Eve by Anna Carey
October 4, 2011 by HarperTeen
Hardcover, 320 Pages
Hardcover, 320 Pages
Review-Galley
The year is 2032, sixteen years after a deadly virus—and the vaccine intended to protect against it—wiped out most of the earth’s population. The night before eighteen-year-old Eve’s graduation from her all-girls school she discovers what really happens to new graduates, and the horrifying fate that awaits her.
Fleeing the only home she’s ever known, Eve sets off on a long, treacherous journey, searching for a place she can survive. Along the way she encounters Caleb, a rough, rebellious boy living in the wild. Separated from men her whole life, Eve has been taught to fear them, but Caleb slowly wins her trust...and her heart. He promises to protect her, but when soldiers begin hunting them, Eve must choose between true love and her life.
Review
There are worse things to be than educated.........
You could be one of the wilds.... You could be one of the forgotten... or beings that have succumb to the deadly virus. Not everyone has the privilege to be trained and then let go to work in the city's......not everyone is chosen to be a part of a greater society.....
and that's where we find our eager- to do good-yet- naive- at the same time heroine- Eve.
Eve proudly awaits her graduation, knowing that the step across the river will bring intense study and an opportunity to gain talents in the job the King deems her fit for. Eve and her classmates have been raised in an all-girls school, keeping their body's healthy and taking "special" medicine that will prepare them for the gruelling studies ahead..aka..college or further advancement to our characters...or to the reader looking in...aka...a prison full of girls who are strapped to beds and impregnated against their will until basically their uterus falls out and they die.......
Horrible as it sounds, most of the teens are ignorantly and blissfully unaware of their fates. No one knows the building across the river marks the doom of their futures. Until the night before graduation Eve has esteemed herself to the top the class and that eagerness has placed her in the spotlight of the Kings desire, however when a fellow classmate escapes and warns Eve of the danger to come in the morning, she cant help but investigate things for herself. Sneaking across the river (why didn't you do this years ago chick???) and seeing whats happening inside the building brings all of Eve's hopes and dreams crumbling down. The horror is to much to bear and even after years (YEARS) of brainwashing, the terror of her circumstances pushes Eve to run away. Alone, scared and never having being around men, equals a girl smart in books but stupid in survival skills. That is until Eve meets Caleb, a wild boy who lives among a small underground community of..you guessed it...........boys........
Well kiss my grits its another dystopian featuring a naive girl who gains the smarts and a cute boy who saves the day!! Comparing this (as marketed) to Atwood's Hand Maiden might have been over stepping its draw- but fear not dystopian lovers, Eve even with her flaws has merit. While I enjoyed reading this somber little story, I did find myself reaching conclusions and figuring things out long before the characters. The read itself clipped along at an eager pace but only gave me a skeletal outlook of Eves world, in other words this first taste was just the bag of bones setting us up for good things to come. Like Eve's name, her escape was the beginning of ones story, there is no background nor major plot or character development, but I see the potential in whats to come. While many holes are screaming to be filled, characters fates are left unsaid, the story was easily digested. Despite its abrupt ending and small world-building for book one, its promise to pull you into yet another series offers a little something different in the world of teen dystopia. With its hard pull towards female-empowerment, Im interested to see where Carey takes her boys and girls.......
Another thing to note is that the book while containing dark subject matter, really is tame for a ya audience, which I cannot throw stones at, (as a parent Im not going to encourage literature that depicts depravity and sex to children) and while Im normally looking for the more grit in dystopia, Carey created a suspenseful and bleak environment suitable for younger readers to delve into, without the raw and gritty dealings normal in a society like this one. In other words, this is great for middle-grade and youngish highschool versus college or adult readers.
There are worse things to be than educated.........
You could be one of the wilds.... You could be one of the forgotten... or beings that have succumb to the deadly virus. Not everyone has the privilege to be trained and then let go to work in the city's......not everyone is chosen to be a part of a greater society.....
and that's where we find our eager- to do good-yet- naive- at the same time heroine- Eve.
Eve proudly awaits her graduation, knowing that the step across the river will bring intense study and an opportunity to gain talents in the job the King deems her fit for. Eve and her classmates have been raised in an all-girls school, keeping their body's healthy and taking "special" medicine that will prepare them for the gruelling studies ahead..aka..college or further advancement to our characters...or to the reader looking in...aka...a prison full of girls who are strapped to beds and impregnated against their will until basically their uterus falls out and they die.......
Horrible as it sounds, most of the teens are ignorantly and blissfully unaware of their fates. No one knows the building across the river marks the doom of their futures. Until the night before graduation Eve has esteemed herself to the top the class and that eagerness has placed her in the spotlight of the Kings desire, however when a fellow classmate escapes and warns Eve of the danger to come in the morning, she cant help but investigate things for herself. Sneaking across the river (why didn't you do this years ago chick???) and seeing whats happening inside the building brings all of Eve's hopes and dreams crumbling down. The horror is to much to bear and even after years (YEARS) of brainwashing, the terror of her circumstances pushes Eve to run away. Alone, scared and never having being around men, equals a girl smart in books but stupid in survival skills. That is until Eve meets Caleb, a wild boy who lives among a small underground community of..you guessed it...........boys........
