Eve

Eve
by Anna Carey

Where do you go when nowhere is safe?

Sixteen years after a deadly virus wiped out most of Earth’s population, the world is a perilous place. Eighteen-year-old Eve has never been beyond the heavily guarded perimeter of her school, where she and two hundred other orphaned girls have been promised a future as the teachers and artists of the New America. But the night before graduation, Eve learns the shocking truth about her school’s real purpose—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 Arden, her former rival from school, and 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. (description from Amazon.com)

I finally took the time on my vacation to just read books I had in my Nook, but had never gotten to...and let me tell you, this particular book turned out to be an EXCELLENT plane read.  It was just the right length, not too long, not too short. It had just the right balance of action and emotion and I could not turn the pages fast enough. I sped through this one and immediately wished I had invested in the second and third books before takeoff.  

I want to learn more! More about everything.  Who is the mysterious King that wants Eve for his own.  How on earth did we Americans let ourselves really get to the horrible point that Eve's generation now finds themselves in, with women and men terrified to interact and women being bred like cattle (*shudders*)..

As much as I always have that niggling feeling that characters fall in love too fast in these circumstances and there is something a little formulaic about how Eve and Caleb are drawn in to each other, (girl meets boy is terrified, he saves her, she intrigues him, he saves her again...etc) overall, I just liked their two characters together too much for it to matter.  I *wanted* them to succeed and be able to just be together... 

That was really what I loved about this book. It wasn't the best I've ever read by any means, but I was thoroughly invested in it. Carey MADE me care.  Kudos for that. 


Full disclosure: eARC originally from Netgalley, book purchased on my Nook

Birthmarked

Birthmarked
by Caragh O'Brien

In the future, in a world baked dry by the harsh sun, there are those who live inside the wall and those, like sixteen-year-old midwife, Gaia Stone, who live outside. Gaia has always believed it is her duty, with her mother, to hand over a small quota of babies to the Enclave. But when Gaia’s mother and father are arrested by the very people they so dutifully serve, Gaia is forced to question everything she has been taught to believe. Gaia’s choice is now simple: enter the world of the Enclave to rescue her parents, or die trying. (description from Amazon.com)

I really enjoyed this dystopia. I thought that O'Brien did a really great job slowly revealing where and when this took place. (I really enjoyed having the included "map" of the area to reference, too...) I thought it was an interesting conundrum to address...what would happen if an insular society kept breeding only within its own walls...

I really enjoyed how sheltered Gaia was initially and how she slowly begins to piece together the moral horrors of her "perfect" enclave society. It made her seem a much stronger character that she was just innocent of the knowledge originally and then as she came to learn things, she faced them head on, refusing to back down from what she knew was right.

I really felt like all the secrets connected to her nuclear family really brought home all of the dysfunctions of this society, too. Gaia was not above dealing with any of the issues, because each affected her directly in some way.

Well done. I'm looking forward to reading Prized soon!