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books4susie's review against another edition
5.0
By the time the Plague ended twelve years ago, 98% of the population was dead. Now the New American Monarchy is the government in charge with the king as its leader. Eve and her fellow classmates are kept secluded from men. They are taught that men are evil and they should stay clear of them. After twelve years of school, the girls graduate and go onto trade school for another four before making new lives in the City of Glass. Or do they?
Eve has been named valedictorian of her class. After her speech, she will lead her fellow graduates out of the walled compound of their school and cross the bridge to the trade school building. After a celebratory dinner, Eve notices that Arden, a fellow graduate and well known prankster, sneaking away from the others. She decides to follow and try and stop her from disturbing their special day. Eve sees Arden changing out of her school uniform into the attire of the guards. When Eve asks her why, Arden informs her that there is no trade school. The trade school building is just a baby making factory where all of the graduates essential become brood mares. Eve is horrified and watches Arden sneak into the back of a delivery truck and leave.
Later that evening after everyone else is sleeping; Eve is left wondering if Arden’s accusations are true. She sneaks out of the dormitory, slips past the guards and crosses the small lake to the trade school building. To her horror, Eve discovers that Arden was telling the truth. She crosses the lake once again and sneaks back into the dormitory only to be discovered by Teacher Florence. Always the obedient one, Eve admits what she discovered. To her surprise, Teacher Florence will help her escape but she must leave behind her friend Pip. Eve reluctantly agrees and just barely escapes with her life.
Eve is book smart, not street smart, and after one week on the run she finds herself tired and hungry. When she encounters a group of men who prove her former teachers correct, she hides in what turns out to be a mausoleum. Following Teacher Florence’s directions to Califica, a place where runaway orphans live, Eve soon comes across a town devastated by the plague. Smelling food at an abandoned house, Eve is desperate and makes herself known to the person inside. To her surprise and relief, Eve has stumbled upon Arden. Arden isn’t pleased to be saddled with Eve but eventually relents to let her tag along until she locates her parents. Arden was the one girl at school who wasn’t an orphan. The next morning, they split up to find food. Eve soon encounters a bear cub and unwittingly draws the mother bear’s wraith. To her good fortune, a young man on horseback comes to her aid. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Eve leaves with Caleb. She is weary to go with him but he laughs and promises her he isn’t interested in sexual intercourse. They eventually go back to find Arden.
Arden has had no luck hunting and is surprised that Eve has found a boy. Caleb caught three rabbits and both girls desperately agree to return to his camp with him before the skies threaten to downpour. After traveling a couple of hours in a downpour, they stumble upon a government jeep that begins chase. The three soon leave the road and dismount from the horse, but the jeep is still in pursuit. Eve thinks they are after Caleb but is horrified to learn she is their target. Caleb shows Eve the wanted poster for her with her graduation picture on it. It turns out Eve wasn’t headed to “trade school” after all. With her intelligence, the king wanted her for himself, for the production of an heir.
Can Eve escape from the king’s clutches and remain free to make her own choices? Do Arden and Eve stay together or go their separate ways? Where does Caleb fit in? And what exactly is Califica?
Absolutely loved this book and cannot wait for the next book in the series.
Eve has been named valedictorian of her class. After her speech, she will lead her fellow graduates out of the walled compound of their school and cross the bridge to the trade school building. After a celebratory dinner, Eve notices that Arden, a fellow graduate and well known prankster, sneaking away from the others. She decides to follow and try and stop her from disturbing their special day. Eve sees Arden changing out of her school uniform into the attire of the guards. When Eve asks her why, Arden informs her that there is no trade school. The trade school building is just a baby making factory where all of the graduates essential become brood mares. Eve is horrified and watches Arden sneak into the back of a delivery truck and leave.
Later that evening after everyone else is sleeping; Eve is left wondering if Arden’s accusations are true. She sneaks out of the dormitory, slips past the guards and crosses the small lake to the trade school building. To her horror, Eve discovers that Arden was telling the truth. She crosses the lake once again and sneaks back into the dormitory only to be discovered by Teacher Florence. Always the obedient one, Eve admits what she discovered. To her surprise, Teacher Florence will help her escape but she must leave behind her friend Pip. Eve reluctantly agrees and just barely escapes with her life.
Eve is book smart, not street smart, and after one week on the run she finds herself tired and hungry. When she encounters a group of men who prove her former teachers correct, she hides in what turns out to be a mausoleum. Following Teacher Florence’s directions to Califica, a place where runaway orphans live, Eve soon comes across a town devastated by the plague. Smelling food at an abandoned house, Eve is desperate and makes herself known to the person inside. To her surprise and relief, Eve has stumbled upon Arden. Arden isn’t pleased to be saddled with Eve but eventually relents to let her tag along until she locates her parents. Arden was the one girl at school who wasn’t an orphan. The next morning, they split up to find food. Eve soon encounters a bear cub and unwittingly draws the mother bear’s wraith. To her good fortune, a young man on horseback comes to her aid. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Eve leaves with Caleb. She is weary to go with him but he laughs and promises her he isn’t interested in sexual intercourse. They eventually go back to find Arden.
Arden has had no luck hunting and is surprised that Eve has found a boy. Caleb caught three rabbits and both girls desperately agree to return to his camp with him before the skies threaten to downpour. After traveling a couple of hours in a downpour, they stumble upon a government jeep that begins chase. The three soon leave the road and dismount from the horse, but the jeep is still in pursuit. Eve thinks they are after Caleb but is horrified to learn she is their target. Caleb shows Eve the wanted poster for her with her graduation picture on it. It turns out Eve wasn’t headed to “trade school” after all. With her intelligence, the king wanted her for himself, for the production of an heir.
Can Eve escape from the king’s clutches and remain free to make her own choices? Do Arden and Eve stay together or go their separate ways? Where does Caleb fit in? And what exactly is Califica?