Well kiss my grits its another dystopian featuring a naive girl who gains the smarts and a cute boy who saves the day!! Comparing this (as marketed) to Atwood's Hand Maiden might have been over stepping its draw- but fear not dystopian lovers, Eve even with her flaws has merit. While I enjoyed reading this somber little story, I did find myself reaching conclusions and figuring things out long before the characters. The read itself clipped along at an eager pace but only gave me a skeletal outlook of Eves world, in other words this first taste was just the bag of bones setting us up for good things to come. Like Eve's name, her escape was the beginning of ones story, there is no background nor major plot or character development, but I see the potential in whats to come. While many holes are screaming to be filled, characters fates are left unsaid, the story was easily digested. Despite its abrupt ending and small world-building for book one, its promise to pull you into yet another series offers a little something different in the world of teen dystopia. With its hard pull towards female-empowerment, Im interested to see where Carey takes her boys and girls.......
Another thing to note is that the book while containing dark subject matter, really is tame for a ya audience, which I cannot throw stones at, (as a parent Im not going to encourage literature that depicts depravity and sex to children) and while Im normally looking for the more grit in dystopia, Carey created a suspenseful and bleak environment suitable for younger readers to delve into, without the raw and gritty dealings normal in a society like this one. In other words, this is great for middle-grade and youngish highschool versus college or adult readers.
Rating
Eve is recommended to teen readers/adults 14&up and contains: Violence, topics on slavery, imprisonment, forced pregnancies, attempted rape, parent-less society's and educational brainwashing.
4/5- Ya-Dystopian
Thanks to HarperTeen for review copy via Netgally
Great review! I've got the ARC on my shelf but haven't felt the need to get into yet.
ReplyDeletesounds a but like wither in some ways. I need to read this book and great review.
ReplyDeleteOh dystopian. I can see that parts would be predictable, but knowing it is for a younger audience, I can deal. Hm... still sounds like a book I may have to try when I'm in the mood for a gritty dystopian YA. Yes, I do have moods like that. :)
ReplyDeleteI've had this on my shelf since BEA and for some reason it never occurred to me that it was dystopian.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested but honestly all these girl MC dystopians seem to be headed in the same direction with the forced breeding etc. It's not that I don't find it interesting or horrifying - I do - but I have to space these books out or they all start running together for me.
Thanks for such a thoughtful review.
Well first off, I'm jealous, because I asked for it on Netgalley and they turned me down.
ReplyDeleteSounds like they're setting it up for the inevitable series.
I had no idea this was a dystopian novel. Is it part of a series too? Surprised to see that it is a lot less grittier than it seems. I have this from Netgalley but I've been a little too burnt out from reading the same dystopian novel over and over again. I think I'll save this for a little later when my pallet is cleaned from the genre to start over again. Thanks for a great review, Tina!
ReplyDeleteNEW FOLLOWER.
ReplyDeleteGood review.
Elizabeth
http://silversolara.blogspot.com
Love your reviews. You cracked me up with that kiss my grits. LOL
ReplyDeleteOooo glad to see you liked this one Tina, I have high hopes for it! The strapping to bed and impregnated situation sounds awful and disturbing, but I always enjoy a good darker read:) Fabulous review, I can't wait to read now!
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I was hoping for more from this book than you are saying is there. Eve sounds so close to The Handmaiden's Tale (which is amazing!) I was really hoping for something if not as good, then still really good but appropriate for a teen audience. Tad disappointed after reading your review...
ReplyDeleteOkay, what IS it with Teen fiction and forced impregnation these days? I feel like it was a thing in the last couple of Dystopians I read. I did not know I needed to be worried about this.
ReplyDeleteRuby
Blissfully unaware? That kind of reminds me of the kids who where told they were "special" in Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go.
ReplyDeleteThere is something so terrifying about that type of ignorance.
I could go on and on about a boy's strength verses a girls, especially after having encountered a character like Gabi of the River of Time series, but I better not. I'll better give Eve a chance first. LOL
@Missie- yes it was kind of like the ignorance of Never let me go...except Eve did fight her future whereas those characters did not....Eve was not a Gabi..far from it, she still has a ton of growing to do!!
ReplyDelete@Rubita- I have no clue whats up with these dark prego stories lately...
@Sara- you should still try it...the read was and writing was good!!
@jenny & Juju- lol thanks!! And Jenny it really was a good read!!
@Rebs @julie @Elizabeth- thank you girls..:D And thanks for following
@Maria- lol dont feel bad girl...its the pubs not Netgalley...I have a good working relationship with Harper and a few others...but sometimes they have a limit on how many galleys they give out, sometimes you get them and sometimes you dont....
@Aasi @Karen @Melissa- you guys should all for sure give it a try..the book is dark subject but really isnt gory or graphic.