Eve of Man by Giovanna and Tom Fletcher a four-star read that will turn your head and leave you with lots of wonder. This is the first book in the trilogy and I can see where we are going and how we will get there, and I honestly hope that the rest is as good if not better than this one, I enjoyed the whole premise and the drama of the book, but I did find it lacking in places, but overall it made up for it in the end. I really like the way we alternated between Eve and Bram, humanities last hope, I don’t want to go into details as I don’t want to spoil the book for you, but it really does suck you into the world and make you dream of what life would be like, being humanities last chance. Well done both of you on a story well done.

I didn't know what to expect going into this novel. I am not a young adult reader,I am not a huge reader of scifi,fantasy or dystopian worlds, however despite all this I absolutely loved it.
This is set in a dystopian Britain which is on the verge of extinction. There has not been a female born for fifty years when at last Eve arrives. She lives in the Dome which is a whole controlled world. She is nurtured by a group of elderly mothers,protected by a team of security and given social interaction by providing Holly a type of holographic girl friend which is really a set of three boys of similar age to herself, who take turns to play the Holly role.
Bram is the most special of the three. He was brought to the Dome as a child to fulfil this role.
This cleverly written book contains layer upon layer of clever ideas and plot development.
For me having two authors writing two very different main protagonists, works especially well. I felt that the sense of difference between the two writing styles was an important part of this working.
I felt a great emotional connection to both Eve and Bram and felt sad that their lives were so controlled by the hierarchy who may not always have their best interests at heart! Even the 'Baddie's are well developed characters which added to my overall enjoyment of this book.
On the surface, this book is about Eve preventing the extinction of man, however so many more important topics such as exploitation of power,stem cell and embryonic research and gender selection is part of the plot too.
I found the outside world a bit of a shock and it took a short while to settle into this other world. I would have preferred it without water, however that is a personal preference rather than something that stopped my enjoyment.
At the heart of this is a beautiful love story, a coming of age in exceptional circumstances and you need to read it for yourself to fully understand why I have rated it 5*.
The ending does finish on a cliff hanger, so for those who don't like this type of ending perhaps this might not be for you. However I personally cannot wait for book 2 and you would be missing a really enjoyable read.

Superb start to a series. Could be the next Hunger Games (and has some similarities re strong young female lead etc), but this has a far more realistic back story, as well as more comprehensible world building. Absolutely superb.

Individually I love both Tom and Giovanna's writing. Giovanna's warm, cozy romances always go straight to the top of my TBR list and as the mother of an 18 month old troublemaker I loved her non-fiction parenting book too. Tom meanwhile has until now stuck to children's picture books and middle grade fiction and whilst I have enjoyed them, I'll admit that I was interested to see how his writing style, which seemed so suited to younger audiences, would adapt to fit this new audience for him.

Eve of Man is set in a world where no girls have been born for 50 years. Then, Eve is born and she is protected and revered as the saviour of mankind. Kept in a tower, away from the rest of the world Eve's whole life is mapped out for her but all Eve wants is freedom and the chance to make her own decisions about her future.

The plot appealed to me immediately. I love a post-apocalyptic dystopian story and although it's a genre that became quite saturated a few years ago, I haven't read any in a good few years so I was ready to get stuck in.

The story is told through the point of view of the two main characters Eve and Bram, with each author taking resposibility for writing one of the characters. I love the idea of this collaberative way of developing a story and I think it was really effective in making both Eve and Bram such well developed characters. Obviously both Tom and Gi had an overview of the story as a whole but as you read the book you can tell that they trusted their instincts and wrote each chapter as they felt their character would react and that meant I felt really personally invested in them as people.

A main part of the story centres around Eve being presented with suitors for her to select one with whom she would begin to repopulate the human race. The scenes that centre around Eve's preparation for this are really uncomfortable but also so powerful. Internal examinations and frank discussions about what is expected of "the saviour of mankind" would of course be part and parcel of Eve's life but I don't think I've ever seen them featured in a book in this way.

