Eden by Keary Taylor

Eden by Keary Taylor

Published 2011, Kindle Edition, 110,000 words or about 400 pages.

Eve's world is Fallen. An advanced technology was developed to grow new organs and limbs in humans, but the machine grew, slowly taking over human bodies. The infection spread quickly, and now only a small amount of humans are left. For Eve, that world is thirty-six people living in a village called Eden. When newcomers arrive, she finds out about her mysterious past and is town between two men. Eden soon has to move as the Hunters become more aggressive, and Eve goes on a journey to find out what it means to be human.

I found this book on Goodreads. The cover snagged my attention first. Very "eye" catching. Ha! I'm hilarious! I skimmed the sample to make sure it was passable, and spent a hard-earned dollar on this dystopian novel. A dollar not wasted!

Eve's world isn't easy, and Keary Taylor's writing pulls you right into it. The woods, the survival aspect. Eve reminded me of Katniss because of her survivor skills, and this book actually seemed like a Finding Fiona meets The Hunger Games. (Hmm, maybe Finding Fiona needs a love triangle. . .nope. No, it doesn't.)

Anyways, this book had me riveted. I didn't want to put it down! I read the second half all afternoon today. Fascinating world, and I kept wanting to know what was going to happen. Good actions scenes (I wanted more!). It was a pretty balanced love triangle, too, until about three fourths of the way through, then I started to see who Eve would choose. I started to root for him, too.

My only qualm: this should have been three fourths as long. After a while, the author started to repeat herself, and nothing really happened until the second half of the book. The love triangle started to get a little overdone, and I think with 20-30K less words, the story would have been much smoother and tighter. A few typos (other's instead of others, you're instead of your), a frustrating ending to the love triangle (not who she chooses, but. . .oh, you'll see). So I guess that wasn't my ONLY qualm, but my main one.

The second half was much more exciting to me than the first. Eden is forced to move because the Hunters are becoming more aggressive, and we see more of this apocalyptic world. We see if there are any other survivors. We see Eve grow emotionally. We see some pretty awesome action scenes, too.

There were also a few plot holes, some of them pretty big, but overall, it was a good read. I liked the three main characters. I wanted to see more of the minor characters, actually. I enjoy dystopian novels a lot, and this one fits in well with the others!