qdbibliophile's review against another edition
4.0
~REVIEWš~
A disturbing look into a future where humans are required to suppress all emotion lest they be "culled" and put into the Grid (i.e. their spirits removed from their body and put into an electronic afterlife). The main character, Eve, is at the top of the leaderboard, acing all her exams and showing exceptional emotional restraint until the day her brother is culled, which triggers a violent storm of emotions. Will she still be able to pass the harvest (wherein she would be selected for a position as an adult) or will she be join her brother in the Grid? The book follows Eve through her journey in the aftermath of her emotional outburst, wherein we meet a cast of characters that includes a mysterious young man without the mandated emotion monitor and an architect that reveals secrets about Eve's past that may just completely change the course of her life, and Eridu forever.
Alanah Andrews excels at complex world building, painting a vivid mental picture of a place that was at once thrilling and horrifying. My one qualm with the book was the pacing. It felt a little slow until the final third of the book, with the conclusion feeling rather rushed comparatively. I am anxious to know what happens next though, and with the cliffhanger leading us in a particular direction, I'm anticipating that the next book won't have the same issue. Looking forward to reading it!
Overall: 4/5 āāāā
Steam: N/A - Clean - Kiss only
Feels: šØš ššš¤
~QD STORY DETAILS~
Tear jerker: No
Paranormal/Fantasy: Yes
Location: Eridu
Character age range: Teen
Lead: Eve
Love interest(s): Sam
HEA: No - cliffhanger
~QD BOOK INFO~
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Audible: No
Series: YesĀ -Ā series
1. Eve of Eridu - released 08/13/18
~QD š„~
Sex/kink type: N/A - Kiss only
Possible triggers: suppression of free will, unethical behavior
stephquintal's review against another edition
5.0
As a YA dystopian novel I was happily surprised to read something that had a unique story line. I found the characters likeable, dialogue believable, and the premise very interesting.
The idea that a specific gene required for viral immunity can only be activated by the suppression of strong emotions is intriguing. The community built on that fact and the withholding of information throughout development makes the reality of it that much more daunting. I like how these concepts had me thinking about the pros and cons of emotion, memory, and humanity as a whole.
The idea that a specific gene required for viral immunity can only be activated by the suppression of strong emotions is intriguing. The community built on that fact and the withholding of information throughout development makes the reality of it that much more daunting. I like how these concepts had me thinking about the pros and cons of emotion, memory, and humanity as a whole.
writing_bear's review against another edition
5.0
Eve of Eridu was an absolute delight to read. Alanah has done an amazing job creating the world of Eridu. There's a constant sense of wanting to know more as you follow Eve through the final cycle towards the harvest; about Sam, Luc, the harvest itself and the founders. Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys science fiction and young adult.
redaroundtheworld's review
2.0
Alexa, order more Lortnok so I can suppress my negative emotions about this book.
This is a generous 2.5 stars. Itās an interesting idea but could have been executed a lot better.
There is almost no information on this underground civilization. How long has it been around? How did they even build it with only six founders? How is there a wall surrounding them if theyāre underground?
Also, Lortnok just doesnāt make sense in this world (the word itself). It just sounds like something from Welcome to Nightvale (the country of luftnarp) and thatās all I could think of when I read it.
SPOILERS BELOW
Why only praise Alexa? How many people are here? Why is there even a leaderboard If you surviving depends on this silly gene activation? Suppressing emotions activates a gene? What? How?
How do they expect to repopulate the earth if everyone is literally the same six people? Thereās so much I just donāt get. And the more I think about it the more annoyed I am.
This is a generous 2.5 stars. Itās an interesting idea but could have been executed a lot better.
There is almost no information on this underground civilization. How long has it been around? How did they even build it with only six founders? How is there a wall surrounding them if theyāre underground?
Also, Lortnok just doesnāt make sense in this world (the word itself). It just sounds like something from Welcome to Nightvale (the country of luftnarp) and thatās all I could think of when I read it.