Absolutely loved this book and cannot wait for the next book in the series.
sandeeisreading's review against another edition
2.0
Dystopian has always been one of my least favorite genre in YA books.
I have read good ones like Hunger Games and Divergent.
I loved those but like Wither the first dystopian book I’ve read, Eve did not live up to my expectation.
Reading Eve had been a struggle. It started out good but gradually I became more and more unenthusiastic about it.
If this was how we are going to be 2032 then I wouldn’t want to be alive during that time.
No exaggeration!
WHAT IS THIS BOOK ABOUT?
Majority of the Earth’s population has been wiped out due to a plague that corrupted the Earth.
Young girls like Eve were hidden away in a school solely for girls and was taught to fear men.
These girls were educated so that after they graduate they could move in to the city.
Eve’s mind was set in graduating and dreaming of a future outside the school but what she found out just a day before her graduation shocked her.
All the other girls who graduated weren’t at the city as all the teachers said they would be after they graduate.
What happened to the other girls?
They became breeders to repopulate the New America
MY REACTION:
I had major issues with this book.
It wasn’t entirely original in my opinion because it reminded me of Wither which I didn’t like but after reading Eve and found myself liking that book more than this one.
It’s not about the writing because I thought it was written pretty decently.
There are misses on the plague not being discussed further.
You wouldn’t have a clue how it started or what went on and why the people died and stuff like that.
I hope it would include a little bit of what caused the plague or what happened to the people affected by the plague just like in Hunger Games wherein it was explained how the HG games started.
Also there’s the forced breeding.
I mean seriously?
Why didn’t they just made everyone marry early with the person they love and make babies rather than locking the girls all up and produce babies against their will.
How disturbing is that?
Then there’s Eve.
She was smart.
I actually liked her a bit. She cares about her friends but since she had no choice she had to leave.
But she was also very naïve (which wasn’t her fault) and she got into so many unnecessary situation it wasn’t even funny anymore.
She was supposed to be smart right?
And besides she’s been taught to fear men right? How can she fall in love so quickly?
One word to describe Eve?
WEAK.
I actually liked Arden more than Eve.
She was rebellious and all but she was tough.
She learned how to swim by herself.
She was a complete contrast to Eve which was a very good touch to this story.
THING/S I LOVED ABOUT THE BOOK:
The cover was gorgeous.
It was the one that drawn me to this book in the first place.
(I always wanted to have reddish hair. :D )
The attack of the pretty covers strikes again.
It was like Fury and Carrier of the Mark all over again.
Anyways, I give it a 2.
I am not giving it a one because it wasn’t all bad. I think.
I have read good ones like Hunger Games and Divergent.
I loved those but like Wither the first dystopian book I’ve read, Eve did not live up to my expectation.
Reading Eve had been a struggle. It started out good but gradually I became more and more unenthusiastic about it.
If this was how we are going to be 2032 then I wouldn’t want to be alive during that time.
No exaggeration!
WHAT IS THIS BOOK ABOUT?
Majority of the Earth’s population has been wiped out due to a plague that corrupted the Earth.
Young girls like Eve were hidden away in a school solely for girls and was taught to fear men.
These girls were educated so that after they graduate they could move in to the city.
Eve’s mind was set in graduating and dreaming of a future outside the school but what she found out just a day before her graduation shocked her.
All the other girls who graduated weren’t at the city as all the teachers said they would be after they graduate.
What happened to the other girls?
They became breeders to repopulate the New America
MY REACTION:
I had major issues with this book.
It wasn’t entirely original in my opinion because it reminded me of Wither which I didn’t like but after reading Eve and found myself liking that book more than this one.
It’s not about the writing because I thought it was written pretty decently.
There are misses on the plague not being discussed further.
You wouldn’t have a clue how it started or what went on and why the people died and stuff like that.
I hope it would include a little bit of what caused the plague or what happened to the people affected by the plague just like in Hunger Games wherein it was explained how the HG games started.
Also there’s the forced breeding.
I mean seriously?
Why didn’t they just made everyone marry early with the person they love and make babies rather than locking the girls all up and produce babies against their will.
How disturbing is that?
Then there’s Eve.
She was smart.
I actually liked her a bit. She cares about her friends but since she had no choice she had to leave.
But she was also very naïve (which wasn’t her fault) and she got into so many unnecessary situation it wasn’t even funny anymore.
She was supposed to be smart right?
And besides she’s been taught to fear men right? How can she fall in love so quickly?
One word to describe Eve?
WEAK.
I actually liked Arden more than Eve.
She was rebellious and all but she was tough.
She learned how to swim by herself.
She was a complete contrast to Eve which was a very good touch to this story.
THING/S I LOVED ABOUT THE BOOK:
The cover was gorgeous.
It was the one that drawn me to this book in the first place.
(I always wanted to have reddish hair. :D )
The attack of the pretty covers strikes again.
It was like Fury and Carrier of the Mark all over again.
Anyways, I give it a 2.
I am not giving it a one because it wasn’t all bad. I think.
jadeeby's review against another edition
3.0
Originally posted at my blog Chasing Empty Pavements
This book was one that BLEW up on the blogosphere last year and it was one I was highly anticipating. Unfortunately, it didn't live totally up to my expectations. It felt a lot like Delirium except with a lot less world building. The whole men-are-bad-and-so-is-love theme rippled throughout this novel and Eve seemed so much like Lena.
