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Eve of Man #1
Eve of Man
AGAINST ALL ODDS, SHE SURVIVED.
THE FIRST GIRL BORN IN FIFTY YEARS.
THEY CALLED HER EVE . . .
THE FIRST GIRL BORN IN FIFTY YEARS.
THEY CALLED HER EVE . . .
Described by Giovanna and Tom as an unconventional love story set in a dystopian future, Eve of Man is the tale of what happens when you turn sixteen and realise you're the most important person in the world.
Do you embrace your fate - or do you run from it?
409 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2018
674 people are currently reading
14582 people want to read
About the author
Giovanna Fletcher
24 books6,185 followersGiovanna grew up in Essex with her Italian dad Mario, mum Kim, big sister Giorgina and little brother Mario, and spent most of her childhood talking to herself (it seems no one wanted to listen) or reading books.
At thirteen she left Essex behind to attend the full-time Sylvia Young Theatre School, where she met her husband Tom Fletcher. Following SYTS she completed an acting BA (hons) at Rose Bruford – since then she's been acting, chaperoning mini actors and dabbling in a spot of freelance journalism.
Giovanna is a firm believer in the power of magpies and positive energy. To see what makes Giovanna smile, view her blog at www.giovannasworld.com, or her Twitter page @mrsgifletcher
Billy and Me is Giovanna's debut novel.
At thirteen she left Essex behind to attend the full-time Sylvia Young Theatre School, where she met her husband Tom Fletcher. Following SYTS she completed an acting BA (hons) at Rose Bruford – since then she's been acting, chaperoning mini actors and dabbling in a spot of freelance journalism.
Giovanna is a firm believer in the power of magpies and positive energy. To see what makes Giovanna smile, view her blog at www.giovannasworld.com, or her Twitter page @mrsgifletcher
Billy and Me is Giovanna's debut novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,888 reviews
September 5, 2022
Rounded down from roughly 4.5 stars ⭐️ the sci-fi and dystopian genres are something I haven’t explored much before, but I don’t know why because I really enjoyed this book!
Eve of Man follows Eve, the only girl to have been born in 50 years. She is necessary to keep the human race going. However, life starts to take her down a path that her captors had never planned for her when she meets Bram.
I can honestly say I have never read anything like this before and I was completely sucked in by the plot. I found it so unique and it brought about some thought-provoking ideas. I loved the short chapters and the changing of point of view between Bram and Eve. I also loved that it touches on some important topics, such as the beauty in Mother Nature and the danger in humans abusing the world we live in. I found myself really sucked into the vivid world that was created. I could picture it all so clearly in my mind. I particularly liked the parts that were based outside of the tower. I would love to see more of this throughout the trilogy!
This was going to be a definite 5 star read for me until the book started nearing the end. I just found myself feeling ever so slightly confused by what peoples motives were and what was going on. This may be a personal issue though. That being said, I absolutely loved this book and cannot wait to read the next book in the trilogy! This is definitely a book that leaves you wanting more, more answers, and more closure.
I would recommend this to anyone who wants to try (or enjoys) sci-fi and dystopian fiction but please be aware that it reads in quite a YA tone.
Eve of Man follows Eve, the only girl to have been born in 50 years. She is necessary to keep the human race going. However, life starts to take her down a path that her captors had never planned for her when she meets Bram.
I can honestly say I have never read anything like this before and I was completely sucked in by the plot. I found it so unique and it brought about some thought-provoking ideas. I loved the short chapters and the changing of point of view between Bram and Eve. I also loved that it touches on some important topics, such as the beauty in Mother Nature and the danger in humans abusing the world we live in. I found myself really sucked into the vivid world that was created. I could picture it all so clearly in my mind. I particularly liked the parts that were based outside of the tower. I would love to see more of this throughout the trilogy!
This was going to be a definite 5 star read for me until the book started nearing the end. I just found myself feeling ever so slightly confused by what peoples motives were and what was going on. This may be a personal issue though. That being said, I absolutely loved this book and cannot wait to read the next book in the trilogy! This is definitely a book that leaves you wanting more, more answers, and more closure.
I would recommend this to anyone who wants to try (or enjoys) sci-fi and dystopian fiction but please be aware that it reads in quite a YA tone.
June 20, 2018
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Eve is the first female to be born in 50 years. In an ageing world destroyed by man, she’s raised away from the conflict in the ‘dome’ - a paradise of school lessons, dancing and talking to her AI ‘friend’ Holly. But there’s more to Holly than meets the eyes. As Eve approaches her 16th birthday, can she accept her inevitable fate as the saviour of her race, or will a forbidden love force secrets out into the open?
I tried to like this, I really did. On paper it should be right up my street. Dystopian YA, female lead, ideas of gender suppression - but I just found it incredibly simplistic and uninspiring. It all just feels a little bit ‘been there, done that’ with a rather unsophisticated take on The Handmaid’s Tale, and this idea that women have been oppressed and controlled, which seems to be a recurrent theme in dystopian fiction at the moment. The writing style is very overly descriptive in terms of feelings, which I don’t think really works here, as nothing is left for the reader to interpret and develop their own opinions. It’s all telling, with no subtleties, which I think would have helped elevate the text.
The world building is also rather limited. Other than an overview at the beginning, which gives an outline into the current state of the planet and humanities apparent lack of respect for the environment due to no future generations to pass it to, there’s little explanation as to why the world is how it is. Why are no female being born? What exactly happened? Would a world full of mainly men really result in global catastrophes? I find this slightly condescending to believe. Perhaps this will be expanded on in future literature, but I really think more time should have been spent trying to flesh out the world that I was suppose to care about. The glimpses we see of life outside the dome were some of my favourite segments, and I found the hints of environmental destruction and how the ‘Freevers’ live far more interesting than any character in the dome.
Eve and Bram, as the two narrators, have very distinct voices and it was easy to differentiate when each of them is in control of the narrative which helped with the flow of the story. However, they do unfortunately suffer from what comes across as instalove, and I found quite a lot of their scenes together quite cringy - especially the gushy declarations of love. We’re given a background to suggest that Eve and Bram have ‘grown up’ together and know each other well, but they’ve never so much as touched. It’s a very ‘clean’ romance, which is rather childish and simple but to me it also feels more like infatuation, and the love of the unknown rather than romantic love - which makes the second half of the book and the motives behind it even harder to understand.
A major issue that I found in the book is this very clear divide in the story into two distinctive parts. The first half is very Eve focused, and centres around her life in the dome and her relationships with Bram and the ‘Mothers’ - the ageing women who care for her. The second half is very much more of a revolutionary fast paced action story. I found it quite jarring, although I did enjoy the second half more. However, again I found Bram’s story a little too ‘easy’ for him. Everything falls into place with very little struggle and strife, and his character goes from beaten down son of high powered genius to revolutionary leader without any real believable development of character. In comparison, Eve comes across increasingly more like a damsel in distress as the story progresses, with little ability to really fight for herself without the help of others.
This could have been a good story about gender dynamics and the distribution of power in a world devoid of females and the continuing struggle to preserve the female race. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t enjoy it was much as I wanted, but I genuinely hope this finds an audience with younger readers as an introduction into dystopian fiction with an innocent romance.
Eve is the first female to be born in 50 years. In an ageing world destroyed by man, she’s raised away from the conflict in the ‘dome’ - a paradise of school lessons, dancing and talking to her AI ‘friend’ Holly. But there’s more to Holly than meets the eyes. As Eve approaches her 16th birthday, can she accept her inevitable fate as the saviour of her race, or will a forbidden love force secrets out into the open?
I tried to like this, I really did. On paper it should be right up my street. Dystopian YA, female lead, ideas of gender suppression - but I just found it incredibly simplistic and uninspiring. It all just feels a little bit ‘been there, done that’ with a rather unsophisticated take on The Handmaid’s Tale, and this idea that women have been oppressed and controlled, which seems to be a recurrent theme in dystopian fiction at the moment. The writing style is very overly descriptive in terms of feelings, which I don’t think really works here, as nothing is left for the reader to interpret and develop their own opinions. It’s all telling, with no subtleties, which I think would have helped elevate the text.
The world building is also rather limited. Other than an overview at the beginning, which gives an outline into the current state of the planet and humanities apparent lack of respect for the environment due to no future generations to pass it to, there’s little explanation as to why the world is how it is. Why are no female being born? What exactly happened? Would a world full of mainly men really result in global catastrophes? I find this slightly condescending to believe. Perhaps this will be expanded on in future literature, but I really think more time should have been spent trying to flesh out the world that I was suppose to care about. The glimpses we see of life outside the dome were some of my favourite segments, and I found the hints of environmental destruction and how the ‘Freevers’ live far more interesting than any character in the dome.
Eve and Bram, as the two narrators, have very distinct voices and it was easy to differentiate when each of them is in control of the narrative which helped with the flow of the story. However, they do unfortunately suffer from what comes across as instalove, and I found quite a lot of their scenes together quite cringy - especially the gushy declarations of love. We’re given a background to suggest that Eve and Bram have ‘grown up’ together and know each other well, but they’ve never so much as touched. It’s a very ‘clean’ romance, which is rather childish and simple but to me it also feels more like infatuation, and the love of the unknown rather than romantic love - which makes the second half of the book and the motives behind it even harder to understand.
A major issue that I found in the book is this very clear divide in the story into two distinctive parts. The first half is very Eve focused, and centres around her life in the dome and her relationships with Bram and the ‘Mothers’ - the ageing women who care for her. The second half is very much more of a revolutionary fast paced action story. I found it quite jarring, although I did enjoy the second half more. However, again I found Bram’s story a little too ‘easy’ for him. Everything falls into place with very little struggle and strife, and his character goes from beaten down son of high powered genius to revolutionary leader without any real believable development of character. In comparison, Eve comes across increasingly more like a damsel in distress as the story progresses, with little ability to really fight for herself without the help of others.
This could have been a good story about gender dynamics and the distribution of power in a world devoid of females and the continuing struggle to preserve the female race. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t enjoy it was much as I wanted, but I genuinely hope this finds an audience with younger readers as an introduction into dystopian fiction with an innocent romance.
August 10, 2018
THAT ENDING THOUGH
I NEED MORE
I NEED MORE
May 25, 2018
I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
There are number of things in Eve of Man that left me feeling deeply uncomfortable, and that really took away any enjoyment I might have gotten from the story otherwise. Before I get into why I disliked this book, first I want to acknowledge that there are fun sci-fi concepts in here that I found imaginative and novel, and I especially liked how the futuristic technology is actually central to the plot. There is also a believable romance between the two main characters. This really matters because their relationship is the catalyst for change in this story, and therefore it has the power to make or break the book. It made me happy that their romance was rooted in friendship and wasn't yet another case of insta-love.
I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style at first because all the sentence fragments irked the pedant in me. The exposition is also pretty clumsy, and there are quite a few abrupt info dumps. However, the flow of the narrative improves once the story really gets going, and in the end I didn't really mind it.
