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A review by jinny89
Eve by Anna Carey
2.0
(This review is cross posted at http://skyink.net)
2.5.
Eve is an apocalyptic story taking place in the not-so-distant future. The year is 2032. Sixteen years ago, an extremely deadly virus (or plague) along with the vaccine that was supposed to save lives wiped out 98% of the world. Society reorganized itself, the USA now called The New America and ruled by a king in the City of Sand.
Eve, our protagonist, was taken into a girls-only orphange called the School at the age of five, along with many other girls. Her time there was spent given a rudimentary education, but primarily focused on the Dangers of Men and Boys. Eve is the star pupil of the school and the valedictorian of her class. She and her classmates are all graduating very soon, and excited to start their four year study of a trade in the school building across the lake.
This all changes when Eve discovers the true nature of what happens in that building across the lake. What she finds is that all the Graduates who go there are not learning trades at all — they are being used to breed babies, to repopulate the country. Horrified, Eve runs away from School, and eventually comes across the first boy she has seen in a very long time. Wary of Caleb at first, Eve decides to trust him and allow him to help her escape, and along the way, their feelings bloom into a romantic relationship.
I have … mixed feelings about this book. I’ll start with the story world. This is not a HUGE problem, but it was something I pondered over as I read the book. Firstly, the population of the world is roughly 6.7 billion people right now (according to Google). 2% of that is roughly 135 million people. I don’t think that’s a number low enough to start worrying about population issues. Yes, it’s a lot less than 6.7 billion, but is it enough that you need to start forcing girls to have babies, using them as breeding machines? I’ll let you decide.
I also don’t understand why society (specifically, American society) would decide they don’t want to be ruled democratically anymore and follow a self-proclaimed king instead. “Why would society become like this?” is a question I have been having in a lot of YA dystopian/apocalyptic books lately (Wither, Divergent as examples). The answer Eve gives is that the virus killed everyone too quick, nearly all the politicians as well, and with all this chaos, people clung to the first signs of leadership they could find. I’m not entirely convinced by this answer. Yes, there is mass chaos and people are dropping like flies, but I don’t know if the survivors will willingly attach themselves to a self proclaimed king despite the situation. If this guy made himself the new President, even if a totalitarian President, that’s a little more believable. Perhaps this is all just a semantics issue I have.
As for the ‘breeding program’, I think I have a much better idea, haha. I don’t see why they just tell the young girls at School from a very young age that they are being raised to bear children. Condition them to think that they are serving their country. That way, they will have completely have accepted it from a young age (much like how they accepted hating men) and they won’t have any resistance to being pregnant; they won’t have to deal with the shock and horror, and instead, have little obedient “sows”, as they are called in the book. I don’t know, maybe this new King isn’t very smart, but this is what I would order for in his position. I do realize this would completely change the entire story though.
I did not like the main character Eve at all. I tried to be forgiving at first because she was raised from a very young age to hate men, and she is completely sheltered. I told myself, “Eve can’t help it if she’s naive, it’s the way she’s brought up”. But as the story continued, it became harder and harder to justify liking Eve. She does a lot of stupid things that gets herself and her friends in mortal peril. I also found her quite self centered. I mean, the ending is a perfect example that points to Eve caring more about herself than Caleb (or anyone else). I see absolutely no redeeming qualities as to why Caleb would decide he’s in love with her. I’m glad they didn’t fall in love at first sight, but there doesn’t seem to be a reason as to why they would fall in love.
Eve is also a psychotic feminist. Well, yes, she was raised that way, but I as I read the book, I was upset that nearly every male Eve encountered reinforced her knowledge of men. Men are represented horribly in this book. First she sees guys acting crude and violent, then she finds a group of guys who only stare at her body, then she nearly gets raped and … well, you get the idea. The exception is Caleb, of course. I was actually quite surprised how quickly Eve warmed up to Caleb. I didn’t think a person who has been taught nearly all her life to beware of men would fall in love with one in a few weeks’ time.
I said I have mixed feelings though, and this is why: I do like the general plot. The gist of it is that Eve is running away from School and trying to reach the safe camp of Califia, who are helping women and girls escape their predestined fate of being “sows”, as they are called in the book. Eve meets a bunch of characters along the way and encounters all sorts of life and death situations; overall, I do like the plot. The writing is great as well. I personally found it quite engaging — a bit slow at times, but nothing major — and I zipped through the book in no time flat.
I don’t think there’s any hope for me to ever like Eve, but I do feel exciting things are in store for future installments. I think this book was alright, but certainly can be better. With that all said, do realize that anything can happen from now until the book is officially published though!