Firstly, the writing was well done. That's ALWAYS something to commend when there are SO many YA novels out there these days, especially with the dystopian theme these days. Carey does a great job of setting the initial scene, character and plot. She definitely kept me engaged and wanting to know what happened next. I almost got the prep school vibe from the school for girls and I loved that she had the men calling these girls "sows" and other bad names. It reinforces the world she is trying to set. In one way, I did like the romance between Eve and Caleb, I think Carey was able to capture those very first moments in your teenage life when you're experiencing a crush or falling in love. She does a nice job of contrasting what Eve's been taught her entire life and relating that back to what she's experiencing on her own. To be honest, my favorite parts of the novel were the most violent scenes because those are the only times I really felt like I was in the novel. I felt the blood, the horror, the sadness. I wanted more of that throughout the rest of the novel.
Okay. I really felt this novel fell really flat for me. Like I said earlier, it felt very similar to Delirium, and when your readers are comparing it to similar novel, you gotta make sure you're really setting your book apart and I felt that she didn't do this enough. It kept falling short for me. I didn't feel the "plague" was explored enough, Eve didn't feel like a well-rounded character. She seemed one-dimensional to me and I couldn't connect with her. I felt more in tune with Arden than I did Eve. The relationship between Eve and Caleb felt a little rushed and forced. While I did like aspects of it, as explained before, it still felt underdeveloped. I thought the relationship between the two of them could have really been expanded. The world building was another area that I felt wasn't done as well as it could have been. The Goodreads summary mentions something about it being 2032. Is that even mentioned in the novel? I really had no idea if this was set in the far future or what. She gives us brief glimpses into the past before the plague, but not nearly enough to set the scene for after the plague.
Overall, it was an enjoyable read but I wish I could have come away more impressed. I had a lot of hopes for this one. Due to my curious nature, I'll definitely be reading the second novel in the series to catch up with Eve and Caleb. I hope to see some improvements in Once where Eve fell short for me.
This book was one that BLEW up on the blogosphere last year and it was one I was highly anticipating. Unfortunately, it didn't live totally up to my expectations. It felt a lot like Delirium except with a lot less world building. The whole men-are-bad-and-so-is-love theme rippled throughout this novel and Eve seemed so much like Lena.
Firstly, the writing was well done. That's ALWAYS something to commend when there are SO many YA novels out there these days, especially with the dystopian theme these days. Carey does a great job of setting the initial scene, character and plot. She definitely kept me engaged and wanting to know what happened next. I almost got the prep school vibe from the school for girls and I loved that she had the men calling these girls "sows" and other bad names. It reinforces the world she is trying to set. In one way, I did like the romance between Eve and Caleb, I think Carey was able to capture those very first moments in your teenage life when you're experiencing a crush or falling in love. She does a nice job of contrasting what Eve's been taught her entire life and relating that back to what she's experiencing on her own. To be honest, my favorite parts of the novel were the most violent scenes because those are the only times I really felt like I was in the novel. I felt the blood, the horror, the sadness. I wanted more of that throughout the rest of the novel.
Okay. I really felt this novel fell really flat for me. Like I said earlier, it felt very similar to Delirium, and when your readers are comparing it to similar novel, you gotta make sure you're really setting your book apart and I felt that she didn't do this enough. It kept falling short for me. I didn't feel the "plague" was explored enough, Eve didn't feel like a well-rounded character. She seemed one-dimensional to me and I couldn't connect with her. I felt more in tune with Arden than I did Eve. The relationship between Eve and Caleb felt a little rushed and forced. While I did like aspects of it, as explained before, it still felt underdeveloped. I thought the relationship between the two of them could have really been expanded. The world building was another area that I felt wasn't done as well as it could have been. The Goodreads summary mentions something about it being 2032. Is that even mentioned in the novel? I really had no idea if this was set in the far future or what. She gives us brief glimpses into the past before the plague, but not nearly enough to set the scene for after the plague.
Overall, it was an enjoyable read but I wish I could have come away more impressed. I had a lot of hopes for this one. Due to my curious nature, I'll definitely be reading the second novel in the series to catch up with Eve and Caleb. I hope to see some improvements in Once where Eve fell short for me.
frau_totenkinder's review against another edition
3.0
One of my resolutions for 2014 is to not only read, but also review 100 books in the calendar year. Unfortunately I elected to not review the first few books right away, so now I'm playing catch up and relying on my memory.
What is double unfortunate is that I can't remember this book past the first few chapters. At all. I don't even remember the main character's name (although I feel like Eve is probably a safe assumption). I know that I didn't not like it; at no point was it a struggle to get through. I just wish it had a little more oomph.
What is double unfortunate is that I can't remember this book past the first few chapters. At all. I don't even remember the main character's name (although I feel like Eve is probably a safe assumption). I know that I didn't not like it; at no point was it a struggle to get through. I just wish it had a little more oomph.
Spoiler
Also I wish she hadn't run away from school quite so soon. That's the one part that I remember, and the part that I enjoyed the most.missbookiverse's review against another edition
2.0
Lang und breit
Eve beginnt vielversprechend. Ein Mädcheninternat, auf dem den Mädchen und jungen Frauen beigebracht wird wie gefährlich die Männerwelt doch ist, und kurz darauf eine schockierende Entdeckung, die Eve dazu zwingt vor ihrer so gesichert wirkenden Zukunft zu fliehen. Ab da ist leider Schluss mit Schock und Spannung.
Eve ist eine ziemlich naive, aber nicht unsympathische Heldin. Sie macht immer wieder Fehler, was sie menschlicher erscheinen lässt. Leider scheint sie eine Art undurchdringbares „Heldinnenschutzschild“ um sich aufgebaut zu haben. Es ist nämlich egal welcher Gefahr Eve begegnet, sie übersteht jeden Angriff von Mädchenfängern, Beinahevergewaltigern oder Königspolizisten unbeschadet. Das wurde sehr schnell sehr deutlich, weshalb ich in keiner Szene Angst um sie hatte und mitfiebern konnte. Werte Anna Carey, TRAU DICH DOCH BITTE! Du hast es in der Hand mit deinen Figuren anzustellen, was du möchtest, quäl sie doch mal ein bisschen! Eve mag eine recht behütete Kindheit und Jugend gehabt haben, ein bisschen mehr Grauen könnte sie aber dennoch ertragen. Das würde ihren Charakter stärken und ganz nebenbei die Spannung steigern.
