Enclave (Razorland #1)

I first read this book five years ago, but didn’t make it through the series. You see, this book was so strong I just had to read the second one, Outpost, so I did and I loved it, but by the time the last book released, Horde, I wasn’t that into the series and when it came to read it, I wasn’t ready to, so I ended up DNFng it. Well, in January of this year, I decided there were certain series I wanted to give a chance and this was one of them.

I’m so glad I did.

Enclave’s a fast-paced book focused on the world of Deuce; a huntress in a underground enclave living in a post-apocalyptic United States and in a semi-dystopia. College, the name of her Enclave, is supposed to be this safe place with all these rules that make it the best place for all of it’s people, but as time passes Deuce realizes this isn’t true. Not that Fade, her fighting partner and future interest, wasn’t aware. He wasn’t born in the Enclave; he’s from Topside (above ground).

This book gives you Freaks/Muties/Eaters (read; zombies), action, romance, and intrigue. I can’t recall how long it took me to read this book the first time I read it, but it took me about 4-5 hours this time. Yes. This is book is that good and it’s that short, so you aren’t missing much time just in case you decide you don’t really like it.

I will definitely be reading the sequel Outpost, I currently own it, along with the novellas Foundation (Book 0.5) which I haven’t read and Endurance (book 1.5) which I have read and will be re-reading!

I was drawn to this book, because it sounded like a promising plot. I was keen to get my teeth into a new YA series that had some grit. The Enclave is a horrible place where people have lived for longer than the memory of those who are there. Customs are ingrained into their being, learned from one generation by the next. It’s a tough life in a world of darkness that is deep underground after the downfall of society. Life expectancy is very limited. Breaking twenty is a feat, and anyone who reaches twenty-five is considered an elder. Society is composed of Breeders, Hunters and Brats. Each tribe member has their place. Dark tunnels beyond the settlement are full of stinking hungry Freaks who have a hunger for meat that will never be met. They sound absolutely horrible, I’m glad they’re not real. The motto of life in the Enclave is ‘Only the toughest survive’.

The story is about a Brat (what we call a kid), who reaches her naming ceremony and becomes a Hunter. She is named, Deuce, and we follow her battles to live up to her dreams. To become a trusted Hunter and provide the food and protection for the tribe. She is paired up with a partner named, Fade, who is also trying to prove his worth, given that he was born somewhere else and taken into the tribe because of his strength. In order to survive, the Enclave elders have set rules in place. They aren’t always fair, they aren’t always logical, and they aren’t always tasteful. The rules are black and white. You either follow them, or you break them. And if you break them, the punishment can be extreme.

Needless to say, some rules are broken, and Deuce and Fade are exiled from the Enclave. We follow the trials of this unlikely duo as they fight against the deadly threats that live underground, and watch as their trust and friendship grows. Deuce is caring and considerate, it’s no wonder that she dreamed of being a Hunter, to care and provide for others. Their journey leads them back to the surface, where they find that there actually are other survivors, themselves caught up in their own nightmarish society that has also evolved in isolation.

The big message I got from this book was that humans grow into what they see. It shows how we can grow and believe things based solely on what we learn, whether it’s right or wrong. If elders tell us something is blue, we believe and it becomes fact. If they tell us that no one else survived the end of the world, we believe and it becomes fact. Like, Deuce not knowing what a shop was, but upon seeing one, learning that it is a good idea. Or, when Twist secretly helped them with food and water when they were exiled, and Fade wondering why he would do such a thing. Fade’s life had never experienced one person helping another, it was always just ‘the strong survive’, so it seemed like such a strange thing for someone to do.

Along the way Deuce and Fade are joined by two from topside. Stalker and Tegan are characters at extreme ends of their own tragic society. Stalker, the brutal leader, and, Tegan, the worthless weakling. Necessity brings the four together and they embark on a journey to a legendary safe place in the north, borne from distant memories of Fade’s childhood.

Finally, they reach a place called Salvation, and I was gearing up for some answers and perhaps a climactic event with the Freaks. My Kindle book showed a little over 60%, so I read with an air of anticipation. Tegan was at the doctor, I was concerned for her wellbeing, given her injuries. The others sought refuge, I wanted to see them safe and planning their next move. I turned the page and then the blood drained from my face. The book finished. There was no more story to read. The end hit me in the face, it was completely unexpected. Bummer. I know that it is a series, but I have to say I was a tad surprised with its end.

