My first instinct upon reading the description of this novel was to take a pass. But there was something so appealing in its being called a cross between The Handmaid's Tale (a book I've long wanted but have yet to read) and The Hunger Games (a series I adore) that made me decide to go ahead and give it a try. Would that I had listened to my instincts. And, just for the record, this book is *nothing* like The Hunger Games. I think that comparison was used solely in an attempt to cash in on the (rightfully earned) popularity of that series. Fair warning: the spoilers in this review will be plentiful.
First up, the dystopia. I thought Carey's concept was pretty awesome and showed a lot of promise. The problem was all in the execution. There is no logic whatsoever in the societal structure of Eve's "New America". None. Very early in the novel, the reader is told that something like 98% of the population of the United States was wiped out in a plague. I'm not sure how many that leaves behind, but it sounds like it could only be a viable population by the slimmest of margins. Because of this, Eve and the girls like her are turned into baby incubators at the age of eighteen, strapped down to tables and kept constantly pregnant. When Eve peers into the breeding grounds, she notices some women with bloodied gauze around their middles. My first thought was, "Um, shouldn't they take better care of those women to ensure they don't get infections or suffer from ruptured uteruses. Wouldn't the objective be to keep them healthy so that they can keep cranking out the babies?" Apparently, no. I won't even get into the negative effects of stress on pregnant women, and how the conditions in which these women are kept make absolutely no sense if a healthy baby is the King's objective. The restraining and forcible insemination also bothers me. I mean, these girls are well aware of how compromised the continued existence of the human race is, right? No one is keeping this a secret from them. So shouldn't it follow that some of them might actually be okay with having as many babies as possible, all for the sake of keeping humans on Earth? Apparently, no.
Shortly after this, Eve makes her dramatic escape and finds herself being rescued by Caleb. Naturally, Caleb's got his own tale of woe, and he tells Eve all about the terrible work camps in which young boys and men are forced to toil for hours with abusive overseers, all so they can create a glorious playground for the King and the privileged few. Say what? If humans are so scarce, why would the King be working male children to death? This makes not one iota of sense to me. This is a huge, huge logical failure in the story, in my opinion.
The other logical failure that just irritated me was the question of why the girls receive this glowing, awesome education in which they learn how to play the piano, waltz, and read Russian literature, and are then strapped to a bed and made to bear one child after another. What is the point of this education? Where is the value in a presumably resource-strapped society putting so much effort and so many resources into an education these girls are never going to use? I mean, couldn't they have just walled them up and let them play with dolls all day and achieved the same ends--creating a docile population of girls who are undyingly loyal to their dystopian government? I can see no reason for this, other than to provide the opportunity for Eve to natter on about all of the great works of literature she has read.
Following along that train of thought, shouldn't Eve be delighted that she's been chosen to be the King's babymaking machine? I would think that someone who's always been such an obedient follower of the rules would feel like that was some sort of special privilege. The bounds of absurdity are then stretched further when the King's men begin their intense hunt for Eve. Why? Unless Carey's got some huge reveal up her sleeve in book two or three, I see no reason why the King would do anything other than shrug and find himself another surrogate.
From here, things just get worse. The characters are almost uniformly so generic that they blend right in with the paper on which the book is printed. By the time I finished, I had no idea who Caleb was. Sure, the reader learns about his escape from the work camps and also about a few pieces from his past, but nothing about what makes him tick. He is so spectacularly bland, I can't understand why Eve, who has been conditioned since early childhood to despise and distrust men, falls so spectacularly in love with him in such a short time. I can understand her devotion to boys like Silas and Benny, but not her devotion to Caleb.
All of the male characters in this book are given short shrift, really. In fact, I found the portrayal of males to be almost uniformly offensive. Nearly every male in the book is exactly the sort of vile predator about whom the girls in Eve's school have been warned. I really, really hope this is a problem that will be fixed in the future installments of the series.
As for Eve, I actively disliked her by about halfway through the book, which is never, ever a good thing--unless the author is purposely trying to create a despicable character, which was not the case here. For someone who's supposed to be so highly educated, Eve is about as dumb as a post. She constantly makes mistakes that result in the direst of consequences to other characters, and yet she is almost universally loved. What gives? What's more, I thought she was extremely selfish, putting her own safety above that of others on multiple occasions. When she had her hissy fit because Caleb didn't jump at her proposal that she stay in his camp--thereby endangering him and every other boy who lives there--I wanted to slap her. Not good, not good at all.
If there is any character that I really liked in the novel, it was Arden and, of course, she is given short shrift. Her only purpose in the plot--thus far, anyway--is to save Eve. She should have thrown Eve to the wolves, saved herself, and the book should have continued following her story. It would have been much better that way. Kudos to Carey for creating one female character who is capable of thinking for herself and shows some fire. Too bad I'm not writing that about her main character.
This is book one of a promised trilogy, and I can say one thing for certain: I will not be coming back for books two and three. There are far too many excellent books out there and far too little time for reading for me to stick with so disappointing a series.