Das nächste Problem ist die Handlung. Eve ist eigentlich das ganze, relativ dünne Buch lang auf der Flucht beziehungsweise auf dem Weg zu einem geheimen Zufluchtsort. Es ist nicht so, dass ihr auf dieser Reise nichts widerfahren würde, aber nichts davon hat mich gepackt oder überrascht. Alles plätschert dahin und mir ist nie der Mund offen stehen geblieben, von einem erhöhten Pulsschlag ganz zu schweigen.
Die Liebesgeschichte ist genau das, was man erwartet. Zu Beginn reagiert Eve Caleb gegenüber zum Glück noch etwas skeptisch (man bedenke, dass sie in ihrer Erziehung ständig gesagt bekommen hat wie manipulativ, machtgierig und böse Männer sind), aber das legt sich schnell. Auch den anderen Jungen, die sie auf ihrer Reise trifft, bringt sie kaum noch Misstrauen entgegen. Diesen Wandel fand ich viel zu abrupt.
Die Beziehung zwischen Eve und Caleb entwickelt sich danach in einem annehmbaren Tempo. Ich musste nicht genervt die Augen verdrehen, aber ich habe mir auch wahrlich nicht die Finger an leidenschaftlich glühenden Seiten verbrannt.
Zu guter Letzt ein paar Sachverhalte, die ich unlogisch fand, die aber zu viel von der Story verraten:
2. Fletcher, der Typ, der Eve und zwei andere Mädchen gefangen nimmt, ist selten dämlich. Wie kann er seine drei Gefangenen mitten in der Nacht alle drei gleichzeitig zum Pinkeln in die nah gelegenen Bäume ziehen lassen?
3. Als Caleb Eve gefunden hat, erzählt er ihr, dass er schweren Herzens sein Pferd für ein Auto eingetauscht hat, um sie zu suchen. Warum? Mit einem Pferd wäre er doch genauso schnell unterwegs gewesen. Außerdem liebt er das Pferd UND es verbraucht kein Benzin (an das schwer heranzukommen ist). Unlogisch.
Kurz und knapp
Ein weiterer unspektakulärer Dystopie-Auftakt. Nach ein paar vielversprechenden ersten Seiten nimmt die Spannung stetig ab und taucht nie wieder auf. Das ganze Buch ist eher eine Einleitung, also lohnt es sich vielleicht auf das Erscheinen der kompletten Trilogie zu warten. In die Fortsetzung werde ich eventuell noch mal einen Blick werfen.
[2,5 Sterne]
Eve beginnt vielversprechend. Ein Mädcheninternat, auf dem den Mädchen und jungen Frauen beigebracht wird wie gefährlich die Männerwelt doch ist, und kurz darauf eine schockierende Entdeckung, die Eve dazu zwingt vor ihrer so gesichert wirkenden Zukunft zu fliehen. Ab da ist leider Schluss mit Schock und Spannung.
Eve ist eine ziemlich naive, aber nicht unsympathische Heldin. Sie macht immer wieder Fehler, was sie menschlicher erscheinen lässt. Leider scheint sie eine Art undurchdringbares „Heldinnenschutzschild“ um sich aufgebaut zu haben. Es ist nämlich egal welcher Gefahr Eve begegnet, sie übersteht jeden Angriff von Mädchenfängern, Beinahevergewaltigern oder Königspolizisten unbeschadet. Das wurde sehr schnell sehr deutlich, weshalb ich in keiner Szene Angst um sie hatte und mitfiebern konnte. Werte Anna Carey, TRAU DICH DOCH BITTE! Du hast es in der Hand mit deinen Figuren anzustellen, was du möchtest, quäl sie doch mal ein bisschen! Eve mag eine recht behütete Kindheit und Jugend gehabt haben, ein bisschen mehr Grauen könnte sie aber dennoch ertragen. Das würde ihren Charakter stärken und ganz nebenbei die Spannung steigern.
Das nächste Problem ist die Handlung. Eve ist eigentlich das ganze, relativ dünne Buch lang auf der Flucht beziehungsweise auf dem Weg zu einem geheimen Zufluchtsort. Es ist nicht so, dass ihr auf dieser Reise nichts widerfahren würde, aber nichts davon hat mich gepackt oder überrascht. Alles plätschert dahin und mir ist nie der Mund offen stehen geblieben, von einem erhöhten Pulsschlag ganz zu schweigen.
Die Liebesgeschichte ist genau das, was man erwartet. Zu Beginn reagiert Eve Caleb gegenüber zum Glück noch etwas skeptisch (man bedenke, dass sie in ihrer Erziehung ständig gesagt bekommen hat wie manipulativ, machtgierig und böse Männer sind), aber das legt sich schnell. Auch den anderen Jungen, die sie auf ihrer Reise trifft, bringt sie kaum noch Misstrauen entgegen. Diesen Wandel fand ich viel zu abrupt.
Die Beziehung zwischen Eve und Caleb entwickelt sich danach in einem annehmbaren Tempo. Ich musste nicht genervt die Augen verdrehen, aber ich habe mir auch wahrlich nicht die Finger an leidenschaftlich glühenden Seiten verbrannt.
Zu guter Letzt ein paar Sachverhalte, die ich unlogisch fand, die aber zu viel von der Story verraten:
Spoiler
1. Eve erfährt, dass sie die Frau des Königs werden soll. Warum denkt so von Anfang an, dass das etwas Schlechtes ist? Könnte so eine Stellung nicht ein Leben im Luxus bedeuten? Vielleicht könnte sie sogar etwas daran verändern, dass Frauen wie Geburtsmaschinen gehalten werden.2. Fletcher, der Typ, der Eve und zwei andere Mädchen gefangen nimmt, ist selten dämlich. Wie kann er seine drei Gefangenen mitten in der Nacht alle drei gleichzeitig zum Pinkeln in die nah gelegenen Bäume ziehen lassen?