There were lots of little touches in the book that weren't particularly part of the main plot but which really added to the atmosphere of the story. One particular aspect I liked was the inclusion of a little pod that they travel the Thames in. Not until it docked in a "big wheel" did I realise it was a pod from the London Eye! I thought this was an ingenius little touch.

I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait for the next installment in the trilogy.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Eve is the first female to have been born in 50 years. She is revered within the world and kept safe away from everything. She has her best friend ‘Holly’, to look after her and Eve’s job is to save the human race with one of three potential suitors.

I’m a huge Gi Fletcher fan and I have read a lot of Tom’s books with my 9 year old and honestly I was apprehensive how this would work as it’s definitely different from Gi’s usual stories but no fear it works and was an enjoyable read. Can’t wait to see what happens.

Really enjoyed this first book in the series and I’m looking forward to the next instalment - after the cliffhanger ending!

Content warning: Infertility and miscarriage, discussion of rape, some violence

I’ll start with my main issue with this book, which is that this book made no attempt to address members of the LGBTQIA+ community whatsoever (or if it did I missed it). I understand that the whole crux of the matter is that humanity needs to breed, I get the concept. But it wouldn’t have hurt the plot to have had trans women, non-individuals and so forth. Especially given that at least one of the authors has a huge internet following so can’t pretend that they aren’t aware of these issues. Any book that takes sex and/or gender as a central issue should be being held to high standards, particularly in YA where a lot of the readers are pretty well-informed of these issues. It bothered me that this didn’t get addressed.  

There are also a couple of moments where the fact that Bram is playing a hologram of a woman (and therefore ‘wearing women’s clothing’) is shown as being something inherently funny or weird. It’s 2018, I feel like no-one should have to tell people that kind of humour isn’t ok.  

Another problem I had (I have some nice things to say later don’t worry this isn’t a wholly negative review) was that I felt like Bram was set up to be Eve’s saviour in a very ‘damsel in distress’ kind of way. I mean, she effectively lives in the highest room of the tallest tower, it’s not hard to draw the princess comparison here. The reason I started to enjoy the latter half of the book much more than the former was because Eve herself starts being a more active participant in her own destiny. I think there is an argument to be made for her being incredibly sheltered and naïve, but it just didn’t quite sit right with me, especially in a genre with so many amazing female characters, to have one who didn’t quite hit the mark. A little more balance between the two characters would have been appreciated.

Romance, because there is some, ok a lot. I’m a little torn with this one because, on the one hand, I can’t argue that it is the dreaded ‘insta-love’ as in one way these characters grow up together. However, I found that from the moment Eve works out who Bram is to her being in love with him is a little speedy. I think this could have benefitted from some time for them to get to know each other as themselves before declaring undying love. But I can see that the set-up wouldn’t allow for that so I can’t fault it too much.

I did think this was an interesting concept. I always love an unreliable narrator and so, of course, I loved the idea of having both Bram and Eve’s perspectives of the world (which are very different). I thought that once the plot really got going in the last 20% of the book this read as a very enjoyable YA dystopian novel. I think that, if some of the issues are addressed, this could be a very interesting series to follow, certain mysteries have been set up that it would be good to know the endings to.

Should you read this? Maybe? I think it depends how sold you are on the concept. I don’t think it’s something I would re-read immediately but I’m interested to see if the good parts of this book can be salvaged for later books.

My rating: 2/5 stars

I received a digital advanced review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I thought this book was a really interesting concept but wasn’t sure what to expect as if not read any books by either of them. And initially for me, the first bit is a little glossed over, so I didn’t get a draw. And when it started in earnest it did take me a little while to get into it. But by the end I was reading fast to find out what happened!!

