Before there was Harry Potter there was Animorphs. I was in love with that series as a child. It was pretty serious. Half my closest was dedicated with Animorph books and I had a special shelf full of them right next to my bed. And honestly, looking back I’m surprised I didn’t have an Animorph shrine a la Helga G. Pataki.
Obsessed? I like to think of it as an extreme hobby.
So when I saw Eve and Adam go up on NetGalley, I’ll admit this freely, I squealed. I waited with bated breath for Macmillan to approve me for this title and dove in not long after receiving it. Unfortunately, it’s not at all what I was expecting. When I think back about Eve and Adam I just have an overall feeling of “meh.” In fact, there isn’t much I like at all about it. Not the plot, not the characters and not the ending. Okay, wait. I like the cover. There. *happy sigh* Now that I have that out the way, I won’t feel too bad for giving two of my favorite authors a negative review.
I had a feeling that Eve and Adam and I wouldn’t get along right from the beginning. Readers are immediately introduced to Eve via a car accident where she loses a leg. Then her mother, Terra Spiker of Spiker Biotech, whisks her away to her facilities to be looked after. There she heals faster than humanly possible, meets a boy named Solo and begins working on a project to create her perfect boy, Adam. And all that happens in the first 15% of the novel. It felt like a lot of events was happening in a very short amount of time and I was still attempting to process that the girl had lost a leg. Then you add it the random sexually promiscuous best friend who’s in love with a loser drug dealer sub-plot, the insta-love and the perfect boy, Adam, who literally stops traffic with his good looks and you’ve pretty much lost me as a reader.
A part of me isn’t sure where to begin with what didn’t work for me with Eve and Adam. Was it the characters? The plot? The slut-shaming? The insta-love? I think I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s actually two things that stood out the most:
1. Show, don’t tell.
Right from the beginning we are told about Evening’s accident and how horrible it is. And as the novel goes on, it is referenced a few times, but with the same old, “It was so horrible. I lost a leg.” Even after finishing the book, I never felt I had a good understanding of what actually happened during the accident. It wasn’t necessarily terribly important, but it did bother me.
This is also done with Solo’s dislike for Eve’s mother, Terra Spiker. As a boy he lost both of his parents in a car accident and Terra Spiker (his parents’ employer) ended up looking after him. He constantly says how evil she is, how he hates her, etc. But we never actually see proof of that evil beyond what he tells the reader. Sure, she wasn’t the friendliest character in the book, but it didn’t equate to the evil that he accuses her of.
Then of course we have Le Hottie McHottiekins, A.K.A. Adam, the perfect boy Eve has been tasked to create while she recovers from her accident. We are told over and over how incredibly gosh-darn howt he is. And when he goes out in the world looking for Eve, everyone – male and female – stops what they are doing for a moment of silence for the baby angles that obviously died for his magical existence. So I guess you’re supposed to feel your ovaries exploding at that point.
But the descriptions used to describe his howtness? He has blue eyes, black hair and he’s just perfect in every sense of the word. Riiiight…
2. The characters
The other major thing that bothered me were the characters. First off, the novel flips back and forth from Eve to Solo’s PoV and later Adam’s. But the thing is, they all read like the same person. And I was told that the novel was supposed to funny, but I think I may have chuckled a grand total of one time. Their personalities along with their interactions resembled robots or cardboard characters. They we unrealistic like so:
Eve – The girl loses a leg in the very beginning of the novel and she gives exactly two shits that it was at one point attached to her body. The day after she is admitted in her mother’s facility she doesn’t even show concern over her injuries. She doesn’t even find it weird that she is healing so fast nor does she even look at her leg. Her explanation is that the doctors and nurses told her not to look at so it wouldn’t upset her. She also thinks her lack of pain is due to the strong meds they have her on. I’m sorry, but I don’t buy any of that. She doesn’t ask any questions about her recovery? She’s not the least bit concerned? Those were simply convenient allowances to move the plot along.
Solo – I never liked this kid. From the moment he entered into the story thinking Eve was hot as they wheeled her and her detached leg from the hospital to when he thinks she is checking him out while she screamed in pain from her injuries, I thought he was a douche.
I know she’s checking me out. Fair enough, because I’m checking her out.
“Ah ahhh ahhhh!”
Eve cries out suddenly. She’s in pain. Bad pain. So it’s possible she’s not really checking me out.
I mean, who actually does that? I’m not sure how I was supposed to react to that. Was it meant to be funny?
Also, I could never understand his intense hatred for Terra Spiker. So she’s mean… okaaayyyy. But she’s taken care of him, given him a job, etc. Yet here he is determined to bring her and her company down. Oh, and did I mention the insta-love? After only a handful of interactions, Solo feels conflicted about taking his evidence of Terra’s illegal activity to the Feds because he is in love with Eve. HUH? I wasn’t even aware that they were friends. There was absolutely no time for them to develop any type of relationship. Note to self: Staring+two conversations=love.
Adam – “I’m so howt, but why is everyone staring at me? Someone hold me.” *eyeroll* For his name to be in the title, he had the smallest role in the book.
Terra Spiker – “I’m evil bitch incarnate and I know it.” <=== The only character personality given to readers. She also loves to slut-shame Eve’s best friend, calling her a “drunken slut” any chance she gets.