What I did really mind, however, was the very black and white way the book depicts gender and sexuality. On several occasions it suggests that men and women are somehow fundamentally different in their behaviour, and this is presented as something natural and innate. I found this biological determinism frustratingly outdated and stifling. The concept of the story would really allow for a deeper exploration of gender as a social construct and gender inequality, but it never really goes there. Instead of taking the opportunity to challenge gender stereotypes, for the most part the story ends up enforcing them.
Since even the cis, straight characters aren't explored in any real depth, it shouldn't be surprising that the book doesn't acknowledge that queer people exist, but I was still disappointed by it. You'd think this dystopian world that is obsessed with reproduction and biological sex would be especially bleak for LGBTQ+ people, and it is a glaring oversight that this doesn't even get an offhand mention somewhere.
Our main character Eve is a fairly typical YA protagonist in that she is breathtakingly beautiful. There's nothing wrong with that, but the disturbing side effect of the world building is that every man on the planet is uncontrollably lusting after her, and this hints at a constant underlying threat of sexual violence. Honestly, the majority of the male characters just about go insane with lust when they even see a glimpse of a woman, be it real or a hologram. The men in Eve's universe are driven by their hormones, and only their good, virtuous nature stops them from taking advantage of her. This suggests that if any were actually to assault Eve, it wouldn't really be their fault because they are simply acting out their biological urges. That is such a creepy message to let go under the radar in a YA book that I was really taken aback by it. Even though Eve's romantic interest, Bram, is all around sweet and respectful towards her, he treats the other men's lecherous behaviour either as a joke or as a minor annoyance and never speaks out to challenge their views.
Another thing that irritated me about Bram was how obsessed he is with physical strength and how he looks down on anyone less fit than him. He constantly jokes at the expense of an overweight man he meets later in the story and also makes some condescending remarks about his best friend. I would be fine with this if it was treated as a character flaw, but the way it is written invites the reader to laugh at these characters with him. I didn't join in because I don't find "haha, he's so fat!!!" to be particularly witty or funny.
The last point I want to make is a minor grievance compared to the other ones, but I was also baffled by Eve's and Bram's strange anti-science attitude. The mystical, romantic powers that they attribute to "Mother Nature" seem pretty anachronistic given that the highly technological environment they grew up in is all they have ever known. To be fair this isn't really discussed in any detail, but the false dichotomy still annoyed me. (Science isn't the opposite of nature; it is the study of nature! Argh.)
This is only the 1st book in a trilogy and the issues I've raised might be addressed in the later books. However, unfortunately Eve of Man has not made me want to read the rest of the series.
There are number of things in Eve of Man that left me feeling deeply uncomfortable, and that really took away any enjoyment I might have gotten from the story otherwise. Before I get into why I disliked this book, first I want to acknowledge that there are fun sci-fi concepts in here that I found imaginative and novel, and I especially liked how the futuristic technology is actually central to the plot. There is also a believable romance between the two main characters. This really matters because their relationship is the catalyst for change in this story, and therefore it has the power to make or break the book. It made me happy that their romance was rooted in friendship and wasn't yet another case of insta-love.
I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style at first because all the sentence fragments irked the pedant in me. The exposition is also pretty clumsy, and there are quite a few abrupt info dumps. However, the flow of the narrative improves once the story really gets going, and in the end I didn't really mind it.
What I did really mind, however, was the very black and white way the book depicts gender and sexuality. On several occasions it suggests that men and women are somehow fundamentally different in their behaviour, and this is presented as something natural and innate. I found this biological determinism frustratingly outdated and stifling. The concept of the story would really allow for a deeper exploration of gender as a social construct and gender inequality, but it never really goes there. Instead of taking the opportunity to challenge gender stereotypes, for the most part the story ends up enforcing them.
Since even the cis, straight characters aren't explored in any real depth, it shouldn't be surprising that the book doesn't acknowledge that queer people exist, but I was still disappointed by it. You'd think this dystopian world that is obsessed with reproduction and biological sex would be especially bleak for LGBTQ+ people, and it is a glaring oversight that this doesn't even get an offhand mention somewhere.
Our main character Eve is a fairly typical YA protagonist in that she is breathtakingly beautiful. There's nothing wrong with that, but the disturbing side effect of the world building is that every man on the planet is uncontrollably lusting after her, and this hints at a constant underlying threat of sexual violence. Honestly, the majority of the male characters just about go insane with lust when they even see a glimpse of a woman, be it real or a hologram. The men in Eve's universe are driven by their hormones, and only their good, virtuous nature stops them from taking advantage of her. This suggests that if any were actually to assault Eve, it wouldn't really be their fault because they are simply acting out their biological urges. That is such a creepy message to let go under the radar in a YA book that I was really taken aback by it. Even though Eve's romantic interest, Bram, is all around sweet and respectful towards her, he treats the other men's lecherous behaviour either as a joke or as a minor annoyance and never speaks out to challenge their views.
Another thing that irritated me about Bram was how obsessed he is with physical strength and how he looks down on anyone less fit than him. He constantly jokes at the expense of an overweight man he meets later in the story and also makes some condescending remarks about his best friend. I would be fine with this if it was treated as a character flaw, but the way it is written invites the reader to laugh at these characters with him. I didn't join in because I don't find "haha, he's so fat!!!" to be particularly witty or funny.
The last point I want to make is a minor grievance compared to the other ones, but I was also baffled by Eve's and Bram's strange anti-science attitude. The mystical, romantic powers that they attribute to "Mother Nature" seem pretty anachronistic given that the highly technological environment they grew up in is all they have ever known. To be fair this isn't really discussed in any detail, but the false dichotomy still annoyed me. (Science isn't the opposite of nature; it is the study of nature! Argh.)
This is only the 1st book in a trilogy and the issues I've raised might be addressed in the later books. However, unfortunately Eve of Man has not made me want to read the rest of the series.
May 6, 2018
3.5 to 4*
The blurb intrigued me and my first thought was the incredible Children of Men. The difference is in Children of Men no children had been born for eighteen years. Whereas in Eve of Man it’s been 50 years since the last baby girl was born.
Without females the human race was facing extinction and by the time Eve was born the earth was a mess. Men living without hope of a future have abused the world beyond imagination. Overconsumption of fossil fuels accelerated global warming.
Then came the miracle everyone had hoped and prayed for Eve. A special dome is created for her so she can live in a perfect world. Safe and secure.
She even has a best friend Holly. She knows Holly isn’t real because she’s the same age and Eve’s the first female born in 50 years. But it’s nice to have a friend and confidant.
So Eve lives safe and secure in her perfect world. Her only job is to give birth to girls when the time comes. To save the human race.
I’m not sure how sound it is having just one girl to continue the human race but it’s all they’ve got. So putting thoughts of interbreeding aside.
Bram has known Eve nearly all her life and while they’ve never actually met he’s one of the pilots who operates Holly. He knows her better than anyone after all he’s her best friend.
Eve is now 16 years old three potential mates have been selected for her to choose from. But things don’t go as planned and this is when she actually meets Bram for the first time. She knows on sight that he’s her favourite Holly.
Things change from this moment for both of them.
Eve can’t stop thinking about Bram and she starts to consider her life and what her future could hold if she was truly free to make her own decisions.
So I was intrigued and after reading the prologue (I’ve included the first part below) excited.
I liked both Eve and Bram and the world that’s been created and after the prologue I was glued and just couldn’t read fast enough. I was fully engrossed in this new world but then it seemed to slow and before I actually realised it I found I was skimming. I took a break and I’ll admit I wondered if this book was going to continue like this and just heat up at the end to get us ready for the next book.
I’m glad to say this wasn’t the case at all it and the second half was better than the first and now I’m looking forward to the next book.
So why not 5*?
Apart from the slow part in the middle it just never seemed to reach its full potential. I’m sure why or exactly what was missing for me but it didn’t fully work. But there was enough here to make me want to continue on.
Prologue
On the first day no one really noticed. Perhaps there was a chuckle among the midwives at the sight of all those babies wrapped in blue blankets, not a pink one in sight. Individual hospitals would’ve thought nothing of it. They wouldn’t have known that this day of blue was only the beginning.
On the second day they frowned, confused, at another twenty-four hours of blue. Just boys. How baffling. Still, they assumed it was nothing more than coincidence. The Y chromosome was just making more of an appearance than usual.
On the third day, the media made light of it ‒ It Really Is A Man’s World. That brought the situation to everyone’s attention. Doctors and nurses realized theirs wasn’t the only hospital to go blue. Blue was taking over. Not just entire hospitals, not just entire countries, but the entire world.
Where had the pink gone?
With approximately two and a half million babies born each week, half of whom were usually girls, the sudden imbalance couldn’t be ignored. World leaders were called together with the most respected scientists to try to understand what was happening and discuss measures they could take to monitor the situation. They had to find an ethical way of working – they didn’t want to strip people of their human rights. That was what they said.
Initially.
The first part of the prologue I’ve copied is from the arc and could change with publication.
I voluntarily read a review copy kindly provided by NetGalley and Penguin UK.
The blurb intrigued me and my first thought was the incredible Children of Men. The difference is in Children of Men no children had been born for eighteen years. Whereas in Eve of Man it’s been 50 years since the last baby girl was born.
Without females the human race was facing extinction and by the time Eve was born the earth was a mess. Men living without hope of a future have abused the world beyond imagination. Overconsumption of fossil fuels accelerated global warming.
Then came the miracle everyone had hoped and prayed for Eve. A special dome is created for her so she can live in a perfect world. Safe and secure.
She even has a best friend Holly. She knows Holly isn’t real because she’s the same age and Eve’s the first female born in 50 years. But it’s nice to have a friend and confidant.
So Eve lives safe and secure in her perfect world. Her only job is to give birth to girls when the time comes. To save the human race.
I’m not sure how sound it is having just one girl to continue the human race but it’s all they’ve got. So putting thoughts of interbreeding aside.
Bram has known Eve nearly all her life and while they’ve never actually met he’s one of the pilots who operates Holly. He knows her better than anyone after all he’s her best friend.
Eve is now 16 years old three potential mates have been selected for her to choose from. But things don’t go as planned and this is when she actually meets Bram for the first time. She knows on sight that he’s her favourite Holly.
Things change from this moment for both of them.
Eve can’t stop thinking about Bram and she starts to consider her life and what her future could hold if she was truly free to make her own decisions.
So I was intrigued and after reading the prologue (I’ve included the first part below) excited.
I liked both Eve and Bram and the world that’s been created and after the prologue I was glued and just couldn’t read fast enough. I was fully engrossed in this new world but then it seemed to slow and before I actually realised it I found I was skimming. I took a break and I’ll admit I wondered if this book was going to continue like this and just heat up at the end to get us ready for the next book.
I’m glad to say this wasn’t the case at all it and the second half was better than the first and now I’m looking forward to the next book.