SPOILERS BELOW
Why only praise Alexa? How many people are here? Why is there even a leaderboard If you surviving depends on this silly gene activation? Suppressing emotions activates a gene? What? How?
How do they expect to repopulate the earth if everyone is literally the same six people? Thereās so much I just donāt get. And the more I think about it the more annoyed I am.
kaidalea's review
5.0
After having read the short prequel to this book got free on Amazon, I purchased the Kindle version immediately. Iām going to do my best to make this review spoiler-free.
This book surprised me. Not just because Iām not familiar with the authorā itās crazy how many amazing books are out there that should get more attention, so I try to give everyone an equal chance to captivate me. The world-building was incredible and the main character was (mostly) relatable. Even when she would not cooperate with what I wanted for her, I was rooting for Eve (and also cursing her half the time for making stupid choices). You see, Iām a rule-follower, so I get incredibly anxious when things do not go the way they āshouldā. Itās a character flaw of mine, but I think most people feel that anticipation anxiety when reading this type of book. It makes it more addicting to read because youāre dying to see things happen ācorrectlyā (in your mind).
Eve lives on Eriduā an underground sanctuary made by her ancestors to save the human race. Because of a Third World War, a devastating virus wiped out 97% of the population of the world, if the nuclear warfare didnāt take them first. The remaining were left with a mission to save mankind, with a precious few immune to the disease. The incredible thing about Eveās world is that no one ever diesā theyāre sent to a place called the Grid when they are about to die, when they choose to die, or when they are decided to be of no use to Eriduās sanctuary and are āculledā to the Grid. The people in the Grid live forever and are always accessible to anyone in Eridu to speak with, or so it is told to them.
Eve is a perfect citizen. That is, until her seemingly perfect brotherā always at top rankā is culled on the day of his harvest ceremony. Eve goes into shock and redlines for the first time, from then on struggling with not only her status in Eridu, but with everything she was raised to believe and believes in herself.
Revelations about her world and also about Eve herself actually came as a surprise. This was the kind of story where I was sure I knew what was *really* going on the whole time, but ended up receiving a few curve balls. The is-all-of-this-a-lie flooded my veins constantly, and I was just so surprised by the reality of it all and it was very well delivered.
I am going to just say this once because it was the only thing I didnāt love: the ending. I would assume this is my inner child screaming for everything to happen āthe way itās supposed toā, but for godās sake, Eve, come on.
Looking forward to book 2 & its release date!!
This book surprised me. Not just because Iām not familiar with the authorā itās crazy how many amazing books are out there that should get more attention, so I try to give everyone an equal chance to captivate me. The world-building was incredible and the main character was (mostly) relatable. Even when she would not cooperate with what I wanted for her, I was rooting for Eve (and also cursing her half the time for making stupid choices). You see, Iām a rule-follower, so I get incredibly anxious when things do not go the way they āshouldā. Itās a character flaw of mine, but I think most people feel that anticipation anxiety when reading this type of book. It makes it more addicting to read because youāre dying to see things happen ācorrectlyā (in your mind).
Eve lives on Eriduā an underground sanctuary made by her ancestors to save the human race. Because of a Third World War, a devastating virus wiped out 97% of the population of the world, if the nuclear warfare didnāt take them first. The remaining were left with a mission to save mankind, with a precious few immune to the disease. The incredible thing about Eveās world is that no one ever diesā theyāre sent to a place called the Grid when they are about to die, when they choose to die, or when they are decided to be of no use to Eriduās sanctuary and are āculledā to the Grid. The people in the Grid live forever and are always accessible to anyone in Eridu to speak with, or so it is told to them.
Eve is a perfect citizen. That is, until her seemingly perfect brotherā always at top rankā is culled on the day of his harvest ceremony. Eve goes into shock and redlines for the first time, from then on struggling with not only her status in Eridu, but with everything she was raised to believe and believes in herself.