Aislin – Eve’s best friend who has only one purpose in the novel: To make Eve look good. By coming off as the self-destructive, drunken BFF who happens to also enjoy sexy times (honestly, why is this portrayed as a bad thing?), you have a character who Eve can spend her free time worrying over and protecting. This makes Eve look caring, kind, thoughtful and selfless. It also provides a clever way for the main character to admit they wish they could be like the BFF while never actually engaging in the more risqué behaviors. Instant innocence. Take out Aislin’s character and Eve has no real depth to her. She’d also be boring considering she’d have no reason to put her Under Dog cape on and save anyone in her spare time.
Oh, and I can’t forget the other scientists featured near the end who make perverted statements toward Eve.
“You haven’t tapped that little piece yet? She’s no great beauty, but she’s cute enough, and she’s got a nice little body.”
“I’d do her, ” Dr. Chen says.
Did I mention these men are probably old enough to be her father and grandfather? I get that they were supposed to be evil, but the layer of sexism wasn’t necessary to drive that point home. All it did was turn me completely off to the book.
While Eve and Adam didn’t do much for me, it is readable. But I was, unfortunately, left disappointed, confused and underwhelmed. *sigh* The only other possible positive is that the novel is a very quick read. You could probably read it in only a few short hours. However, I sadly can’t recommend anyone wasting those precious hours reading Eve and Adam.
ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley. Thank you!
cynicalsapphire
Hmmm, I totally see your points, but I was actually entertained by Adam & Eve. My expectations were much lower when I went into it, though, so I imagine that was a factor. I was really thinking it would be atrocious, because I have the feeling that revisiting Animorphs (also a childhood favorite of mine) would be…disheartening, though I still want to do it.
There were a lot of uncomfortable comments about sexuality, but I actually liked the friendship between Eve and Aislin. It reminded me a lot of my bond with one of my friends, so I think that impacted my interpretation of the whole thing.
Oh well. I hope you enjoy your next read more.
Also, that ovaries gift will haunt me.
Stephanie Sinclair
@cynicalsapphire That is probably it. I did go into it expecting great and amazing things. Hype never does a novel good as far as reading experiences goes.
I’m afraid to re-read Animorphs. There are so many books and I worry that I won’t enjoy it like I did when I was a kid.
I think I would have liked Aislin’s character more if I saw more that just her self-destructiveness.
cynicalsapphire
@Stephanie Sinclair Yeah, most of the reads I’m really hyped up for disappoint me, although not always. The Fault in Our Stars still rocked my socks, but that’s John Green for you.
I’m a little afraid, but I still want to do it. I wanted SO BADLY to be an animorph. I used to pretend I was. Good times.
I focused more on how concerned she was for Eve, more concerned than Eve herself was. Eve isn’t an easy person to be friends with, because she’s judgmental and disconnected, so finding a friend like that is really awesome. *shrug*
Krystal Henderson
Wow, this book sounds terrible! “It’s possible she’s not checking me out.” NO, REALLY?!
Stephanie Sinclair
@Krystal Henderson Yeah… I didn’t understand that line of thinking at all. O.o
Ambrluvsports
I love how you deconstructed the slutty BFF plot device. As a reader I would just see it as an obligatory YA cliche, and as a wannabe writer I tend to view side characters as organic to the story; but I never really stopped to think how you can use the supporting cast to show (instead of tell) who the MC is or the kind of person you want readers to believe he/she is. Thanks, Steph. (I need to come to Cuddlebuggery class more often lol).
Stephanie Sinclair
@Ambrluvsports Thanks! Have the slutty best friend is a clever way of having a “pure” main character explore her sexual feelings without having to engage in any activity. At least, that’s how it’s always come off to me. If the best friend had more development, it’d be a different story, but she didn’t.
tacobell
She is called Evening. Come on, authors, this is not a way to make your MC look realistic. Ans the only man allowed to have Solo in his name is Han.
Stephanie Sinclair
HAHAHA! I didn’t even think of Han Solo!
Kara_M
Oh gosh that quote at the end there was gross. The blurb of this book never really grabbed me, so I decided not to read this one early on. Your review just reinforced that decision. I wouldn’t wish this kind of reading experience on anyone. Yuck. Fantastic review though Steph. 🙂
Stephanie Sinclair
@Kara_M Thanks, Kara. You would HATE this book.
Lizzys Dark Ficiton
Where the hell is the “like” button on your posts?
I only had the first 37 or so Animorph books and 3 or 4 companion books. I wasn’t obsessed.
Stephanie Sinclair
@Lizzys Dark Ficiton HAHAHAHA! I love how you say “only.”
Lisa FicTalk
Why they gotta make all sluts “bad sluts”. Can’t we ever read about a “good slut”?
Me no like the sound of this book. However, I do like the Helga meme and the Tony Stark gif.
WINNING, Steph!
Stephanie Sinclair
@Lisa FicTalk I can’t believe I missed this comment, but YES! What’s wrong with a girl enjoying her sex? Sex is natural and fun! Why must we shame the females?
Liza
Nooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so ready to buy and devour this book.
I met Michael Grant and he was just amazing and even better he was honest and straight to the point with his fans. He never beat around the bush, and that whole rough around the edges persona won me over.
I need to acquire selective amnesia, because this was one of those books I’ve been so excited about and to hear it has all those problems, just makes me sad.
Stephanie Sinclair
I’d still try it out if you were already excited for it. There are a few positive reviews floating around, but I have mostly seen 2-3 star reviews saying it’s not their best work. 🙁
christinashoe
Eww. I hate reading about guys that make ovaries burst. Especially when the description is not very deep at all.
Stephanie Sinclair
@christinashoe And that was exactly the problem. The description of Adam sucked. Why is he hot? He has blue eyes. Okayyyyy….
I mean, really. LOL.
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