3. Als Caleb Eve gefunden hat, erzählt er ihr, dass er schweren Herzens sein Pferd für ein Auto eingetauscht hat, um sie zu suchen. Warum? Mit einem Pferd wäre er doch genauso schnell unterwegs gewesen. Außerdem liebt er das Pferd UND es verbraucht kein Benzin (an das schwer heranzukommen ist). Unlogisch.
Kurz und knapp
Ein weiterer unspektakulärer Dystopie-Auftakt. Nach ein paar vielversprechenden ersten Seiten nimmt die Spannung stetig ab und taucht nie wieder auf. Das ganze Buch ist eher eine Einleitung, also lohnt es sich vielleicht auf das Erscheinen der kompletten Trilogie zu warten. In die Fortsetzung werde ich eventuell noch mal einen Blick werfen.
[2,5 Sterne]
michalice's review against another edition
2.0
I got Eve from netgalley and after seeing it on a few blogs was really looking forward to getting to read it. Dystopian books are a new genre for me to read and I find myself really enjoying them so I am quick to grab up any new books in this genre.
I enjoyed reading about the back story and about finding out what really happens to the girls, and I really liked the friendships portrayed, even the one that is forged as a last resort between Eve and Arden.
I loved Silas and Benny and how when Eve is taken away from the they cried "I Love You" to her, made even more poignant after the meaning of love is described by Eve.
However, I personally think these are the best bits about Eve, I thought it took a lot of reading and explaining to actually get anywhere, not only in the storyline but also the friendship and romance between the characters, and when it was finally starting to get interesting it was over, The End.
I did enjoy the writing style of Anna, but I think the book could have done with more substance to it, and either made it longer, or got to the point sooner so we could get to see what happens next.
I would like to continue reading this series and get to see what happens next with Eve and Caleb, but I would be hesitant about buying my own copy, and would probably try to lend it off someone try to get a copy from a library.
I enjoyed reading about the back story and about finding out what really happens to the girls, and I really liked the friendships portrayed, even the one that is forged as a last resort between Eve and Arden.
I loved Silas and Benny and how when Eve is taken away from the they cried "I Love You" to her, made even more poignant after the meaning of love is described by Eve.
However, I personally think these are the best bits about Eve, I thought it took a lot of reading and explaining to actually get anywhere, not only in the storyline but also the friendship and romance between the characters, and when it was finally starting to get interesting it was over, The End.
I did enjoy the writing style of Anna, but I think the book could have done with more substance to it, and either made it longer, or got to the point sooner so we could get to see what happens next.
I would like to continue reading this series and get to see what happens next with Eve and Caleb, but I would be hesitant about buying my own copy, and would probably try to lend it off someone try to get a copy from a library.
redsilva95's review against another edition
5.0
Depois que uma praga dizimou 98% da população, um homem tomou a liderança da situação, se tornando um rei. Ele é responsável então pela Cidade de Areia, que seria o recomeço da sociedade. Então, somos apresentados a Eva, uma jovem que, assim como um grupo de garotas, faz parte de uma Escola, onde na teoria ela aprenderá ofícios para, assim que se formar, se mudar para a Cidade de Areia. Porém, quando a "bully" da escola, Arden, é pega for Eva fugindo da Escola, é também quando Eva descobre toda a verdade: as garotas se tornarão parideiras, ou seja, por 20 anos elas serão responsáveis apenas por conceber a nova população. Sabendo disso, Eva foge e se infiltra na floresta, onde ela tem que se refugiar com rebeldes, e vai conhecendo aos poucos a realidade que foi escondida dela.
"O amor era o único adversário da morte, a única coisa poderosa o bastante para combater sua força urgente e arrebatadora" (p. 238)
O diferencial dessa história é que a protagonista é humana, ou seja, faz e aprende com seus erros, assim como acompanhamos o seu crescimento. A história, narrada em primeira pessoa pela Eva, também tem personagens bem construídos e desenvolvidos, e a trama é envolvente e viciante. Além do fato de tratar de temas bem pesados. A leitura flui rapidamente, você se identifica com os personagens, e torce pelo casal protagonista. E, ao contrário de outras protagonistas de distopias, Eva realmente conseguiu a façanha de não ser uma mocinha irritante. Encontrei dois erros de revisão, sendo um de gramática, à partir da página 240, mas nada que prejudique a leitura. Recomendo principalmente pra quem gostou de "Delírio", de Lauren Oliver.
"O amor era o único adversário da morte, a única coisa poderosa o bastante para combater sua força urgente e arrebatadora" (p. 238)
O diferencial dessa história é que a protagonista é humana, ou seja, faz e aprende com seus erros, assim como acompanhamos o seu crescimento. A história, narrada em primeira pessoa pela Eva, também tem personagens bem construídos e desenvolvidos, e a trama é envolvente e viciante. Além do fato de tratar de temas bem pesados. A leitura flui rapidamente, você se identifica com os personagens, e torce pelo casal protagonista. E, ao contrário de outras protagonistas de distopias, Eva realmente conseguiu a façanha de não ser uma mocinha irritante. Encontrei dois erros de revisão, sendo um de gramática, à partir da página 240, mas nada que prejudique a leitura. Recomendo principalmente pra quem gostou de "Delírio", de Lauren Oliver.
lanceschaubert's review against another edition
4.0
originally @ - http://literating.wordpress.com/2011/08/31/eve-by-anna-carey/
Well I certainly enjoyed this read for reasons I’ve never enjoyed a book before. In fact, I’m having trouble articulating just what it was that I enjoyed. It wasn’t what I expected. HarperCollins cranked this little sucker off the press, on shelves October the fourth, for anyone interested.
