Where do I start? This book seems to fall into the Young Adult classification but don’t let that put you off. I was a bit dubious about reading it as dystopian books really aren’t my thing, however I could never have predicted how much I would enjoy it. The book was pitched in just the right way and was so fast paced that I seemed to have finished before I even noticed. The only downside to the book is the long wait for parts two and three!!!

So ... the human race is heading for extinction. There had been no females born in 50 years, until Eve was born. She was then kept safe in ‘the Dome’ and her every need catered for my a band of women she knew as the mothers (her own mother having died in childbirth and her father going crazy with grief). When the story begins, Eve has just turned 16 and is being prepared to meet three potential suitors with home it is hoped she will breed girls to enable the continuation of the human race. Her only friend is ‘Holly’ a hologram of a similar age to Eve, who chats to her, exercises with her and attends lessons with her. Holly is piloted by a band of young men, different ones for different situations. Eve knows they are small different ‘Holly’s’ because of their eyes.

Eve knows her role and seems to accept it. Until one day when she locks eyes with her favourite Holly whilst he is in his own skin - love at first sight for them both. It is then she begins to question everything and whether all she has been led to believe in us lies.

I received an advanced read copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

This is an exciting dystopian novel set in a bleak future where the birth of girls has halted.

The prologue grips the reader instantly. It tells how the world stopped producing girls, how one day every baby born that day was bundled into a blue blanket, the same happened the following day and the next. For 50 years no girls were born until suddenly a 51 year old woman fell pregnant naturally and gave birth to Eve.

The story then jumps ahead 16 years, where Eve is being cared for by the EPO (Extinction Prevention Organisation) in the Dome - a state of the art facility made especially for Eve. She is cared for by a team of doting 'mothers' and provided with everything she could possibly need. Sounds ideal, until it's time for her to meet her 'potentials', 3 men selected as potential mating partners, then the cracks start to show.

I really enjoyed this novel, it had me on the edge of my seat from the beginning. I particularly liked exploring things from two POVs - Eve's and Bram's. Both protagonist were likeable and the antagonists totally loathsome.

My only criticism is the similarities to The Last Girl by Joe Hart, especially the fact that in both novels the female antagonist is called Vivian/Vivien and pretty much has the exact same role.

I’m sorry to say, but this book just didn’t do it for me. I love the authors and follow them on all social media platforms but the book just didn’t hold my attention. The writing style is top notch and they are very good at what they do, but unfortunately the storyline didn’t keep me hooked. sorry Tom & Gi!

Set in a possible future, this story exposes the exploitative nature of humans. Turned out to be a love story which I found slightly long winded but still enjoyable.

Wow just wow, the best book collaboration I have read, well done Tom and Giovanni. Eve is the only girl born for over fifty years, she has been kept safe in the tower for her while life waiting until she is able to bear a child. The whole of the world is watching and waiting for a girl to be born, but Eve realised that the world they have created for her is all a lie.

Eve is the first girl to be born for 50 years. The world has been crumbling and panicking, with decades of male only births leaving the human race facing extinction. Scientists have scrambled to find a cure, but nothing can be done. With no future generations to consider, all thoughts of conservation have disappeared and the world has descended into war and chaos, the environment destroyed and floods covering the earth’s surface. Eve’s birth signifies new hope, and she is kept in luxurious safety in the Tower, high above the world below, cared for by The Mothers, some of the last remaining women, and kept company by Holly, a computer generated companion piloted by workers who live in the lower storeys of the vast tower. But as Eve reaches maturity and the corporation who run the tower begin preparing to try and repopulate the earth using her, cracks begin to appear and she realises things aren’t what they seem.

It’s a great concept for a YA novel, and the main characters, Eve and Bram, one of the young men who pilot Holly, are likeable and interesting. The authors have put a huge amount of work into creating the universe in which this takes place. They take the time to build up the characters before jumping into the story, which is good because once the action starts it is quite fast paced. It’s the first part of a trilogy and the ending definitely shows that, but it’s off to a powerful start and I look forward to reading the rest.

