Thank you to nettgalley.com for giving me a free copy of this book to read in exchange for a fair and honest review.
I am so happy that I got my hands on this book, this book gripped from the second Giovanna announced the trailer on her Instagram. Despite the fact, I knew it wasn't a wholly original take on dystopian fiction, I was excited about it all the same.
The novel started off well and had me sucked in from the beginning, although I have to admit it took me a while to realise who Holly was, at first I assumed she was an older woman because obviously, Eve is the only girl in existence. It threw me off when Holly began to act the same age until I realise the character wasn't even real to begin but created for Eve as a way to connect with someone her age. The middle of the novel started to drag for me, which is why I've given the overall book four stars. In all honesty, I began not to think much of it as I was hitting a busy time in my life and had forgotten about but I'm glad I went back to it because the final part of the novel began to pick up and left me utterly excited for the next book.

I'm finding it quite hard to know how to rate this book. There were some really excellent things about it, but other aspects left me feeling that I needed something more. however, that is in part, I think, to the fact that it os part one of a trilogy.

This is a really well written book and visually, the descriptions were excellent, transporting me to a well-imagined future world where no baby girls are born for fifty years. And then Eve arrives. Gradually, Eve's understanding of her situation and the life that she lives, her purpose and her future all start to become clear. I thought that aspect of the book was really well done and the characters were well drawn and believable. I especially enjoyed Eve as a character and the Mothers who looked after her.

I think the problem for me was that the plot was completely obvious right from the start, barring a few sub-plots. It was absolutely clear what was going to happen. Not that this ruined the story, as we found out more about how the EPO operated. But it meant it lacked the wow factor.

A solid four stars for me and I will definitely look forward to the next instalment.

I have read and enjoyed a couple of Giovanna Fletcher's books and am just starting to delve into the sc-fi / fantasy / dystopian genres a bit more so when I heard she had started a trilogy, and with her hubby, I thought I'd give it a crack. Although, I believe, targeted as a YA book, and being the ripe old age of, well, 40something, I have to say that I really rather enjoyed it. Just one last thing to say before I start proper is that this is book one of a trilogy. Although it does end at a good point, the story is nowhere near done and you will need to "sign up for" the next two books. So you do need to bear this in mind before you start.
So, one day a strange thing happened. No baby girls were born. Next day, same thing, and so on until... you get the picture. There are now no females being born. Until however, one day, there was Eve. And boy was she scooped up and hidden away in the dome of a great tower, protected until, well basically, she could be used to kick start the human race. Now of age and still the last girl to have been born, the time is nigh for her to meet her destiny, and meet the three potential partners that have been selected for her. But something happens and Eve spies Bram, and recognises something in him. And there's a spark, a something between them. But it's forbidden and definitely not in the plans that the powers that be have for Eve. But is Bram about to scupper those plans? And, if successful, where does that leave the human race?
I've already said that I haven't been a YA for a very long time but this book gave me plenty to get my teeth into. As you can imagine from the synopsis, and indeed when you start reading, there are more than just a few moral and ethical dilemmas to be found within its pages. Not overly preaching though I hasten to add. I did find it hard to completely accept that Eve was still the only girl to have been born since 50 years, but some of my niggles on this were mostly explained later on in the book and I know that fiction isn't always fact and the rest of what I was reading held up the issues I was having so I was able to accept and move on quite easily.
Characterisation was good, I warmed to both Eve and Bram quite quickly and I got to know them better through their narratives and learned more about their backgrounds as they took it in turns to "tell" the story. It did start off a bit slow for me but then I guess it was expected being as there was a world to create and science to explain and the rest of the scene to set and the characters to introduce.
Apart from my small niggles, the plot was well done and the action well played out. I've already mentioned that this being a trilogy, the story is not complete but, this first part ends at a very good moment. No spoilers here so I can't explain but, if you've ever read a trilogy you'll know that splitting the story into the parts is a whole other skillset to being an author and here, it looks like they may have cracked it.
All in all, a good opener to a trilogy which I am eager to get my hands on part two (and probably three!) of. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

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.

This had so much potential.
While so many people may be over the dystopian 'trend', I am one of those who still enjoys a good dystopian. I would say that is exactly what this book is; a good dystopian. It didn't blow me away but it is an interesting plot and an interesting society.

The story is not something I have read before.
I know there are various books out there that are somewhat similar in the basic premise, but I have never read anything like this in which no females have been born for fifty years. It was a very interesting concept that was used in a creative way. The idea of keeping Eve away from the rest of the world in a purpose built tower and exposing her to very little of the real world was a very unique concept that I enjoyed.

We had two well-developed societies.
Due to Eve being confined to the tower, it was almost as though two separate societies were created for this story. We had the society within the tower, in which things were very futuristic and incredibly interesting to read about. Then, we also had the world beyond the tower. This, I felt, was slightly less developed than within the tower, though much less of the book was spent in this setting. I expect this will be developed more in future books in the series.

The technology was very creative.
So much of this story is based around the technology used within the tower. As I mentioned, it is all very futuristic. I have no idea how the authors managed to think of all of the unique, incredibly advanced technology described in the book; I was so impressed. It was a little confusing at time, but it was definitely interesting to read about.

The characters were bland.
Despite all of the things I enjoyed about this book, the characters fell flat for me. This was very unexpected, as one of the things I enjoyed about the one other Giovanna Fletcher book I have read was the characters. However, both Even and Bram were dull and had little personality.

It was let down by the pacing.
The pacing of this book was completely wrong for me. The first 75% of the book was very slow and while things were happening, they seemed to be taking forever to happen. Then, in the last 25%, everything happened. At one point I didn't actually think there was enough time left in the book for it to finish. The last part of the book needed much more time to be fully developed, it seemed much too rushed and ended up being a little confusing.

Overall, I do think this series has potential. I was unsure how I would feel going into this book as it was something so different for these authors, but I did enjoy it. There were some really great things about this book. However, the pacing and the characters let it down for me. I am interested to see how the series progresses, as I think many of the issues I had with this book could be resolved in future books.

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!