Eve Review

Monday, August 29, 2011

Title: Eve
Author: Anna Carey
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publish Date: October 4, 2011
Genre: YA, Dystopian
Pages: 336
Source: Publisher

Sixteen years after a deadly virus wiped out most of Earth’s population, the world is a perilous place. Eighteen-year-old Eve has never been beyond the heavily guarded perimeter of her school, where she and two hundred other orphaned girls have been promised a future as the teachers and artists of the New America. But the night before graduation, Eve learns the shocking truth about her school’s real purpose—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 Arden, her former rival from school, and 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.
Eve has lived through the worst of the world. With populations dwindling, the world ravaged by disease and discord and the number of orphans on the rise, Eve managed to become one of the lucky ones - or so she thought. She's taught the finer points of 19th century living - the best dances and the best novels are at her disposal, but she's destined for a life of being enslaved to men and for the sole purpose of helping restore the broken world around her. When Eve discovers the truth, she does the only thing she can think of. She escapes. But the world is a scary place, and even with her former rival becoming her friend, Eve has to contend with war, greed and someone who might just find a place in her heart for himself.

I'm a big fan of dystopian books, so I'm going to premise my review with that in an attempt to stay entirely objective. Eve is the first book in a planned trilogy, promising a world that's so desolate that mere children are forced to become the true future of the world, in every sense of the word. Anna Carey has created a fascinating premise for a new series that's equal parts heartwarming, heartbreaking and horrifying. Already a talented novelist, the author lends her skills at world-building to a bleak and dismal future world. With scene setting that's bleak and war-ridden, Eve has every opportunity in the world to find its niche in the dystopian genre with ease.

That's about where the good ends for me with Eve, however. Eve, as a heroine began fairly decent. She seemed a bit brainwashed, but in the society presented in the novel, her status fit. Suddenly though, Eve is more than willing to escape into the wild she's so terrified of, and she's more than willing to break all those rules she was brainwashed to accept. I found it exceptionally difficult to watch her switch from ardently in favour if the new regime to completely against it in a matter of pages without so much of an inkling of doubt before. The transition was jarring and made her character feel false and inaccessible. I also had a huge problem with believing the world Eve was raised in. As an orphan raised to be a breeding machine, she was privvied to the finest education when, in fact, the whole point of Eve was that Eve and her classmates would never get to use it. Then there's my issue with the fact that the King wanted Eve for himself and this bleak country suddenly mustered up an army of unfathomable proportions to capture and detain a single, plain orphan girl that jarred with the whole "there's nothing left of this world" premise. Furthermore, Eve's ridiculous naivete, the overabundance of cliches and the man-saves-girl-on-steed scenario just added to the mess. Honestly, without going into things further, I felt that Eve was merely bits and pieces of other dystopian novels merged into one without fleshing a single thing out, and it was severely disappointing.

Now, I've read some of the author's other books, and I quite enjoyed them, so while Eve didn't work for me, I'm just going to chalk this up to the fact that the genre isn't for everyone. I truly believe one must come up with an entirely new idea or make it into something new and terrifying to make a dystopian work - and that didn't happen with Eve. I give it a 2 out of 5, and I'd recommend it to fans of YA and those who can deal with a dystopian-light book.

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

24 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for your very honest review! Sometimes they just don't live up to the hype...and the market is saturated right now with dystopian reads (and some of them are fantastic). It's tough out there. If I had a nickel for every book I put down because I have read a thousand just like it (only better) before...
    I really count on these reviews, thanks for sharing your opinion.

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  2. I feel you so aptly summed up what I tried to. I felt much of the same, sadly, and I never quite understood the idea of a city in the desert, let alone skiing there. It's a strange concept.

    Dystopian, like you said, in order to work needs a strong, new concept or an older one written so well that you believe it's new.

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  3. Yikes. I recently finished Eve and I was not terribly impressed either unfortunately. I couldn't understand why Eve was so important. Why her out of who knows how many girls? I really wanted to like it but I was left with so many questions that lessened my enjoyment.

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  4. Hmmmm... definitely appreciate your honest review, as always. It sounds like there are some good ideas in this story, but the execution falls a bit flat.

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  5. Sorry to hear that Eve disappointed! :( I've seen some other less-than-positive reactions to it, so if I do end up reading it I'm definitely going to lower my expectations. Thanks for the review!

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  6. It's too bad you didn't really like this book. Great, honest review!

    Tia @ Falling For Books

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  7. I felt same way. I liked Eve a little bit more than you, but it did feel very surface-only. Kind of a disappointment. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! :)

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  8. Thanks for the honest review Melissa. With so many books on our radars there is only so many hours in the day.
    I may still give this one a shot eventually, but I know to put it under the ones that have been given much higher rating by my trusted reviewers :)
    (oh, how I <3 you, my trusted reviewers;) )

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  9. After reading your wonderful, well written, honest review after Small Reader's review, I'm going to stick this one down further my tbr pile. When characters quickly change from one side to the other without any epiphany, it really irks me and I find it hard to get vested into the character and the book itself. If I do decide to pick it up, I'll have low expectations for it.

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  10. Oh that's so sad you didn't really enjoy it. I can understand that her complete turn around was off-setting added to a more than slightly unbelievable situation. I'll still read Eve with an open-mind because there may be a couple gems hidden there. Thanks for the great review. :)

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  11. That's a disappointment. Eve sounded like such a good read...now I'm not even really sure I want to pick it up. It was still a few books away on my TBR list so maybe by the time I get to it I'll be more willing to give it a shot. Thanks for the review :)

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  12. Oi, it's such a shame about this one because I was looking forward to it initially but I've seen nothing but negative to average reviews. I've heard from numerous reviewers that Eve is TSTL, which is the dealbreaker for me. I'll be skipping this one. Thanks for the review though; it was helpful!

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  13. Oh bummer. But thanks for your honesty. I love your reviews.

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  14. This is very disappointing as I have had my eye on Eve since I first spied the cover and read the summary. Like you I love dystopia novels and definitely bummed that this one doesn't cut it.

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  15. I saw this one at NG but then I read an early review and realized that I would feel the way the reviewer did. And now your review, yes not for me

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  16. Ah, too bad. I have high expectations for this book. I hope I like it!

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  17. I actually didn't mind it, although I feel like it's been so long since I read a book that I LOVED that my expectations are getting lower...sad. And I totally agree with what you said about it being pieces of other dystopian novels merged into one.

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  18. I got this one from NetGalley but am now debating whether I want to read it since I'm not such a huge dystopian fan to begin with. A naive character who changes thoughts really quickly might just be too much. Thanks for the review, Melissa.

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  19. Even in fantasy and other speculative fiction, it's really important that the implausible be made believable. It doesn't sound as though this one hit the mark there. Thanks for the review.

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  20. oh gosh, sounds like a total miss. I'm glad I decided not to request an ARC. I get so frustrated when a book just fails to make sense in world building and character actions.

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  21. I have been on the borderline of this book for awhile. Beautiful cover, sounds like an cute read but there are so many no so great reviews. Hmm... What is a book lover to do? LOL!

    Black Disaster Fairy

    A World of Personality

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  22. Only a 2 :( I was so looking forward to this one. After reading your issues I’m thinking this one might not impress me very much.

    Thanks for your honest review!

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  23. Really great honest review. I have this on my Kindle and thought it sounded good, but I'm afraid I'll have the same issues with it that you did.

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  24. Great honest review. I enjoyed this one slightly more than you, but I still had similar issues with the plot & Eve. Definitely quite a few things that didn't make sense in the story.

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