Book Review: Enclave

Title: Enclave

Author: Ann Aguirre

Genre: Dystopian

Review:

I guess I must be possessed by some type of rereading demon because I've been on a rereading spree for the past few weeks (hence my lack of book review updates.) Nevertheless, I enjoyed Enclave as much as I did reading it the first time (which is to say, a lot) as I did the second time. And by a happy chance, I haven't written a review for this boko yet :-) After I finished the book, I immediately went to the library and borrowed the rest of the series (all the books were in! *flails arms with happiness*)

I'm going to jump into my favorite part of Enclave right away: the setting of the novel. The whole set up the story is just so dah-yem original! Unlike every other post apocalyptic book, Enclave does not take place in a ruined city and/or a world ruled by a totalitarian government, per se. Deuce, the main character of the book, lives in an underground enclave; to be more specific, the enclave is situated in the abandoned subway tunnels.  Life underground is all Deuce has ever known, and from a yound age, she has been taught to fear the topside (above ground).

I love love love how so freaking unique the enclave is!!! (Though I would never ever ever ever want to live in one...I like the sun too much!) In the enclave, citizens are considered adults once they are 15 years old and once you hit your 20's, you're considered old. Since infant mortality rates are rather high, children aren't name until the become adults; instead, they're assigned the title "Brat + a number." I could go on forever about how society operates in the enclave, but I think I will shut up now before you fall asleep.

As a Huntress, Deuce has trained her whole life to feed and protect the enclave. Dangerous creatures called Freaks (more about them later) roam the tunnels outside of the enclave boundaries. As a Huntress, part of her job is to keep the Freaks away from the enclave. At first, Deuce is wary of her hunting partner, Fade. Fade isn't enclave born--in fact, he claims that he is from the topside. But everyone knows that's not true, because the topside is inhabitable. Thus, Fade's origin remains a mystery. However, over time, Deuce begins to learn valuable lessons from Fade and even accepts him as he is. Deuce and Fade play off of each other very nicely, as they have distinctively different personalities, but enough similarities so that they are not bickering all the time. Plus, it is also through Fade the Deuce learns to discover where are moral conscience lies.

And man...the plot is the hang-on-the-edge-of-your-seat type of plot and pacing. There is no "slow" part at all. Details are kept at a minimum (though the details regarding the Freaks--humanoid creatures that smell like rot--were enough to scare the crap out of me...especially in the following books), just enough to let readers know what they need to know. And yet, the character development (especially in Deuce) was excellent.  Of course, I still have some questions, such as how did the Freaks come into existence? Hopefully,  these will be answered in the following books!

Rating: