Early Review: Eve and Adam by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on September 14, 2012 | 6 Comments


Early Review: Eve and Adam by Michael Grant and Katherine ApplegateEve and Adam by Katherine Applegate, Michael Grant
Published by Feiwel and Friends (10.2.2012)
Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult
Format: eARC, 304 pages
Source: NetGalley
Buy on Amazon


3.5 Stars

And girl created boy…

In the beginning, there was an apple—

And then there was a car crash, a horrible injury, and a hospital. But before Evening Spiker’s head clears a strange boy named Solo is rushing her to her mother’s research facility. There, under the best care available, Eve is left alone to heal.

Just when Eve thinks she will die—not from her injuries, but from boredom—her mother gives her a special project: Create the perfect boy.

Using an amazingly detailed simulation, Eve starts building a boy from the ground up. Eve is creating Adam. And he will be just perfect... won’t he?

My thoughts

Eve and Adam was a bit strange at times, but I loved the writing style because it was quirky and engaging. There was humor at frequent intervals (and some innuendos) and the prose held my interest even when there wasn’t really anything exciting happening. It was fairly short, so it was a quick and easy read.

Evening was a solid lead. She was smart and witty and there was nothing she did in the book to annoy me, which is a rare occurrence. Solo wasn’t exactly swoonworthy, but he was pretty cool. Although he creeped me out a little in the beginning with the way he followed Eve around and the thoughts he had about her. Plus he talked to himself. Now I talk to myself sometimes, I admit it. But this guy was having full blown conversations with himself. It was a little weird.

Evening’s mom was a bitch – they didn’t call her ‘Terror’ for nothing. And what kind of mother doesn’t know what their own kid’s dominant hand is? She actually had to ask whether Eve was right-handed or not. I thought she was a terrible mother, cold and indifferent to the world – including her own daughter. She was too uppity and businesslike. I felt sorry for Eve.
Eve’s bestie, Aislin, was a good supporting character, though. She was flawed in a lot of ways, and a bit slutty, but you had to love her anyway because she was such a great friend.

The Adam Project and the Logan Serum were interesting. I find genetics fascinating, even though I don’t fully comprehend it. The making of Adam was intriguing, especially when Eve was trying to make his personality: all of the different aspects of a personality, the ups and downs of being too much or not enough of something and the effect it would have on the person’s life and happiness. It’s something we don’t really think about (or at least I don’t); how different amounts of certain elements would change someone for the better or for the worse. For example:
I could make him fearful and cautious. He would probably live longer. But he might not find what he was looking for and needed.
I could make him reckless and bold. But he might die younger. He might be a criminal. 
See? It’s all about finding a happy medium. And how hard would that be, anyway, deciding what that happy medium is and how a person will turn out? Like Eve said, I’m not religious, but I’m starting to have some sympathy for God.

I was a little confused about the happenstance regarding Solo’s parents, Terra Spiker, the company, and the genetics. I tried not to think too hard about the genetics aspects and how it worked, either.

All in all, Eve and Adam was an pretty enjoyable and interesting read, but it didn’t quite grab me like I hoped it would. I didn’t feel as appalled by the big secret as I should have been. Okay, that should be horrible, but….meh. The feelings just weren’t there.

Random fact that I totally didn’t know before I read this: Tiburon means ‘shark.’ Sweeeet. I knew there was a reason I love those cars so much!

quotes
I don’t turn around to watch him climb away, because that would be me checking out his butt. Which is not something I would ever do.
But his jeans fit. No sagging for Solo.
If I couldn’t relate to Eve before, I sure did right there. ;D

There were twenty kids in the room. When I moved to the front, I’d say I had a total of eight eyeballs out of a possible forty watching me.
I delivered my opening line (Boys have nipples), and thirty-nine eyeballs were trained on me. Jennifer has one lazy eye, so I was never going to get all forty.
It’s terrible, but that last sentence made me laugh out loud.

“I thought I’d come by and see whether you need anything. Chips? Snickers bar?” He pauses, surveying our incomplete Adam. “Hot dog?”
Aislin leans forward, very serious. “Do you have anything heartier than a hot dog? Say, a kielbasa? Italian sausage? A whole salami?”
Baha oh lord!

Overall Assessment

Plot: 3/5
Writing style: 5/5
Originality: 5/5
Characters: 3/5
World-building: 3/5
Pace: 5/5
Cover: 5/5
Overall rating: 3.5/5

Jessi (Geo)

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6 responses to “Early Review: Eve and Adam by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate

  1. I have a lot of genetics in my study, so I’m terribly fascinated by this book :D It’s good to hear that Evening was a great character. I like it when they don’t annoy me :p Great review and I want this book so badly.

  2. Can we please just talk about the names for a second? Evening? Solo? Aislin? Really? It seems like someone is trying a bit too hard there…I’m not sure if this is the book for me, but genetics aspect sounds interesting!

  3. Great review! This books does sound interesting, especially because of the genetics and I may read it some day, but I’m not sure it’s one that will get put pushed to the top of my massive TBR list.

  4. Thanks for the review! I’ve seen mixed reviews for this one and I’m not a huge fan of science stuff so I’m still kind of on the fence. But I loved Animorphs as a kid so I’ll give Even and Adam a chance. ;)

    Heh, Tiburon: new word!

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