In a nutshell
This book is great at showing that society is built on what one generation passes on to the next. It clearly shows the paths taken by different isolated groups can make them so different, but yet so similar. It’s a good read, but be warned about the sudden ending. It’s an incentive to move onto the next book in the series.

Note: I don’t claim to be a pro-reviewer, I am a reader. My reviews are based on my personal thoughts around the story that the book is trying to tell. I try to focus on the story (which is the reason I read) rather than dissect the book and pass comment on typos, writing style or structure.

I was resistant to this series at first, because it’s yet another dystopian trilogy set in a post-apocalyptic future starring a teenage heroine. But this first book was interesting enough to keep me reading, and now that I’ve finished the entire trilogy, I feel it was well worth it, if you like this genre. This first book takes place under ground, where a group of young humans live in an abandoned subway type setting. They rarely live past 25, are not named until they are 15, and at that time also find out if they will live out their young lives as Breeders, Hunters, or Builders. Their life is complicated by zombie-type creatures who occasionally attack. They believe they can’t go above ground because it’s contaminated – ‘the rain burns your skin” kind of thing, suggesting environmental catastrophe.

This bizarre underground culture is well-drawn, and the author has partly based it on a book from the 1990’s describing the subculture of people living in NYC’s subway tunnels. It’s dark and brutal, but the characters pulled me in. My only complaint would be that at times the authenticity of the narrative voice waivers – it is told from the perspective of a 15-year old girl Deuce, but at times she lapses into descriptive words that she wouldn’t know based on her underground existence (i.e. ‘starry’.) As her fate entwines with a young man, Fade, there are hints of romance.

Having now read the entire trilogy, I will say that overall it’s very original, quite different from Hunger Games etc,, though retaining the heroine. This combines bits from the zombie/monster genre with the Hunger Games/Allegiant type books, so if you liked any of those, you may like this too.

I did really enjoy this but thought it lost its way around the middle. It started off well in the tunnels from the old subway underneat what was New York City, with the main character Deuce just trying her best to help herself and others survive. The community that had been built in the depths of the tunnel was interesting and I would have liked to have seen this developed more with the tension occurring within and the threats from outside, but this never happens as Deuce and her hunting partner Fade are quickly exiled.

From there, I thought the book quickly got boring. I thought that what happens up in the city was similar to various other dystopian novels I have read. Deuce and Fade quickly realise that if they want to survive then they must head north out of the city. It began to get more exciting as soon as they had left the city limits, with them picking up a few new friends along the way. The last quarter of the book was just as good as the beginning.

I thought the characters themselves were well developed I liked the fact that they all had their flaws, especially Stalker. He and Tegan add more excitement to the story as I thought it would have been boring had Deuce and Fade been running around for the majority of the book on their own.

The story itself is a mix of The Walking Dead and Fallout. Id have liked to find out more about the Freaks so hopefully more detail will be given later in the series as to what they are and where they came from. It also isn’t that long and so is a quick and easy read and doesn’t really drag in parts. The ending left things open for future books in the series. I did enjoy the book, and Id like to read the rest of the series but I don’t think I’m in any hurry to do so.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of this book, but then I hadn’t quite worked out before I bought it that the enemies, the Freaks, are basically zombies. I don’t find it that easy to get into a book where the baddies are 100% baddie with no redeeming features. We didn’t get to find out how they became what they are, either. Perhaps the sequels expand on that.

The main character, Deuce, goes through something of a learning curve, but it’s hard to like her at the beginning because she is so accepting of circumstances that seem immoral, or amoral, at least, and it’s hard to like her at the end because she is remarkably accepting of a very bad guy, possibly even in a romantic way.

The book takes us through a number of scenarios that might arise is a post-apocalyptic future, such as tribal set-ups; severe punishment of people who have children when they shouldn’t, or who hoard food or other resources; obsession with breeding to the extent that some tribes adopt rape as a culture; eating decades-old tinned food; hiding in derelict, rusting trains and half-demolished buildings, etc. Sadly I felt that whilst I can believe these things would happen, we tore through them at such a pace and in such little detail that it felt like there was a tick-list somewhere. Perhaps I just felt that way because I was more interested in these things than in the zombies or the slightly unsympathetic lead, Deuce.

Not for me, then. But it’s not a terrible book. If you like zombies, give it a go.

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