Review - Once

by Anna Carey
publisher: HarperTeen
date of publication: July 3, 2012
format: digital review copy
pages:
source: Edelweiss

From Goodreads:

When you're being hunted, who can you trust?

For the first time since she escaped from her school many months ago, Eve can sleep soundly. She's living in Califia, a haven for women, protected from the terrifying fate that awaits orphaned girls in The New America.

But her safety came at a price: She was forced to abandon Caleb, the boy she loves, wounded and alone at the city gates. When Eve gets word that Caleb is in trouble, she sets out into the wild again to rescue him, only to be captured and brought to the City of Sand, the capital of The New America.

Trapped inside the City walls, Eve uncovers a shocking secret about her past--and is forced to confront the harsh reality of her future. When she discovers Caleb is alive, Eve attempts to flee her prison so they can be together--but the consequences could be deadly. She must make a desperate choice to save the ones she loves . . . or risk losing Caleb forever.

In this breathless sequel to "Eve," Anna Carey returns to her tale of romance, adventure, and sacrifice in a world that is both wonderfully strange and chillingly familiar.

After my experience with Eve, I wasn't so confident heading into Once that I would enjoy it. However, after Eve's ending, I felt that there was still a chance that the story would turn into something I could really enjoy. It also takes a lot for me to abandon a series after just the first book. Fortunately, Once managed to capture my interest more firmly than Eve did, so I was more able to enjoy the story this time around. Thanks to an unexpected plot twist and some harrowing events, Once has a storyline that I can appreciate.

Eve has grown as a character since the events at the end of the first book. She has become more self-sufficient, though she is still prone to impulsive decision-making. This habit of hers still gets her into plenty of trouble, which is readily apparent even near the beginning of the book. Gone, however, is the girl who obsesses over what her old teachers would think of her actions. She has embraced how she feels for Caleb and finally understands just what it is the king has done to the country. You have to admire her for the lengths she is willing to go to in order to help those who are most at his mercy. I just wish she could be the type of female MC who uses common sense every once in a while. Eve still managed to drive me a bit batty in Once, just not quite as much as she did in Eve.

In Once, we get the chance to visit not one, but two new settings: Califia and the City of Sand. The differences between the two are so drastic that it is easy to see just how corrupt the king is, as if there was any doubt before. The pacing is much more even this time, which makes the chain of events easy to follow. All in all, the story-building was better this time around, so there wasn't as much to distract me from the plot. The ending had great tension and left me wanting to know what would happen next.

While the Eve series still doesn't appear amongst my favorites, I was sufficiently entertained by the story and interested in how Once ends. I probably won't make up my mind entirely until I've read the full trilogy. There are some things that I would like to see happen in Rise as far as Eve's character goes. The story is moving right along and I'm starting to get a better sense of how the world works in this series. I hope to learn more about the citizens of the City of Sand and I am especially curious as to whether the king will get his comeuppance. I'll be staying tuned until then.

Buy Once at the Following Locations:

Amazon /  IndieBound  /  B&N  /  The Book Depository

Obligatory legal statement: This digital review copy was provided to me free of charge by the publisher via Edelweiss. No monetary compensation was received in exchange for this fair and unbiased review.