Eve of Man by Giovanna and Tom Fletcher

Penguin, 2018. ISBN 9780718184131
(Age: 12+) Recommended. Themes: Dystopian fiction. Eve is the last girl on earth, she is humanity's only hope, and she has a mind of her own.
Imagine Rapunzel crossed with The Handmaid's Tale and something more farfetched than pigs flying. You've pretty much got Eve of Man. There's very little chance that in our future women will stop being born without a scientific explanation, which is good for us, and I guess makes Eve of Man a lot less scary than it otherwise could be.
Eve is the first female born for fifty years, which means there is finally hope for a new generation. For her safety Eve is confined in a hi-tech tower, educated and kept company by a group of women who chose to leave their lives to raise her. They are her mothers. But life isn't so simple. Eve has a best friend, Holly, a holographic girl who is controlled by men somewhere on the levels below, and being extraordinarily perceptive Eve is aware that Holly only has three pilots and she has her favourite. Now she is old enough to start considering her reproductive future, Eve is meeting her potentials. Three young men each tested and chosen for the optimal offspring. However, things aren't actually as simple as girl meets boy. Particularly not when boy tries to kill girl. In the chaos Eve is swept away by one of her guards, who, like "all men" succumbs to his desires, trapping them in an elevator. Alone. But not for long. Bram, Eve's favourite Holly, rushes to her rescue, his devotion knowing no bounds and endangering them both. It isn't long before Bram is put on suspension, his life threatened, and his escape from the tower made. His real task is set to begin. Can he rescue Eve in time?
The novel deals with the discovery that the world isn't just black and white but a spectrum of shades of grey. Bram must decide between his family and humanity in order to do what is right. I would recommend to lovers of dystopian fiction twelve and up.
Kayla Gaskell