We start out in a post-apocalyptic world where 99% of America got wiped out by some plague in the past. Little Eve is valedictorian at a school for girls:
It had been over a decade since any of us had seen a boy or man, unless you counted the photos of the King that were displayed in the main hall.
America’s run by a new King who wants all of the girls trained up, educated and perfected in every way. When they graduate from one of these schools, they cross over the river to an all-brick building where they learn a trade.
I’d spent hours at the piano, learning Mozart and Beethoven, always with that building off in the distance—the ultimate goal.
But when her arch rival sneaks out of the compound one day, challenging Eve’s assumptions, Eve starts to question everything she’s ever known:
“Wake up!” she hissed. “You think you’re going to learn a trade?” She gestured to the brick building on the other side of the lake. I could barely see it in the growing darkness. “Don’t you ever wonder why the Graduates never come outside? Or why there’s a separate gate for them? Or why there are no windows? You think they’re sending you in there to paint?”
With this, Eve must choose between giving her speech at graduation or running away from the evils her rival warned her about. She finds a world completely different from what she dreamed it would be, filled with unexpected places, experiences and, of course, men.
For those reading or writing YA or who have teenagers, this book is edgy enough to keep their attention (especially the girls – it is, after all, girly) without crossing every boundary you, as a parent, try to uphold.
For those reading or writing post-apocalyptic, you need to get ahold of this book. It does things with the genre that I, until now, have never seen. If you value familiarity with your genre, you need to see what Carey does with women in a post-apocalyptic world.
For those interested in romance, this out-of-the-garden into-the-world quest retraces the faint memory we all have of the first time we fell in love.
The Adamic/Even symbolism and the various corruptions of both genders paint bleak and hope-filled portraits on this post-apocalyptic landscape. Eve pushes men to wrestle with both extremes of passivity and abuse while asking women to see themselves neither as mere carriers of fetuses nor as jack-of-all-trades warrior princesses, but as partners in the happiness of true love. Anyone reading this will be challenged while being entertained.
Carey employs fantastic description:
The old Finding Nemo cards were faded and ripped, some stuck together with dried fig juice.
The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was the sky: a blue, boundless thing that was so much bigger than I had ever imagined.
I had sat in my Dangers of Boys and Men class for an entire year, learning all the ways women were vulnerable to the other sex. First was the Manipulation and Heartache unity. We did a close reading of Romeo and Juliet, studying the way Romeo seduced Juliet and ultimately led her to her death…. During the unit on Domestic Enslavement, we saw old print ads of women in aprons. But the lesson on Gang Mentality was the most terrifying of all.
Fatigue was chasing me.
The smoke billowed up to the ceiling and spread outward, teasing my nostrils with the promise of a meat dinner.
The next afternoon I followed Arden through a field of sunflowers, pushing the giant black-eyed monsters away from my face.
I could go on for another thousand words giving you endless examples of her wonderful use of description and her word-weaving that immerses me into her story. Through this, and through the original concept of the novel, she sold me her story snare, rope and tree branch.
I did, however, find a handful of thorns among the roses...
First, it had many “redemptive” violence scenes, several as a means for deus ex machina. I’m okay with violence in a novel. That might sound weird coming from a peacemaker, but I really do think there’s a difference between violence in a story and violence in real life. For instance, Slumdog millionaire extracts a two-goat theme, the imagery of surrogates, in the ending. The Book of Eli uses violence as a sort of prophetic judgment upon unadulterated evil. Violence, if it’s symbolic, never really means “go be violent.” However, if the violence serves little purpose save but to increase tension, it’s mere violence for violence’s sake. That was the case in many scenes in Eve. There is one gorgeous exception to this critique that develops the characters more than any other moment in the story, but other than the one, I found the violence just… there.
Second, you’ve heard of plot-dumps (Dumbledore), dialog dumps (Gilmore Girls), and description dumps (it was a dark and stormy night & 19th century Brit lit). I’m introducing the “quirk dump.” When a character needs development, but the author gets lazy in showing his/her quirks over time, they dump the quirks like this:
I took the pair of pants I had from our exercises, and the silk pouch of my favorite things. It contained a tiny plastic bird I’d found years ago while digging in the mud. A gold wrapper from the first sucking candy Headmistress had ever given me; the small, tarnished silver bracelet saved from when I’d arrived at school at five; and finally the only letter I had from my mother, the paper yellow and tearing at every crease.
Again, decent description. Poor showing. This comes up only one other time, and though it’s during a climactic scene and delivered with catharsis, I cared much less than I should have. I would have much rather learned about the plastic bird, the gold wrapper, the silver bracelet and ESPECIALLY the letter from mom over the slow course of the narration rather than this rushed, pick-up-everything-I-own paragraph. This is quirk-dumping, and I’m attached to none of it when I read this. Stop telling me why your character’s different than any other and show me. Eve rocks as a main character. Let her rock on.
Third, there were some copyediting mistakes. I realize it’s not the final final final draft, but we’re two months out from the release date. That’s not your fault, Anna, so much as HarperCollins’.
Fourth, a couple of times she ran out of words and grew repetitive, sometimes even predictable. This made the writing distracting which in turn yanked me out of the story at three separate points.
Despite those four discrepancies, I did enjoy the novel. I’m giving it a flat 4.0 out of five (a four on Goodreads) for originality in its class, for fantastic description and for keeping my interest without grossing me out, a hard task in post-apocalyptic. Apparently it's the start of a trilogy...
Fantastic job, Anna.