Revelations about her world and also about Eve herself actually came as a surprise. This was the kind of story where I was sure I knew what was *really* going on the whole time, but ended up receiving a few curve balls. The is-all-of-this-a-lie flooded my veins constantly, and I was just so surprised by the reality of it all and it was very well delivered.
I am going to just say this once because it was the only thing I didnāt love: the ending. I would assume this is my inner child screaming for everything to happen āthe way itās supposed toā, but for godās sake, Eve, come on.
Looking forward to book 2 & its release date!!
logikitty's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked the philosophical question that Alanah asked in this novel: how emotion illiterate are we? Does society at large know how to have conversations about emotions and how we regulate them? Have emotions really been the cause of all the horrible wars we've had in various parts of the world, some lasting decades? Will we be unable to be peaceful if emotions are truly at the core of these social problems?
**Don't continue if you don't want spoilers**
She explores a dystopian world in which any emotion is unacceptable, and the leaders of Eridu created a manifesto that enforces the prescriptive behaviors of their citizens. They are told that the leaderboard is the thing that determines whether they are culled or move onto the Harvest where they might have a chance at being the next generation's leadership.
This sickness was most likely the most dangerous of all the old world. It was called love.
Emotions are the antithesis of humanity. Emotions led to humankind virtually wiping themselves out.
They are taught to believe that emotions ruined the entire globe and forced them to go underground just to save humanity. They can't feel happiness, nor anger, nor grief, nor love. They aren't allowed to feel anything, but they are promised that if they don't get culled, they can have their monitors removed.
So it's my fault that I am suffering from the grief sickness.
They are taught to believe that emotions are their fault, that if they don't remain bluelined that they are the ones who are out of control. It drops them from the leaderboard. It leads them to being culled. It leads them to shun those who won't raise their status, even if they loved and cared for that person when they were young.
It made me think about just how illiterate we are with these feelings and with radical self-love and vulnerability. How we deliberately choose not to embrace feelings, understand them, discover our capacity for emotion, and how to manage them healthfully. How we deliberately choose to raise our children to be stoic because it's seen as 'unseemly'. How we demand children "stop crying" and "stop whining" when those are our tools for communicating discomfort and sadness - instead of doing the easy thing and sitting with that child to understand why they're crying and whining in the first place. How we continually fail to help one another through times of incredible hurt. It could be so easy to embrace emotion, yet we stigmatize it regularly. I've made it a point to let myself cry in public if that's how I feel instead of trying to cover it up. But it's still a WHOLE big thing in the US.
The only thing that fell really flat for me was the ending. It was inspiring, but not what I expected or wanted. I hope that there is a sequel because Alanah really didn't give us closure about much!
**Don't continue if you don't want spoilers**
She explores a dystopian world in which any emotion is unacceptable, and the leaders of Eridu created a manifesto that enforces the prescriptive behaviors of their citizens. They are told that the leaderboard is the thing that determines whether they are culled or move onto the Harvest where they might have a chance at being the next generation's leadership.
This sickness was most likely the most dangerous of all the old world. It was called love.
Emotions are the antithesis of humanity. Emotions led to humankind virtually wiping themselves out.
They are taught to believe that emotions ruined the entire globe and forced them to go underground just to save humanity. They can't feel happiness, nor anger, nor grief, nor love. They aren't allowed to feel anything, but they are promised that if they don't get culled, they can have their monitors removed.
So it's my fault that I am suffering from the grief sickness.
They are taught to believe that emotions are their fault, that if they don't remain bluelined that they are the ones who are out of control. It drops them from the leaderboard. It leads them to being culled. It leads them to shun those who won't raise their status, even if they loved and cared for that person when they were young.
