<3 This Book Cover
Eden
By Keary Taylor
The Eden Trilogy, Book 1
# Pgs: 420
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Overview:
Eve knew the stories of the Fall, of a time before she wandered into the colony of Eden, unable to recall anything but her name. She’s seen the aftermath of the technology that infused human DNA with cybernetic matter, able to grow new organs and limbs, how it evolved out of control. The machine took over and the soul vanished. A world quickly losing its humanity isn’t just a story to her though. At eighteen, this world is Eve’s reality.
In their Fallen world, love feels like a selfish luxury, but not understanding what it is makes it difficult to choose between West, who makes her feel alive but keeps too many secrets, and Avian, who has always been there for her, but is seven years her senior. The technology wants to spread and it won’t stop until there is no new flesh to assimilate. With only two percent of the human population left, mankind is on the brink of extinction.
While fighting to keep Eden alive, Eve will discover that being human is about what you will do for those you love, not what your insides may be made of. And even if it gets you killed, love is always what separates them from the Fallen.
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Review:
I read Keary Taylor's book Eden a couple years ago, but even today it has left a lasting impression on me. How do I know if I read it years ago? -I still remember it, and I still remember what happens within it's pages. I'm going to be honest with you, over half the books I read aren't that memorable. Maybe I just have a terrible memory, but most books aren't original enough, or able enough, to draw the reader into its pages.
So, you know that little phrase, "Never judge a book by its cover"?
We all do.
I mean literally, we all judge books by their cover. Sure, that phrase has some kind of deeper meaning, and sometimes it applies to actual books, but a good chunk of the time that phrase doesn't work. I'm serious, sometimes it's like the state of the cover tells us exactly how the book is going to be. If it's really bad photoshop, or there wasn't a lot of time spent on the cover, or it's just uninteresting, generally the book is like that too.
Authors, you can tell yourselves all you want that the cover doesn't matter so much, or that people don't judge books by their covers, but that's just ignorance. Humans are selfish creatures. We like to look at things. Covers attract us. And do you really want to seem like a borish, or just an "ugh" author because of your cover? The cover is a reflection of you and your book, so spend some time on that as well.
With that well covered (he he), whoever made the cover for Eden made a very smart decision. As well as being selfish beings, people have always been fascinated with the face and eyes. As such, this cover is uber cool. Just look at it! It tells us everything we need to know about the book. There's a girl, there are cyborgs, and it has to be a dystopian society ('cause of the dirt).
Now that the cover's attracted us to the book, it's all up to the overview to keep us there. The overview draws us in. Once that's done, we begin to read the story... And that's when Keary Taylor completely captivates us with her words. Everything about this book is great. It's original, it has a great plotline, the name of the main character is Eve (think that's anything to do with the Bible, almost?), the characters were wonderfully developed, and it's just a fun book to read.
Taylor supported whatever was currently happening within the plotline with history--and then she backed up the history with "facts". That's a vital piece to all fictional works that some authors don't seem to realize. A developed history and facts for the world that you create make the world believable. This kind of information supports the setting, and the setting supports the developement of the characters. For Taylor to make sure that we understood exactly what was happening within these pages basically set the foundation for the entire book--you have to know what happened to know what's happening.
Does that make any sense?
The romance aspect of this book bugged me a little, I'm not going to lie. As is the story for most romances, the main character, Eve, has to make a choice between two guys; West and Avian. And that's fine, not great or thrilling, but that's how it usually is. I guess it just kinda bugs me that Avian has just always been there, is seven years older then Eve, and almost seems confident that she'll make the responsible, safe choice. But with West, even then, he just seemed so assured and overconfident that she completely loved him. Both of them seemed to think she'd go with them. That's all fine and dandy, but then she just had to go and make a completely stupid choice! She chose the guy who, before the other character had showed up, had never really actively moved to show that he loved Eve.
I don't know. Taylor wrote it that way for a purpose, and it was a smart move because I'm sure that I'm not the only person who was upset by her decision. People, if by some insane reasoning decided that they did not like the first book, will buy the second book for that reason alone.
Eve is a strong, independent, loyal, yet a somewhat confused and annoying character. She's emotionally frustrating, but still likeable, to read. You want her to succeed in her goal, you want her to make the right choices, you're as devastated as her by some of the things that happen and that are revealed. Eve is a relateable character. An outsider among outsiders. She feels different, knows she's different, and is different. At some point or another, isn't that how we all feel? Maybe that's why she's so attracted to West. He definitely is an "outsider among outsiders". People are somewhat distant with him, just as they are with her. Except for Avian, that is, at least with her. He's protective of her.