I learned four new words from this one, but could only find one of them in my stack of papers. Sorry to skimp on the literating this week, gang. I’ll make it up to you next time:
pirouette – (cheifly Ballet) an act of spinning on one foot, typically with the raised foot touching the knee of the supporting leg
Well I certainly enjoyed this read for reasons I’ve never enjoyed a book before. In fact, I’m having trouble articulating just what it was that I enjoyed. It wasn’t what I expected. HarperCollins cranked this little sucker off the press, on shelves October the fourth, for anyone interested.
We start out in a post-apocalyptic world where 99% of America got wiped out by some plague in the past. Little Eve is valedictorian at a school for girls:
It had been over a decade since any of us had seen a boy or man, unless you counted the photos of the King that were displayed in the main hall.
America’s run by a new King who wants all of the girls trained up, educated and perfected in every way. When they graduate from one of these schools, they cross over the river to an all-brick building where they learn a trade.
I’d spent hours at the piano, learning Mozart and Beethoven, always with that building off in the distance—the ultimate goal.
But when her arch rival sneaks out of the compound one day, challenging Eve’s assumptions, Eve starts to question everything she’s ever known:
“Wake up!” she hissed. “You think you’re going to learn a trade?” She gestured to the brick building on the other side of the lake. I could barely see it in the growing darkness. “Don’t you ever wonder why the Graduates never come outside? Or why there’s a separate gate for them? Or why there are no windows? You think they’re sending you in there to paint?”
With this, Eve must choose between giving her speech at graduation or running away from the evils her rival warned her about. She finds a world completely different from what she dreamed it would be, filled with unexpected places, experiences and, of course, men.
For those reading or writing YA or who have teenagers, this book is edgy enough to keep their attention (especially the girls – it is, after all, girly) without crossing every boundary you, as a parent, try to uphold.
For those reading or writing post-apocalyptic, you need to get ahold of this book. It does things with the genre that I, until now, have never seen. If you value familiarity with your genre, you need to see what Carey does with women in a post-apocalyptic world.
For those interested in romance, this out-of-the-garden into-the-world quest retraces the faint memory we all have of the first time we fell in love.
The Adamic/Even symbolism and the various corruptions of both genders paint bleak and hope-filled portraits on this post-apocalyptic landscape. Eve pushes men to wrestle with both extremes of passivity and abuse while asking women to see themselves neither as mere carriers of fetuses nor as jack-of-all-trades warrior princesses, but as partners in the happiness of true love. Anyone reading this will be challenged while being entertained.
Carey employs fantastic description:
The old Finding Nemo cards were faded and ripped, some stuck together with dried fig juice.
The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was the sky: a blue, boundless thing that was so much bigger than I had ever imagined.
I had sat in my Dangers of Boys and Men class for an entire year, learning all the ways women were vulnerable to the other sex. First was the Manipulation and Heartache unity. We did a close reading of Romeo and Juliet, studying the way Romeo seduced Juliet and ultimately led her to her death…. During the unit on Domestic Enslavement, we saw old print ads of women in aprons. But the lesson on Gang Mentality was the most terrifying of all.
Fatigue was chasing me.
The smoke billowed up to the ceiling and spread outward, teasing my nostrils with the promise of a meat dinner.
The next afternoon I followed Arden through a field of sunflowers, pushing the giant black-eyed monsters away from my face.
I could go on for another thousand words giving you endless examples of her wonderful use of description and her word-weaving that immerses me into her story. Through this, and through the original concept of the novel, she sold me her story snare, rope and tree branch.
I did, however, find a handful of thorns among the roses...
First, it had many “redemptive” violence scenes, several as a means for deus ex machina. I’m okay with violence in a novel. That might sound weird coming from a peacemaker, but I really do think there’s a difference between violence in a story and violence in real life. For instance, Slumdog millionaire extracts a two-goat theme, the imagery of surrogates, in the ending. The Book of Eli uses violence as a sort of prophetic judgment upon unadulterated evil. Violence, if it’s symbolic, never really means “go be violent.” However, if the violence serves little purpose save but to increase tension, it’s mere violence for violence’s sake. That was the case in many scenes in Eve. There is one gorgeous exception to this critique that develops the characters more than any other moment in the story, but other than the one, I found the violence just… there.
Second, you’ve heard of plot-dumps (Dumbledore), dialog dumps (Gilmore Girls), and description dumps (it was a dark and stormy night & 19th century Brit lit). I’m introducing the “quirk dump.” When a character needs development, but the author gets lazy in showing his/her quirks over time, they dump the quirks like this:
I took the pair of pants I had from our exercises, and the silk pouch of my favorite things. It contained a tiny plastic bird I’d found years ago while digging in the mud. A gold wrapper from the first sucking candy Headmistress had ever given me; the small, tarnished silver bracelet saved from when I’d arrived at school at five; and finally the only letter I had from my mother, the paper yellow and tearing at every crease.
Again, decent description. Poor showing. This comes up only one other time, and though it’s during a climactic scene and delivered with catharsis, I cared much less than I should have. I would have much rather learned about the plastic bird, the gold wrapper, the silver bracelet and ESPECIALLY the letter from mom over the slow course of the narration rather than this rushed, pick-up-everything-I-own paragraph. This is quirk-dumping, and I’m attached to none of it when I read this. Stop telling me why your character’s different than any other and show me. Eve rocks as a main character. Let her rock on.
Third, there were some copyediting mistakes. I realize it’s not the final final final draft, but we’re two months out from the release date. That’s not your fault, Anna, so much as HarperCollins’.
Fourth, a couple of times she ran out of words and grew repetitive, sometimes even predictable. This made the writing distracting which in turn yanked me out of the story at three separate points.
Despite those four discrepancies, I did enjoy the novel. I’m giving it a flat 4.0 out of five (a four on Goodreads) for originality in its class, for fantastic description and for keeping my interest without grossing me out, a hard task in post-apocalyptic. Apparently it's the start of a trilogy...
