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...
Book in e-book form courtesy of NetGalley
I posted this book as my “WOW” last Wednesday (Waiting on Wednesday) & a fellow blogger friend told me I could find it on NET GALLEY (I am a member of NET GALLEY) as an e book ARC.
As FAST as my fingers could type I got to NG & there it was! In my “APPROVED” list. I downloaded the galley and began reading ASAP.
To say I devoured EVE would be an understatement. I absolutely adored this book from sentence one. There were a few things that irritated me & I HOPE they are cleared up in a sequel.
Eve was an orphan. Her mother died of the same virus that wiped out a majority of the world 16 years earlier. All school aged girls are segregated from men in “The School”, a school that prepares them for their “graduation”. This generation is a part of “The New America”. The girls dream of graduating and living fabulous lives in the King’s capital, The City of Sand. Eve is the schools shining star. “You embody The New America, Eve-intelligence, hard work, and beauty” (excerpt from Chapter one) .
The girls are taught to obey and to fear men. Any and everything their teachers can do to make them fear men and to obey is said, shown, and done. They had never seen men nor do they want to.
Graduation day is upon Eve and she dreams of the days to come where she can spread her wings and fly and be a famous muralist. She envisions life the city with her best friends until a chance encounter with a schoolmate in the woods makes her re think all she has learned.
The night before Graduation she takes it upon herself to investigate all she was told. Part of her wanted to believe it was a lie and stay in bed but that nagging feeling deep down could not take it to chance that it wasn’t a lie.
Upon discovering the truth an unlikely ally helps Eve leave her destined future for one unknown. Leaving her friends behind and vowing to save them she takes off into the woods & over the infamous wall.
Her escape leads her to people not unlike herself. Students used and abused by the King to create his new America in the dessert. Not knowing that Eve herself was a LARGE part of the Kings plan when she left; she quickly learns what the twisted King had in store for her. With the entire King’s army of soldiers looking for her she must keep one step ahead to survive.
Caleb is one of the people she met in the woods. Once a part of a school like Eve’s he too escaped into the woods. He quickly became a huge part of Eve’s life and they fell in love.
Eve’s adventures to get to a camp known as “Califia” brought her down a trail filled with people such as herself and people who were out to use and abuse and kill to get what they wanted. It was hard to know who to trust in this crazy “free for all” of a world over the wall.
She quickly learns that not all of her teachers had her best interest at heart; they truly were not honest and did all they could to shield her from the truth and real life as it was now. Inside of the King’s capital city life was hunky dory, at a large cost.
Like I said I LOVED EVE & I also had a few small issues.
I think the book repped a dystopian society perfectly. The way the author showed us this new, wild, world was perfect. I found myself imagining if it were to happen now how would I survive and act. Eve herself was a sweet, strong, sincere girl. She had normal reactions and behaviors to the situations around her. BUT….
I thought Eve forgot about certain ppl she left behind a little too fast. She vowed to come back for her BFF Pip but you did not hear Pip’s name again. If that were my lifelong BFF about to go into that situation I would at least talk about her to my new friends and let them know about the ppl I had to leave behind. MAYBE it was easier to deal with not talking about it. She had to change a lot to survive and any emotional weakness would make her like chum in the water.
I would of liked to of heard Eve talk about Pip and the other ppl she lost in her life, especially those ppl who sacrificed a lot to protect Eve. Eve is a hot commodity now seeing as she is considered the Kings personal property, any other student escapee is not as important as Eve. For anyone to help Eve in her continued escape does so at a great cost and risk to themselves. I wanted Eve to recognize that a bit more. It is ONLY book 1 after all so I won’t be too hard on my gurl Eve..
These few, small, things aside Eve was a truly fabulous read.
I personally was NOT happy with the end. To say it was a cliffy is a HUGE UNDERSTATEMENT! I would NOT have done what she had done. BUT maybe the unexpected is better in this stories sake. It has me amped up for book 2. She did not do what everyone expected so book 2 will most likely be pretty exciting and fast paced.
Seeing as book 1 is not officially published yet book 2 will seem lifetimes away..
Eve will not disappoint. You will fall in love with this story and get drawn deep into it. You will see yourself in her shoes and imagine life in their world. You feel a part of it and you will cheer and jeer for the ppl in this book.
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