Author: Anna Carey
Genres: dystopian, adventure
Rating: 3.8 stars (good read!)
Summary: The fate of The New America rests with Eve in this stunning finale to the Eve trilogy.
Eve is trapped in the City of Sand, married to a man of her father’s choosing, but she can’t forget her love for Caleb—or her passion for the rebel cause. When rebel armies invade the city, Eve uses her position as princess for the ultimate act of rebellion—to kill her father, the king. Then tragedy strikes, and Eve must choose who to leave behind, who to save, and who to fight in this final battle for freedom.
(There will be spoilers from the first two books, since this is the third in the trilogy! So read no further if you have yet to read Eve or Once.)
Another series ended! I seem to be completing a lot of series lately. Kind of a relief, so I have the time to get addicted to another one, but I'll miss looking forward to what's coming next in Eve's adventures.
What sets this apart from other dystopian series out there right now, is the age of the world. Eve's new world is only about 12 years after the "apocalypse" which happens to be a plague. She still remembers her mother dying in it, but it's a fuzzy memory. Since it's so recent, lots of the surviving adults still know of old technologies and words, so in my opinion, this leaves less room for world building and cool futuristic lingo, but there's still places like Califa and Marin to keep things interesting.
Eve is a character I've never really liked. Honestly she's grown up a TON since the beginning of the first book. She can't really help it, being stuck in a 'school' for most of her life, being fed lies. So I excuse her for her naivety most of the time. And since she became a big part of the rebellion in Once I've gotten to like her more. It's hard not to put all the spoilers I'm thinking in here, but in Rise she does something that I honestly didn't think she had the guts to do after all this time! After that I felt pretty proud of her, and I think you will too!
I kind of missed Caleb, and actually forgot he died in the previous book...it had been a while...but his absense isn't a gaping hole, and though Eve misses him terribly, the hole is filled with everything else going on, like her looking for her School friends and helping save the rebels, so I'm not complaining too much about the love-interest's death. (Still annoyed a little.)
Rise is a quick, energetic, and an easy one-sitting read. The action starts in the first chapter, and Anna Carey really doesn't waste time getting to the rebellion uprising that's been building for the past two books. I'm glad she did that, but a few chapters in took that action I looked forward to, in a way different turn than I expected. It's a topic I'm iffy on in YA genres to begin with...but I'm still deciding how I feel about it. I know, mysterious and annoying, right? But it's revealed right in the beginning, so you don't have long to wait. Anyway, that led into other happy and sad events that surprised me at every corner. Wasn't sure what to expect, really, because last books are always different.
Speaking of the ending...the climax sort of snuck up on me, and played out well. BUT. The last page, paragraph, sentence sort of annoyed me. I don't like very abrupt endings for books or series, and I'm so glad it wasn't a cliffy for a next book (like in Pandemonium??), because I definitely would have screamed. In annoyance or elation? Probably both. let's say I was crossing my fingers the entire book, and everything finally happened, just in an unusual way.
All in all, this trilogy ended with a literal bang, and I am glad I accompanied Eve from the very beginning, to her...happy ending? Well, you'll find out!
-Jane
Anti-cover-love note: I do love the covers for all three books. However, the thing that bugs me is that Eve doesn't have red hair! And it's so prominently shown in all the covers. So I always pictured her with it, even though hers is really dark brown.
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