2.5.
Eve is an apocalyptic story taking place in the not-so-distant future. The year is 2032. Sixteen years ago, an extremely deadly virus (or plague) along with the vaccine that was supposed to save lives wiped out 98% of the world. Society reorganized itself, the USA now called The New America and ruled by a king in the City of Sand.
Eve, our protagonist, was taken into a girls-only orphange called the School at the age of five, along with many other girls. Her time there was spent given a rudimentary education, but primarily focused on the Dangers of Men and Boys. Eve is the star pupil of the school and the valedictorian of her class. She and her classmates are all graduating very soon, and excited to start their four year study of a trade in the school building across the lake.
This all changes when Eve discovers the true nature of what happens in that building across the lake. What she finds is that all the Graduates who go there are not learning trades at all — they are being used to breed babies, to repopulate the country. Horrified, Eve runs away from School, and eventually comes across the first boy she has seen in a very long time. Wary of Caleb at first, Eve decides to trust him and allow him to help her escape, and along the way, their feelings bloom into a romantic relationship.
I have … mixed feelings about this book. I’ll start with the story world. This is not a HUGE problem, but it was something I pondered over as I read the book. Firstly, the population of the world is roughly 6.7 billion people right now (according to Google). 2% of that is roughly 135 million people. I don’t think that’s a number low enough to start worrying about population issues. Yes, it’s a lot less than 6.7 billion, but is it enough that you need to start forcing girls to have babies, using them as breeding machines? I’ll let you decide.
I also don’t understand why society (specifically, American society) would decide they don’t want to be ruled democratically anymore and follow a self-proclaimed king instead. “Why would society become like this?” is a question I have been having in a lot of YA dystopian/apocalyptic books lately (Wither, Divergent as examples). The answer Eve gives is that the virus killed everyone too quick, nearly all the politicians as well, and with all this chaos, people clung to the first signs of leadership they could find. I’m not entirely convinced by this answer. Yes, there is mass chaos and people are dropping like flies, but I don’t know if the survivors will willingly attach themselves to a self proclaimed king despite the situation. If this guy made himself the new President, even if a totalitarian President, that’s a little more believable. Perhaps this is all just a semantics issue I have.
As for the ‘breeding program’, I think I have a much better idea, haha. I don’t see why they just tell the young girls at School from a very young age that they are being raised to bear children. Condition them to think that they are serving their country. That way, they will have completely have accepted it from a young age (much like how they accepted hating men) and they won’t have any resistance to being pregnant; they won’t have to deal with the shock and horror, and instead, have little obedient “sows”, as they are called in the book. I don’t know, maybe this new King isn’t very smart, but this is what I would order for in his position. I do realize this would completely change the entire story though.
I did not like the main character Eve at all. I tried to be forgiving at first because she was raised from a very young age to hate men, and she is completely sheltered. I told myself, “Eve can’t help it if she’s naive, it’s the way she’s brought up”. But as the story continued, it became harder and harder to justify liking Eve. She does a lot of stupid things that gets herself and her friends in mortal peril. I also found her quite self centered. I mean, the ending is a perfect example that points to Eve caring more about herself than Caleb (or anyone else). I see absolutely no redeeming qualities as to why Caleb would decide he’s in love with her. I’m glad they didn’t fall in love at first sight, but there doesn’t seem to be a reason as to why they would fall in love.
Eve is also a psychotic feminist. Well, yes, she was raised that way, but I as I read the book, I was upset that nearly every male Eve encountered reinforced her knowledge of men. Men are represented horribly in this book. First she sees guys acting crude and violent, then she finds a group of guys who only stare at her body, then she nearly gets raped and … well, you get the idea. The exception is Caleb, of course. I was actually quite surprised how quickly Eve warmed up to Caleb. I didn’t think a person who has been taught nearly all her life to beware of men would fall in love with one in a few weeks’ time.
I said I have mixed feelings though, and this is why: I do like the general plot. The gist of it is that Eve is running away from School and trying to reach the safe camp of Califia, who are helping women and girls escape their predestined fate of being “sows”, as they are called in the book. Eve meets a bunch of characters along the way and encounters all sorts of life and death situations; overall, I do like the plot. The writing is great as well. I personally found it quite engaging — a bit slow at times, but nothing major — and I zipped through the book in no time flat.
I don’t think there’s any hope for me to ever like Eve, but I do feel exciting things are in store for future installments. I think this book was alright, but certainly can be better. With that all said, do realize that anything can happen from now until the book is officially published though!