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.
I've seen mixed reviews towards this book, from bad to worse to fabulous... I tend to lean toward the side of "loved it ~ would recommend..." I nabbed this book in the audio version, as I was going on a trip that included a long, solo drive, and I thought "why not?". Not sure what made me pick Eve, as I scrolled through the iTunes market, but there it was, and I'm glad I did a quick point and click and hit the road with Anna Carey's novel.
I'm a huge fan of Dystopian fiction in any shape or form, but in this case, it's a plague that's wiped out life as we knew it, paving the way for anyone power-hungry enough to create a monarch-style government and call it good. What the King says goes, from rebuilding a city on the backs of orphans to repopulating the country through brutal "breeding practices." Pretty sick guy hiding behind a hopeful mask, but there are those who see the situation as it is. After all, what would a tyrant be without rebels to stand against him? These are the people Eve must learn to trust, even though everything in her upbringing screams at her not to.
Eve only knows life post-plague, and it's interesting to hear her wonder about things we take for granted every day such as movies, birthday cakes, and co-ed schools. She's booksmart, severely lacking in any type of survival skill, and she's completely naive. This got a little annoying, I will admit, but you have to remember how she was raised. She was taught that men are the enemy and will do whatever it takes to manipulate and destroy women. Not only that, she never thought she had to know how to do things like swim, hunt, and basically think outside the box. She's always done what she was told, believing that that's all she needed to do to flourish. Like I said ~ naive. However, all of this was ingrained into her from the time she arrived at the school as a very young child, so as much as I wanted to scream at her and ask her "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?", I had to remember her state of mind in order to understand her line of thought.
Of course, we have to have someone who brings Eve to the light, and that's where Caleb steps in. He's amused with Eve's seemingly silly distrust and reaction to him, but he just lets her accusing thoughts roll off of him with a monumental amount of patience. He doesn't put an active effort into changing her mind, but is just his wonderful self, allowing Eve to come up with her own judgements in her own time. Their relationship begins slowly ~ I didn't detect the dreaded "instalove" ~ as Caleb unknowingly earns her trust and begins to see that Eve may be slightly blinded by her former life in the schools, but she's willing to learn and do what it takes to survive.
I do want to take a sec to mention Arden... She is, by far, my favorite... She's badass, ruthless, sarcastic, and incredibly smart. She's got a slightly evil streak, but that makes her all the more lovable in my eyes. She's not blind to what's going on around her and she doesn't take what everyone tells her to believe at face value. Of course, she had more experience in the world outside the school's walls than Eve ever did, so maybe that's why she seems to know so much, but still ~ she knows what makes sense and what doesn't...
The writing style was fluid and, while I have a difficulty sometimes imagining the world created through audio books, I had no trouble envisioning everything that was happening to the very last detail. The storyline is heartbreaking and hopeful through and through. The horrific things these people go through day to day ~ it's amazing that they don't break. Constantly running and living from day to day, hoping that sunset won't be your last... It's astounding...
And the end... OH THE END! This pretty much sums up how I was feeling when that last paragraph breathed through the speakers....
Totally, totally blew my mind, and at that moment, I did kinda hate Eve, but I'll say no more on the matter to keep from spoiling it....
I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be moving on to round two. I can't even begin to make a prediction on how the storyline will continue, but I do hope to see Eve grow and become smarter in the ways of the world she knew so little about.. It'll be an interesting journey to unravel...
Happy Reading Everyone :)
~ Keely ~
