scifi – The Bookish Deer

Goodreads rating: 4.50

Pages: 386

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

Date published: December 5th, 2017 (USA)

My rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis

Everyone in Eden is assigned a Number, tattooed on their neck, which determines their value and place in the world.

On her Numbering Day, Evalene Vandereth anticipates joining the élite. Born in an upper-class family, she knows exactly who she is and what she is worth. Even as the needle breaks her skin, she is blissfully happy. She never considers another outcome, until it’s too late.

Now 18-year-old Evalene lives in fear, struggling with her new identity, stripped of her freedom and basic human rights. Can she escape her Number? Is anyone else asking the same question?

Fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent will love Evalene’s Number and its incredible dystopian tale.

My review

Thank you so much to the author Bethany Atazadeh for sending me a copy of her book, and for her lovely Instagram stories of her dog, Penny ♡

I must say I am not the biggest fan of dystopian novels, but I absolutely LOVED Evalene’s Number. I’m not sure exactly what made me like this book and not the other ones I previously read – maybe the author’s writing, or the characters I loved? -, but the truth is I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

In the description, it is suggested that this book is somehow similar to Divergent and The Hunger Games. I do see some similarities (like the totalitarian regime and the rebellion), but I honestly enjoyed this way more 😀 I personally haven’t finished Divergent or THG, they’re just not my cup of tea. This one, though, I couldn’t put down after page 30 or so, it was SO ADDICTING!!

The characters are SO lovely, especially Jeremiah. What a fucking sweetheart 😩 where are the guys like him in real life??? WHERE??? The main character, for a change, is not insufferable as they usually are in YA. The way Evalene acts is not stupid. She is smart and at times very brave – and she uses her brain. Also, I felt as though the way she acted was absolutely in accordance with how she was treated throughout her life, which made her character feel more real.

The writing was very flowy. I barely noticed I was constantly turning the pages and next thing I knew I was halfway through the book 😅 Lovely writing, it doesn’t seem like a debut at all – which it is!

As for the world, I found it to be very intriguing. It’s a post-WW3 society, in which people are given a number. That number is what defines them, and it’s tattooed on your neck, so you can’t really escape it. I won’t go into more details, but I found it to be a good dystopian world. I’m looking forward to the next book – Pearl’s Number -, to see what Bethany does with the world. Maybe we’ll get some more science fiction elements in the next book, I really enjoyed the ones included in Evalene’s Number!

Basically, the only complaint I have about this book is that I wanted more romance 😂 I ship the fuck out of the (not yet) couple in this book and I CAN’T WAIT to read about them together 😍 Also the side couple – you know who I’m talking about if you’ve read it – is amazing and they need to just KISS ALREADY 😄

In summary, this is pretty much the only dystopian I’ve loved so far, and I feel as though both dystopian lovers and people like me – who aren’t big fans of the genre – can enjoy it. I definitely recommend that you give it a try 👍🏼

★★★★☆ 4/5 stars

Q&A WITH BETHANY ATAZADEH

1. How many books are you planning to write in this series?

Right now, it’s going to be a duology. I’m way too excited about my next fantasy series to keep going with the Number Series right now. Sometimes I’ve considered writing Olive’s story in a third book… maybe someday I’ll change my mind and decide to do that.

2. What made you want to write a novel set after a fictional WW3?

Hmm… I think I wanted a world that had our history, but at some point it went sideways. I had this idea of Numbers, and how people were shoved into boxes and labeled, and I kind of created the world around that.

3. Will we find out the reasons behind this World War in the following book(s)?

Originally it was actually Y2K haha! I had read a lot about how it could have gone, how if banks were shut down, people would panic, if one country reacted violently, they all would have responded, all the fears people had about it… I decided to create a world where the absolute worst did happen, and that’s where our real history ended and this new world began. I ended up taking a lot of that out of the book, because it wasn’t really relevant to the story. I’m not sure if it’ll be valuable to include in the second book either, but that’s the history behind it all. 🙂

4. What was your hardest scene to write in this first book?

The middle. For some reason, I knew exactly how it would end, and I knew where to start, but the middle dragged a bit. I just needed to spice it up. I knew that if it wasn’t exciting to me, it wouldn’t be exciting to a reader, so I had to spend a lot of time getting it right.

5. Should we expect some romantic action in book two?

Ooooh yeah. Absolutely. 😉

6. Did any people in real life inspire you to write certain characters?

Definitely. A lot of things about Jeremiah are based on my husband – his character, his strength, his bravery, as well as his good looks! 😉 I also liked to pull in tiny quirks and details from other people I knew or met as I wrote the story, and form characters around those little bits and pieces – like how our tax guy wears two sets of glasses. I about died laughing when I saw that. I think the tattoo artist in the beginning of Evalene’s Number was based on that image haha!

7. Do you plan on trying different genres in the future?

I do! I’m super excited about the fantasy series I mentioned above. I’ve got this storyline forming with some super BA women that I’m just so pumped to write about. There aren’t enough brave, confident, fierce, strong women role models in fiction for me, I want more! They say if you don’t see the book you want on the shelf, write it. So that’s what I’m excited to do! 🙂

Thank you so much for your answers, Bethany! I’m definitely looking forward to that romance in Pearl’s Number 😉

Have you read Evalene’s Number? Did you like it as much as I did? Let me know in the comments! ♡

I hope you enjoyed this post, as well as reading my thoughts on Evalene’s Number. It was my first author Q&A, so if you have some feedback, I’d be glad to hear it! 🙂 If you’d like, you can check out my other book reviews here!

Thank you so much for reading,
I’ll see you in my next post ♡