So why not 5*?
Apart from the slow part in the middle it just never seemed to reach its full potential. I’m sure why or exactly what was missing for me but it didn’t fully work. But there was enough here to make me want to continue on.
Prologue
On the first day no one really noticed. Perhaps there was a chuckle among the midwives at the sight of all those babies wrapped in blue blankets, not a pink one in sight. Individual hospitals would’ve thought nothing of it. They wouldn’t have known that this day of blue was only the beginning.
On the second day they frowned, confused, at another twenty-four hours of blue. Just boys. How baffling. Still, they assumed it was nothing more than coincidence. The Y chromosome was just making more of an appearance than usual.
On the third day, the media made light of it ‒ It Really Is A Man’s World. That brought the situation to everyone’s attention. Doctors and nurses realized theirs wasn’t the only hospital to go blue. Blue was taking over. Not just entire hospitals, not just entire countries, but the entire world.
Where had the pink gone?
With approximately two and a half million babies born each week, half of whom were usually girls, the sudden imbalance couldn’t be ignored. World leaders were called together with the most respected scientists to try to understand what was happening and discuss measures they could take to monitor the situation. They had to find an ethical way of working – they didn’t want to strip people of their human rights. That was what they said.
Initially.
The first part of the prologue I’ve copied is from the arc and could change with publication.
I voluntarily read a review copy kindly provided by NetGalley and Penguin UK.
November 17, 2018
ARC BOOK REVIEW
Release Date-31/5/18
This really appealed to me the idea of a dystopian landscape where female births have decimated to the point where the last XX Birth in fifty years is the honour of one young girl aptly name Eve.
Unsurprisingly she is one hot commodity; kept segregated from the common masses in the tower with the Mothers; Aged woman who have made it there lives vocation to raise her.
Eve is raised with the ideals that she alone is the last hope for humanity; a heavy responsibility for any young girl.
Her only companion aside from the mothers is Holly a kind of ready-made best-friend; she's a sort of hologram run by three drivers one of whom is Bram.
Bram and Eve, though they have never touched in person have sort of grown to adulthood side by side.
Despite only interacting through Holly; these two have learned to recognise each other.
And it's not long before the deep feelings these two inspire in each other spill over into real time.
So I did find this slightly disappointing sigh.
Not much really happens in the first two-thirds of this story, it's all Eve meeting the potentials and a whole lot of inner turmoil from both Bram and Eve and I did find things to be quite slow and plodding in nature a kind of slow build.
This didn't work for me really and I found my attention at times drifting somewhat.
Also, there's no real explanation for why things are the way they are which I found a rather perplexing fact.
I felt this was a missed opportunity to further expand on this unique backdrop.
So For me, this was all gearing up to be a 2.5 review then luckily things did kick up a notch going from snail pace to 100 MPH in ten seconds flat.
What a relief, With this then upbeat in the storyline, things really did improve for me rescuing "Eve Of Man" and reinvesting me in the storyline.
Eve herself finally becomes less of a victim and more proactive in her own life; her eyes are finally opened to what is actually occurring around her when she endeavours to break out of her bubble and take back some control of her own life.
Bram also came into his own eventually as well, though I do feel that he took the scenic route rather than the main road but never mind the point is he gets there eventually.
This is told in dual POV from Both Eve and Brams perspective and though there was a budding romance here this is a completely clean YA and the romance is more of a secondary concern the main focus being on the underlying greater purpose and the breakdown in society..
I also found this to be a very imaginative read, though I do think we are not giving the XY gene enough credit in regards to society's breakdown without the female input.
Ultimately I will read book two as I do want to know where this is going but I'm not sure how invested I am yet. watch this space.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of "Eve of Man (Eve of Man Trilogy #1)" of which I have reviewed voluntary.
All opinions are entirely my own.
Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm.
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com
May 6, 2018
3.5 to 4*
The blurb intrigued me and my first thought was the incredible Children of Men. The difference is in Children of Men no children had been born for eighteen years. Whereas in Eve of Man it’s been 50 years since the last baby girl was born.
Without females the human race was facing extinction and by the time Eve was born the earth was a mess. Men living without hope of a future have abused the world beyond imagination. Overconsumption of fossil fuels accelerated global warming.
Then came the miracle everyone had hoped and prayed for Eve. A special dome is created for her so she can live in a perfect world. Safe and secure.
She even has a best friend Holly. She knows Holly isn’t real because she’s the same age and Eve’s the first female born in 50 years. But it’s nice to have a friend and confidant.
So Eve lives safe and secure in her perfect world. Her only job is to give birth to girls when the time comes. To save the human race.
I’m not sure how sound it is having just one girl to continue the human race but it’s all they’ve got. So putting thoughts of interbreeding aside.
Bram has known Eve nearly all her life and while they’ve never actually met he’s one of the pilots who operates Holly. He knows her better than anyone after all he’s her best friend.
Eve is now 16 years old three potential mates have been selected for her to choose from. But things don’t go as planned and this is when she actually meets Bram for the first time. She knows on sight that he’s her favourite Holly.
Things change from this moment for both of them.
Eve can’t stop thinking about Bram and she starts to consider her life and what her future could hold if she was truly free to make her own decisions.
So I was intrigued and after reading the prologue (I’ve included the first part below) excited.
I liked both Eve and Bram and the world that’s been created and after the prologue I was glued and just couldn’t read fast enough. I was fully engrossed in this new world but then it seemed to slow and before I actually realised it I found I was skimming. I took a break and I’ll admit I wondered if this book was going to continue like this and just heat up at the end to get us ready for the next book.
I’m glad to say this wasn’t the case at all it and the second half was better than the first and now I’m looking forward to the next book.
So why not 5*?
Apart from the slow part in the middle it just never seemed to reach its full potential. I’m sure why or exactly what was missing for me but it didn’t fully work. But there was enough here to make me want to continue on.
Prologue
On the first day no one really noticed. Perhaps there was a chuckle among the midwives at the sight of all those babies wrapped in blue blankets, not a pink one in sight. Individual hospitals would’ve thought nothing of it. They wouldn’t have known that this day of blue was only the beginning.
On the second day they frowned, confused, at another twenty-four hours of blue. Just boys. How baffling. Still, they assumed it was nothing more than coincidence. The Y chromosome was just making more of an appearance than usual.
On the third day, the media made light of it ‒ It Really Is A Man’s World. That brought the situation to everyone’s attention. Doctors and nurses realized theirs wasn’t the only hospital to go blue. Blue was taking over. Not just entire hospitals, not just entire countries, but the entire world.
Where had the pink gone?
With approximately two and a half million babies born each week, half of whom were usually girls, the sudden imbalance couldn’t be ignored. World leaders were called together with the most respected scientists to try to understand what was happening and discuss measures they could take to monitor the situation. They had to find an ethical way of working – they didn’t want to strip people of their human rights. That was what they said.
Initially.
The first part of the prologue I’ve copied is from the arc and could change with publication.
I voluntarily read a review copy kindly provided by NetGalley and Penguin UK.
June 3, 2018
I wanted to like this book because I think Tom and Gi are fantastic people and I expected to like it because Gi is a talented adult writer. However, I could not click with this book.
The first half was okay. From the first page, I was nervous it wasn’t quite my taste. The writing is very simplistic and abrupt but in a way that doesn’t engage me. The story is very much told to you so there’s not a lot of clues you need to pay attention to and sadly, that left me bored. At this point, though, it was a ⅗.
The second half changed things. The story became fast paced but I felt unmoved by everything that was going on. I didn’t care about any of the side characters like Frost and I was waiting for Eve to become the badass I wanted her to be, but she never did.
The characters were stereotypical, the writing was boring and I ended up not caring about any of it at all.
I understand that for the sake of the story, gender was going to have quite a narrow view. It still made me sad that Eve is a damsel trapped in a tower and Bram is the macho guy on a mission to save her. There’s no thought to sexuality either, like, what if Eve was a lesbian? No thought was put into the fact that LGBT characters could exist. A sentence somewhere to acknowledge this would’ve been nice. The narrow worldview made me uncomfortable and added to the boring/predictable elements that left me extremely disappointed with this story,
The first half was okay. From the first page, I was nervous it wasn’t quite my taste. The writing is very simplistic and abrupt but in a way that doesn’t engage me. The story is very much told to you so there’s not a lot of clues you need to pay attention to and sadly, that left me bored. At this point, though, it was a ⅗.
The second half changed things. The story became fast paced but I felt unmoved by everything that was going on. I didn’t care about any of the side characters like Frost and I was waiting for Eve to become the badass I wanted her to be, but she never did.
The characters were stereotypical, the writing was boring and I ended up not caring about any of it at all.
I understand that for the sake of the story, gender was going to have quite a narrow view. It still made me sad that Eve is a damsel trapped in a tower and Bram is the macho guy on a mission to save her. There’s no thought to sexuality either, like, what if Eve was a lesbian? No thought was put into the fact that LGBT characters could exist. A sentence somewhere to acknowledge this would’ve been nice. The narrow worldview made me uncomfortable and added to the boring/predictable elements that left me extremely disappointed with this story,
April 9, 2021
Wow, ich hätte echt nicht gedacht das mich die Geschichte von Eve und Bram so sehr fesseln wird. Super überraschende Wendungen und total unvorhersehbar. Ich lese in der nächsten Zeit direkt Teil 2, muss wissen wie es weiter geht.
April 27, 2018
"I guess reality is just the world with which we are presented."
I. AM. OBSESSED! A million stars! Eve of Man is going to be one of my highlights of 2018!
I started it yesterday and I only put it down because I was half asleep. The synopsis already sounded very engaging to me, I love books about future worlds and this one I liked very much.
I received an ARC via netgalley for an honest review and I'm so happy and thankful that I got the chance to read it. It'll be published on May 31, 2018.
From the synopsis we know that Eve, the first girl born in fifty years, has been kept away from the opposite sex all her life. When three potential man have been selected for her, nothing goes as it should. And then she meets Bram. (If you want to get blind into the book, stop reading her) Well not exactly Bram, actually she meets Holly. You'll probably be confused now, what nonsens is this girl talking about? Let me explain. The best way to create a connection to Eve and know her thoughts, would be If she had a friend. But how can you get a friend for a girl who's the last rescue for the human world? A girl who lives in a Dom at the highest point of a tower, so she'll be kept safe? Riiiiiiiight, you create one! So Holly is being controlled by three different "pilotes" who navigate her, they talk to Eve and make her feel comfortable. One of them is Bram, he has been taken from his mother by his super intelligent scientist father and lived in the tower since then. Bram get's to know Eve as a child, when he himself was one and after a certain time she starts to favour him instead of the other two pilots, she recognises his eyes behind Hollys fassade.