Loved the idea for this book and think the title is very clever.

Both the main characters Eve and Bram have really distinctive voices and we feel for each of them in their own way.

It's nice that even though we spend the majority of time within the Tower we still get a sense of the growing pains of the outside world.

Personally I felt that some parts of the novel were repetitive - instead of continuously moving forward it took one step back which stunted growing momentum.

The conspiracies that were seeded and revealed within the novel keep me wanting to no more and I look forward to finding out how the story will progress in forthcoming novels.

I have never was any of Tom or Giovannis books before but this one intrigued me when I read about it. So I requested it on Netgalley to be my holiday read (which we need up not going, and it ended up as my hospital bedside read).

It took me a week to read, but I actually really liked it. Although it isn't anything like it, for some reason it (to me) seemed to have a Hunger Games type of feel to it.

Women are falling pregnant with only boys and losing all pregnancies of girls, but Eve is born and deemed very special. She is kept safe in 'The Dome' where she lives, and is turning 16, which means she is about to fulfil her duty to help repopulate earth, her being the only young female left. But things start to become clear about the people and place around her.

Honestly this was a good story and I would definitely read book 2 if it's written. The characters were likeable (or unlikable, you decide), and the descriptions were spot on, I have a great picture in my mind of the Dome, which is what I like to come away with from a good book.

4 stars from me :)

The highly anticipated novel from husband and wife duo Giovanna and Tom Fletcher does not disappoint. The Eve of Man is the first part in a trilogy from the couple, a gripping dystopian tale of Eve, the first girl to be born in 50 years. Eve lives in a tower, which she is told is for her own protection and for the preservation of humanity. However, all is not what it seems, and once Eve meets Bram, she realises she must choose between securing the future of the human race, and her freedom. Part action/fantasy adventure, part love story, Eve of Man is engaging, exciting and totally addictive!

Imagine a world where no girls have been born for many years.
It is wracked by war and pollution, as people have no hope for the future.

Then a girl, Eve, is born, she is the saviour of the world, and is kept in a Tower, where her world is a beautiful place controlled by technology. She is guarded, and looked after by “mothers”, older women who have given up their children..
She has a hologram friend, Holly, who keeps her company.
In order to fulfil her destiny of producing more girls, she must meet potential suitors.

Bram is a member of the Tower staff and is one of the Holly’s, and he gets to know her as a person. He’s also the son of the chief scientist.

If you like formulaic, dystopian, YA stories, along the lines of Hunger Games, Maze Runner, where the young heroes save the day, this is for you.
And, as with other similar books, it doesn’t end, it just stops, and you have to wait for the next volume.

I felt this was a missed opportunity – there is so much more to imagine in a world where only boys are born, what does this do to society, how do people cope. For this book it was just a plot device.

If you like that sort of book, fine, but it’s not for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin UK Michael Joseph for the opportunity to read this book.

There are number of things in the Eve of Man that left me feeling deeply uncomfortable, and that really took away any enjoyment I might have gotten from the story otherwise. Before I get into why I disliked this book, first I want to acknowledge that there are fun sci-fi concepts in here that I found imaginative and novel, and I especially liked how the futuristic technology is actually central to the plot. There is also a believable romance between the two main characters. This really matters because their relationship is the catalyst for change in this story, and therefore it has the power to make or break the book. It made me happy that their romance was rooted in friendship and wasn't yet another case of insta-love.

I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style at first because all the sentence fragments irked the pedant in me. The exposition is also pretty clumsy, and there are quite a few abrupt info dumps. However, the flow of the narrative improves once the story really gets going, and in the end I didn't really mind it.

What I did really mind, however, was the very black and white way the book depicts gender and sexuality. On several occasions it suggests that men and women are somehow fundamentally different in their behaviour, and this is presented as something natural and innate. I found this biological determenism frustratingly outdated and stifling. The concept of the story would really allow for a deeper exploration of gender as a social construct and gender inequality, but it never really goes there. Instead of taking the opportunity to challenge gender stereotypes, for the most part the story ends up enforcing them.

