls for him based purely on sexual attraction, and she focuses on his body nearly to the exclusion of everything else about him. 

In short, she turns him into a sexual object that she can drool over.

“In that case, I estimate a high probability of gangrene,” her father said.  “The most elegant solution would be to amputate the leg.  No impairment to any major body system and my odds for survival would increase.”

God, you fail so hard at science, book.  No, an amputation without proper medicine and surgical equipment would be very dangerous.  Even a proper one would be a huge shock to his system, and an improper one ALSO HAS A CHANCE OF GETTING INFECTED YOU MORON, DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN FIX A CUT WITH A BIGGER CUT?  Not to mention the number of things that could go horribly wrong with an on-the-fly major amputation. 

Eden screamed and her hand flew to the spot.  She felt more violated than if she’d been raped.

Eden?  Author?  Ever been raped?  No?  Then SHUT THE FUCK UP.

Exactly what she most feared: now, she’d never find anyone to mate.

Eden, you’ve been kidnapped and are being driven into a jungle which, by the way, is on the planet’s surface, which you repeatedly claim is too hot to sustain life.  PRIORITIES.

Residue from oil mining, her father said, indicating the murky water.  “My hypothesis is the tribe sold their oil rights long ago, probably for worthless cash.  I suspect no one ever explained the consequences.”

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

The Huaorani currently do not own the oil and mineral rights to their land.  They had to fight just to get the land, and they are not allowed to sell the rights to it.  If anyone does come in to drill, the Huaorani don’t get any money from it.  That’s a real issue, a highly delicate one, that the author has decided to just spit on.  Furthermore, they know how damaging oil mining is, because people come in and do it and destroy their land without consulting them.  That’s another current real issue that these people are facing: trying to keep foreigners from destroying their land.  They understand the consequences far better than this author could ever hope to.

If she’d done any research past the google images page, she’d know this.

“Rebecca,” the older [girl] said, the color draining from her face.  […]  “Rebecca, Rebecca!” the children cried.

They’re afraid of whatever happened to this Rebecca girl, or perhaps of the girl herself, but all they do is run around flailing and calling her name.  How does that make sense?  Being afraid, okay, but just screaming “Rebecca” over and over?  It would be like someone with coulrophobia driving by a circus and screaming “CLOWNS!  CLOWNS! CLOWNS!”

It suggested that his mind was more powerful than his raw emotions.

Bramford is able to communicate, reason, and plan every bit as capably as Eden or anyone else in this story.  (Which, admitedly, isn’t much, but we might as well use in-universe as the standard.)  There’s nothing to suggest that his science experiment affected his mind.

Eden will have none of that shit, though, and constantly acts surprised when discovering, all over again, that he’s a fully-functioning, capable, adult human.  This would be a little bit less disgusting if the author hadn’t put such a high priority on race relations.  A little bit.

“An herbal poultice,” he said.  “Maria prepared it.  I expect it will draw out the toxins.”

You’re a fucking scientist.  You, of all people, should know that “infection” and “toxin” are two extremely different things.

A secret smile tugged at Eden.  She might be powerless, but she sure could get under his skin.

So, you have the “power” to annoy someone else into doing you harm?  That’s not actually power.

I’ll repeat this, since so many books get it wrong: the ability to co-opt someone else’s power is not equal to having actual power.  I see this a lot in the guise of “female power,” the idea that women are “powerful” because they can get me to do stuff, even if they can’t do stuff on their own.  First of all, it assumes that men have all the power by default and it has to be “tricked” away from them through the use of “feminine wiles.”  No, fuck that.  Women have agency and the ability to do things on their own.  Second, it’s never actually equal.  If a guy can lock you in a hut and your only recourse is to needle at him until he gets mad at you, that is not the same as the ability to lock you in a hut.  Just like saying ‘my man makes the money and I spend it’ isn’t equal.  He’s making the money.  It’s his.  He’s giving it to you to spend.  At any point, he can stop giving you the money, and then you’ll be broke.

I mean, that’s a valid way to live, especially if the non-earning person is doing something else that’s valuable just not in a monetary sense.  You can chose to be financially dependent on a partner and independent in other ways.  But ‘making money’ and ‘spending money’ are not equal.

