Eve (Eve #1)

---The Run-Down---
Many children have been left orphaned after a deadly virus, Eve included. She, only many other girls, go to a special school. They learn things that most schools would learn, but they also learn things like "The Dangers of Men". Eve is the most intelligent, most obedient, and the most beautiful girl at the school, but when graduation comes close, she realizes what the school is really about, and what being the best really means.

---My Thoughts---
There was only one major problem that I had with this book: Eve.
Eve is a very ignorant girl. She's intelligent, as mentioned above, but that's in a school that lied to her, she's very ignorant to the world. I can understand why she was written as an ignorant girl, though. Her school lied to her almost her whole life and she never really went outside the school grounds. She didn't know the truth of the world. It's this fact that I an able to deal with her ignorance. Although, her ignorance does lead her to say embarrassing things and make stupid decisions. I get the feeling that she will be smarter in the next book.

That's really the only thing that bugged me. Sure, some things didn't quite make sense. But, overall, I did like this book. The idea was very interesting and I look forward to the next book.

At first glance, Eve isn’t a book that seems to have much going for it. It’s a packaged book for one thing, which tends to indicate that a book will be less than awesome. Carey’s chosen epigraph is a passage from The Handmaid's Tale, arguably the best piece of feminist dystopian fiction that exists. This is also yet another YA dystopian book that takes place in an inherently sexist society—women are used as disposable uteruses with no emotional needs. But somehow all those elements combined to create a book that was undeniably addicting. For whatever reason, I flew through Eve’s pages like a maniac.

This book is seriously well-written. Anna Carey’s prose may not be flashy or complicated or anything out of the ordinary, but it was engrossing. I didn’t actually care for Eve as a character too much, but the way her narration was written kept me engaged in the story right from the beginning. Even during the action scenes (I always skip those in books), I didn’t lose interest. Eve’s text had a fluid, steady pace that worked surprisingly well, and that is probably this book’s greatest strength.

Carey’s world-building was also well-handled. There wasn’t much of it it, but it was enough to satisfy me. I felt that, in a post-apocalyptic state, Eve’s version of America made sense and I had no unanswered questions in terms of what was what. Maybe the content itself wasn’t anything new, but I—for once—have found a dystopian novel that left me fully satisfied in terms of world-building. It’s rarer than you might think, in my case.

Even though Eve is narrated from the title character’s perspective, and even though I enjoyed her storyline, I’m not sure she was the best protagonist all around. For me, Eve was a bit flat and obvious. Similarly, her love interest, Caleb, was charming and nice, and I often caught myself smiling when he was part of a scene. But did he really have depth? On the other hand, Eve doesn’t try to be a serious and intense novel—I really didn’t get that impression. Yes, it deals with dark, tough subjects, but the author handles them with a brisk hand, focusing mostly on positive things. In that vein, it makes sense that Eve and Caleb, protagonists in a serious-yet-shallow dystopian world, would be congruently two-dimensional. And really, I wouldn’t even call them “two-dimensional” characters so much as “stock” characters. For myself, I liked both of them enough to become engaged in their lives and root for their happy ending.

Eve is an obvious book. It brings nothing new to the table, and it gave me nothing thought-provoking or earth-shattering. I was, however, massively entertained and addicted to this book. Maybe that style of dystopian won’t work for some readers—I really don’t think it will work for me a second time. This is a packaged book where the packagers seemed to have understood what they were doing, and I’m happy to have read this. I found very little wrong with this book, and I certainly had no major complaints.

Eve by Anna Carey
Published by HarperTeen
On Shelves Now
Reviewed by: Middle Sis Jenn
The Sisters Say: A chilling look at a crumbling world

I will admit, I didn’t even know what this series was about until I received an ARC of the third and final book, Rise. So, I figured, I have the third book—why not read them all back to back—no waiting, no “oh my gosh, what a cliffhanger” reactions. I will say, this is the perfect way to read a series! I loved being able to read them all back to back. I spent an entire week in Anna’s world, and I will say, I am so glad HarperTeen sent me the third book because, otherwise, I would have totally missed out!

