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A review by drjoannehill
The Eve Illusion by Giovanna Fletcher, Tom Fletcher
3.0
Book 2 of a series set in the near future, where there were no girls born for 50 years, until Eve arrived. Women had been struggling to conceive for a while before then.
I feel like there is more that could be written about the world in which this series is set and so I found this book disappointing compared to the first, Eve of Man, which is more firmly based just in life in the large EPO Tower built to house and imprison Eve. I appreciate it is YA but I would be fascinated to read more about ordinary people in this world - who lives in the cloudscrapers not in poverty in the flooded old city? Where does the EPO get resources and labour to build this huge Tower in just 16 years? How do the younger men of this world find romantic or emotional connection with each other (the world is built in a very heteronormative way which is weird given the circumstances, that there's only a few women, all over 65, and surely gay relationships would be more common). Have the remaining older women had very difficult lives and been especially at risk of sexual violence? Why is the glass building (obviously the Shard) empty of people if it is still a nice building? How old is the youngest boy?
Basically there's holes in the way the world is built and a strange glossing over of facts about London / a weird attempt to hide where they are but also drop major clues about the buildings and geography of London.
I will read book 3 when it arrives but really hope for a more complete view of this world!
I feel like there is more that could be written about the world in which this series is set and so I found this book disappointing compared to the first, Eve of Man, which is more firmly based just in life in the large EPO Tower built to house and imprison Eve. I appreciate it is YA but I would be fascinated to read more about ordinary people in this world - who lives in the cloudscrapers not in poverty in the flooded old city? Where does the EPO get resources and labour to build this huge Tower in just 16 years? How do the younger men of this world find romantic or emotional connection with each other (the world is built in a very heteronormative way which is weird given the circumstances, that there's only a few women, all over 65, and surely gay relationships would be more common). Have the remaining older women had very difficult lives and been especially at risk of sexual violence? Why is the glass building (obviously the Shard) empty of people if it is still a nice building? How old is the youngest boy?
Basically there's holes in the way the world is built and a strange glossing over of facts about London / a weird attempt to hide where they are but also drop major clues about the buildings and geography of London.
I will read book 3 when it arrives but really hope for a more complete view of this world!