Eve of Man

by Giovanna Fletcher

& Tom Fletcher

AGAINST ALL ODDS, SHE SURVIVED.
THE FIRST GIRL BORN IN FIFTY YEARS.
THEY CALLED HER EVE . . .

All her life Eve has been kept away from the opposite sex. Kept from the truth of her past.

But at sixteen it’s time for Eve to face her destiny. Three potential males have been selected for her. The future of humanity is in her hands. She’s always accepted her fate.

Until she meets Bram.

Eve wants control over her life. She wants freedom.

But how do you choose between love and the future of the human race?

EVE OF MAN is the first in an explosive new trilogy by bestselling authors Giovanna & Tom Fletcher.

I was kindly given an e-ARC of the book by NetGalley in return for an honest review.

It’s no brainer that I absolutely love dystopian sci-fi, there’s literally no brain cells required. And the fact that the synopsis was super intriguing also helped a lot while I wondered if I wanted to request the book or not. The synopsis really made me want to read it and luckily, I was approved for it, it’s a heavily requested book from what I understood. So, I am just glad that I got to read it in advance.

The book starts with a prologue that gives us the sense of surrealism, one day girls just simply stopped being born. There were only boys and no matter how much the scientists and the doctors tried, there was no girl being born in the whole world. At first, it was considered something of a novelty, how funny that there were no girls born but then, people began to notice that the novelty wasn’t a novelty after so many tries and months. That’s when the true panic spread.

Then after many years, a girl is born. After fifty years. She is the special one; she’s the first one after so many years. She is named Eve. She’s kept away from the public for very obvious reasons, men being men might try to do away with her and all that jazz. She’s sheltered and has Mothers tending to her, rearing her. I loved the Mothers, they each other their own personality and it was shown in a brilliant way. Eve’s relationships with her Mothers was a joy to read, they each other their own way of treating Eve, of behaving around Eve.

As we are introduced to Eve’s life, we are also given hints of what’s happening out in the world. I am hoping that we get to see more of the world that’s left after the ruination. Mere vague hints are not enough! I want more. We are also introduced to Holly, a friend created specifically for Eve. She has pilots who run her and programmers who look after the coding.

One of the pilots, Bram, feels a real friendship for Eve, understands her problems more than the other pilots because he has grown up with her. Sure, he was Holly in front of her but all that Eve shares with him remains with him. He is genuinely fond of her.

Eve turns sixteen and potential mates for found for her, she’s after all the Saviour of humanity. I loved the plot and the way it unfolded so far. There are some really good scenes in the book and I hope everyone gets to read them. We can see the good and the bad in men, men who have not seen women for a while. Men who are desperate enough that they think it’s alright to kidnap or rape or even kill her. Then there are men who are conflicted but make the right decisions in the end. There’s an almost trigger scene in the novel where a man has Eve cornered and maybe he did want to protect her at first but there were signs that he had ideas for something much worse. He doesn’t want to do it but we can see the temptation and that’s scary and too real, frankly. Which is why I kind of loved the fact that they decided to put it there.

It starts out as such a good story, seriously. I love the premise and I loved the first half of the book, it was well-written and well-paced. The thing with the rest of it, well, this is where the young adult part comes in, I guess. The basic plot is not bad but since they tried to use some very familiar tropes, it turned into a very typical read for me.

Till the moment they introduced the romance, I was really into the book afterwards though, it just felt like I was reading a typical YA novel. That’s why I can’t give it more than 3.75 stars. There’s so much potential but falling prey to the tropes is what made it less. It’s a trilogy so I am hoping there’s some redemption for this because I really, really enjoyed the first sixty percent of the book. It’s a good book with just a dash of problems.

Also, call me vain or whatever but I really liked the cover? It’s so pleasing to the eye.

Overall, I really loved the premise and even the characters of the book, to a point. There came a point however when I couldn’t really love it? I am hoping that the next books will make it better. So, if you are a fan of science fiction, or young adult fiction or dystopian novels in general then you should definitely give it a try.