Eve & Adam by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate
Published: 1 October 2013 (Electric Monkey)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 312
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Source: Borrowed from library
Plot Summary (from Goodreads):
And girl created boy…
In the beginning, there was an apple—
And then there was a car crash, a horrible injury, and a hospital. But before Evening Spiker’s head clears a strange boy named Solo is rushing her to her mother’s research facility. There, under the best care available, Eve is left alone to heal.
Just when Eve thinks she will die—not from her injuries, but from boredom—her mother gives her a special project: Create the perfect boy.
Using an amazingly detailed simulation, Eve starts building a boy from the ground up. Eve is creating Adam. And he will be just perfect... won’t he?
My Review:
Eve & Adam is a book I'd been wanting to read for a while after seeing it be published in the US a while ago. I was at the library when the UK edition jumped of the shelves at me! Eve & Adam follows Evening Spikers as she recovers from a life threatening accident in her mother's hospital, leading her to discover more about her mum's work at her company Spiker Biotech.
The opening to Eve & Adam really hooked me in. Evening's accident takes place in the opening few pages and you get to see through her eyes as she flirts with death. I loved the action packed scenes and also the mystery of just what was happening to Evening. She herself isn't sure so you get caught up in her uncertainty.
The book is told from multiple POV, predominantly alternating between Evening herself and Solo, a worker at her mum's company. I liked both characters, although I found Solo to be more interesting. He had a great back story and I was always curious about just what he was up to. He also becomes quite fascinated with Eve and there's a romantic interest there. I liked that his loyalties are questioned and that I was never quite sure what to make of him.
The rest of the characters were a bit of a mixed bag for me. I never quite connected with Evening herself. In fact I felt I knew more about her best friend Aislin - who has a reputation Evening's mother disapproves of and a drug dealing boyfriend - than I did her. Saying that, I did like the relationship between Evening and her mother - Terra Spiker. There's friction there stemming from her mother's reputation and she has a lot of questions about what she's really up to. I liked that there were secrets that took a while to come to light because it made for some great plot twists.
I love sci-fi and I thought the ideas in Eve & Adam were fascinating. Whilst staying at her mum's company, Eve is asked to try out some software used to create a human. I thought there were some great ethical and moral questions surrounding that process whilst Eve is going through the motions of creating someone. Do you make them perfect, or give them flaws because everyone should have flaws? What about appearance? Is it selfish to make someone look how you want them to look? I thought the whole concept of the book was really clever.
Eve & Adam is quite a short read and quick read, and for the most part I did find it enjoyable. I liked the ideas and the plot twists, but part of me was left wanting more. It's the first book in a series so I think there's potential for more to be uncovered.
Rating: 3*
What to read next: This book is the first in a planned series
Books like this: Divergent by Veronica Roth, The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong, Virals by Kathy Reichs
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