I love love loved the idea behind this novel, but have to admit the reactions of man towards Eve were pretty horrific. Some of them never have seen a woman (they were not allowed to visit public places and were kept save) and are terrified when they see Eve for the first time. There is a solider who's tempted by Eve, so I'll warn you that there's the idea of rape forming in his mind, but he doesn't do it. If you want to avoid any mention of it, you now have been warned. We don't get to see much of the world outside of the dome, but that didn't bother me. There will be further books in this series and I'm curious how things will play out!
What I liked about this book: I enjoy the dystopian genre very much, also post apocalyptic worlds etc. and especially ones with good ideas. The book was special in its scheme as well as in its writing style, we got to read from two POV's: Bram and Eve. I admired that very much, because I got drawn into the story and could sympathize with both of them, especially with Eve. She was separated from the rest of the world and never had the chance to meet new people and make friends, I was so sad when she was screaming alone in her room after what has been done to her.
I loved every part of this book and look forward to read the second one!
I. AM. OBSESSED! A million stars! Eve of Man is going to be one of my highlights of 2018!
I started it yesterday and I only put it down because I was half asleep. The synopsis already sounded very engaging to me, I love books about future worlds and this one I liked very much.
I received an ARC via netgalley for an honest review and I'm so happy and thankful that I got the chance to read it. It'll be published on May 31, 2018.
From the synopsis we know that Eve, the first girl born in fifty years, has been kept away from the opposite sex all her life. When three potential man have been selected for her, nothing goes as it should. And then she meets Bram. (If you want to get blind into the book, stop reading her) Well not exactly Bram, actually she meets Holly. You'll probably be confused now, what nonsens is this girl talking about? Let me explain. The best way to create a connection to Eve and know her thoughts, would be If she had a friend. But how can you get a friend for a girl who's the last rescue for the human world? A girl who lives in a Dom at the highest point of a tower, so she'll be kept safe? Riiiiiiiight, you create one! So Holly is being controlled by three different "pilotes" who navigate her, they talk to Eve and make her feel comfortable. One of them is Bram, he has been taken from his mother by his super intelligent scientist father and lived in the tower since then. Bram get's to know Eve as a child, when he himself was one and after a certain time she starts to favour him instead of the other two pilots, she recognises his eyes behind Hollys fassade.
I love love loved the idea behind this novel, but have to admit the reactions of man towards Eve were pretty horrific. Some of them never have seen a woman (they were not allowed to visit public places and were kept save) and are terrified when they see Eve for the first time. There is a solider who's tempted by Eve, so I'll warn you that there's the idea of rape forming in his mind, but he doesn't do it. If you want to avoid any mention of it, you now have been warned. We don't get to see much of the world outside of the dome, but that didn't bother me. There will be further books in this series and I'm curious how things will play out!
What I liked about this book: I enjoy the dystopian genre very much, also post apocalyptic worlds etc. and especially ones with good ideas. The book was special in its scheme as well as in its writing style, we got to read from two POV's: Bram and Eve. I admired that very much, because I got drawn into the story and could sympathize with both of them, especially with Eve. She was separated from the rest of the world and never had the chance to meet new people and make friends, I was so sad when she was screaming alone in her room after what has been done to her.
I loved every part of this book and look forward to read the second one!
September 1, 2019
Persönliche Meinung
Von dem Buch hatte ich vorher noch nichts gehört, ich fand das Cover jedoch ansprechend und Tom Fletcher war mir immerhin schon vom Weihnachtosaurus bekannt. Eine Dystopie hatte ich schon länger nicht mehr gelesen und ich fand den Klappentext recht vielversprechend.
Als ich anfing zu lesen, fielen mir einige Unstimmigkeiten auf, durch die ich das Buch beinah abbrechen wollte. Ich hatte zu viele Fragen zur Welt und Politik und in meinen Kopf war einfach nur eine grosse Wissenslücke, über die ich gerne geredet hätte. Irgendwann tat ich es dann halt mit den Worten ab: Es ist halt ein Jugendbuch und vielleicht gehen die Autoren da extra nicht zu sehr ins Detail.
Dann kam die Liebesgeschichte ins Spiel und ich dachte mir: okay, der Fokus liegt halt auf der Lovestory.
Aber mit dem Voranschreiten der Geschichte wurde immer mehr aufgedeckt und man lernte die Welt immer besser kennen. Zwar habe ich bis zum Ende immer noch einige Fragen, die so aber für die Geschichte gar nicht so wichtig sind. Die Liebesgeschichte ist zwar durchgehend präsent, tritt aber ab der Hälfte doch recht in den Hintergrund. Einiges war vorhersehbar, anderes war unerwartet. An gewissen Stellen war ich schockiert und fasziniert. Ich fand es durchgehend spannend und interessant und werde auf jeden Fall den zweiten Band lesen.
Eve war mir sympathisch, wenn auch etwas zu naiv. Zumindest am Anfang. Sie lernt jedoch sehr schnell dazu, in manchen Situationen vielleicht sogar zu schnell. Ich fand sie zwar eine sehr angenehme Protagonistin, aber sie ist halt einfach die Typische Heldin!
Bram hingegen war mir super sympathisch und ich hätte von ihm gerne noch mehr erfahren. (Wir erfahren zwar sehr viel, aber ich meine andere Dinge)
Fazit: eine packende Jugenddystopie mit Suchtpotential!
Von dem Buch hatte ich vorher noch nichts gehört, ich fand das Cover jedoch ansprechend und Tom Fletcher war mir immerhin schon vom Weihnachtosaurus bekannt. Eine Dystopie hatte ich schon länger nicht mehr gelesen und ich fand den Klappentext recht vielversprechend.
Als ich anfing zu lesen, fielen mir einige Unstimmigkeiten auf, durch die ich das Buch beinah abbrechen wollte. Ich hatte zu viele Fragen zur Welt und Politik und in meinen Kopf war einfach nur eine grosse Wissenslücke, über die ich gerne geredet hätte. Irgendwann tat ich es dann halt mit den Worten ab: Es ist halt ein Jugendbuch und vielleicht gehen die Autoren da extra nicht zu sehr ins Detail.
Dann kam die Liebesgeschichte ins Spiel und ich dachte mir: okay, der Fokus liegt halt auf der Lovestory.
Aber mit dem Voranschreiten der Geschichte wurde immer mehr aufgedeckt und man lernte die Welt immer besser kennen. Zwar habe ich bis zum Ende immer noch einige Fragen, die so aber für die Geschichte gar nicht so wichtig sind. Die Liebesgeschichte ist zwar durchgehend präsent, tritt aber ab der Hälfte doch recht in den Hintergrund. Einiges war vorhersehbar, anderes war unerwartet. An gewissen Stellen war ich schockiert und fasziniert. Ich fand es durchgehend spannend und interessant und werde auf jeden Fall den zweiten Band lesen.
Eve war mir sympathisch, wenn auch etwas zu naiv. Zumindest am Anfang. Sie lernt jedoch sehr schnell dazu, in manchen Situationen vielleicht sogar zu schnell. Ich fand sie zwar eine sehr angenehme Protagonistin, aber sie ist halt einfach die Typische Heldin!
Bram hingegen war mir super sympathisch und ich hätte von ihm gerne noch mehr erfahren. (Wir erfahren zwar sehr viel, aber ich meine andere Dinge)
Fazit: eine packende Jugenddystopie mit Suchtpotential!
August 15, 2020
CW:
This is one of those books where I hope the authors are setting the scene for a really good book two. The premise was good but in reality it didn't quite deliver (sorry for the pun). I'm not quite sure why though. I think perhaps the romance element could have been removed and the focus changed to Eve's awakening to the world she lives in and not the carefully crafted one designed to make her a happy broodmare. An amazing dystopic world was created but not explored enough. Again this maybe something that is described more in book two. I'm excited to see where the rebellion plot will take us and will probably follow the series through at some point. Finally, Eve better become a stronger female lead because I'm not down with there being much more of the 'male saves delicate flower' trope.
This is one of those books where I hope the authors are setting the scene for a really good book two. The premise was good but in reality it didn't quite deliver (sorry for the pun). I'm not quite sure why though. I think perhaps the romance element could have been removed and the focus changed to Eve's awakening to the world she lives in and not the carefully crafted one designed to make her a happy broodmare. An amazing dystopic world was created but not explored enough. Again this maybe something that is described more in book two. I'm excited to see where the rebellion plot will take us and will probably follow the series through at some point. Finally, Eve better become a stronger female lead because I'm not down with there being much more of the 'male saves delicate flower' trope.
July 23, 2020
This took me a good 50 pages to get into, but once I passed that point, I was hooked. Amazing. Can't wait to read the next instalment.
May 19, 2018
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Bold, imaginative and cinematic - but a few question-marks over the credibility of the plot.
Yes, it's a dystopian book. And let's face it, there are rather a few of them around at the moment. However, this definitely stood out from the crowd, thanks to its inventive approach and strong, confident writing.
Eve is the last young female on earth. As this statement implies, the human race has pretty much wrecked itself, and for some reason, women stopped producing female babies a while back. This left humanity in a dire situation, with only one woman to (hopefully) produce more women.
As such, Eve is hidden away from the world in a strange high tower-building called The Dome. She's protected, yet isolated, with only a hologram of 'Holly' to act as her friend. Ironically, Holly is activated by a male called Bram. Even more ironically, they fall in love... and that's when things start getting very interesting.
Without giving too much away, Bram's on a mission to rescue Eve from the cruel situation she's in; but make no mistake, the people of the Dome aren't going to make it easy for him, or the other 'freevers'.
What I really liked about this book was the moral dilemma at the centre of it. Is it acceptable to keep a girl locked up for the greater good? Is it right to treat her like a breeding cow? And what methods of generating further females are permissible?
I also loved the set-up itself. There was something very eerie about the concept of a huge dome, towering over the rest of the messed up population - this weird little place that should be paradise, were it not all completely artificial. Likewise, the characters were good fun - relatable, interesting and certainly not too cliched (apart from the 'bad guy' Vivian - I really wanted to know her back story but the book never quite got there).
One thing that stopped me giving this a full five stars was the problematic plot itself. I couldn't quite comprehend that humanity would ever get to the point where only one woman of child-bearing age existed. How would this situation arise? Wouldn't more be done before it ever got to this state? Whilst I appreciated the drama of the idea, it felt a little too far-fetched for comfort. Likewise this whole 'they just wanted Eve to gain power' plot-line. We've seen that one in other books - I wanted something fresh. Why couldn't it genuinely be a case that they thought they were helping humanity? That would have added a fresh layer of moral ambiguity that would have been interesting.
However, I do accept that this genre often veers into the far-fetched, and in this case, it wasn't to the detriment of my overall enjoyment. I definitely had my nose stuck right into it throughout.
Bold, imaginative and cinematic - but a few question-marks over the credibility of the plot.
Yes, it's a dystopian book. And let's face it, there are rather a few of them around at the moment. However, this definitely stood out from the crowd, thanks to its inventive approach and strong, confident writing.