Since even the cis, straight characters aren't explored in any real depth, it shouldn't be surprising that the book doesn't acknowledge that queer people exist, but I was still disappointed by it. You'd think this dystopian world that is obsessed with reproduction and biological sex would be especially bleak for LGBTQ+ people, and it is a glaring oversight that this doesn't even get an offhand mention somewhere.

Our main character Eve is a fairly typical YA protagonist in that she is breathtakingly beautiful. There's nothing wrong with that, but the disturbing side effect of the world building is that every man on the planet is uncontrollably lusting after her, and this hints at a constant underlying threat of sexual violence. Honestly, the majority of the male characters just about go insane with lust when they even see a glimpse of a woman, be it real or a hologram. The men in Eve's universe are driven by their hormones, and only their good, virtuous nature stops them from taking advantage of her. This suggests that if any were actually to assault Eve, it wouldn't really be their fault because they are simply acting out their biological urges. That is such a creepy message to let go under the radar in a YA book that I was really taken aback by it. Even though Eve's romantic interest, Bram, is all around sweet and respectful towards her, he treats the other men's lecherous behaviour either as a joke or as a minor annoyance and never speaks out to challenge their views.

Another thing that irritated me about Bram was how obsessed he is with physical strength and how he looks down on anyone less fit than him. He constantly jokes at the expense of an overweight man he meets later in the story and also makes some condescending remarks about his best friend. I would be fine with this if it was treated as a character flaw, but the way it is written invites the reader to laugh at these characters with him. I didn't join in because I don't find "haha, he's so fat!!!" to be particularly witty or funny.

The last point I want to make is a minor grievance compared to the other ones, but I was also baffled by Eve's and Bram's strange anti-science attitude. The mystical, romantic powers that they attribute to "Mother Nature" seem pretty anachronistic given that the highly technological environment they grew up in is all they have ever known. To be fair this isn't really discussed in any detail, but the false dichotomy still annoyed me. (Science isn't the opposite of nature; it is the study of nature! Argh.)

This is only the 1st book in a trilogy and the issues I've raised might be addressed in the later books. However, unfortunately Eve of Man has not made me want to read the rest of the series.

Eve is the first female that has been born in 50 years , anywhere in the world. Because of this the future survival of the human race rests on her shoulders - no pressure there then! She is protected and has been brought up in a dome away from the world high above London and has been fed a positive view of society that is a complete lie. Now the time has come to match her up with a mate to breed - but will she still be willing when she realises that her entire life has been a sham?

Compelling writing and great characters made this an absorbing read for me, I enjoyed identifying the London monuments that are now submerged under flood waters and found the technology used to keep Eve happy fascinating. The ending was abrupt, and left me feeling frustrated because it is such a cliffhanger that I can’t wait to read the next book - patience certainly isn’t my strong point! An absorbing YA read and an excellent start to this trilogy from husband and wife team Giovanna and Tom Fletcher, I will be eagerly awaiting the next book.

An enjoyable read if (like me) you're a fan of the dystopian genre of sci-fi/fantasy.

There were some good, believable characters in there - plus a few who were sketched a little lightly (what is Dr Wells' motivation for instance?). I guessed how some parts of the plot would develop, but that's probably because I've read so much in this particular genre over the years. I also have an idea about one character which may or may not be proved right - but will have to wait for the next book(s) to find out!

I had a few little issues with parts of the plot - but that aside I found it compelling and stayed up late to read it!

My only disappointment was when I was almost at the end and realised that it was going to be part of a series - with no publication date for the sequel in sight so far! Will definitely read on...

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in return for my honest review.

I’m not going to lie: I’m a living, walking fangirl when it comes to books. We can probably gather this. A friend of mine once said "you’re okay Grace, you’ve got a lot; you’ve got your books". So, I have a list of releases I'm excited about. This was on the list, and pretty near the top, in fact.