Eve takes place in a ravaged America, after a deadly plague wipes out most of the population. A King has taken control of the citizens and forced many of the into unspeakable actions in the name of “peace” and “survival” and “hope.” Many people argue that the problem with Eve is the world-building. There just isn’t enough, and while I can see their argument, I will say that it didn’t bother me. I’m much more interested in the action and the characters, so I didn’t need to know more about how the world ended up that way and what not. I like that the book focused more on the characters themselves—their problems, their losses, and their doubts.

This was definitely a quick read—I read it in one sitting, and went straight on to the next book. I really like that it was a one sitter, but I wish there would have been more action near the end. There’s plenty of action throughout the book, but the ending just felt rushed to me. I wanted to see more passion, more anger, more fear; and I didn’t really get enough of that to really understand the motivations of some of the characters.

Surprisingly, my favorite character was Arden. She is argumentative and blunt, understanding the harsh realities into which they have been thrust. She is hardened, and I found myself taking an immediate liking to her, attitude and all. She wasn’t whiney, and she definitely wasn’t going to bow down to any man—and I really liked that about her. I felt like she was trustworthy and smart, and I would definitely put my life in her hands if I was Eve.

Eve was up and down for me. I really liked her character at times because she didn’t just stay in the mold that she was raised in; she dared to question authority and her beliefs, and as a result, she was rewarded with a great relationship. However, I felt like there were times when she was a bit daft and rash. She lunged into problems head first without thinking about the consequences, and that is one of my biggest pet peeves in a character. I know that these rash decisions are what create the action and drama in a book, but I think you can make just as many great scenes without the stupidity. Especially since Eve was the valedictorian, I would think she would have a bit more common sense, even if she was brainwashed by the teachers into believing false truths.

And of course, I have to mention Caleb—I just love the rough and tough guys. The only problem I had is that we didn’t see enough or hear enough from him. I wanted to see more of his talents and more of his background—what made him who he is and why does he care so much about this random girl. I wanted to see inside his head more, and I didn’t get that. Maybe a novella will pop out of this world at some point??? I really liked Caleb—he was caring, and strong, and protective. I just need more of him!

Overall, this was a great read, and I would definitely recommend it to dystopian fans! I can’t wait to see what’s next for Anna Carey.

Undoubtedly, the most terrifying dystopias for me personally are the ones that involve the role of women in society after a calamity. Eve falls in with the like of Wither, The Handmaid's Tale, and Bumped. If reproductivity suffers, if a large segment of the population dies in some horrific event, if people are dying off younger, then women quickly lose the status they fought for decades to accomplish and become property, needed only to push out babies.

This subset of dystopias is terrifying largely because it requires very little suspension of disbelief to imagine such things coming to pass should something catastrophic occur. For all that women are much more equal now, I have no doubt that our position would not revert back to slavery and breeding chattel swiftly if that was viewed as the only way to save mankind from extinction. What's worse is that on some level, that response does make sense. What if that really was the only way for mankind to survive? I like to think there would be other ways, but what if there weren't? Is it worth it?

In Eve, the population was decimated by a plague. Many perished, including Eve's mother. Orphans, of which there were many, were gathered up and put into schools and educated until they were old enough to be of use one way or another. In Eve's school, she and her classmates are taught about the evil ways of men, of how they only want one thing and of the dangers of falling in love. They teach these lessons with examples from literature, such as Romeo and Juliet and Anna Karenina.

For the most part, this was a really interesting read, although I did find my attention waning as I got further into the story. There was a lot of running around and not a lot of plot advancement. One weird thing was a scene where Eve mentioned that she didn't remember the date of her birthday, although she did remember her mom singing a birthday song to her. Eve was young when the plague hit and she went into the school, where birthdays were not celebrated, but what kid does not remember their birthday? I mean, come on. If she was old enough at the time to have such clear memories of her mom, then she would totally remember when her birthday was.

All in all, a decent dystopian read and a chilling view of how quickly the status of women could fall. I sure hope nothing like this comes to pass.