Eve is the last young female on earth. As this statement implies, the human race has pretty much wrecked itself, and for some reason, women stopped producing female babies a while back. This left humanity in a dire situation, with only one woman to (hopefully) produce more women.
As such, Eve is hidden away from the world in a strange high tower-building called The Dome. She's protected, yet isolated, with only a hologram of 'Holly' to act as her friend. Ironically, Holly is activated by a male called Bram. Even more ironically, they fall in love... and that's when things start getting very interesting.
Without giving too much away, Bram's on a mission to rescue Eve from the cruel situation she's in; but make no mistake, the people of the Dome aren't going to make it easy for him, or the other 'freevers'.
What I really liked about this book was the moral dilemma at the centre of it. Is it acceptable to keep a girl locked up for the greater good? Is it right to treat her like a breeding cow? And what methods of generating further females are permissible?
I also loved the set-up itself. There was something very eerie about the concept of a huge dome, towering over the rest of the messed up population - this weird little place that should be paradise, were it not all completely artificial. Likewise, the characters were good fun - relatable, interesting and certainly not too cliched (apart from the 'bad guy' Vivian - I really wanted to know her back story but the book never quite got there).
One thing that stopped me giving this a full five stars was the problematic plot itself. I couldn't quite comprehend that humanity would ever get to the point where only one woman of child-bearing age existed. How would this situation arise? Wouldn't more be done before it ever got to this state? Whilst I appreciated the drama of the idea, it felt a little too far-fetched for comfort. Likewise this whole 'they just wanted Eve to gain power' plot-line. We've seen that one in other books - I wanted something fresh. Why couldn't it genuinely be a case that they thought they were helping humanity? That would have added a fresh layer of moral ambiguity that would have been interesting.
However, I do accept that this genre often veers into the far-fetched, and in this case, it wasn't to the detriment of my overall enjoyment. I definitely had my nose stuck right into it throughout.
October 20, 2018
I haven't read a young adult dystopian novel in a very long time. I got so fed up of the very twee love angles that every author threw in and as a woman in her mid-40's I wanted more out of a book (which is fine, they're not written for me). I choose this to have another try simply because of the authors and it hasn't really made me want to start reading these books again.
I found it to be a book of two halves and I didn't really enjoy the first half. I felt it took too long to get going, there was a lot of descriptions that weren't needed and that could've been spent on world building and telling me why we had a dystopian future. Why did girls stop being born? Why did Mother Nature feel a need to wipe out one half of society? The second half is much more high octane and for me more enjoyable as our hero escapes from the Dome and joins in with the band of rebels and mounts various rescue attempts.
With regards to the world; the Dome & Tower that the elite live in is very cold and feels quite clinical. There's nothing to suggest anyone there is happy and I found it hard to get a measure of the place. I wanted more but I understand why it was like that. In comparison, despite the world having been destroyed by all those men left behind with no women, the outside feels much more real. Maybe it's because we find out it's based in London and in the area I work when I'm at my head office. I found it very easy to picture and be attracted to.
I didn't hate it but it's not a book I can rave about. I do think the trilogy has potential though. It has whet my appetite enough that I will probably get the next installment to see what happens next.
I found it to be a book of two halves and I didn't really enjoy the first half. I felt it took too long to get going, there was a lot of descriptions that weren't needed and that could've been spent on world building and telling me why we had a dystopian future. Why did girls stop being born? Why did Mother Nature feel a need to wipe out one half of society? The second half is much more high octane and for me more enjoyable as our hero escapes from the Dome and joins in with the band of rebels and mounts various rescue attempts.
With regards to the world; the Dome & Tower that the elite live in is very cold and feels quite clinical. There's nothing to suggest anyone there is happy and I found it hard to get a measure of the place. I wanted more but I understand why it was like that. In comparison, despite the world having been destroyed by all those men left behind with no women, the outside feels much more real. Maybe it's because we find out it's based in London and in the area I work when I'm at my head office. I found it very easy to picture and be attracted to.
I didn't hate it but it's not a book I can rave about. I do think the trilogy has potential though. It has whet my appetite enough that I will probably get the next installment to see what happens next.
June 3, 2018
Eve of Man Review on K-Books <- goes live on June 27, 2018
"I guess reality is just the world with which we are presented."
Eve of Man is a book that I was super excited about since the moment I first heard about it. I already adore Giovanna Fletcher's books so when I heard she and Tom were writing a YA Dystopia series I couldn't wait. I absolutely adore YA Dystopia books. Eve of Man sounded amazing and I knew I would love it... and I wasn't wrong. It was everything I could have wanted and more. I loved it.
Eve of Man follows the story of Eve, the first female to be born in 50 years. With the human race on the brink of extinction, Eve has been kept safe living in her own paradise away from others of the opposite sex or her own age. Eve's future has all been decided for her, the only choice she has is which of her 'potentials' she picks to mate with. But then she meets Bram and Eve suddenly realises that there is more out there that she hasn't previously considered. But can she do her duty to the human race and follow her heart?
Eve of Man is a very unique idea that is so well thought out and executed perfectly. Giovanna and Tom really are the perfect writing partnership. Their writing styles accompany each other perfectly and the book is just easy to get lost in. I loved following this incredibly addictive story through the dual points of view. I loved Eve and Bram. They were such fantastic characters that you easily associate with and are rooting for. Right from the start I was captured by the incredible storyline and the incredibly unique voices of Bram and Eve. You could really see the differences in narration between each character and that gave the novel an even better autheticity than you find in most other multiple-perspective novels. It made Eve of Man more real and easier to get lost in.
I loved absolutely everything about this book. The action, the intrigue and the hints of romance. Anyone who knows me knows that I love a good romance and the hints of this slow-developing romance was just utterly perfect and accompanied the tone of the book brilliantly. I have read a book about the supression of women due to the potential extinction of the human race before and ended up unable to finish it due to making me feel uncomfortable with the goings on in the book. There is still going ons in Eve of Man that are not nice but it's done in such a sensitive and intelligent way that it just makes you want to read more and more to see what is going to happen. I was on the edge of my seat unable to flip through the pages fast enough.
Eve of Man is a fantastic start to what I know is going to be an incredible trilogy. I am so excited about where this storyline and these characters are going to go. I am left with so many questions and I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book. Eve of Man is utterly brilliant and a must-read for everyone. I highly recommend that you read this stunning novel.
"This is what real life looks like - not an idyllic fake Utopia, but a world busy with energy and bustling with life."
"I guess reality is just the world with which we are presented."
Eve of Man is a book that I was super excited about since the moment I first heard about it. I already adore Giovanna Fletcher's books so when I heard she and Tom were writing a YA Dystopia series I couldn't wait. I absolutely adore YA Dystopia books. Eve of Man sounded amazing and I knew I would love it... and I wasn't wrong. It was everything I could have wanted and more. I loved it.
Eve of Man follows the story of Eve, the first female to be born in 50 years. With the human race on the brink of extinction, Eve has been kept safe living in her own paradise away from others of the opposite sex or her own age. Eve's future has all been decided for her, the only choice she has is which of her 'potentials' she picks to mate with. But then she meets Bram and Eve suddenly realises that there is more out there that she hasn't previously considered. But can she do her duty to the human race and follow her heart?
Eve of Man is a very unique idea that is so well thought out and executed perfectly. Giovanna and Tom really are the perfect writing partnership. Their writing styles accompany each other perfectly and the book is just easy to get lost in. I loved following this incredibly addictive story through the dual points of view. I loved Eve and Bram. They were such fantastic characters that you easily associate with and are rooting for. Right from the start I was captured by the incredible storyline and the incredibly unique voices of Bram and Eve. You could really see the differences in narration between each character and that gave the novel an even better autheticity than you find in most other multiple-perspective novels. It made Eve of Man more real and easier to get lost in.
I loved absolutely everything about this book. The action, the intrigue and the hints of romance. Anyone who knows me knows that I love a good romance and the hints of this slow-developing romance was just utterly perfect and accompanied the tone of the book brilliantly. I have read a book about the supression of women due to the potential extinction of the human race before and ended up unable to finish it due to making me feel uncomfortable with the goings on in the book. There is still going ons in Eve of Man that are not nice but it's done in such a sensitive and intelligent way that it just makes you want to read more and more to see what is going to happen. I was on the edge of my seat unable to flip through the pages fast enough.
Eve of Man is a fantastic start to what I know is going to be an incredible trilogy. I am so excited about where this storyline and these characters are going to go. I am left with so many questions and I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book. Eve of Man is utterly brilliant and a must-read for everyone. I highly recommend that you read this stunning novel.
"This is what real life looks like - not an idyllic fake Utopia, but a world busy with energy and bustling with life."
Read
May 24, 2020
Many thanks to Random House Books for Young Readers for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review
AGAINST ALL ODDS, SHE SURVIVED.
THE FIRST GIRL BORN IN FIFTY YEARS.
THEY CALLED HER EVE . . .
A really creative dystopia idea that fell short. Not to say that it’s bad but it’s wasn’t mind blowingly good.
So, what’s this book about
This book follows Eve the last girl on the planet. She is now of age and must start to basically re-populate the word. But there’s one issue. She doesn’t want to. She’s met a charming(ish) young man who has taken her heart. Now, she must choose between herself and humanity.
Again, I really liked this idea for a dystopia. Some of the best dystopias can be created with a simple “What if?” That said, I was rather disappointed. I wanted to see more of the science fiction. I needed more information. I wanted to know more about the why and how all the girls stop being born.
Another thing, this book focused more on Eve’s journey of self-discovery and her romance with Bram than I expected. It really isn’t an issue. Honestly, I love self-discovery and romance books. The problem is that this was mainly marketed as Sci-fi/Dystopia when I didn’t feel like that at all.
But let’s cover the positive. I was talking to my mom about this book and she made me realize something. The authors and all authors work really hard on their books. And it shows. The writing was beautiful and captivating. I can tell that these writers have talent and I’m sure they will hit some gold and find a book that works for every reader.
Bottom Line:
3 Stars
Age Rating: [ PG-13 ]
Cover: 3/5 ~ Characters: 3/5 ~ Plot: ⅗
Publication Date: June 18th, 2019
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Best Format: Audio
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May 6, 2020
This book was insane! I can’t even get my thoughts in order to review it properly! I will be back with something of a review once I comprehend what I have just read
May 11, 2019
Eve of Man je príbeh v duchu kníh ako Dokonalý pár alebo Pasca, ktoré pred rokmi zobrali svet útokom tak, až nám z toho bolo zle. Well, guess what - prestávka v popularite popravde dystópiam celkom pomohla a aj obohratý príbeh zrazu pôsobí celkom sviežo. Kto by to bol povedal?
