Review: Revealing Eden

Revealing Eden by Victoria Foyt

Series: Save the Pearls # 1

Official Website

Description: Eden Newman must mate before her 18th birthday in six months or she'll be left outside to die in a burning world. But who will pick up her mate-option when she's cursed with white skin and a tragically low mate-rate of 15%? In a post-apocalyptic, totalitarian, underground world where class and beauty are defined by resistance to an overheated environment, Eden's coloring brands her as a member of the lowest class, a weak and ugly Pearl. If only she can mate with a dark-skinned Coal from the ruling class, she'll be safe. Just maybe one Coal sees the Real Eden and will be her salvation her co-worker Jamal has begun secretly dating her. But when Eden unwittingly compromises her father's secret biological experiment, she finds herself in the eye of a storm and thrown into the last area of rainforest, a strange and dangerous land. Eden must fight to save her father, who may be humanity's last hope, while standing up to a powerful beast-man she believes is her enemy, despite her overwhelming attraction. Eden must change to survive but only if she can redefine her ideas of beauty and of love, along with a little help from her "adopted aunt" Emily Dickinson.

Review: Revealing Eden is a whirlwind of a book, with action starting on the very first page. Eden Newman lives in a world underground because of the suns harmful rays. People like her, Pearls, who have fair skin and features, are more prone to getting "The Heat", which kills the human. Other people such as Coals, who have darker features, are the higher race and they can handle the hot rays. Pearls fear Coals and the Pearls are basically their slaves. They work under the Coals, and fear them.

Eden and her father work under Bramford ,(for the life of me, I can't remember his first name. Starts with an "r") her father as a scientist, trying to discover a cure for the Pearls so that they can be safe with the suns rays. Since Eden is turning 18, she is expected to mate to continue the species. She finds comfort in Jamal, who she can tell secrets to about her fathers' work, trying to impress him. But Jamal turns out to be a real dbag and screws her over. Thus begins a series of really shitty events for Eden, her father and Bramford.

So for the good things about this book. The landscape was really gorgeous, and you can vividly picture the setting of the book in your head. I love books with settings like that. In Revealing Eden, Foyt paints the jungle landscape very precisely and it's almost like you're there with the characters. The forest descriptions made me feel a part of the book, and it was glorious.

The story was well planned out, and the writing flowed very easy. It wasn't choppy or anything, and it was read smoothly. (I hope people understand what I mean by flowing easily and stuff. eh) I really liked the major theme of the book, about being yourself and inner beauty. Because the Pearls had to wear face make-up and such to pretend to be Coals, and Eden discovered that she could be her own, beautiful self and her dream boy will love her.

Okay now for the bad. I really didn't like Eden. And as a main heroine, she's mostly supposed to be the one you're rooting for. She was very annoying, and she changed her mind every paragraph. And she caused all this ruckus, and then fell in love with Bramford. C'mon. She would crave his attention by saying things she has no idea about, and then get really mad when he gets angry at her for having no idea about it. She fell in love with Bramford very quickly, which I didn't like. She is not openminded, and she did the opposite of everything the other characters did. One would think that'd make her a good main character but no. Because she did things recklessly and without thinking them through. She was careless with her decisions. 

Something else that ground my gears was the lack of introduction into the dystopian society. That's usually my favorite part of post-apocoltypical novels, the introduction. Seeing what their day-to-day events are like. We get a little insight, and nothing else. They starts throwing terms around, and you have no idea what they're called.

Overall, Revealing Eden is an adventurous read about finding yourself, the importance of family, and how true love conquers all. (BLEH)

“In everything we do there’s always a choice. We can choose to see ourselves as victims of circumstance. But when we act beyond our personal needs we become part of something greater. The choice is ours.”

-Revealing Eden; Victoria Foyt