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A review by jennaraetions
Eden Rising by Ash S.-J., Shade Owens
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This took me a bit to get into. What I've learned is that for some reason, assaulting my husband with a lecture containing every detail and plot point about the book I'm reading that I'm not super into makes me see how good it really is. That happened with the last two books I was "meh" about.
This book is basically Handmaids Tale without religion, with some differences, but that's the easiest way to say it. The main one being the women won before Gilead happened but nothing went back to normal, or even a society. They're barely the same, actually, but it gets the gender violence point across pretty well to anyone reading this.
For a while, it was just a dystopian book with okay writing. Nothing new or super impactful, and it almost seemed like just a book written for angry feminists but not super well or interestingly. I happen to be an angry feminist, so I stuck with it because I'm tired of starting books and switching. And when I say okay writing, I mean it literally. It just seemed slightly deadpan, or the kind of writing that states things that don't need stated. Thoughts a character is having that are so obvious it's like the author thinks you're stupid. It's hard to explain, but if you've experienced that, you know what I mean. It wasn't anything to stop reading over, but also wasn't something I was completely engrossed in.
My main frustration was that it was taking so long to find out what "actually happened" during the war. The book alternates between 3 perspectives, with a "before" and "present day" going back and forth for each (so basically 6 perspectives which was very difficult at first for my adhd pea brain). Things that happened during the war are referenced or hinted at almost constantly, but the" before"s sooo sloooowly inched towards the actual shit that happened that it was stressful. Not a slow burn, persay, there's always crazy shit happening, but you want that desire to read something super fucked up to be scratched, yknow? Eventually I accepted that it was purposefully stretching it over the course of the book and in the end, it really made sense. I was mostly just being impatient. I figured that payoff was most of the reason I was still reading it and it was frustrating.
But somewhere around 50% all the set up came together so it could really get into the story, the author hit their groove in earnest, and the story got so good and compelling and addicting.
I will say this book absolutely needs some tws for sexual assault, rape, and almost every kind of violence. That being said, the plot was so good. Eventually, the characters were so good. Even before I fell in love with the main characters, the book is really good at making you hate the people you're supposed to hate. Those descriptions are top notch.
Imagining the world in this book is unfortunately too easy, but also so fucking crazy. None of it seems unbelievable. Even just the scene with the news anchors was so fucking accurate and perfectly something that would absolutely happen that it hurt.
I never really fell in love with Lucy but I am so fucking excited to see where it all goes with Eve and Gabriel and even Zack. So glad I stuck with this.
This book is basically Handmaids Tale without religion, with some differences, but that's the easiest way to say it. The main one being the women won before Gilead happened but nothing went back to normal, or even a society. They're barely the same, actually, but it gets the gender violence point across pretty well to anyone reading this.
For a while, it was just a dystopian book with okay writing. Nothing new or super impactful, and it almost seemed like just a book written for angry feminists but not super well or interestingly. I happen to be an angry feminist, so I stuck with it because I'm tired of starting books and switching. And when I say okay writing, I mean it literally. It just seemed slightly deadpan, or the kind of writing that states things that don't need stated. Thoughts a character is having that are so obvious it's like the author thinks you're stupid. It's hard to explain, but if you've experienced that, you know what I mean. It wasn't anything to stop reading over, but also wasn't something I was completely engrossed in.
My main frustration was that it was taking so long to find out what "actually happened" during the war. The book alternates between 3 perspectives, with a "before" and "present day" going back and forth for each (so basically 6 perspectives which was very difficult at first for my adhd pea brain). Things that happened during the war are referenced or hinted at almost constantly, but the" before"s sooo sloooowly inched towards the actual shit that happened that it was stressful. Not a slow burn, persay, there's always crazy shit happening, but you want that desire to read something super fucked up to be scratched, yknow? Eventually I accepted that it was purposefully stretching it over the course of the book and in the end, it really made sense. I was mostly just being impatient. I figured that payoff was most of the reason I was still reading it and it was frustrating.
But somewhere around 50% all the set up came together so it could really get into the story, the author hit their groove in earnest, and the story got so good and compelling and addicting.
I will say this book absolutely needs some tws for sexual assault, rape, and almost every kind of violence. That being said, the plot was so good. Eventually, the characters were so good. Even before I fell in love with the main characters, the book is really good at making you hate the people you're supposed to hate. Those descriptions are top notch.
Imagining the world in this book is unfortunately too easy, but also so fucking crazy. None of it seems unbelievable. Even just the scene with the news anchors was so fucking accurate and perfectly something that would absolutely happen that it hurt.
I never really fell in love with Lucy but I am so fucking excited to see where it all goes with Eve and Gabriel and even Zack. So glad I stuck with this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment