Rise by Anna Carey

 The Eve Series 

Eve, Once, Rise 

Published: April 2nd 2013

Publisher: Harper Audio
Website: Author’s Website
Series: Eve
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged 
Narration by: Tavia Gilbert

Quick Review

Introduction

            Taking place after the events of the last book, Eve has to live in the palace of the City of Sand. Caleb has been executed, she has married Charles against her will, and she soon discovers the repercussions of her one night with Caleb. Life in the palace plays against the backdrop of a growing revolution in the city, and Eve wants revenge against her father for killing the one man she has ever loved. Luckily, the elusive Moss is there to help.

Characters

            The characters in the last installment face many changes. Eve has been separated and reunited with most characters. Most are satisfying, and some will break your heart.

Arden is absent for most of the book. Where she does go, I saw it coming, but it made me cheer inside. This book cements her sheer awesomeness, but she really needs her own book series.

Clara has changed in this book for the better. She still carries the same bossy attitude, but she moves forward with Eve in many ways. She is an example of a character that changes with the tides of the world but still keeps her essential characteristics. She is another character that I do not want to say goodbye to. She doesn’t get much of an ending for herself, though the reader can assume her fate in the end.

Charles, poor Charles. He tried so hard with Eve, but she was forced to marry him. He could have forced himself on her, despite her love for a dead man, but he doesn’t. In fact, he goes out of his way to protect and help her. All for a woman who doesn’t love him – a woman who wants to tear down the very society that has treated him very well.

Rebellion

            I have to say that the rebellion aspect was a little underwhelming, though that is because the reader is delivered events only from Eve’s perspective, and she is stuck in the palace or within the city while under soldier supervision.

            Where the book shines is what Eve does for the rebellion. In Once, Eve was forced to leave Arden, Pip, Ruby, and all the other girls at the schools. Readers have criticized her for not doing anything for them (though when exactly and how was she supposed to manage that?). In this book, she takes action to save as many girls as she can. Her actions are realistic – at that point, she couldn’t take down the government all by herself. She helped as many girls as she could muster in a short amount of time. Girls were left behind, so it feels like Schindler’s List – she wished she could have done more, but she moved forward with those she did save.    

The Very End

Spoilers ahead

This is my very favourite part of the book, and after a brief search on the internet, a lot of people hated it. And yes, you can write whole feminist essays in favour for, or against, the ending. Personally, I was so happy that Rise ended the way that it did. Since this is a quick review, I will only go through my reasons briefly.

So, Caleb isn’t dead. Yes, this resurrection is a bit…exasperating. Granted, I didn’t see it coming, and it could happen. Eve’s father is a duplicitous and calculating man. If he needed some leverage against her, he would still have Caleb’s life to manipulate her.

Caleb starts the revolution, as far as Eve is concerned. She helped the rebellion by stealing maps in Once, so she was willing to help where she could. Once Caleb is dead, she helps more, in more drastic ways. You could say that it took the death of “her” man to move her to pivotal action/revenge. Thinking that he was dead gave her the edge to risk everything. She killed her father, the King of The New America, because she was angry and wanted change and revenge. To her, it was his revolution, and she wanted it to happen because she loved him and she saw the terrible conditions. She was able to do it, but she didn’t do it for him, for him to love her, or so they could live freely together. He was already dead. She did it because it would bring the change they wanted. She got him back after she achieved her goal, and she wasn’t expecting it. He wasn’t her goal. He was an unexpected revelation. It can be said that the author gave her a happy ending that she wasn’t expecting, but she deserved it. I do wonder though, how different the book would be if Caleb was never “dead”. Would she have had the courage to kill her father if Caleb were still alive? Would the task be purposed to her? What else would she have done, if anything at all?

The only thing I find strange is that she calls herself his wife. Well, that’s nice, though technically they aren’t married. But what do you call yourself? Declaring that she’s his girlfriend doesn’t do much for last words of a novel. Maybe the hospital won’t let her see him if they aren’t related. It’s just that they aren’t so it was weird to hear it. I’m sure they do get married and live happily ever after the book (and apparently, the author has written an epilogue, though I don’t think it’s needed).

   

Final Verdict

            If the first two books of the Eve trilogy excited you, the third is an excellent conclusion. It’s a realistic rebellion story – Eve is a single cog that has an important role in one event, but she doesn’t win the war all by herself, and she doesn’t even fight. Eve does her best to act appropriately when, in previous books, she failed. The series is great material for that teen who has read all the popular dystopian novels already.