It’s not always spectacularly written, especially in the first half, but the concept is really well executed, and the impended and ever building sense “they did WHAT” is really well timed. I loved the general background about what happened to the planet (though I’d have loved more on this!) and thought it was probably accurate that women would end up both sidelined into breeding and segregated completely, even if it made me really sad. I think that was actually one of my major things I wanted more from the book - I wanted someone to represent that women aren’t just for breeding or even that men can control themselves around one.

However I love Eve, and her ways of picking things up - it just surprised me she got to 18 without doing more of it. And I love the whole concept of Holly and the pilots and even the mothers. I wanted more on what happened with Vivian but I loved the backstories we got on some of the others. And Bram was awesome. Though it must be odd pretending to be a girl sometimes! And I liked when he started to click just what was going on.

I definitely agreed with the Freevers when they were introduced and more and more as the book went on.

It’s hard to talk about too much without spoiling so I shall finish by saying - if you’re struggling at the start to stick with it, as the last half really started to fly by for me. And I’m definitely going to be checking out the sequel!

**
The review will be going live on my blog on 30th May

I found the premise of this book incredibly intriguing - Eve of Men is set in a future when it's been 50 years since the last girl was born. Humans are in the brink of extinction and, as the selfish race we are, we have exploited Earth's resources until there is nothing left, and nothing to save. Then, once day, Eve is born.

There was so much potential in this book. The last girl in the planet is held captive at the top of a tower (even if she isn't aware this is a prison) and she is given the task to start the repopulation of Earth. Then there is Bram, a boy that has grown up giving life to Holly, a hologram that has been Eve's best friend since she can remember. And, of course, one day they see each other in real life and they fall madly in love.

Everything good up to this point. However, I found that this book was quite slow in places, and some details made me really cringe – I love Bram, but he sometimes sounds like the protagonist of a superhero movie. Also, I thought that the love story between Eve and Bram was a bit forced on us. One day there were best friends, and the next they would give their lives for each other since they are so in love. I don't know why, I couldn't really care much about any of them, or about their relationship.

That being said, I found very interesting the questions placed around gender with the relationship Eve-Holly/Bram. Well, Eve doesn't fall in love with Holly until she learns that she (he?) is a boy – I think it would've been a cool twist to make it a LGBT relationship – but after that she doesn't seem to care what gender her friend is to develop a romantic relationship.

I also found the whole idea of the Tower really cool. This is a fortress built by a company where everyone would love to work – if you come in, you would have to be crazy to leave. The outside world is presented as a flooded, poor and dangerous futuristic London. The few women left are sent to sanctuaries since a world full of desperate men is not safe for them anymore.

To conclude, this book presents us with a lot of interesting questions about the environment, gender and power. It is a fast-paced, entertaining read, but I am afraid I won't be continuing the series. The premise was really promising and unfortunately the final text was underwhelming.

I was SO excited to get this book! I adore the Fletchers, when I heard they were bringing this out I was beyond happy and it did not disappoint! It is fast paced and so interesting! I loved the writing style and the plot was great! I can’t await for the next one!!

Was looking forward to this book as I loved some kind of wonderful by Giovanni Fletcher but sadly the same couldn't be said for this book couldn't warm to it at all probably apeal to some readers but sadly not for me

I really enjoyed this book, I thought the world they created was interesting and I liked the main characters especially Eve .Bram was great as well and there was plenty of action and original ideas.I was certainly not in the intended audience being far from a YA but that didn't matter.I did figure out the direction the plot was going to go but I don't think it was meant to be a secret as such.It still kept me in suspense and reading nervously at times to see how it was going to turn out.I thought it was great and look forward to reading the next book.Thanks to the Publishers and Netgalley for an ARC.

Eve of Man isn’t usually the genre I tend to read but as a lover of Giovanna Fletcher’s books I was curious to see what a collaboration with her husband would be like.

In all honesty, I found the book quite hard to get into at first, but as stated, this isn’t my usual genre but I was compelled to keep reading. However about quarter of the way through the book I did start to enjoy it. It’s a clever plot line, good characters and well written. I believe this book is part of a trilogy. I’m not sure whether or not I would read the other books, but never say never.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin UK Michael Joseph and the authors for her chance to review.

