Sixteen-year-old Angela and her father are the last survivors on earth. She dreams of adventure and romance but only finds it in books. In the confines of her garden paradise, she’s untouched by contaminants that caused the rest of humanity to mutate into murderous beasts or die. But staying in the garden sure gets lonely.When a seventeen-year-old boy stumbles upon Angela’s home with news about a … news about a thriving community, his presence upheavals everything she knew about the world. She dares to leave her garden for the first time to find a better home.
In the authoritarian society that she finds the line between man and mutant is murkier than she expected. Secrets from Angela’s past reemerge, and she learns life outside the garden isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Her father is in danger, and the men tasked with protecting the settlement are extremely fond of murder. With their lives on the line, can Angela create one last happy ending in a hopeless world?
Fans of dystopian societies, post-apocalyptic futures, diverse characters, fantasy, and coming-of-age adventures with heart will fall in love with this post-apocalyptic fairy tale.
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“But the real world has teeth, and its sickness reaches far beyond the aftermath of war.”
As a debut novel, I have to say that this story is intriguing! I found myself swept up in the story, curious to know what Angela would discover next, and also interested to see just how much the real world had changed. I’m looking forward to book 2!
I truly enjoyed this book! I read very little PA but I found this author in one of my FB groups and thought to give it a whirl! I’m so glad I did! Loved the characters and the story was original! Looking forward to her next installment!
This was a sort of Tangled/Rapunzel take on a dystopian story, because the main characters was hidden away from the world for most of her life by her protective father–because she has the power to restore life. But Angela doesn’t even know about her abilities at first.
She decides to run away from home to find out more about the world that’s left, more from curiosity than any need, since she knows her dad is hiding things from her but doesn’t suspect anything malicious from him. Her whims drive the story without any real urgency. Even when she finds out that others are lying to her and want to take advantage of her power, she is quick to forgive and doesn’t have a strong sense of self-preservation. The stakes don’t feel very high until her father was abruptly in danger near the end.
Still, the world-building had a few new ideas and I liked some of the secondary characters. It was a quick, light read. The writing felt a little simple, but I might read more to see if the author improves.
I would recommend this book to fans of Sweet Tooth and The Hunger Games if you want a less violent/graphic dystopian world with an optimistic protagonist.
If you raise a girl in the middle of nowhere and tell her you are the last people on earth and that she is living a fairy tale, do you think she would believe it? Saving Eden begins with this narrative. Only, sixteen-year-old Angela doesn’t entirely believe it when she finds a backpack filled with food in her garden. And as much as she loves playing her piano, what she really wants is to learn to read all those symbols in her Dad’s books. And find other people.
Set in a post-Apocalyptic America that is so close to our present reality that it is almost believable, KRS spins a fantastic tale of a country that dabbled in intentional genetic alterations and mutations, which ended up killing many and causing the world to protest. In the aftermath, Angela’s father hid her away from the world to protect her and succeeded in raising the most naive, kindhearted girl one could imagine. Too naive for her own good, she leaves the safety of home in the middle of the night with a boy who claims to be from Chicago in the hopes of finding a community where she and her father could be safe and live among other people. She meets the Resistance, a group of people who are fighting on behalf of the mutants, to cure those with dangerous mutations and to provide safety for those who just want to live peacefully in society. She also meets the Wardens, peacekeepers who hunt down and publically execute mutants. Will she be safe? And will she be able to bring her father to join her?
This is a well-imagined and beautifully-told story. Angela is a little hard to believe at times because of her naivete (think of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt). But that also makes her so endearing and sets her apart from both the world her father tried to create for her and the strange new world that is the remnants of Chicago. It’s a great setup for what promises to be a fantastic new series (which I have read out of order so far – but book two is even better)! The narration was fantastic as well. I received a free copy of the audiobook from the author through StoryOrigin and have reviewed it willingly because it was so delightful.