I was really excited for this book. I’m not even sure why. I hadn’t heard of it previous to going to Comic Con but when it was talked about at the HarperCollins panel I decided it must be mine. Luckily they were giving out copies on Sunday so I snagged one. (Though I didn’t have time to meet the author.)
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 thought Eve suffered a little from a lack of world building. There seemed just enough to get the story going but not quite enough to have everything make sense. I’m really hoping this is addressed later in the series.
The relationship between Eve and Caleb is very well done and I was thankful that it didn’t go from fear and distrust to love overnight. Eve has to take her time to learn the truth about men as she’s been lied to all her life about them. Though my favourite relationship in the book is definitely between Eve and her friend Arden. They clashed so well at the beginning and then were forced to go on the run together. It was interesting to watch their friendship unfold.
Arden was one of the most believable characters in Eve. She was tough and knew what she was doing in this world. Lied when she had to and didn’t feel bad about it. A perfect foil to Eve who’d bought into the lies the government had told her all her life and was generally a nice, naive person.
So, while this wouldn’t be the first dystopian I would recommend it was definitely a fun read full of excitement and a potentially interesting world. I’m reserving total judgement until I read the rest of the series. It could really go either way.