Na svete sa jedného dňa prestali rodiť ženy - všetky plody ženského pohlavia skrátka v nejakom bode počas vnútromaternicového vývinu záhadne umrú. Až kým sa po 50 rokoch nestane zázrak a na svet nepríde Eve. A dnes má Eve 16 a čaká ju udalosť, na ktorú ju odmalička pripravujú: stretne sa s troma kandidátmi, spomedzi ktorých si má vybrať budúceho manžela. Ale čo sa stane, keď si uvedomí, že ju viac priťahuje jej najlepší kamarát, ku ktorému má zakázané niečo cítiť...?
Ak ste éru dystopického šialenstva zažili na vlastnej koži, nič z toho vás neprekvapí. Na druhú stranu - ak ste éru dystopického šialenstva zažili na vlastnej koži, máte už zrejme nad 20 a toto nie je kniha pre vás. Je to kniha pre tú "novú generáciu" čitateľov, ktorá sa pomaly prehrýza rôznymi žánrami a na romantickú dystópiu ešte nenarazila. Pre mňa osobne to bol teda skôr taký "klasický," relatívne slušne napísaný a pútavý príbeh o tom, ako sila lásky napomôže k zbúraniu tyranického režimu - ale ak máte do 15, viem si predstavovať, že kombinácia zakázanej lásky (mimochodom, fakt pekne romantickej) + netypického prostredia urobí dojem. 7/10
Na svete sa jedného dňa prestali rodiť ženy - všetky plody ženského pohlavia skrátka v nejakom bode počas vnútromaternicového vývinu záhadne umrú. Až kým sa po 50 rokoch nestane zázrak a na svet nepríde Eve. A dnes má Eve 16 a čaká ju udalosť, na ktorú ju odmalička pripravujú: stretne sa s troma kandidátmi, spomedzi ktorých si má vybrať budúceho manžela. Ale čo sa stane, keď si uvedomí, že ju viac priťahuje jej najlepší kamarát, ku ktorému má zakázané niečo cítiť...?
Ak ste éru dystopického šialenstva zažili na vlastnej koži, nič z toho vás neprekvapí. Na druhú stranu - ak ste éru dystopického šialenstva zažili na vlastnej koži, máte už zrejme nad 20 a toto nie je kniha pre vás. Je to kniha pre tú "novú generáciu" čitateľov, ktorá sa pomaly prehrýza rôznymi žánrami a na romantickú dystópiu ešte nenarazila. Pre mňa osobne to bol teda skôr taký "klasický," relatívne slušne napísaný a pútavý príbeh o tom, ako sila lásky napomôže k zbúraniu tyranického režimu - ale ak máte do 15, viem si predstavovať, že kombinácia zakázanej lásky (mimochodom, fakt pekne romantickej) + netypického prostredia urobí dojem. 7/10
April 29, 2019
2.5 ⭐️
Well... That was a total let down. It could have been so much more, yet it wasn’t. I know it’s the first book in a series but we learned nothing about the world the characters lived in and it was pretty cliché. Plus the whole men/women dynamic was based on stereotypes, which made me roll my eyes more than once. I’m really sad I didn’t like it as I have adored the authors for half of my life and will forever admire them, but this book didn’t work out for me.
Well... That was a total let down. It could have been so much more, yet it wasn’t. I know it’s the first book in a series but we learned nothing about the world the characters lived in and it was pretty cliché. Plus the whole men/women dynamic was based on stereotypes, which made me roll my eyes more than once. I’m really sad I didn’t like it as I have adored the authors for half of my life and will forever admire them, but this book didn’t work out for me.
February 4, 2022
This unusual story has been compared to the Hunger Games but, I think it’s more like the film The Island. Set in the future this book is very gripping and cleverly written. I throughly enjoyed it and I have found out that there is a second book out with a third coming out next year. I do hope the second one continues on from the first.
August 18, 2019
I mean I guess I have a controversial opinion?? Because let's face it: Eve should reproduce. And that pretty fast and she should give birth to many many girls. Becauuseeee otherwise the whole humanity is damned.
I understand that she wants to live a good life and love and so and and so on. But the whole world? Come on. It's shitty and all but I thought she understood. I thought everyone did but apparently it's better to not reproduce? Whatever
This was my key issue with this book. I loved the writing and the characters were likeable. But the point the story took came a bit fast and felt rushed. I still rate it 1,5 points higher than average because of the idea and the execution.
I also enjoy the different views on this topic and will leave this rambling of my thoughts now to read some reviews.
I understand that she wants to live a good life and love and so and and so on. But the whole world? Come on. It's shitty and all but I thought she understood. I thought everyone did but apparently it's better to not reproduce? Whatever
This was my key issue with this book. I loved the writing and the characters were likeable. But the point the story took came a bit fast and felt rushed. I still rate it 1,5 points higher than average because of the idea and the execution.
I also enjoy the different views on this topic and will leave this rambling of my thoughts now to read some reviews.
July 17, 2018
Review coming soon
May 16, 2019
Svet opäť skončil. Alebo aspoň tak to vyzerá, kým sa nenarodí Eva. Prezentuje sa ako obyčajná šestnásťročná dievčina, ktorá má hneď niekoľko Matiek, najlepšiu priateľku hologram a žije v dokonale nasimulovanom prostredí, ktoré sa skutočnosti ani nepribližuje. Eva je spokojná, šťastná a zdravá a navyše si je vedomá, že na jej pleciach sedí obrovská zodpovednosť.
Lebo s čím najlepším prišli vedci? Jasné, posrali sme to, zničili sme svet a príroda sa nám za to pomstila a fakt nevieme, čo robiť. Tak si zoberieme toho za posledných päťdesiat rokov prvé dievča a povieme jej, že naše chyby musí napraviť ona, lebo je to jej povinnosť, ale pre istotu jej nepovieme, čo presne sme my sami posrali. Lebo tak pre nás bude jednoduchšie ovládať ju.
Možno to niekomu pripadá choré, ale presne takto je Eva vychovávaná a na toto je pripravovaná. Nie je živou bytosťou, skôr len objektom. Prostriedkom, ako získať moc a prestíž a ako zatvoriť ústa nespokojným masám. Osobne mi z podobného prístupu bolo miestami až zle, ale to je asi znamenie, že autori odviedli svoju prácu dobre.
Napriek tomu bola Eva veľmi príjemná hrdinka, bola ale veľmi mladučká, no sledovať jej cestu a to, ako postupne otvára oči a zisťuje pravdy nielen o sebe, ale aj o svete, je na jednej strane krásne a na druhej žalostné. V takom prenesenom zmysle som vlastne sledovala dieťa, ktoré zrazu prichádzalo o nevinnosť a svoje ideály tým najkrutejším možným spôsobom.
Navyše v tom nebola sama. Podobne bol na tom aj Bram, ktorý bol jedným z pilotov riadiacich hologram Evinej najlepšej priateľky. On bol takisto úplné zlatíčko, no takisto nesmierne naivný a jeho prebudenie je ešte o čosi surovejšie ako Evine.
Hoci táto kniha mala byť primárne romantickou dystópiou (a ona bola vážne niekedy až rozkošne romantická), autorom sa v skutočnosti podarilo vcelku jasne pomenovať hneď niekoľko dôležitých tém a tiež emócií, ktoré však vkladali skôr medzi riadky. Pretože Eva a Bram si ich neuvedomovali, no ja som z nich ako čitateľ bola niekedy naozaj znechutená. Navyše príbehu mohlo aj to, že mal pomerne jednoduchý dej a výborne sa čítal.
V konečnom dôsledku táto kniha nepriniesla zložité zápletky a neriešiteľné situácie a jej dej bol jednoduchý a v mnohých prípadoch veľmi ľahko predvídateľný. Postavy boli zaujímavé a niekedy bolo zarážajúce sledovať, ako čelia náročným situáciám, hoci sú v podstate ešte deti (teda, Eva tuším bola o niekoľko rokov mladšia ako Bram). Napriek tomu však nemôžem povedať, že by sa mi kniha nepáčila, skôr naopak.
Dcéra ľudstva je v istom ponímaní typickou romantickou dystópiou. Sledujeme osudy dvoch mladých ľudí, Evy a Brama, ktorí by medzi sebou nemali mať žiadny vzťah, no napriek tomu si nedokážu pomôcť. Ich osud je o to žalostnejší, že žijú v zbedačenom svete, ktorý na kolená definitívne zrazili genetické pokusy vedcov pokúšajúcich sa nájsť odpoveď na vážnu otázku – prečo sa prestali rodiť dievčatá a máme len chlapcov. Sebeckosť ľudí je ešte vybičovaná do závratných výšok, keď sa rozhodnú mladučkú Evu vychovať v nevedomosti a presvedčia ju, že to práve ona musí svet zachrániť.
Práve takéto správanie postáv prináša do príbehu až žalostnú reálnosť, pretože presne takto nechutne sa my ľudia dokážeme správať. Dej je napriek tomu jednoduchší a niektorých prípadoch ľahko predvídateľný. Sčasti je to spôsobené faktom, že Bram aj Eva, sú v mnohých ohľadoch ešte deti a ja som na stránkach mala možnosť sledovať ich prebudenie a to, ako si postupne uvedomujú problémy svojho sveta.
Autori síce v knihe dosť jasne pomenúvajú niektoré závažné témy a mnohé morálne otázky, avšak všetko toto som vnímala skôr len medzi riadkami. Nakoľko Eva a Bram si to ešte neuvedomovali a neskôr len okrajovo, ale je jasné, že s tým všetkým budú konfrontovaní v pokračovaniach. Kniha sa teda čítala dobre, dej bol svižný, avšak nepriniesol nič, čo by predtým nevidela v iných dystópiách. Napriek tomu som si čítanie užila, nakoľko autori vo mne vyvolali veľa pocitov a dali mi veľa námetov na premýšľanie. Čo, predpokladám, bolo ich zámerom.
recenzia: http://lili-darknight.blogspot.com/20...
Lebo s čím najlepším prišli vedci? Jasné, posrali sme to, zničili sme svet a príroda sa nám za to pomstila a fakt nevieme, čo robiť. Tak si zoberieme toho za posledných päťdesiat rokov prvé dievča a povieme jej, že naše chyby musí napraviť ona, lebo je to jej povinnosť, ale pre istotu jej nepovieme, čo presne sme my sami posrali. Lebo tak pre nás bude jednoduchšie ovládať ju.
Možno to niekomu pripadá choré, ale presne takto je Eva vychovávaná a na toto je pripravovaná. Nie je živou bytosťou, skôr len objektom. Prostriedkom, ako získať moc a prestíž a ako zatvoriť ústa nespokojným masám. Osobne mi z podobného prístupu bolo miestami až zle, ale to je asi znamenie, že autori odviedli svoju prácu dobre.
Napriek tomu bola Eva veľmi príjemná hrdinka, bola ale veľmi mladučká, no sledovať jej cestu a to, ako postupne otvára oči a zisťuje pravdy nielen o sebe, ale aj o svete, je na jednej strane krásne a na druhej žalostné. V takom prenesenom zmysle som vlastne sledovala dieťa, ktoré zrazu prichádzalo o nevinnosť a svoje ideály tým najkrutejším možným spôsobom.
