Thursday, October 13, 2011

Eve by Anna Carey

Source: Netgalley ebook copy in exchange for a fair and honest review

My Summary:

Eve lives in a different world, a world that used to be the United States but a world that is trying to recover from a devastating virus.  Ninety-eight percent of the population has died.  Children are orphans.  Resources are far and few between.  Eve is living at a school where she has been since she turned five.  Her mother a victim of the plague. She has been raised to graduate and move to the building across the river to learn a useful trade.  That building has no visible windows and the girls that have previously gone there are never seen.  But Eve is told they are too busy inside.  What she doesn't know is what they are busy doing and when she finds out it's clear that she has to get out of there.  Leaving everything behind in a sudden and desperate move to survive, Eve strikes out on her own.  But the wild is no place for a book smart girl and she quickly finds that she must learn to trust one of those dangerous boys she has been taught to fear.  Caleb helps her, protects her and puzzles her.  Can Eve trust Caleb enough to protect her?  Will she discover how different Caleb is from the men she was raised to fear?  Will she survive and at  what cost?

My thoughts:




3 1/2 stars - a good read

Dystopica hasn't been a favorite genre for me.  I read and loved Hunger Games but MockingJay just wasn't for me.  So I have been leery of this genre.  But something about this book intrigued me.  I think it was the idea that Eve was taught to fear men and she was going to have to learn to trust one to survive.  That seemed interesting to me.  So I picked it up to read.

I really liked the premise for this book.  It seems very real that a sudden tragedy could take so many lives so quickly that the government would break down.  It also seems very real that in the crisis, people would trust someone who took too much power in the name of survive and with the promise of it only lasting for a short time.  I could totally see this happening.  I could also see the rebellion taking hold as people saw the results of such power.  I loved the set-up.

The whole book was a quick read, I finished it in a day.  I quickly became interested in Eve and her world. She was poorly educated to real life even though she excelled in the academics taught at her "school".  The things she knew didn't seem to help her survive once she found herself outside of the school.  I really wanted to see more growth from her.  Her decisions were poor at the beginning of the book and I hoped that would improve over the course of the book as she experienced living in the wild.  Unfortunately, Eve didn't grow that way.  As a matter of fact, she continually made bad choice to the point that I wanted to scream at her to stop.  So much was done and lost in the name of protecting Eve.  I hope in book two, she starts paying some of that back.

The other characters in the book were better at growing and developing over the course of the book.  Arden is a perfect example of this.  She starts off as a complete jerk but ends up learning a lot about herself and others.  I loved her by the end.  Caleb is fabulous.  Facing a girl that thinks all he wants is to sleep with her or abuse her in some way, he is amazing.  He uses humor and service to show Eve she is wrong about men.  I loved this part of the book.  It was a nice change to see a man portrayed this way.  Caleb makes good choices (except for once) and I was heartbroken for him at then end.

Speaking of the end, it is the reason for only 3 1/2 stars.  I was so angry at Eve for the ending that I wanted to throw the book.  (Not a good idea when the book is on my iPad).  Her choice could have been a sign of her growth and change over the course of the book but it didn't happen that way.  Because of that I was very disappointed and kind of lost interest in Eve.  Now Caleb, I want to know what happens with him and so I will probably read book two but Eve - whatever.

If you're a dystopica fan, then this book is perfect for you.




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3 comments:

  1. I purchased this audiobook on Audible yesterday but I'm regretting a bit now after reading your review. That being said I love me some dystipian novels so I hope it'll be at least a four star for me ;)

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  2. I've read many reviews where people have been disappointed or frustrated with this one. I'm still quite curious about it though! I'm really interested to see what Eve did now too... ._.

    Great review!

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  3. Aahhh, I LOVED this book!

    I hated that the end had to be the way it was, but I'm glad this is a trilogy so we can see where it goes from here. When I thought about it for awhile, as much as it sort of broke my heart in the very last pages, I really couldn't see how it could be any different. I finished the book thinking it was a great story, but tragic, and I'm super hopeful that what *I WANT* to happen WILL happen in the next book.

    Also, I LOVED Arden's character development from the beginning to the end...

    ~Asheley

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