Another way this manifests is in women using their sexuality to get men to do stuff.  Strike that, women being accused of using their sexuality that way.  I’m sure there are women who flirt to get their way, but it’s not nearly as common as our culture would have us believe.  Generally speaking, guys don’t do anything that they didn’t want to do anyway.  You can flirt with a guy for a free drink in a bar, but if that guy went in there with, say, a spending limit or a committed girlfriend or some other reason to not buy drinks for strangers, odds are overwhelmingly high that flirting won’t change his mind.  It’s not an actual, valid power, it’s the illusion of a power.  And yet, because this illusion is pervasive in our culture, women get accused of it all the time, especially when a guy does something stupid voluntarily.  Or, worst, when a guy sexually assaults a woman and then blames her for being “provocative.”

Books like this (well, mostly books that people actually read) need to stop treating annoyance and manipulation as being actual, coveted powers.  Maybe if you’re manipulating world leaders into following your plan, that’s cool manipulation.  But saying “I can slightly provoke you when you lock me in a room” and then treating that like it’s a good thing?  Like it’s equitable to what the man is doing?  Like it’s actually a desired outcome instead of the last desperate, feeble attempt of a kidnapped girl?  No, stop it.

In that instant, Eden felt truly seen.  The sultry sound of his breathing washed over her.  Her chest grew soft and velvety.  She felt herself sinking into the green, fathomless pools of his eyes.

This comes up a lot, with Eden wanting people to see her ‘true self’ instead if just her skin color.  Except every time someone “really sees” her, it’s basically just sexual imagery and lust.  Basically, for someone to see her “true self,” they just have to sexually desire her, not value her on the basis of her intelligence (ha) or personality. 

Because that’s all she’s good for as a women.  To be looked at, objectified, and sexualized.

You’re a blind, selfish girl who cannot see the greater good.“

Well, yes, that’s true.  On the other hand, why not tell her what you’re up to, jackass, instead of expecting her to automatically know that your intentions are right and good?

She’s repeatedly demonized for telling Jamal what her father’s experiment actually meant, which is what led Jamal to attacking the lab, but she had no reason to believe that it was a secret or that Jamal was untrustworthy.  Heck, he was head of the lab’s security.  Why not tell him?  And now, she’s repeatedly being accused of being selfish because she wants to escape from the man who kidnapped her and turn him in to the authorities.  She doesn’t know what he has planned (actually, we never find out what this ‘greater good’ he speaks of is) and just assumes that he’ll use the new technology for profit.  She has no idea that he’s (in the book’s morals) trustworthy, but she’s being mocked for not inherently trusting him.

Because women operate on instinct, not knowledge, so it’s not important to tell them things.  And if their instincts are wrong, it’s because their womanness is broken.  And also, because fuck feminism.

“It’s evident that you have a talent for aggravating him.  A common female tactic to attract the male’s attention.”

Die.  Then die again.

Why did she find comfort in stark boundaries when they confused a creature of simple intelligence?  The Huaorani also lived in a seamless way.  Was that why they seemed so happy?

Yup.  She’s saying that the native tribe is happy because they’re simple, like monkeys.

“Of course, long before him, the shamans understood this.  [taking drugs to enter an altered consciousness]  How else to explain their encyclopedic knowledge of plans – healing properties, poisonous traits?

Really, book?  REALLY?  YOU THINK MAGIC DRUGS ARE THE ONLY EXPLAINATION FOR WHY THEY ACTUALLY KNOW THINGS ABOUT THE RAINFOREST?

HOW ELSE TO EXPLAIN?  WELL TRY THIS ON FOR SIZE.  THEY’VE LIVED THERE FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS AND AREN’T MORONS.  THEY USED THEIR HUMAN BRAINS TO EXPERIMENT, EXPLORE, AND LEARN ABOUT THEIR ENVIRONMENT.  AND THEN THEY TAUGHT WHAT THEY LEARNED TO THEIR CHILDREN.

JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER FUCKING CULTURE IN THE WORLD.

IT’S NOT THAT GREAT A MYSTERY.

I FUCKING HATE YOU.

Eden smoothed out the wide skirt, surprised by its wide sweep.  […]  The delicate dress swished, as Eden moved.  So unlike the stiff, techno fabric she’d worn.

Even the clothes are stereotypical, with “black” dresses coming down firmly on the side of “unpleasant.”

Still, Eden admired the fearless grace with which her mother had made her exit [death].

Dad is a brilliant scientist who can buck “oppreshun” and change the fate of humanity.  Mom’s greatest achievement was to die without being an embarrassment.  Because fuck feminism.

What else did she need in life besides the warmth of his body next to hers?

