Eve by Anna Carey

In the not too distant future the New America has risen from the ashes of a devastating plague under the rule of a benevolent King who wants to protect the orphans left behind while building up the future of their country.  Eve lives in one of the Schools, a place of safety where she learns about the dangers of the world outside the sheltering walls of the school, a world of wild dog packs and men.  Eve has been taught to be wary of men, to suspect them of manipulation and betrayal, and she dreads the day that she might meet one. 

Most of her life has been spent studying and learning the ways of her future, preparing for the day that she will leave the school and take her place in the world.  The one sour spot in her world is Arden, the only school rebel, a troublemaker that makes Eve so angry she can barely stand it - especially when she catches Arden trying to escape from the school.  Making the decision to find out the truth, Eve discovers the secret she was never supposed to know - her future is not to be one of the bright new minds rebuilding the future of New America, her future is to help breed the future population while she is strapped down to a bed.  Given the chance to escape Eve flees from the school, but she didn't count on how badly she will be missed, or the search that will place her life at risk, along with the lives of those who join her on her journey to the distance promise of safety.

There is a real trend at the moment to write books about a future dystopian society that all began because of a plague that has wiped out large chunks of the population - along with the side sub-genre that is all about losing part of the population that comes back as zombies.  Eve is a deftly written, fast paced read that keeps up the action while keeping the story believable.   There is a little sense of skipping over some of the details, but this book would lose a lot of its charm if it became too bogged down in detail.  This is the first book in a promised trilogy, and if Carey can keep up the pace and the action then the rest of the series promises to be very interesting.

Eve is just what you would hope for in a heroine - she is not too smart or dumb, she is pretty but not so stunning that she is unbelievable, and she has big flaws that change and reduce as the story moves along.  Her supporting cast as also well written providing a more worldly balance to Eve's charming and sheer naivety about the world around her and how things really are (as opposed to what she has been raised to believe the world is like).  There is some violence, but it is not gory or gratuitous, and there is some reference to sexual attraction, but not to a level that makes it unsuitable for younger teen readers.  This story will appeal more to the girls than the boys, but there is enough action here to keep boys interested if they take a punt on a book that has a very girly name.

If you like this book then try:

• The hunger games by Suzanne Collings
• Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
• Among the hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
• Inside out by Maria V. Snyder
• Virals by Kathy Reichs
• Graceling by Kristin Cashore
• Behind the gates by Eva Gray
• The silver crown by Robert C. O'Brien
• Rot and ruin by Jonathan Maberry
• The forest of hands and teeth by Carrie Ryan

Reviewed by Brilla