Review of Eve by Anna Carey

Title: Eve
Author: Anna Carey
Narrator: Tavia Gilbert
Published by: Harper Audio
Length: 6 hours and 30 minutes
Source: Won in a contest
Format: Audio
Rating:

Summary from Goodreads: 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.

Do you ever find yourself having an internal struggle with the main character? 

This is exactly what happened for me with Eve.  I would get so exasperated with her and how naive she was, and then I'd have to remind myself how she was brought up and what her beliefs were up to the point when she left school.  There were times I literally wanted to shake her and tell her to grow up and then again I'd remind myself of her upbringing.  Eve wasn't a character I particularly liked or connected to.  For me she just felt to innocent and even though her reality was terrifying I thought that after a day or so it would have opened her eyes and changed her attitude.  I don't think the whole truth of reality and her decisions ever set in.   

I also felt she was careless.  She got a lot of people killed because of her naivety and because she couldn't fully grasp the intricacies of this world outside of what she's always known.  Maybe I'm being too harsh on Eve, but I never really connected with her enough to end up liking her.  I felt like she was constantly messing up and endangering those around and never really understtod the consequences of her actions.   

As for the story, it held my attention and kept me interested.  I wish there would have been more on how people are living outside the reign of the ruler and how the plague came about in the first place.  I'm thinking this will be a bigger part of the next books in the series as bits and pieces were mentioned in this novel. 

I think other people will really enjoy this book.  The issue for me was that I didn't like the main character and if I don't like the main character I have a hard time enjoying the book.  I think for others if they can connect with Eve or maybe not judge her as harshly as I did this will be a pleasurable read for them.