Indeed, Eden.  I mean, it’s not like you’re in an environment that (supposedly) will heatstroke you to death, that you’ve been kidnapped, that you’re father is going to die of an infected leg.  Nope, all of that is unimportant because, you know, bodies and stuff.

Your fear invited the anaconda to attack.

Fuck you, book.  She didn’t ask to be attacked!

Okay, she did go wandering around in the jungle, that was pretty stupid.  But she didn’t ask to be attacked by doing something as basic as being afraid of the 8-foot snake!

I would tolerate (barely) her being blamed for the event, because she did go crashing off through the jungle like an idiot, but the phrasing here is so creepy and so close to victim blaming.

The observation that he’d recently imprisoned her caught in her throat.  She swallowed it because she couldn’t bear his sad expression.

Yes, heaven forbid we upset the poor man’s delicate ego.  Keeping him happy is more important than pointing out to him that he did a bad thing.  It’s definitely more important than a woman’s freedom.  *gag*

It’s the only way to tolerate the pain. The herbs have to be strong to clean out the poison.”

1 – Snakes don’t have poison, they have venom.  2 – Anacondas aren’t venomous, you fucking idiot.

If you know your place here then your strength will be equal to mine.“

If you know your place.

Your place

YOUR PLACE.

THAT’S RIGHT LADIES, YOU CAN BE POWERFUL, TOO.  JUST SO LONG AS YOU KNOW YOUR PLACE AND DON’T GET TOO UPPITY.

Bramford began making strange, indecipherable sounds.  Perhaps it was a shamanistic language.

These herbs he took are literally magical.  They can heal nonvenomous snake bites, gangrene, broken ribs, and laser burns by the end of the novel, and here they actually teach Bramford a new language. 

We are deep in Magical Indian territory, folks.

“I realize that now,” he said, regretfully.  “I’ve suffered, but I’m better for it.

…  So, black people suffering, a…good thing?  Is this person really trying to say that a black person’s suffering is desirable and will make him a better person and it’s therefore okay for him to be put through it?

Yes.  Yes it is.

“the FFP discovered the truth about Bramford and set him up with Rebecca in order to guarantee an albino offspring.”

That’s the stupidest science fail you’ve had yet.  Recessive genes stay recessive for generations, that’s how come both Rebecca and Bramford aren’t albinos.  They could have had a dozen kids who didn’t show the trait, but you expect me to believe that Logan was actually planned?  And that someone went to great lengths and great cost to put this plan in motion?  And that this wasn’t some desperate long-shot attempt to humiliate and ostracize Bramford, but was instead something that people expected to work?

Also, apparently Bramford’s latent albino gene is what threw off the experiment and made him go uber-panther.  Really?  Out of all the millions of variances that occur from person to person, you can narrow it down to this one mutation?  Eden’s father had to change the experiment from two guys that had been prepped for months to one guy suddenly going “oh, do me!” and you’re telling me this is the only difference between all the genes?

Travelling through the jungle, Eden rides on Bramford’s shoulders because he’s faster than her.

She dared to test the boundaries of their body language and flexed her thighs around his neck.  Unbelievably, his gait slowed.  A feverish thrill shot through Eden.  She could guide Bramford with a mere squeeze. 

That’s right, folks.  She’s literally riding him like a horse.  He’s a dumb animal, and she’s a fucking jockey.

There’s no possible way to strip this man of his humanity any more than turning him into a beast of burden.

And then they run into some Aztecs. Well, not run in to, just see them off in the distance.

“Are they like you then?” she said.

“Not quite.  But more like me than like you.”

Everyone who isn’t white is an animal.

“But if Maria is right, it could save many lives.”

It’s a leaf that Maria sent them to get so it could cure her father’s gangrene.  How many people does Eden think have gangrene?  Does she think that the other society can’t fix what, remember, just a cut on someone’s leg that got left to rot?

Or does this magic medicine cure “the Heat” as well as every fucking other thing in the world?

And don’t forget what gangrene is: dead tissue.  You don’t cure it, you cut it off and cure the cause, so that no more tissue ends up dying.  Does this magic medicine heal death?

From one couple [of hybrids], a family, then perhaps a group or a colony, slowly taking back the land.“

But…the land is burnt and useless.  (Except for this one section of rainforest, for whatever reason.)  I don’t care how mutated Eden becomes, she can’t magically fix global warming.

“Don’t you understand?” he said.  “You’ll be even more beautiful because you’ll be mine.”

…yeah, I’m just going to let that hang there.