The Blair Book Project

Eden by Keary Taylor has been on my TBR list ever since I saw the cover on Goodreads. I don’t recall why I haven’t thought of picking it up yet but I was surprised to find that it has been republished and turned into a trilogy. Book one, The Bane now comes into picture and so I thought to finally give it a shot.The Bane is a story, told by Eve, of a post apocalyptic world where humankind is on the verge of extinction. A technology created by scientists of TorBane, which aimed to eliminate any human imperfection, backfires and eats up any form of humanity there is once touched, they become killing machines. They are called the Bane. Eve is determined to protect Eden, a place that was created as refuge of what was left of the human race. This little sanctuary seemed enough for Eve, and she’s happy even more having Avian around. Then unrest comes within, West stumbles into Eden and Eve starts to question things she hasn’t thought of before. But other matters are as just important to deal with. Eden survivors have lived on as best as they could, they try to avoid being detected by the Bane, but these machines are starting to change. They are getting smarter, more ruthless and Eden is no longer safe... Now considering the mixed reviews/ratings about Eden, I didn’t expect much from The Bane. It has a very interesting back story. The history on how the Bane came to be and how soon good intentions threw human race on the brink of chaos and destruction, was very intriguing and I was eager to see how they thought to solve this problem.Eve was quite an admirable character. It was nice that there was a little mystery enveloped around her character during the beginning but I feel that that revelation of Eve’s identity was a bit anticlimactic. I guess it felt quite expected, or maybe I already thought of her to be that although I still didn’t know why. Also given the way it was revealed, I wanted it to be a more heart-wrenching and somehow an epic surprise waiting ahead. I always found love triangles and “torn between two lovers” drama a cliché, but with Eve’s situation, I can’t deny that there’s viability to her struggling to choose between Avian and West. Her emotional black-out gave the situation a more understandable degree.The Bane is the kind of book that makes you feel like you jumped right into the middle of a battlefield. It was overwhelming in the beginning because I couldn’t figure out what exactly brought this kind of event. It’s fast paced, maybe a little distracting in a way because it didn’t give me enough time to absorb and/dwell over what just happened. But as it progresses, each chapter gave you bits and pieces of information that helps a reader understand what was going on. I love that every chapter possesses a problem for the protagonists, and that there never seemed to be a dull moment even if things start to mellow down after an exciting action scene. I like how Keary Taylor was able to give readers so much action scenes and yet it didn’t hinder her from giving enough time to let us embrace the scenes of romance brewing between the characters as well. The Eden Trilogy gave off a promising first book so I’ll definitely be watching out for the rest.*Thank you, Keary Taylor Books and NetGalley for the copy of The Bane.For more of my reviews, please visit my blog: The Blair Book Project @ www.theblairbookproject.blogspot.com