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.
You can hardly swing a cat in a library these days without hitting some new YA Dystopian book. Not that I condone cat swinging, but you get the picture. The Dystopian genre has grown quite large these past few years due to, as I believe, the accomplishment and mass-buzz surrounding The Hunger Games. Much like the Twilight craze, many authors have hoped to hop on the Dystopian wave, bringing along dozens of books featuring future corrupted governments and renegading rebels. Although some have broken away from the strict mold *cough cough* Divergent, many remain unoriginal and downright boring. I’m happy to report that Eve is the former! Between the fast-paced and feverishly page-flipping induced storyline and the well-rounded and interesting cast of characters, I’ve got no bones to pick with Eve.
In 2032, after a devastating bout of world-wide disease we meet Eve, a best friend, an orphan, a school valedictorian and a survivor. Dubbed one of the brightest students since the 21st century plague demolished the majority of earth’s human population, Eve is expected to do great things once she graduates. However these great things are only defined as “trades”. Until one becomes an actual 12th year graduate, true life after school remains a mystery. As a female student in 2032, throughout her whole life Eve’s been taught and warned away from the wicked, manipulative and deadly ways of the male species.
After a startling realization the night before she’s set to deliver her valedictorian speech, Eve runs away from the academy only to run into a new set of problems. Alone, hungry, and utterly confused she treks through the ghost towns left decimated by the plague. Along the way she meets up with Arden, a fellow student and run away, the one who originally opened Eve’s eyes to the horror that awaits graduation. Caleb enters the picture when Eve, in need of saving, stumbles upon a grizzly and fiercely-protective mother bear. Confused and afraid at first, Eve quickly begins to realize that her whole life has been a lie.
Between learning to survive in the wilderness and coming to terms with the “big” picture Eve grows as a character in every possible way. For a girl who was once regarded as the most well-behaved and manageable student at her academy, she quickly assimilates into her new life. She undergoes a massive transformation although always remaining kind, generous, and pure throughout. I, along with just about every character in the book are completely smitten with her, some in romantic ways and others in family-like ways. Eve is just one of those characters that you find yourself rooting for wholeheartedly throughout the story.
Terrifying, yet full of hope, romance, and adventure, there’s just so many reasons to love Eve. I can’t even keep all my thoughts in place! Seriously it’s like a storm of squishy-hugging feelings going on in my head. Like Eve says,
Loving someone meant knowing your life will be worse without them in it.
I’d definitely be worse without ever experiencing the creativity and magic that is Eve.
