Thursday, June 28, 2012

Review: Eve by Anna Carey (Book 1)

Eve (Eve, #1)

THE DETAILS:
Pages: 352
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Dystopian
Release Date:  01/09/2011
Publisher: Harper Collins

Bought in a store.
First in the 'Eve Trilogy'

THE BLURB:
Where do you go when nowhere is safe?

After a deadly virus wiped out most of Earth's population, the world is a terrifying 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 bright future in 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 Caleb, a rough, rebellious boy living in the wild. Caleb slowly wins her trust . . . and her heart. But when soldiers begin hunting them, Eve must choose between true love and her life.

THE REVIEW:
 I've had 'Eve sitting on my shelf for a while. I saw that the sequel 'Once' was being reviewed (Already!) and thought I'd better hurry up and read it's predecessor. While I haven't read many dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels I thought that this one was highly original.

The title 'Eve' is a great choice I think, except for the fact that I feel like I'm talking about a person when I talk about the book and that I will have to pe particularly careful to make sure I use quotation marks in this review, when referring to the novel (and not the character). The reason that this is such a smart choice is because of what it refers to. In the novel, girls are taught (brainwashed) into believing that boys/men are evil, harmful,etc. All except for the King who is worshipped like a god. The title (and character's name) 'Eve' (I think) refers to the bible story of Adam and Eve. The girl in this novel wrongs the king, by running away, just as the woman in the bible story chooses to eat forbidden fruit from the tree. Also, there's a lot about reproduction in 'Eve'. The girls in the story are forced to breed (via artifiical insemination) in order to repopulate the world, but Eve is special because she is chosen to be the mother of the King's heir, just like Eve (In Adam and Eve) was put on the earth to have babies. I'm not religious or attacking any religions, but that's what the name symbolizes for me. Just goes to show, because time is moving forward, doesn't mean society is.

The way the society in the book (like in other dystopians I have read) was set up, was screwed up. I felt this book was worse than some, because the characters weren't told much by their superiors. They were actually promised exciting futures, where they could get whatever job they wished and were forced into a life they didn't choose instead. A horrible life they had no idea existed. There were so many things to be mad about in this book, but I didn't hate the book for it, because I thought it showed me how lucky I was to be alive and live in a world where I have choices of my own. I also thought I was happier for the characters than I usually would be, when something went their way because of how bad the circumstances were.

I thought it was really infuriating how the teacher's schooled up the girls to hate males. While I am a femminist, I'm not a man-hater and I thought it was really unfair on the males in the story to all be branded as one thing, when they weren't all like that. Also, to say that the king was okay, but all the other males weren't was ridiculous. And, the whole idea was invented by a male, so that women would be more accepting of the idea of artificial insemination (which they didn't get a choice anyway)! I just wanted to get that King and smack him on the head. Yep, this book made me feel like hurting a fictional character. That's what I call good quality writing...

Eve was by far the most naive fictional character I've met yet. Poor thing didn't have a clue about anything. This was all because of her sheltered (brain-washed) education. Sometimes this made me feel sorry for her, but there were other times when I couldn't help, but laugh. Eve was a kind-hearted character, but sometimes her lack of knowledge about the real world lead her into traps or got other people killed, which was unfortunate.

The only part of this book I didn't enjoy was the end. I know that there are more books on their way, but I was so disappointed at where this book finished.

Overall, I thought this book was worth 4.5/5 stars. A good book is supposed to make you feel and Anna Carey accomplished that in 'Eve'. It was a great dystopian book about learning to look beyond the surface and see things for what they really are. If you like survival stories, post-apocalyptic tales and/or dystopian novels, I think you'll definitely enjoy this one. I can't wait to find out what happens next!


 Your Favourite Blogger,
 Natalie

4 comments:

Preet said...

Gah, I'm behind on reading this as well! I agree, wanting to hurt fictional characters is pretty much always a good sign. Too bad the ending was meh, but hopefully the next book will be better!

Lisa said...

I'm glad you enjoyed this one. While I liked certain aspects of the book, it wasn't really for me.

I have to agree that Eve was extremely naive. It drove me nuts at times.

Giselle said...

The world building in this sounds really interesting and harsh in maybe a fake way. I have been meaning to read this one for a while now. Great review!!

Natalie_vintage_girl said...

I'm not sure about fake. It does seem a little crafted, but it is fiction. The idea of a kind sounded a bit outlandish to me, because I livein a country that's got a female prime-minister.