Review of Eve by Anna Carey

Title: Eve
Series:  The Eve Trilogy
Author:  Anna Carey
Genre:  YA, dystopian, post apocalyptic
Format:  Ebook, 336 pages
Publication Date:  September 27, 2011
Published By:  HarperCollins Publishers, HarperTeen
Source:  ARC from NetGalley

Synopsis from Goodreads

The year is 2032, sixteen years after a deadly virus—and the vaccine intended to protect against it—wiped out most of the earth’s population. The night before eighteen-year-old Eve’s graduation from her all-girls school she discovers what really happens to new graduates, and the horrifying fate that awaits her.

Fleeing the only home she’s ever known, Eve sets off on a long, treacherous journey, searching for a place she can survive. Along the way she encounters Caleb, a rough, rebellious boy living in the wild. Separated from men her whole life, Eve has been taught to fear them, but Caleb slowly wins her trust...and her heart. He promises to protect her, but when soldiers begin hunting them, Eve must choose between true love and her life.

My Thoughts

This book had a very intriguing premise, which is what attracted my attention when I was perusing books to review on NetGalley. I'm a huge sucker for the dystopian/post apocalyptic YA genre, and there has been so many good choices to read.

Eve was very well written and had a promising story. A serious disease has killed a large chunk of the population, leaving many children orphaned. Schools have been set up to welcome these children in (boys and girls are kept completely separate in different schools and never even see each other) where they are educated, medicated and housed until their 18th year. The girls are taught to fear the male of the species, being told they are nothing but animals who are intent on lying to them until they can satisfy their urges and then abandon them. (It's not until later that we find out more about the boys and their "education".) Once they reach their 18th year they "graduate" to the next area where they will begin their more focused career training. Or so they have been lead to believe...

We very early discover that things are not what they are expected to be, and the girls are being kept for more sinister reasons. The reasons, although I sat and tried to think very hard about how it might actually could happen in the real world, come off as too far-fetched to me. I don't see why the school would focus so closely on education and keeping them away from some of the things from the past just so they can house them up later and force them to pop out babies while they remain strapped on hospital beds. It just doesn't make much sense to me.

My main issue with this book is the main character, Eve. She is one of the most annoying main characters I have met in a very long time. She is weak, annoying and selfish. Her choices are wishy washy and completely unrealistic, going against characteristics that are laid out for her in the story. First she is strong, then she wimps out, then she wants to do whatever she can for a person, then leaves them behind, she's completely unpredictable. She is so immature I often just wished the author left her behind to die in a corner somewhere. That might sound harsh, but it's how I feel. I had a better connection with Eve's friend, Arden. She is strong and true and willing to give up anything to help those closest to her. I hope we see more of her in book two. I also hope Eve takes a cue from Meghan (The Iron Fey series) and does some growing up over the next book or two. I'm not sure how much more I can stand to read from her...

On top of all that, the ending was another one of this horrible cliffhangers I hate so much...

Really?

/groans

The writing style, the "promise" of a good story, and the hope that Eve is using this book to learn and mature are the only things that saved me from ranking this book lower...

My rating?