Navyše v tom nebola sama. Podobne bol na tom aj Bram, ktorý bol jedným z pilotov riadiacich hologram Evinej najlepšej priateľky. On bol takisto úplné zlatíčko, no takisto nesmierne naivný a jeho prebudenie je ešte o čosi surovejšie ako Evine.
Hoci táto kniha mala byť primárne romantickou dystópiou (a ona bola vážne niekedy až rozkošne romantická), autorom sa v skutočnosti podarilo vcelku jasne pomenovať hneď niekoľko dôležitých tém a tiež emócií, ktoré však vkladali skôr medzi riadky. Pretože Eva a Bram si ich neuvedomovali, no ja som z nich ako čitateľ bola niekedy naozaj znechutená. Navyše príbehu mohlo aj to, že mal pomerne jednoduchý dej a výborne sa čítal.
V konečnom dôsledku táto kniha nepriniesla zložité zápletky a neriešiteľné situácie a jej dej bol jednoduchý a v mnohých prípadoch veľmi ľahko predvídateľný. Postavy boli zaujímavé a niekedy bolo zarážajúce sledovať, ako čelia náročným situáciám, hoci sú v podstate ešte deti (teda, Eva tuším bola o niekoľko rokov mladšia ako Bram). Napriek tomu však nemôžem povedať, že by sa mi kniha nepáčila, skôr naopak.
Dcéra ľudstva je v istom ponímaní typickou romantickou dystópiou. Sledujeme osudy dvoch mladých ľudí, Evy a Brama, ktorí by medzi sebou nemali mať žiadny vzťah, no napriek tomu si nedokážu pomôcť. Ich osud je o to žalostnejší, že žijú v zbedačenom svete, ktorý na kolená definitívne zrazili genetické pokusy vedcov pokúšajúcich sa nájsť odpoveď na vážnu otázku – prečo sa prestali rodiť dievčatá a máme len chlapcov. Sebeckosť ľudí je ešte vybičovaná do závratných výšok, keď sa rozhodnú mladučkú Evu vychovať v nevedomosti a presvedčia ju, že to práve ona musí svet zachrániť.
Práve takéto správanie postáv prináša do príbehu až žalostnú reálnosť, pretože presne takto nechutne sa my ľudia dokážeme správať. Dej je napriek tomu jednoduchší a niektorých prípadoch ľahko predvídateľný. Sčasti je to spôsobené faktom, že Bram aj Eva, sú v mnohých ohľadoch ešte deti a ja som na stránkach mala možnosť sledovať ich prebudenie a to, ako si postupne uvedomujú problémy svojho sveta.
Autori síce v knihe dosť jasne pomenúvajú niektoré závažné témy a mnohé morálne otázky, avšak všetko toto som vnímala skôr len medzi riadkami. Nakoľko Eva a Bram si to ešte neuvedomovali a neskôr len okrajovo, ale je jasné, že s tým všetkým budú konfrontovaní v pokračovaniach. Kniha sa teda čítala dobre, dej bol svižný, avšak nepriniesol nič, čo by predtým nevidela v iných dystópiách. Napriek tomu som si čítanie užila, nakoľko autori vo mne vyvolali veľa pocitov a dali mi veľa námetov na premýšľanie. Čo, predpokladám, bolo ich zámerom.
recenzia: http://lili-darknight.blogspot.com/20...
April 15, 2020
Was Schönheit angeht, ist uns Mutter Natur immer einen Schritt voraus.
Alleine die Prämisse machte dieses Buch super interessant. Was wäre, wenn...
Insgesamt war diese Prämisse gut umgesetzt, der Weltentwurf war wirklich nicht von schlechten Eltern (übrigens vom selben Vater wie der Weihnachtosaurus). Der Schreibstil hat mich aber nicht vollständig mitgenehmen können, auch wenn die Perspektivenwechsel gut gemacht waren. Was mich allerdings schon auf den ersten Seiten wirklich wirklich nervte, war der Schritt in die Rosa/Hellblau-Falle. "Das Rosa verschwand, es gab nur noch Blau...". Das hat mich wirklich wirklich beinahe dazu gebracht, dieses Buch ungelesen in die Ecke zu werfen. Eve und Bram sind aber tolle Charaktere und ihre Beziehung kommt gut rüber. Bin gespannt, wie es wohl weitergeht.
May 25, 2018
Loved the idea for this book and think the title is very clever.
Both the main characters Eve and Bram have really distinctive voices and we feel for each of them in their own way.
It's nice that even though we spend the majority of time within the Tower we still get a sense of the growing pains of the outside world.
Some elements of the story felt quite contrived and the language was almost too simple for a young adult book which sometimes made the story feel more slow/boring than it actually was.
Personally I felt that some parts of the novel were repetitive - instead of continuously moving forward it took one step back which stunted growing momentum.
The conspiracies that were seeded and revealed within the novel keep me wanting to know more, and I look forward to finding out how the story will progress in forthcoming novels.
Both the main characters Eve and Bram have really distinctive voices and we feel for each of them in their own way.
It's nice that even though we spend the majority of time within the Tower we still get a sense of the growing pains of the outside world.
Some elements of the story felt quite contrived and the language was almost too simple for a young adult book which sometimes made the story feel more slow/boring than it actually was.
Personally I felt that some parts of the novel were repetitive - instead of continuously moving forward it took one step back which stunted growing momentum.
The conspiracies that were seeded and revealed within the novel keep me wanting to know more, and I look forward to finding out how the story will progress in forthcoming novels.
August 29, 2019
Spätestens seit “The Christmasaurus” bin ich ein riesiger Tom Fletcher Fan. Es war also nur eine Frage der Zeit, bis ich mich auch dem Werk, welches er gemeinsam mit Ehefrau Giovanna Fletcher geschrieben hat, widmen würde. Als ich dann erfuhr, dass es auch bald auf Deutsch erscheinen würde, machte ich Nägel mit Köpfen und befreite das Buch von meinem SUB. Dort lag es ohnehin schon viel zu lange.
Und was soll ich sagen, ich bin absolut BEGEISTERT! Ich kann schon jetzt sagen, dass Eve of Man definitiv eines meiner 2019 Jahreshighlights ist.
Eve ist das erste Mädchen, dass seit fünfzig Jahren geboren wurde. Sie ist die Hoffnung und Zukunft der gesamten Menschheit. Und genau deshalb wurde sie auch ihr gesamtes Leben eingesperrt, eingesperrt an einem Ort, der ihr zu Hause sein sollte. Und zwar solange, bis sie alt genug war um drei potentiellen Erzeugern ihrer zukünftigen Kinder zu begegnen, die ganz akribisch aus hunderten von Männern ausgewählt wurden, damit sie auch ja ein Mädchen gebären würde. Doch irgendwie läuft nichts so, wie es laufen sollte. Denn plötzlich fängt Eve an, Fragen zu stellen. Und noch mehr gerät ihr Leben aus den Fugen, als sie schließlich auf Bram trifft.
Ich liebe die Idee, die hinter diesem Roman steckt. Wurden Frauen über Jahrzehnte hinweg benachteiligt und kaum wertgeschätzt, so zeigt dieses Buch ganz deutlich, wie wichtig das weibliche Geschlecht für die Erhaltung der menschlichen Rasse ist. Man stelle sich nur mal tatsächlich vor, was wäre, wenn plötzlich nur noch Jungs auf die Welt kommen würden und keine Mädchen mehr und das 50 lange Jahre lang.
Natürlich verändert ein solches Szenario nicht nur das Weltgeschehen an sich, sondern auch die Menschen, denn die meisten Männer haben noch nie eine Frau gesehen. Die Frauen, die noch übrig sind, leben fernab von den Männern in einer Gemeinschaft oder dienen Eve, um sie auf das vorzubereiten, was ihr bevorsteht. Die Reaktionen mancher Männer, als sie zum ersten Mal Eve begegnen, sind mithin unglaublich erschreckend, aber auf gewisse Art und Weise auch nachvollziehbar.
Hauptsächlich spielt sich die Geschichte in dem Turm ab, in dem Eve lebt, abgeschottet von der Welt draußen. Auf diese Art und Weise bekommt man ein Gefühl dafür, wie Eve all die Zeit gelebt hat und was sie alles über sich ergehen lassen musste. Mir persönlich ging manches davon unglaublich nahe, war es für meinen Geschmack unfassbar erniedrigend, wie sie behandelt wurde. Denn Eve wurde nicht nur gehalten, wie ein Tier, sondern auch genau so behandelt. Den Menschen, die sie “groß gezogen” haben, geht es nur darum, eine “Gebärmaschine” aus ihr zu machen. Auf der einen Seite verständlich, hängt die Zukunft der gesamten Menschheit davon ab, denn ohne Frauen, keine Babies, auf der anderen Seite allerdings vergessen diese Menschen, dass es sich auch bei Eve um ein menschliches Wesen handelt, sogar um den aktuell wohl wichtigsten Menschen der Welt. Ständig muss sie sich gynäkologischen Untersuchungen unterziehen, “die Beine breit machen”, damit die Ärzte ihre Eier entnehmen können, um irgendwelche unmenschlichen Experimente damit durchzuführen.
Mir hat Eve unglaublich Leid getan. Dieser unendliche Druck, der auf ihr lastet, war fast greifbar, so intensiv wurde er beschrieben. Ich kann und möchte mir gar nicht vorstellen, wie es mir in dieser Situation ergangen wäre; was ich gedacht und gefühlt hätte.
Als dann schließlich Bram auftaucht, ein junger Mann, der eben nicht zu den potentiellen drei Männern gehört, die sorgfältig für sie ausgewählt wurden, fängt sie an sich zu fragen, ob sie die Menschheit im Stich lässt, wenn sie eben kein Interesse mehr daran hat, sich von irgendeinem x-beliebigen Mann befruchten zu lassen, nur um ein Kind nach dem anderen zur Welt zu bringen in der Hoffnung, dass es Mädchen sein werden. Sie fühlt sich schlecht, weil sie mehr will, als nur ein befruchtetes Ei in ihre Vagina eingeführt zu bekommen. Wie sagt man so schön? Sie möchte eben das ganze Paket – mir hat es das Herz zerrissen, sie innerlich so leiden zu sehen, in ihrem wohl persönlichsten Kampf; in ihrem Kampf mit sich selbst und gegen die Menschen, die eigentlich ihre Familie sein sollten.