It made me think about just how illiterate we are with these feelings and with radical self-love and vulnerability. How we deliberately choose not to embrace feelings, understand them, discover our capacity for emotion, and how to manage them healthfully. How we deliberately choose to raise our children to be stoic because it's seen as 'unseemly'. How we demand children "stop crying" and "stop whining" when those are our tools for communicating discomfort and sadness - instead of doing the easy thing and sitting with that child to understand why they're crying and whining in the first place. How we continually fail to help one another through times of incredible hurt. It could be so easy to embrace emotion, yet we stigmatize it regularly. I've made it a point to let myself cry in public if that's how I feel instead of trying to cover it up. But it's still a WHOLE big thing in the US.
The only thing that fell really flat for me was the ending. It was inspiring, but not what I expected or wanted. I hope that there is a sequel because Alanah really didn't give us closure about much!
jcox27's review against another edition
5.0
Engaging
A wonderful dystopian tale. Thrillling and engaging. A wonderful introspection into a world without human connection or emotion. Entertaining to the end
A wonderful dystopian tale. Thrillling and engaging. A wonderful introspection into a world without human connection or emotion. Entertaining to the end
ceels's review
5.0
It took me a couple of chapters to get into the flow of the world then suddenly I couldn't put it down. I neglected everything else to finish it. I regret nothing.
deadgoodbookreviews's review against another edition
4.0
Originally posted at Chain Interaction
This concept, on the surface, isnāt entirely new. Iām reminded of the Delerium books that I read as a teenager and absolutely loved. The idea of a society based around hiding or concealing your feelings is in theory nothing new. However, I thought that the various details that were added to this concept really turned it into something different. Where other books include an operation or similar to stop members of society from feeling, this book is far more about conditioning, about negative (and some positive) reinforcement encouraging young people not to feel anything. There was something of The Dark Intercept in there, the idea of your emotions being tracked and monitored for the greater good of the people. It makes for sinister reading, particularly when you are reading from the perspective of someone who, for a good portion of the book, genuinely believes this to be a positive thing. It takes a lot to shake Eve from her view of the world, which felt quite significant since so often in stories like these it doesnāt take too much to unseat the main character from their beliefs.
I also enjoyed some of the ideas of the wider setting, which I wonāt go into too much detail on because you should probably explore them for yourself, but things like attitudes towards the afterlife and death, in general, are very interesting in this world. Thereās also a huge scope for this world to expand in a later novel, or perhaps a companion novel? I donāt think it needs to, but it would be interesting to explore what life on the surface is like while humanity has been shut in a bunker.
My one criticism with this book, and itās a criticism I have with pretty much every āemotions are a bad thingā book Iāve read, the idea that love is essential. That people arenāt living if they donāt experience love. It isnāt as prevalent in this story as it is in, for example, Delerium, but it is still there and I do think itās a harmful attitude to have and does somewhat ignore Aromantic representation. Iād quite like to read a book like this that has platonic love or affection as the core point, which this does have to a point which is partly why it does so much better than other examples of the genre.
I loved the way that the mystery unfolded in this book. I always love an unreliable narrator or a narrator who finds themselves questioning aspects of their world that they have always believed to be true. The pacing of this book works well for that, you never feel like youāre being bombarded with plot twist after plot twist, but it keeps the excitement up throughout. By around 1/3 of the way in I was totally hooked, I needed to know how this one ended. It also managed to genuinely surprise me at times, which is no mean feat at this point!
My rating: 4/5 stars
I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
This concept, on the surface, isnāt entirely new. Iām reminded of the Delerium books that I read as a teenager and absolutely loved. The idea of a society based around hiding or concealing your feelings is in theory nothing new. However, I thought that the various details that were added to this concept really turned it into something different. Where other books include an operation or similar to stop members of society from feeling, this book is far more about conditioning, about negative (and some positive) reinforcement encouraging young people not to feel anything. There was something of The Dark Intercept in there, the idea of your emotions being tracked and monitored for the greater good of the people. It makes for sinister reading, particularly when you are reading from the perspective of someone who, for a good portion of the book, genuinely believes this to be a positive thing. It takes a lot to shake Eve from her view of the world, which felt quite significant since so often in stories like these it doesnāt take too much to unseat the main character from their beliefs.
