Friday, September 30, 2011

Me on Eve

Title: Eve
Author: Anna Carey
Release Date: October 4, 2011
Publisher: HarperCollins

In 2032, sixteen years after both a deadly virus and the vaccine meant to stop it wipe out most of the population, Eve discovers the fate of the all-girls School's graduates and swears she'll never end up like them. So she flees, setting off on a long, treacherous journey, searching for a place she can survive in. Along the way she encounters a wile, rebellious boy. Separated from men her entire life, Eve fears him at first, but Caleb slowly wins her trust, and maybe her heart. He promises to protect her, but when soldiers start hunting her, she'll have to choose: true love or her life.

Mysterious, bleak, oddly sweet, Eve is for loyal readers of dystopian YA novels, readers of The Handmaid's Tale, Wither, and Blood Red Road. Eve is on a journey like so many other characters, learning the truth and running from it, running for the chance to decide her own fate in a world left for dead, beaten and bruised by a horrific plague.

After reading so many books that could be classified as dystopian, I wonder if I've burned out that part of my brain, or if this book reminded me of so many others. Girls kept isolated from boys, cultivated by caretakers, their health and well-being monitored closely, in an America where the population has dropped significantly. Girls are raised for one thing in this world, and it's not to be the teachers and muralists of the New American society.

I'm concerned that I liked this book because it reminded me of other books I liked. I'm struggling to find something unique about this book that sets it apart from others. Eve was what I expected, a girl kept from the world enters it to decide her own future and gets wrapped up in a boy and is hunted by the corrupt soldiers that patrol the wasteland of New America. She's heading for a place she can survive without being treated like property, like a vessel for birthing children, like an object.

Still, an intriguing start to a trilogy I will gladly continue reading.

(I received an advance copy of this book from HarperCollins Canada for the purposes of reviewing it.)

1 comment:

  1. I just read Eve and loved it. I'm surprised that you didn't, but I can see what you mean about the girls being separated from the boys, etc. I think Eve was better than Dark Parties (low population; governments need girls to populate) because of the way it was written and how Eve fell for Caleb, and just swoon. I loved Eve.

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