Title:  Enclave
Author: Ann Aguirre
Publisher/Year: Square Fish 8/7/12
Length:  288 pages
Series: Razorland Series #1

Overview 

New York City has been decimated by war and plague, and most of civilization has migrated to underground enclaves, where life expectancy is no more than the early 20s. When Deuce turns 15, she takes on her role as a Huntress, and is paired with Fade, a teenage Hunter who lived Topside as a young boy. When she and Fade discover that the neighboring enclave has been decimated by the tunnel monsters—or Freaks—who seem to be growing more organized, the elders refuse to listen to warnings. And when Deuce and Fade are exiled from the enclave, the girl born in darkness must survive in daylight, in the ruins of a city whose population has dwindled to a few dangerous gangs. As the two are guided by Fade’s long-ago memories, they face dangers, and feelings, unlike any they’ve ever known.

What I thought

I Have to say that i really enjoyed this story – it’s a new take on dystopia and it was nicely written.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect since i’ve been reading a lot of end of the world, people driven into hiding or new shelter/communities, wiped out by disease.  While we have that in this story, there’s such a great deeper story there too.  The usual isn’t thrown in our face in the onset.

What i mean by that is that you typically come to expect that there’s a ‘conforming side’ and those are all the people who fear the folks in power because that’s all they know and ‘the rebellion’.  In this story, while you come to assume that there are both sides, it’s not obvious and you don’t know who’s part of what and what the motives are.  You do know that you don’t want to believe the leaders of College Enclave, and you want there to be something better.

So we meed Deuce at her naming ceremony and we know from experience that she’s going to be a tough girl if not naive as well.  We get this, but at least she knows that she’s good at something – fighting and being a huntress.

We then meet Fade a little later on who’s an ‘outsider’ if you can even believe that there are any since everyone’s living underground.  No one knows his story since he was found in the tunnels and it’s never been shared with the enclave where he came from.

Through nothing more than being forced together, a friendship builds between the 2 and you hope that possibly there’s more to come.  Who knows if that will happen though.  These types of stories are typically slow to build to that.

From a case of bad circumstances, Fade and Deuce are some what targeted by the powers that be in the Enclave, resulting in bad jobs, and then being kicked out of the enclave to fend for themselves topside.  here is where Deuce learns a LOT about what’s real and what’s fiction and it’s a great growing experience to see how her eyes open up.

Along their fight for survival topside, they meet Stalker and Tegan, and their duo becomes a messy bit of a foursome.  Lots of fighting and animosity, distrust, and maybe some sexual tension?

I won’t continue more with the story in the fear of giving things away but….i do have a few questions of what i’m hoping for in the next book

1) What happens to Tegan?

2) What happens to all 4 of them actually?

3) Is there a love triangle going on and who’s going to win out?

4) Is Fade’s father alive?

I can’t wait to read the next installment now since i’m truly intrigued.  i hope you guys enjoy it as well and feel free to leave me a note with your thoughts.