The Garden is a retelling of the the biblical story of The Garden of Eden. Now, if we take a second to ignore the fact that this story is the basis of God creating the universe and is considered religious text, this book is just another retelling. Granted, it's not about Cinderella or Pride and Prejudice but it follows the same format of taking a story that already exists and retelling it from a different point of view.

Now, I am not Christan or even very religious, so for me personally I didn't have a problem in reading this. For some people this book will cross the line. Although I didn't find anything said to be particularly insulting to Christianity, it's not exactly the perfect story if you find yourself easily offended. And the part God plays does make me want to say that this isn't for the faint of religious heart.

The plot takes us throughout the original biblical version through the eyes of Eve as she gradually makes her way towards her fate. The more I read, the more attached I felt towards Eve as a character. She's so new, like a child who is somehow already a woman. The story is also expanded upon with the interactions Eve has with the Serpent, God, and Adam.

The writing does sway towards the fact that womanhood of the past is nothing like womanhood of the present. Getting the short end of the stick is a fact of history and the writing of The Garden does not gloss over that it started out that way.

Overall, I found The Garden to be incredibly interesting, if not a little unexpected. I mean, of all the retelling you come across not many people have the balls to go to religious text and say, "Here's how it could have happened." It was at times very harsh to read but it has this effort to it that shows how the author was really trying to take these characters and flesh them out.

Not something I would recommend but it was at least interesting to see someones attempt at writing such a story.