Maybe I don't like the Avian and Eve pairing so much because for a good portion of the book I thought Avian was a lot older than seven years compared to her, and thought that he was actually more of a father figure to her, or a brother.
After all, isn't that really how Eve kind of viewed him in the beginning?
The bottom line is that Taylor dragged us so all-encompassingly into the book that we were on a somewhat emotional rollercoaster right along with the main characters. It's been a while since I read it, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, or maybe it's different now, but I really liked it. I didn't love it, but I liked it. For that reasoning, I'm going to rate this book a four out of five. Recommended for sci-fi, romance, dystopian society lovers~
Thank you for reading! ^^
So, you know that little phrase, "Never judge a book by its cover"?
We all do.
I mean literally, we all judge books by their cover. Sure, that phrase has some kind of deeper meaning, and sometimes it applies to actual books, but a good chunk of the time that phrase doesn't work. I'm serious, sometimes it's like the state of the cover tells us exactly how the book is going to be. If it's really bad photoshop, or there wasn't a lot of time spent on the cover, or it's just uninteresting, generally the book is like that too.
Authors, you can tell yourselves all you want that the cover doesn't matter so much, or that people don't judge books by their covers, but that's just ignorance. Humans are selfish creatures. We like to look at things. Covers attract us. And do you really want to seem like a borish, or just an "ugh" author because of your cover? The cover is a reflection of you and your book, so spend some time on that as well.
With that well covered (he he), whoever made the cover for Eden made a very smart decision. As well as being selfish beings, people have always been fascinated with the face and eyes. As such, this cover is uber cool. Just look at it! It tells us everything we need to know about the book. There's a girl, there are cyborgs, and it has to be a dystopian society ('cause of the dirt).
Now that the cover's attracted us to the book, it's all up to the overview to keep us there. The overview draws us in. Once that's done, we begin to read the story... And that's when Keary Taylor completely captivates us with her words. Everything about this book is great. It's original, it has a great plotline, the name of the main character is Eve (think that's anything to do with the Bible, almost?), the characters were wonderfully developed, and it's just a fun book to read.
Taylor supported whatever was currently happening within the plotline with history--and then she backed up the history with "facts". That's a vital piece to all fictional works that some authors don't seem to realize. A developed history and facts for the world that you create make the world believable. This kind of information supports the setting, and the setting supports the developement of the characters. For Taylor to make sure that we understood exactly what was happening within these pages basically set the foundation for the entire book--you have to know what happened to know what's happening.
Does that make any sense?
The romance aspect of this book bugged me a little, I'm not going to lie. As is the story for most romances, the main character, Eve, has to make a choice between two guys; West and Avian. And that's fine, not great or thrilling, but that's how it usually is. I guess it just kinda bugs me that Avian has just always been there, is seven years older then Eve, and almost seems confident that she'll make the responsible, safe choice. But with West, even then, he just seemed so assured and overconfident that she completely loved him. Both of them seemed to think she'd go with them. That's all fine and dandy, but then she just had to go and make a completely stupid choice! She chose the guy who, before the other character had showed up, had never really actively moved to show that he loved Eve.
I don't know. Taylor wrote it that way for a purpose, and it was a smart move because I'm sure that I'm not the only person who was upset by her decision. People, if by some insane reasoning decided that they did not like the first book, will buy the second book for that reason alone.
Eve is a strong, independent, loyal, yet a somewhat confused and annoying character. She's emotionally frustrating, but still likeable, to read. You want her to succeed in her goal, you want her to make the right choices, you're as devastated as her by some of the things that happen and that are revealed. Eve is a relateable character. An outsider among outsiders. She feels different, knows she's different, and is different. At some point or another, isn't that how we all feel? Maybe that's why she's so attracted to West. He definitely is an "outsider among outsiders". People are somewhat distant with him, just as they are with her. Except for Avian, that is, at least with her. He's protective of her.
Maybe I don't like the Avian and Eve pairing so much because for a good portion of the book I thought Avian was a lot older than seven years compared to her, and thought that he was actually more of a father figure to her, or a brother.
After all, isn't that really how Eve kind of viewed him in the beginning?
The bottom line is that Taylor dragged us so all-encompassingly into the book that we were on a somewhat emotional rollercoaster right along with the main characters. It's been a while since I read it, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, or maybe it's different now, but I really liked it. I didn't love it, but I liked it. For that reasoning, I'm going to rate this book a four out of five. Recommended for sci-fi, romance, dystopian society lovers~
Thank you for reading! ^^
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