Erzählt wird die Geschichte aus zwei Sichten, einmal aus der Sicht von Eve und einmal aus der Sicht von Bram, was es dem Leser möglich macht, eine Verbindung zu beiden unserer Protagonisten aufzubauen. Auch das Setting hat mir unglaublich gut gefallen, es hatte ein bisschen was von Rapunzel, wie Eve dort oben gefangen gehalten wurde, in diesem riesigen Turm, fernab von all den Menschen. Insgesamt ein moralisches Dilemma, sieht man sich als Leser auch der Frage ausgesetzt, inwiefern es rechtens ist, das letzte weibliche menschliche Lebewesen auf dem Planeten, das in der Lage ist, weitere Kinder zu bekommen und somit die menschliche Rasse am Leben zu erhalten, festzuhalten. Wo zieht man da eine Grenze? Ein Menschenleben im Austausch gegen eine vollkommen neue Generation? Ist ein Menschenleben weniger Wert als der Erhalt einer gesamten Rasse?
LOHNT SICH DAS BUCH?
In meinen Augen absolut. Von mir bekommt Eve of Man eine ganz klare Leseempfehlung, besonders interessant ist diese Geschichte wohl für diejenigen, die diese apokalyptischen Zukunftsszenarien und dystopischen Settings lieben. Ich wurde emotional nicht nur an meine Grenzen betrieben, sondern wurde auch unglaublich gut unterhalten. Hinzu kommt einfach der wunderbare Schreibstil der beiden Autoren. Für mich ein ganz klares Highlight. Und ich freue mich schon jetzt unglaublich auf den zweiten Teil der Reihe! Ich kann es kaum noch erwarten.
Und was soll ich sagen, ich bin absolut BEGEISTERT! Ich kann schon jetzt sagen, dass Eve of Man definitiv eines meiner 2019 Jahreshighlights ist.
Eve ist das erste Mädchen, dass seit fünfzig Jahren geboren wurde. Sie ist die Hoffnung und Zukunft der gesamten Menschheit. Und genau deshalb wurde sie auch ihr gesamtes Leben eingesperrt, eingesperrt an einem Ort, der ihr zu Hause sein sollte. Und zwar solange, bis sie alt genug war um drei potentiellen Erzeugern ihrer zukünftigen Kinder zu begegnen, die ganz akribisch aus hunderten von Männern ausgewählt wurden, damit sie auch ja ein Mädchen gebären würde. Doch irgendwie läuft nichts so, wie es laufen sollte. Denn plötzlich fängt Eve an, Fragen zu stellen. Und noch mehr gerät ihr Leben aus den Fugen, als sie schließlich auf Bram trifft.
Ich liebe die Idee, die hinter diesem Roman steckt. Wurden Frauen über Jahrzehnte hinweg benachteiligt und kaum wertgeschätzt, so zeigt dieses Buch ganz deutlich, wie wichtig das weibliche Geschlecht für die Erhaltung der menschlichen Rasse ist. Man stelle sich nur mal tatsächlich vor, was wäre, wenn plötzlich nur noch Jungs auf die Welt kommen würden und keine Mädchen mehr und das 50 lange Jahre lang.
Natürlich verändert ein solches Szenario nicht nur das Weltgeschehen an sich, sondern auch die Menschen, denn die meisten Männer haben noch nie eine Frau gesehen. Die Frauen, die noch übrig sind, leben fernab von den Männern in einer Gemeinschaft oder dienen Eve, um sie auf das vorzubereiten, was ihr bevorsteht. Die Reaktionen mancher Männer, als sie zum ersten Mal Eve begegnen, sind mithin unglaublich erschreckend, aber auf gewisse Art und Weise auch nachvollziehbar.
Hauptsächlich spielt sich die Geschichte in dem Turm ab, in dem Eve lebt, abgeschottet von der Welt draußen. Auf diese Art und Weise bekommt man ein Gefühl dafür, wie Eve all die Zeit gelebt hat und was sie alles über sich ergehen lassen musste. Mir persönlich ging manches davon unglaublich nahe, war es für meinen Geschmack unfassbar erniedrigend, wie sie behandelt wurde. Denn Eve wurde nicht nur gehalten, wie ein Tier, sondern auch genau so behandelt. Den Menschen, die sie “groß gezogen” haben, geht es nur darum, eine “Gebärmaschine” aus ihr zu machen. Auf der einen Seite verständlich, hängt die Zukunft der gesamten Menschheit davon ab, denn ohne Frauen, keine Babies, auf der anderen Seite allerdings vergessen diese Menschen, dass es sich auch bei Eve um ein menschliches Wesen handelt, sogar um den aktuell wohl wichtigsten Menschen der Welt. Ständig muss sie sich gynäkologischen Untersuchungen unterziehen, “die Beine breit machen”, damit die Ärzte ihre Eier entnehmen können, um irgendwelche unmenschlichen Experimente damit durchzuführen.
Mir hat Eve unglaublich Leid getan. Dieser unendliche Druck, der auf ihr lastet, war fast greifbar, so intensiv wurde er beschrieben. Ich kann und möchte mir gar nicht vorstellen, wie es mir in dieser Situation ergangen wäre; was ich gedacht und gefühlt hätte.
Als dann schließlich Bram auftaucht, ein junger Mann, der eben nicht zu den potentiellen drei Männern gehört, die sorgfältig für sie ausgewählt wurden, fängt sie an sich zu fragen, ob sie die Menschheit im Stich lässt, wenn sie eben kein Interesse mehr daran hat, sich von irgendeinem x-beliebigen Mann befruchten zu lassen, nur um ein Kind nach dem anderen zur Welt zu bringen in der Hoffnung, dass es Mädchen sein werden. Sie fühlt sich schlecht, weil sie mehr will, als nur ein befruchtetes Ei in ihre Vagina eingeführt zu bekommen. Wie sagt man so schön? Sie möchte eben das ganze Paket – mir hat es das Herz zerrissen, sie innerlich so leiden zu sehen, in ihrem wohl persönlichsten Kampf; in ihrem Kampf mit sich selbst und gegen die Menschen, die eigentlich ihre Familie sein sollten.
Erzählt wird die Geschichte aus zwei Sichten, einmal aus der Sicht von Eve und einmal aus der Sicht von Bram, was es dem Leser möglich macht, eine Verbindung zu beiden unserer Protagonisten aufzubauen. Auch das Setting hat mir unglaublich gut gefallen, es hatte ein bisschen was von Rapunzel, wie Eve dort oben gefangen gehalten wurde, in diesem riesigen Turm, fernab von all den Menschen. Insgesamt ein moralisches Dilemma, sieht man sich als Leser auch der Frage ausgesetzt, inwiefern es rechtens ist, das letzte weibliche menschliche Lebewesen auf dem Planeten, das in der Lage ist, weitere Kinder zu bekommen und somit die menschliche Rasse am Leben zu erhalten, festzuhalten. Wo zieht man da eine Grenze? Ein Menschenleben im Austausch gegen eine vollkommen neue Generation? Ist ein Menschenleben weniger Wert als der Erhalt einer gesamten Rasse?
LOHNT SICH DAS BUCH?
In meinen Augen absolut. Von mir bekommt Eve of Man eine ganz klare Leseempfehlung, besonders interessant ist diese Geschichte wohl für diejenigen, die diese apokalyptischen Zukunftsszenarien und dystopischen Settings lieben. Ich wurde emotional nicht nur an meine Grenzen betrieben, sondern wurde auch unglaublich gut unterhalten. Hinzu kommt einfach der wunderbare Schreibstil der beiden Autoren. Für mich ein ganz klares Highlight. Und ich freue mich schon jetzt unglaublich auf den zweiten Teil der Reihe! Ich kann es kaum noch erwarten.
August 28, 2020
This was okay, but I feel like it tried to accomplish too much?
August 23, 2019
Eenmaal ik begon in dit boek kon ik het niet wegleggen! Dit is een trilogie dus zeer benieuwd naar de 2 volgende boeken!
August 5, 2019
Was mir gefehlt hat war das Worldbuilding und auch viele Details, die die Welt abrunden. Wenn mir kreative Details auffallen, bin ich immer total begeistert, und das war hier nicht so. Dass es keine Frauen gibt, betrifft ja die ganze Welt, aber außerhalb vom Tower sieht man so wenig. Kein normaler Alltag und auch vom Rest der Welt sieht man nicht viel. Bei einer so globalen Thematik sollte man mehr Faktoren mit einbeziehen.
Die Aufregung im Tower reicht eigentlich auch, um das ganze Buch zu füllen und dabei spannend und unterhaltsam zu bleiben.
Eves Rolle als Mutter zukünftiger Generationen sorgt für viel Kopfzerbrechen, weil das alles gar nicht so einfach ist, vor allem für Eve, die keinerlei Einfluss über ihr eigenes Leben hat.
Bram ist Eves beste Freundin Holly. Wie das sein kann? Holly ist natürlich nicht echt, denn schließlich gibt es keine anderen Mädchen außer Eve. Damit sie aber mit einer besten Freundin Eve zur Seite stehen und sie manipulieren können, hat man das Hologramm Holly eingebracht, das von einigen "Piloten" gesteuert wird, unter anderem von Bram.
Und Bram ist eigentlich der Beste, er kennt Eve schon sehr lange und versteht ihre Gefühle, aber er lässt seine Arbeit zu nah an sich heran und verliebt sich in sie.
So wie fast jeder. Die Gefühle endlos vieler Männer müssen ja irgendwo hin und außer Eve gibt es ja sonst niemanden. Also werden Männer und Eve (und die älteren Mütter) voneinander getrennt, um Eve zu beschützen, aber es ist viel mehr ein goldener Käfig.
Fazit
Die Frage um den Fortbestand der Menschheit, Eves Wohlergehen und die Liebesgeschichte gestalten "Eve of Man - Die letzte Frau" spannend, auch wenn mir das gewisse Etwas gefehlt hat.
Die Aufregung im Tower reicht eigentlich auch, um das ganze Buch zu füllen und dabei spannend und unterhaltsam zu bleiben.
Eves Rolle als Mutter zukünftiger Generationen sorgt für viel Kopfzerbrechen, weil das alles gar nicht so einfach ist, vor allem für Eve, die keinerlei Einfluss über ihr eigenes Leben hat.
Bram ist Eves beste Freundin Holly. Wie das sein kann? Holly ist natürlich nicht echt, denn schließlich gibt es keine anderen Mädchen außer Eve. Damit sie aber mit einer besten Freundin Eve zur Seite stehen und sie manipulieren können, hat man das Hologramm Holly eingebracht, das von einigen "Piloten" gesteuert wird, unter anderem von Bram.
Und Bram ist eigentlich der Beste, er kennt Eve schon sehr lange und versteht ihre Gefühle, aber er lässt seine Arbeit zu nah an sich heran und verliebt sich in sie.
So wie fast jeder. Die Gefühle endlos vieler Männer müssen ja irgendwo hin und außer Eve gibt es ja sonst niemanden. Also werden Männer und Eve (und die älteren Mütter) voneinander getrennt, um Eve zu beschützen, aber es ist viel mehr ein goldener Käfig.
Fazit
Die Frage um den Fortbestand der Menschheit, Eves Wohlergehen und die Liebesgeschichte gestalten "Eve of Man - Die letzte Frau" spannend, auch wenn mir das gewisse Etwas gefehlt hat.
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