Trigger Warning:
Sexism, Slavery,
Attempted Rape,
Where do you go when nowhere is safe?
After a deadly virus wiped out most of Earth’s population, the world is a terrifying 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 bright future in 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 Caleb, a rough, rebellious boy living in the wild. Caleb slowly wins her trust . . . and her heart. But when soldiers begin hunting them, Eve must choose between true love and her life.
For some reason I thought that Eve was a story that I would end up loving (when I bought it), but its been quite a few years since I’ve bought not only the first book, but the rest of the Eve trilogy as well. I had mixed feelings going into Eve. Before I even read the first page, I was looking forward to reading Eve. Yet when I started reading the first chapter, I started to dread reading this book.
Frankly, I thought that by the end of the first 50 pages, I would stop reading Eve‘s story and go start reading another book. That I would end up forgetting about Eve for a few months, maybe (probably years), and then try again. Yet I ended up reading the who book.
What I didn’t like about Eve was that there’s blatant sexism right from the get go. Eve takes place after the year 2025, and by then as far as we know ,about 98% of the world’s population has died due to a plague virus. The catch is that the vaccine that they thought would help them ended up targeting those who had taken the vaccination. For the last 2% of the population, there’s a severe divide between the sexes.
The women stick to their own. I can really only call them Woman-only concentration camps. The King wants there to be a higher population and so the young orphans are raised in School. Once they graduate these viable young ladies, and young women who are able to, are put under a medically induced sleep. Then the women are used as sows. The catch is, little to know one know about this. It’s all very need-to-know-basis.
And the orphans who are boys are taken into slave labour camps. From the moment they’re taken (as young as two) are put to work taking apart houses and rebuilding them for the rich. They’re not cared for.
When I started reading Eve, I thought the story would start out by leading up to Eve’s graduation. And it does—-the novel starts the night before Eve’s graduation. However, I thought that the story would take place over a few weeks before her graduation day. That the plot for Eve would really only start going by the end of the novel.
Instead, Eve starts with a letter to Eve herself, written by Eve’s mother. Which gives us a huge hint as to how life on Earth was in 2025.
I liked that the while Eve is making her way to Califia, we see her memories of *before* when she was still living with her mother, and before Eve went to School.
I didn’t expect this from Eve, but there was only one scene that hit me right in the freakin’ feels. The scene is burned into my memory. Like, these poor babies. I hope they’re in the next books and that nothing bad happens to them.
I also really liked that Eve turned out to be a quick read. I was worried that the story would be drawn out. Needless to say, the plot goes underway seriously fast.
Overall, Eve gave me a few surprises.
I give Eve, 2 stars.
Have you read Eve? I know that this book is older than quite a few books, seeing as how it was published back in 2014.
Happy Reading!
— Adele
Adele Is Reading 
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