The book just ended on me and it's an ARC and now I don't know what to do! It startef off as i expected as I had listened to the sneak peak of ths opening paragraph before being accepted for this, I however, honestly did not expecting the middle to ending of what I have just read in this book, it's wonderfully written and I highly recommend it. I don't want to spoil anything, as the book won't be released for a couple of weeks, but Giovanna and Tom Fletcher are an incredible writing duet, a very symbiotic relationship between the two of them! ◇

Received as an #ARC via #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review (May do a proper review when the book has been released but for now add it to your #TBR lists!)

Always interesting reading a book written by two authors / two voices. It was a really good premise / world, but the tone of voices for me sometimes clashed.

Fits nicely into the dystopia genre, a series-starter with a dual gender interest.

I like a good dystopia, a world just different enough to be possible, a gripping concept. And of course, a relatable protagonist to root for in a dangerous world. The concept here was definitely a gripping one, following a read of Naomi Alderman's 'The Power', a book about women taking control.

Here, it is the women who find themselves endangered... for fifty years, no baby girls are born. Then all of a sudden, one survives... Eve. Kept in an 'ivory tower' of sorts, like a Rapunzel, she is idolised and idealised by the now nearly-entirely male population, and now 16, has been raised to prepare her to save humanity and bring it back from the brink. A great prospect for a plot, plenty of scope for a grim world and a look at how a male world copes and interacts.

To keep Eve sane as well as pliable, a hologrammatic friend called Holly acts as companion, confidante and intermediary, but is controlled of course by men, one of who, Bram, has been working in the role since a child himself, and feels very close to her.

As the story begins, Eve is about to meet the first of three potential partners, with whom she is to attempt to repopulate. It definitely caught my imagination, and I enjoyed picturing the world of Eve in her tower, but also the outside world, what little we see of it.

A few negatives: It did feel a little 'by the numbers' in terms of plot points and what happens - conspiracy theories, power struggles, some scenes/moments that felt like The Truman Show, Hunger Games, but the one book I was hoping it would emulate and 'comment on', the already mentioned 'The Power', it didn't. I was surprised that the authors didn't once show us what men living with men really felt, how they coped without women, how the few women out there lived and survived among so many desperate and inflamed males, how education and culture has changed to account for the lack of females. This would have slowed the story down, of course.

I did like the main duo - Eve transforms in the usual way of dystopian characters, through realisation and emancipation, as Bram becomes more of a typical hero and action hero, on the run a lot and discovering leadership qualities. Both are realistically adolescents experiencing 'first love', both with issues relating to their parents, both unsure of key truths about their worlds.

There is enough of a description to feel the bleakness of the world and the perfection of Eve's Truman-like tower, and enough story left untold to whet appetites for the next installment. I didn't feel however, that this was an obvious collaboration. If each author took one character/narrator each, it didn't feel it, though I know little of the trademark style of either to spot personal touches. It flowed nicely from Eve to Bram and I wanted more from each every time we moved over to the other. I may look for part 2.

This will be a good crossover selection, both teenagers and adults will enjoy this. Hopefully in the next episode, the authors will add some psychological detail as to how the general population live in an almost-exclusively male society.

With thanks to Netgalley for the advance reading copy, provided for review purposes.

Unfortunately this one was a DNF for me. The idea was great but I couldn’t get behind the central premise, which was that the human race is on the verge of extinction because no new girl babies have been born for 66 years. I just couldn’t believe that an extinction-level event and two thirds of a century wouldn’t be enough for the human race to perfect human cloning and exowombs. I haven’t posted this online as I’m sure other people will enjoy it but please contact me if you would rather I did.

