Eve
Anna Carey
HarperCollinsOctober 4th 2011
Young Adult | Dystopian
Official Blurb -
Where do you go when nowhere is safe?
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.
In this epic new series, Anna Carey imagines a future that is both beautiful and terrifying. Readers will revel in "Eve"'s timeless story of forbidden love and extraordinary adventure.
That was a dumb ending. There are so many post-apocalyptic stories out there right now. This one is a tame kitten next to its sisters. Every edge seems blunt, dull, and a bit less terrifying than it could be. All the dangers seem more like Santa Claus, a bit imaginary. Just a bunch of made up stories to fill the gaps and keep us in line. The poor girls at that school are so conditioned to believe the oddest tales. It amazes me that no matter how much she has seen to the contrary she is still feeding herself one big lie. What gives her the idea that a happy ending is possible? No such luck sweetheart.
Eve is a bit annoying. A perfect girl, teacher's pet, who is high maintenance. She leaves messes everywhere she treads and lets others clean them up. Her countenance is a textbook definition of damsel in distress. There is no fight to her. She breaks so easily and is lucky that none of the threats never occurs.
Caleb is hard to swallow. Dirty hardly describes his true state. More like he is kin to the earth, he is that dirty. It doesn't sound the least bit attractive or snuggly. I wonder about him, what he is really thinking? Did his mind undergo a complete change toward Eve? He freely admits she isn't his type but doesn't hold to his declaration. How could he even know his type? There isn't a girl around and they certainly aren't raining from the sky for him to figure it out. Even when he is supposedly friendly toward her he isn't very emotional. He is hard to read. I guess he is a very restrained individual.
This story reminded me of The Host by Stephenie Meyer during the underground portion. An entire group of boys living secretly in an underground tunnel system. When they come to the old couple coming to their rescue and bringing them into their big house I was very strongly reminded of Article 5 by Kristen Simmons. I kept expecting betrayal around each corner.
Mostly I just wanted to slap the characters. Eve for all her talk of Romeo and Juliet and their downfalls. Going on and on about how she understands the importance of a moment and that she won't waste it. Umm, yeah. . . way to waste plenty of them.
The whole scenario didn't work well for me. An all powerful king turning all their girls into brainwashed broodmares and all boys into labor camp slaves. Really? Could people really be so scared they would just let that happen? How could they sanction that? To not ever fall in love or even see the opposite sex? Not to have families? That sort of thing is programmed into our very cells. How could a society exist like that?
In the end with all the hype and having met the extremely entertaining author this book was a let down. It felt like the bones of a young adult story but it was written with juveniles in mind. So it ended up as a shaky mix of the two. At least it was a relatively quick read.
Eve is a bit annoying. A perfect girl, teacher's pet, who is high maintenance. She leaves messes everywhere she treads and lets others clean them up. Her countenance is a textbook definition of damsel in distress. There is no fight to her. She breaks so easily and is lucky that none of the threats never occurs.
Caleb is hard to swallow. Dirty hardly describes his true state. More like he is kin to the earth, he is that dirty. It doesn't sound the least bit attractive or snuggly. I wonder about him, what he is really thinking? Did his mind undergo a complete change toward Eve? He freely admits she isn't his type but doesn't hold to his declaration. How could he even know his type? There isn't a girl around and they certainly aren't raining from the sky for him to figure it out. Even when he is supposedly friendly toward her he isn't very emotional. He is hard to read. I guess he is a very restrained individual.
This story reminded me of The Host by Stephenie Meyer during the underground portion. An entire group of boys living secretly in an underground tunnel system. When they come to the old couple coming to their rescue and bringing them into their big house I was very strongly reminded of Article 5 by Kristen Simmons. I kept expecting betrayal around each corner.
Mostly I just wanted to slap the characters. Eve for all her talk of Romeo and Juliet and their downfalls. Going on and on about how she understands the importance of a moment and that she won't waste it. Umm, yeah. . . way to waste plenty of them.
The whole scenario didn't work well for me. An all powerful king turning all their girls into brainwashed broodmares and all boys into labor camp slaves. Really? Could people really be so scared they would just let that happen? How could they sanction that? To not ever fall in love or even see the opposite sex? Not to have families? That sort of thing is programmed into our very cells. How could a society exist like that?
In the end with all the hype and having met the extremely entertaining author this book was a let down. It felt like the bones of a young adult story but it was written with juveniles in mind. So it ended up as a shaky mix of the two. At least it was a relatively quick read.
Content:
Violence: Moderate
Violence: Moderate
Moment Divine:
"Leif was funny, once," he said. "Really funny. We'd spend all day deconstructing buildings, brick by brick, and loading the materials onto trucks to be hauled to the City of Sand. Leif used to make up these songs while we worked." Caleb looked over his shoulder, his cheeks ruddy with a sudden smile. "What songs? What are you laughing about?"
He turned back around. "You don't want to know."
"Try me."
"Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you." He cleared his throat in mock seriousness. "My," he crooned, his voice completely out of tune, "balls are sweating, my balls are sweating, I can't keep my balls from sweating, noooo, noooo, noooo!"
"Why is that funny? What are 'balls'? Like the ball of your foot?"
Caleb pulled at the reins of the horse and fell forward, his back heaving up and down with laughter.
"What? What is it?" I asked.
It took a moment for him to compose himself. "It's . . ." he said, his face crumpled. "Like these things that . . ." he paused, as if deep in thought, and then shook his head suddenly. "No, I'm sorry, I can't. It's just funny, Eve. Trust me."
