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A review by jillian0810
Dividing Eden by Joelle Charbonneau
5.0
WOW. So many feelings about this amazing book.
I was curious to read this, as I am quite a fan of Joelle Charbonneau's Testing trilogy and it was obvious that Dividing Eden would be a drastically different book to read. Also I met Joelle at BookCon 2017 and got a signed copy of this book, so you can imagine I was dying to read it!
This book has countless twists and turns and makes you root for both of the protagonists. Carys and Andreus may be twins but as the tragic events unfold, will they stick together or will they fall apart?
Not really a spoiler but let's just say they definitely did not do too well with the sticking-together part.
The transitions from loving twins to vengeful and jealous (and mistaken) enemies is something that broke my heart, after seeing how they protected each other in the beginning of the novel. They were supposed to be a team, but now they are on opposing sides trying to get the upper hand. At first they don't have a choice, but later their true colors (blue and yellow specifically, ha ha I'm sonot funny) start to show.
Another thing to point out that the author does wonderfully is portray the religious side of Eden to the reader. The people worship multiple gods and the human seers who claim to see visions of the future. I think Joelle Charbonneau does a great job of explaining just enough of the religious beliefs and practices of the people, but not enough to bore the reader. Religion is especially important in Dividing Eden because it influences pretty much all of the people- including the royal family.
It's hard to write this review without spoilers (which I'll add later), but what I can say is that while reading the book, I had the same problem as Carys and Andreus: who do I trust? Who is behind the murders and the sabotaged power line, and who can I allow to help me?
Unfortunately, while Carys is able to glean the truth by the end, Andreus just can't see what was right in front of him the whole time: the woman he loved was at least partly responsible for all of the things that happened. And he'll keep believing that Carys was responsible for her death, unless his sister can find a way to change that (which hopefully she can do).
Anyways, the most surprising part to me was that the book just…ended. I thought this was a standalone when I bought it, but it is obvious from the way it ended that the story is far from over. I would expect this to be a duology, although it could end up as a trilogy. Who knows? I saw just now that Goodreads does mark this book as part of the series, but gives no indication as to when the next book will be out or how many there will be total. Since Dividing Eden just came our, I guess we'll have to wait and see. And trust me… I'll be waiting!!
I was curious to read this, as I am quite a fan of Joelle Charbonneau's Testing trilogy and it was obvious that Dividing Eden would be a drastically different book to read. Also I met Joelle at BookCon 2017 and got a signed copy of this book, so you can imagine I was dying to read it!
This book has countless twists and turns and makes you root for both of the protagonists. Carys and Andreus may be twins but as the tragic events unfold, will they stick together or will they fall apart?
Not really a spoiler but let's just say they definitely did not do too well with the sticking-together part.
The transitions from loving twins to vengeful and jealous (and mistaken) enemies is something that broke my heart, after seeing how they protected each other in the beginning of the novel. They were supposed to be a team, but now they are on opposing sides trying to get the upper hand. At first they don't have a choice, but later their true colors (blue and yellow specifically, ha ha I'm so
Another thing to point out that the author does wonderfully is portray the religious side of Eden to the reader. The people worship multiple gods and the human seers who claim to see visions of the future. I think Joelle Charbonneau does a great job of explaining just enough of the religious beliefs and practices of the people, but not enough to bore the reader. Religion is especially important in Dividing Eden because it influences pretty much all of the people- including the royal family.
It's hard to write this review without spoilers (which I'll add later), but what I can say is that while reading the book, I had the same problem as Carys and Andreus: who do I trust? Who is behind the murders and the sabotaged power line, and who can I allow to help me?
Anyways, the most surprising part to me was that the book just…ended. I thought this was a standalone when I bought it, but it is obvious from the way it ended that the story is far from over. I would expect this to be a duology, although it could end up as a trilogy. Who knows? I saw just now that Goodreads does mark this book as part of the series, but gives no indication as to when the next book will be out or how many there will be total. Since Dividing Eden just came our, I guess we'll have to wait and see. And trust me… I'll be waiting!!