Fantastic job, Anna.
I learned four new words from this one, but could only find one of them in my stack of papers. Sorry to skimp on the literating this week, gang. I’ll make it up to you next time:
pirouette – (cheifly Ballet) an act of spinning on one foot, typically with the raised foot touching the knee of the supporting leg
trid_for_kicks's review against another edition
2.0
READING: Eve, by Anna Carey
This book started off promising: it was an interesting concept, and I liked the main character in the beginning. I mean, she was always an A+ student, perfectly obedient, but then goes against everything she knows in order to discover the truth of her world. And then, she does the bravest thing of all, and flees, even though she doesn't know anything about how to survive outside the walls of her school.
But then it goes downhill from there.
Spoiler
The way the author sets up the world, where all the girls are trained and brainwashed to fear and hate men. Based on how she behaves around Pip and Arden, I assumed that there would be some kind of love triangle--I mean, girls get hormones, too, and when there are, A, no men, and B, you're supposed to hate men, then teenage girls would at least experiment. I mean, just look at women's prisons. Anyway, then they drop Gary Stu in the mix, and you can tell immediately that this is the person that Eve is supposed to fall in love with, and it's very carefully orchestrated from there on. We find out that Eve is being hunted by the King, because he wants to rape her so that he can have an heir to his throne, and apparently she's the best candidate because she's smart and perfectly obedient--but wait, she ran away, so I guess she's only got one of the two things that he wanted her for, but for some reason he's still hunting her. Huh. Eventually, they end up at his camp, the dugout (and can I say how annoying it is that Eve is CONSTANTLY referring to the walls as "mud" instead of "dirt"--mud means it's slimy and wet, unstable. If it was all mud, then the caves wouldn't hold together. And one certainly wouldn't want to be touching them or leaning up against them, as everybody seems to be doing. I mean, this is being really nit-picky I know, but sometimes stuff like that just gets under my skin) Then, for some reason, they go to raid the soldiers' camp, and then they STAY THE NIGHT, like there's no possibility that the armed men would come back and find them curled up in their sugar comas. Anyway, then the leader of their group tries to (and possibly succeeds? it wasn't made clear) to rape her, and that, for some reason, makes Gary Stu leave, angrily, and makes Eve sad. This is the point where I gave up on the whole thing, and skimmed the rest of the book. So, apparently Eve and Arden get sold to some slimy guy, and they, and another girl named Lark, escape somehow. They end up with a nice couple who take care of them, until Eve decides to blow their cover and send a not-so-encrypted message to try and tell Gary Stu to come find her, never mind he just took off when she answered in confusion over whether or not she was just raped by his buddy. If she was going to send a message, she should have gotten help from the nice couple: they would have told her the new code (because, come on, of course the bad guys would be trying to catch them, and they would notice the broadcasts, and if a young kid with very little education can decode it, then they sure as HECK can, so obviously the good guys would be making a new code all the time). The nice couple gets killed, along with the new girl they picked up along the way, and then Arden sacrifices herself so Eve could get away. Eve wanders in the wilderness, Gary Stu finds her, they hijack a car, and drive the rest of the way to the safe haven, only to find out that men aren't allowed in there, and Gary Stu knew this all along, so he says "bye, Eve!" and she goes with them.COME ON.
TL:DR? I didn't like the book.
This story had so much potential: the whole situation with brainwashing young girls to have them reproduce and rebuild the population? Pretty crazy. And them being isolated, and girls being rarer than boys because all the girls died--we could go somewhere with this.
But then you start thinking about this dystopia, and it just doesn't work. Apparently, the king has young boys under the age of like, sixteen, doing construction for the whole city. And young girls, also about that age, being the "sows" or mothers for the entire civilization. Okay, um, so, you'll basically kill off all the boys from hard physical labor, and then you kill off the babies that the girls are giving birth to, because they're so traumatized, that something just HAS to go wrong with the pregnancy. If you're going to brainwash these girls their whole life, then have them basically just be baby makers, why not brainwash them to BE baby makers? Why tell them they were going to live in the city with the grown ups and do cool and fun things? If they know they're going to be baby makers when they grow up, and they're taught that that's what they want, then it's a pretty good chance that things will go a lot better.
Anyway, I know a lot of people died, but you would think that at least some of the grown ups would be doing some of this work, building stuff, making babies. This whole civilization is about two or three years from total collapse, and the possible extinction of the human race. But no biggie. We'll let the seven year old boys clean up the mess.
Oh, wait, no, they're dead.
jeslyncat's review against another edition
5.0
THIS is the dystopian-style that has been missing lately! It's great. "Eve" is an accomplishment, and I was really glad that I decided to read it, I almost didn't.
The continuity, the reality, and the emotion that Carey wrote this book with is amazing, and is the opposite of the awful YA I've been reading lately. All of the characters are great, I can't think of a single thing I would change about any of them-even her secondary characters are so...real, and memorable, that I was almost upset when they were no longer an aspect of the story.
I love the action, and I especially love the government style. I've gotten so sick of these big-bad governments that seem driven by invisible forces, but Carey has given her rulers a face and motivation that is beyond realistic.
I also love the bravery that Carey has in her story, she was not afraid to kill people or make them just disappear. It's great. I can't wait to read "Once"!
The continuity, the reality, and the emotion that Carey wrote this book with is amazing, and is the opposite of the awful YA I've been reading lately. All of the characters are great, I can't think of a single thing I would change about any of them-even her secondary characters are so...real, and memorable, that I was almost upset when they were no longer an aspect of the story.
I love the action, and I especially love the government style. I've gotten so sick of these big-bad governments that seem driven by invisible forces, but Carey has given her rulers a face and motivation that is beyond realistic.
I also love the bravery that Carey has in her story, she was not afraid to kill people or make them just disappear. It's great. I can't wait to read "Once"!