Review Detail

Had I written this review immediately after finishing Eve, it would have been filled with paragraphs of me gushing about Eve, the people she met along her journey of self-discovery, and an ending that had me on the verge of tears. Unfortunately, I waited a while after finishing Eve, and now that I am trying to call upon those warm, happy feelings I remember having while I read it, all I can remember are the worldbuilding issues and plot holes.

Sometimes, Eve was a lovely protagonist. I found her her will to persevere, despite numerous obstacles that were determined to see her fail, was admirable and her innocence was often quite endearing.

"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, nooo, noooo!”

I leaned in, noticing the folds at the corner of his eyes and the faint brown spots that covered the top of his cheekbones. “Why is that funny? What are ‘balls’? Like the ball of your foot?”

But most of the time, Eve was ruthlessly selfish. She barely thought twice about abandoning her best friends, even after learning the fate that awaited them, and the vast majority of her decisions served only to further her purposes, regardless of who got harmed in the way. Whether it was endangering people by taking advantage of their hospitality, or letting those around her jeopardize their lives in order to protect hers, Eve always did what was best for herself.

Fortunately, Eve is written so well that I was able to mostly ignore how much I disliked its protagonist. While the prose was certainly nothing to write home about, it was seriously engrossing; much to my chagrin, I couldn’t put Eve down! The writing had a certain addictive quality to it, and the pacing was spot-on. While I didn’t always appreciate Eve’s choices, they did always serve to keep me on the edge of my seat in suspense.

There was also a tenderness behind Eve, that came as a pleasant surprise. Considering its dystopian elements, I wasn’t expecting so many touching or heartbreaking moments to litter its pages. There was a moment where a young boy asked Eve what love was, which damn near brought me to tears:

"Love is just caring about someone very deeply. Feeling like that person matters to you, like your whole world would be sadder without them in it."

It was moments like this that reminded me of the disturbing nature lurking underneath Eve’s fluffy exterior. Can you imagine a world where a child needs to have the concept of love explained to him?

Alas, now that it has been brought up, it’s time to discuss it: the world-building. To be completely honest, while reading Eve, I really had only very minor issues concerning a couple plot holes. Occasionally I would wonder how a child living with someone who had the plague could have avoided contracting it for themselves, or how governing officials were so quick to plan their future by organizing these schools during the midst of a pandemic, but I was able to mostly shrug off these fleeting concerns. After taking a few days to think over things though, less and less about the world-building made sense.

How did America fall so far, in such a short period of time, where they would be willing to revoke democracy and basic human rights? How am I expected to believe that in just sixteen years, society has morphed into the worst version of itself, where it encourages child slavery and cattle-like breeding techniques? Why bother educating these orphan girls if they were never going to be used for their intelligence? Why bother instilling an unhealthy dose of fear towards the opposite sex? What was the point if they were going to be used to bear children until they died? And if the end goal is to increase the population, why are only orphan children being forced into carrying children? What about all of those privileged women living in the desert city? Finally, and maybe most importantly, what’s going on with the rest of the world? We only heard about America’s struggles – are they the only ones affected by this Plague, or did it spread worldwide?

So while I truly enjoyed reading Eve, it’s these questions that I’m left with when I think back on my experience.