I also enjoyed some of the ideas of the wider setting, which I wonāt go into too much detail on because you should probably explore them for yourself, but things like attitudes towards the afterlife and death, in general, are very interesting in this world. Thereās also a huge scope for this world to expand in a later novel, or perhaps a companion novel? I donāt think it needs to, but it would be interesting to explore what life on the surface is like while humanity has been shut in a bunker.
My one criticism with this book, and itās a criticism I have with pretty much every āemotions are a bad thingā book Iāve read, the idea that love is essential. That people arenāt living if they donāt experience love. It isnāt as prevalent in this story as it is in, for example, Delerium, but it is still there and I do think itās a harmful attitude to have and does somewhat ignore Aromantic representation. Iād quite like to read a book like this that has platonic love or affection as the core point, which this does have to a point which is partly why it does so much better than other examples of the genre.
I loved the way that the mystery unfolded in this book. I always love an unreliable narrator or a narrator who finds themselves questioning aspects of their world that they have always believed to be true. The pacing of this book works well for that, you never feel like youāre being bombarded with plot twist after plot twist, but it keeps the excitement up throughout. By around 1/3 of the way in I was totally hooked, I needed to know how this one ended. It also managed to genuinely surprise me at times, which is no mean feat at this point!
My rating: 4/5 stars
I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
renniestjames's review
4.0
A quiet rebellion
Eve of Eridu isnāt your typical dystopian YA. There are no love triangles or big battles. It also appears to be a standalone - though I imagine more could follow, it is complete as it is. Another big difference IMHO is that the main character is quite likeable. Yes, I enjoyed Jennifer Lawrenceās portrayal of Katniss Everdeen; however, whenever I re-read I remember that I didnāt like the character in the books.
While I donāt think Iāll ever be a fan of first person POV, it works well here. In this future, emotion is considered a dangerous threat so itās imperative we form a close connection with Eve. I would also like to note the loss of her brother that Eve experiences happens before the book starts ā thereās no ripping of a beloved character from us. We do get to know Luc through her memories, but the connection is different than experiencing him firsthand.
The author brings in some unique ideas that have stayed with me (and isnāt that an amazing thing for a writer to be able to do)! As emotions are foreign to Eve, she reads āsymptomsā of them and even considers whether they have a taste. Iām not sure I would have selected green beans for any particular emotion, but I like the concept.
The title of my review is a quiet rebellion and thatās the best summary I could write. Following Eveās journey is more mental and emotional. Itās also a private study in what it means to be human. It doesnāt push big ideas down a readerās throat but instead offers a discreet conversation on a personal level.
If youāre looking for a different take on this genre, give Eve of Eridu a try!
Eve of Eridu isnāt your typical dystopian YA. There are no love triangles or big battles. It also appears to be a standalone - though I imagine more could follow, it is complete as it is. Another big difference IMHO is that the main character is quite likeable. Yes, I enjoyed Jennifer Lawrenceās portrayal of Katniss Everdeen; however, whenever I re-read I remember that I didnāt like the character in the books.
While I donāt think Iāll ever be a fan of first person POV, it works well here. In this future, emotion is considered a dangerous threat so itās imperative we form a close connection with Eve. I would also like to note the loss of her brother that Eve experiences happens before the book starts ā thereās no ripping of a beloved character from us. We do get to know Luc through her memories, but the connection is different than experiencing him firsthand.
The author brings in some unique ideas that have stayed with me (and isnāt that an amazing thing for a writer to be able to do)! As emotions are foreign to Eve, she reads āsymptomsā of them and even considers whether they have a taste. Iām not sure I would have selected green beans for any particular emotion, but I like the concept.
The title of my review is a quiet rebellion and thatās the best summary I could write. Following Eveās journey is more mental and emotional. Itās also a private study in what it means to be human. It doesnāt push big ideas down a readerās throat but instead offers a discreet conversation on a personal level.
If youāre looking for a different take on this genre, give Eve of Eridu a try!