3.5 to 4*

The blurb intrigued me and my first thought was the incredible Children of Men. The difference is in Children of Men no children had been born for eighteen years. Whereas in Eve of Man it’s been 50 years since the last baby girl was born.

Without females the human race was facing extinction and by the time Eve was born the earth was a mess. Men living without hope of a future have abused the world beyond imagination. Overconsumption of fossil fuels accelerated global warming.

Then came the miracle everyone had hoped and prayed for Eve. A special dome is created for her so she can live in a perfect world. Safe and secure.

She even has a best friend Holly. She knows Holly isn’t real because she’s the same age and Eve’s the first female born in 50 years. But it’s nice to have a friend and confidant.

So Eve lives safe and secure in her perfect world. Her only job is to give birth to girls when the time comes. To save the human race.

I’m not sure how sound it is having just one girl to continue the human race but it’s all they’ve got. So putting thoughts of interbreeding aside.

Bram has known Eve nearly all her life and while they’ve never actually met he’s one of the pilots who operates Holly. He knows her better than anyone after all he’s her best friend.

Eve is now 16 years old three potential mates have been selected for her to choose from. But things don’t go as planned and this is when she actually meets Bram for the first time. She knows on sight that he’s her favourite Holly.

Things change from this moment for both of them.
Eve can’t stop thinking about Bram and she starts to consider her life and what her future could hold if she was truly free to make her own decisions.

So I was intrigued and after reading the prologue (I’ve included the first part below) excited.

I liked both Eve and Bram and the world that’s been created and after the prologue I was glued and just couldn’t read fast enough. I was fully engrossed in this new world but then it seemed to slow and before I actually realised it I found I was skimming. I took a break and I’ll admit I wondered if this book was going to continue like this and just heat up at the end to get us ready for the next book.

I’m glad to say this wasn’t the case at all it and the second half was better than the first and now I’m looking forward to the next book.

So why not 5*?

Apart from the slow part in the middle it just never seemed to reach its full potential. I’m sure why or exactly what was missing for me but it didn’t fully work. But there was enough here to make me want to continue on.

Prologue
On the first day no one really noticed. Perhaps there was a chuckle among the midwives at the sight of all those babies wrapped in blue blankets, not a pink one in sight. Individual hospitals would’ve thought nothing of it. They wouldn’t have known that this day of blue was only the beginning.
On the second day they frowned, confused, at another twenty-four hours of blue. Just boys. How baffling. Still, they assumed it was nothing more than coincidence. The Y chromosome was just making more of an appearance than usual.
On the third day, the media made light of it ‒ It Really Is A Man’s World. That brought the situation to everyone’s attention. Doctors and nurses realized theirs wasn’t the only hospital to go blue. Blue was taking over. Not just entire hospitals, not just entire countries, but the entire world.
Where had the pink gone?
With approximately two and a half million babies born each week, half of whom were usually girls, the sudden imbalance couldn’t be ignored. World leaders were called together with the most respected scientists to try to understand what was happening and discuss measures they could take to monitor the situation. They had to find an ethical way of working – they didn’t want to strip people of their human rights. That was what they said.
Initially.

The first part of the prologue I’ve copied is from the arc and could change with publication.

I voluntarily read a review copy kindly provided by NetGalley and Penguin UK.

This was a great story! Having read Tom Fletcher books with my children, I was excited to see what he and his wife could do with a more adult genre. I was not disappointed- the tone and the speed that the story
Loved along were perfect and I felt satisfied at the end that the whole book had been told properly. I look forward to reading more from these guys in the future.

This was a very bland read for me - the concept felt very generic (it's the kind of dystopian YA that's gone out of trend - it might have been fresh in 2011, but not in 2018). I also didn't feel that Eve and Bram were distinct enough in their voices, despite their extremely different backgrounds. The sudden "no homo"-ing annoyed me - I was happy when it seemed that the novel might delve deeper into sexuality and the murkiness of gender with the relationship between Eve and Holly/Bram, but it just...didn't. Disappointed.