I love these two authors, but the genre shocked me. Tom Fletcher is known in the literary world for his children's books (side note: cannot recommend these enough) whilst Giovanna is known for her romance novels. I love both of these authors separately. Together in a novel, in a dystopian society... I was sceptical. Excited, but nervous. First date vibes.

The things that struck me immediately were firstly how it sounds like Children of Men, and secondly the question of how they were going to make this novel flow with two authors… something I’ve never really got on well with.

Well, there are aspects of Children of Men. Rather than no babies, there's simply no females being born, until one day there is a little girl called Eve. This led to a story which, in my eyes, is even more disturbing than Children of Men; the human race is dying out, and human nature is to survive. The results of this rat trap are harrowing and thought-provoking. I was happily surprised by the twists and turns that followed the book. Its uniqueness is stimulated by possibly the most terrifying aspect of the book: the power of media. Arguably, this is a back seat to the main plot. However, in my eyes it's the closest and most terrifying aspect of this book, and not since 1984 have I been so terrified by our reliance on the media.

Also - goodness - the two voices.. it works. *Faint sigh of relief*. The two voices follow our two points of view. There's Eve's, and another character's… I’m not going to say too much as I think its important you read him(!) for yourself. They’re unique enough that you can hear the two sides and not get confused, and it also gives you a chance to adjust into the two minds of these two unique characters.

It's been a while since I’ve had a really good dystopian series to sink in to, and I have full belief that this novel is the start of something that is going to be great. It’s as heart-stoppingly romantic as it is terrifying: a 1984-like society for a younger generation.

I was hooked from the prologue and fascinated by this book!
I am very much looking forward to the next installment and I have already been recommending this book to anyone who will listen.

I don't want to spoil anything for anyone reading this review. All I can say is WOW, I can't wait until the next one!

An intriguing premise and an excellent start to this trilogy. Part dystopian fantasy part love story with engaging characters. The two author voices are clear but the flow is good and the pace is fast. Can't wait for the next one!

Fantastic book! I wasn't sure what to expect as the only novels I have come across by Giovanna before have been teen novels that my daughters have read but I haven't.
I wouldn't know from reading it that 2 authors had worked - I don't know how they split the work but everything flowed perfectly.
Probably my favourite read of 2018 so far - and I have read a good number already! The only shock to me was realising that it was the first of a trilogy so I got a surprise at the end when there was quite an abrupt ending and I was left wanting more and instead find 'to be continued...'
I will, of course, be continuing just as soon as it is available!

Thank you to Netgalley for an early copy for an honest review.
Excellent read, highly recommended.

Talk about ending on a cliffhanger- I need the authors to hurry and write the second part of this series so I can find out what happens next. Although I am not a young adult I loved this book ,it reminded me of the dystopian science fiction books I read a long time ago. Having said that this book is very much set in the frightenly near future . A world populated by men ,boys and a few aging women who are kept separate for their own safety. A miracle occurs when Eve is born , a girl who is billed as the saviour of mankind. She is kept safe in the Dome and her life appears to be perfect until her sixteenth birthday approaches . This is to be marked by pairing her up with one of three chosen man to help repopulate the world - possibly sinister but the authors handle this brilliantly . The story is told in alternate chapters from the point of view of Eve and Bram ,a pilot in the Dome who also masquerades as Eves friend. It’s a coming of age story that raises some interesting points about ethics around science ,technology and personal freedoms .I was hooked from the start and really liked this book.

When I got the opportunity to read a copy of this, I jumped at the chance, I'd heard a lot on the twitter grape vine about this book and the concept intrigued me as did the authors, I've read Giovanna Fletcher's first book and found it a bit.... Meh... I've not read any of Tom Fletcher's books, though my niece assures me that The Dinosaur that Pooped a Planet is a masterpiece, but I've always thought that the two of them would be well suited to writing YA, from what I've read of Giovanna's writing, it gives me that impression and Tom, well, as his vlogs show, he's pretty down with the kids. In case you were wondering, my initial thoughts were correct, these two are well suited to writing YA and this is a pretty well done, if not exactly original, fun filled read.

