Eve

2.5 Stars
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.

 I have to say that this book moved very slow in my opinion. It started off well enough describing the world Eve lives in, but from there it just seemed to drag on and on and never gave away many details. It describes her life and the school she is currently at the horrible secret she discovers about her society, but it never gives back story other than "the virus" wiped out most of the population. That's it? That's all you're going to give me, no back story about where the virus came from or anything? So in this society New America it is ruled by a King who is using the orphans of the virus to build a new empire. Girls are taught to fear men to not trust them; that men are the root of all evil that befalls a woman. Eve is the exemplary student in every way, which of course is what gets her in trouble. She runs away after seeing the future that is in store for her. She is found by who other than a Man the very thing she has been brainwashed not to trust. After Caleb finally gets her to trust him and makes her believe that maybe the lessons might be wrong, things go all down hill. It is actually her naivety for the world she is in that ends her up in all the trouble. She is wronged by many men and left to her own defenses transforming her from the naive girl she was to a hardened woman who has seen much hardship and tragedy. And to top this off after reading it to the end and hoping for a good ending, it turns out to be a trilogy. So maybe some of the points about the back story not being built will be resolved with the following books.