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furythephoenix's review
5.0
I admit, this book did take me a while to read, in part because a) I have less reading time than I once did, but am proactively changing that! b) I don't usually read ebooks, until I bought my Kindle two days ago! and c) because the story was slow-burn at the start. I wasn't sure it was going to be my cup of tea, though I couldn't fault the writing style: written in first person and persent tense (again, not usually my thing) was executed superbly and, trying to consider the story told from a different narrative POV, I realised this was the most natural and perfect fit for the story and its philosophical musings.
Well, imagine my surprise, starting with this slow-burn, YA-style dystopian story, until I reached just before the midway point... and things started ratcheting up quickly. With Eve's whirlwind of feelings came my own feeling of being forcibly strapped to a rollercoaster on a very, very steep decline (kind of how I imagined calm, implacable Eve must have felt after she redlined and a series of events begin to unfold to undermine her composure and adherence to the virtues).
I personally really enjoy a good story that has something to say, some philosophical underpinning. "Eve of Eridu"'s deeper ponderings weren't immediately apparent, beyond the well-worn precedents in literature investigating what it means to be human, emotions being the devil etc. - but later, deeper questions relating to identity and systems of control (again, not original territory) raised their heads towards the story's conclusion that I really appreciated in their subtlety.
If I had one criticism, the ending felt a bit anticlimactic. It didn't wreck the story for me, but mechanically felt like a deus ex machina, if somewhat in reverse. I couldn't really buy Eve just walking off into the sunset - despite her balking at the revelations Architect Nik divulges during the harvest - eschewing all that she has known, all the apprehensions she must be feeling even as she fully embraces emotions; nor could I buy the idea that all these hardwired systems of control being so easily thrown off, despite her horror. I imagine a character so appalled, yet so buried in the system of Eridu, would ultimately surrender and just go with it - that would have been more believable to me. But that is just my opinion, and my gripe is small; it doesn't change my opinion on the rest of the story, because I imagine the author was trying to tell a story of hope by the end.
Great work Alanah.
Well, imagine my surprise, starting with this slow-burn, YA-style dystopian story, until I reached just before the midway point... and things started ratcheting up quickly. With Eve's whirlwind of feelings came my own feeling of being forcibly strapped to a rollercoaster on a very, very steep decline (kind of how I imagined calm, implacable Eve must have felt after she redlined and a series of events begin to unfold to undermine her composure and adherence to the virtues).
I personally really enjoy a good story that has something to say, some philosophical underpinning. "Eve of Eridu"'s deeper ponderings weren't immediately apparent, beyond the well-worn precedents in literature investigating what it means to be human, emotions being the devil etc. - but later, deeper questions relating to identity and systems of control (again, not original territory) raised their heads towards the story's conclusion that I really appreciated in their subtlety.
If I had one criticism, the ending felt a bit anticlimactic. It didn't wreck the story for me, but mechanically felt like a deus ex machina, if somewhat in reverse. I couldn't really buy Eve just walking off into the sunset - despite her balking at the revelations Architect Nik divulges during the harvest - eschewing all that she has known, all the apprehensions she must be feeling even as she fully embraces emotions; nor could I buy the idea that all these hardwired systems of control being so easily thrown off, despite her horror. I imagine a character so appalled, yet so buried in the system of Eridu, would ultimately surrender and just go with it - that would have been more believable to me. But that is just my opinion, and my gripe is small; it doesn't change my opinion on the rest of the story, because I imagine the author was trying to tell a story of hope by the end.
Great work Alanah.
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