AGAINST ALL ODDS, SHE SURVIVED.
THE FIRST GIRL BORN IN FIFTY YEARS.
THEY CALLED HER EVE . . .
All her life Eve has been kept away from the opposite sex. Kept from the truth of her past.
But at sixteen it's time for Eve to face her destiny. Three potential males have been selected for her. The future of humanity is in her hands. She's always accepted her fate.
Until she meets Bram.
Eve wants control over her life. She wants freedom.
But how do you choose between love and the future of the human race?

So for anyone wondering, this is set in London, but not as we know it. Something has happened and all babies being born are male. Also all the people that were left on the planet sort of destroyed it. And there were some issues with global warming so most of it is now under water.
Naturally, considering that you have to have a womb in order to have children and people born with male genitalia generally find it difficult to conceive themselves, this is a bit concerning for those living in this world.  As time goes on, it becomes increasingly more clear that something is seriously wrong and no one can figure out what it is... that is until Corinne and Ernie, after several miscarriages, all boys, discover that they are pregnant with a girl. The first one for fifty years. Bit of a big deal, right? Yep. Especially because she is literally the only person on the planet who could be capable of giving birth, the only other women left on the planet are nearing an age where conceiving is difficult and even if they could, there are no guarantees that there would be anything other than boys.

The baby girl is named Eve, because of course she is. She is taken into the care of the EPO, who keep her locked in a tower for her own safety surrounding her with carers and security guards. They also give Eve a friend, a hologram of sorts called Holly, who is controlled by several pilots, including Bram, a young boy from the same generation as her and the son of one of the high ups at EPO. Bram's job as Holly is to be a friend to Eve so the EPO can gently steer her towards their ideas for her future, namely that they want her to repopulate the planet. And so there you have the concept of Eve of Man and you can probably see why I was so interested by the idea.

Now, I hope I'm not the only person who is a bit concerned that the world wants a 16 year old girl to repopulate the earth and well... I’m not entirely sure that one girl would be able to, think of all the incest, if she even had kids, they would have to mate with each other eventually as there wouldn't be many people left who weren't related to her... This was my main hurdle with this book, but I would recommend not being put off, the more you read, the more you realise that this whole thing is much more complex than just 16 year old being impregnated against her will to repopulate the planet, so even if you are a bit icked out by the idea, keep with it because this is actually a fairly decent read.

Those vaguely disturbing sentiments aside, this is a new take on the Children of Men style dystopian stories we’ve seen before. There isn't anything ground breaking here, but the concept is intriguing enough for this to be a successful series. The ending really had me desperate for more and the way in which the story unfolded was riveting. The whole Bram/Eve thing I wasn't much of a fan of, but them each realising different halves of the same plot was so well done and the way the whole thing came together was so much darker than I thought it would be. I guess I assumed because the Tom and Gi I see on camera and on Twitter are so light-hearted, I didn't quite expect something so intense!

Being a feminist™, I tend to find the idea of baby making being a woman’s sole purpose a little tedious and being Woke™ I was a bit worried about the enforcing of gender roles in this book. Bram is playing at being a girl, he is Holly to Eve until Eve meets the actual Bram, but he is portrayed as being straight. Eve may have a connection with Holly, but only the one piloted by Bram, who she knows is male. Not only is she presented as being straight, but also the people looking after her decide to pair her up with several men, which also kinda made me a bit uncomfortable. But in the don't stop reading the uncomfortableness passes as you realise what is going on kind of way. I guess what I am badly trying to say is that there is a lot of heteronormaty in this book, but I guess a story about repopulating the earth would be difficult to put together without the whole man and woman coming together thing...

Anyway, this is a fast paced, fun filled story, which although not the most original idea, is very good at giving you just enough to whet your appetite and then completely flooring you with revelations. I think this is going to be a strong series and I'm already excited about how the story will continue with book two!