Review ~ The Bane (The Eden Trilogy) by Keary Taylor

ebook received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: March 4th 2013

Description:
Before the Evolution there was TorBane: technology that infused human DNA with cybernetic matter. It had the ability to grow new organs and limbs, to heal the world. Until it evolved out of control and spread like the common cold. The machine took over, the soul vanished, and the Bane were born. The Bane won't stop until every last person has been infected. With less than two percent of the human population left, mankind is on the brink of extinction.

Eve knows the stories of the Evolution, the time before she wandered into the colony of Eden, unable to recall anything but her name. But she doesn't need memories to know this world is her reality. This is a world that is quickly losing its humanity, one Bane at a time.

Fighting to keep one of the last remaining human colonies alive, Eve finds herself torn between her dedication to the colony, and the discovery of love. There is Avian and West – one a soldier, one a keeper of secrets. And in the end, Eve will make a choice that will change the future of mankind.

The Bane is The Terminator meets The Walking Dead with a heart-twisting romance.

Previously published as Eden, due to reader demand it has been revamped and rereleased as The Bane: book one in The Eden Trilogy.

My Opinion

I've had this book on my Kindle for awhile but something had put me off reading it. I'm not sure what it was but other books just came before it. Maybe it was because I didn't know there was romance in it and assumed there would be mostly action and that wasn't what I was in the mood for. However, I have finally forced myself to stop putting other books ahead as I had agreed to read and review this book when I requested it from NetGalley.

When I read the description, it sounded interesting and the cover made it look like a book I would really enjoy. It gave the impression of an action-packed book and that's what the start was. The beginning of the book really hooked an engaged me. It made me want to find out more, know what was going on and I was interested by the concept of the Bane. I also liked Eve's determination to take over everything so she could protect everyone. Having a female play the soldier was an interesting concept when everyone else was male but it worked and I liked how strong she was.

However, saying that, around the 50% mark everything just went downhill for me and it slowly got worse and worse until I was literally forcing myself to skim the ending because I wasn't going to stop at 70% when I'd spent so much time reading the beginning. 

For me, the main reason everything just got boring was because it couldn't decide what it wanted to be. Around the half way point a love triangle is introduced which detracted from the action. The action slowly lessened as the focus shifted onto the romance and annoying whiny thoughts from Eve over who to choose. Personally I feel there were two separate storylines that weren't blended that well or fully developed and therefore I just couldn't engage with it and found my attention waning. I wasn't invested in the romance because of the lack of detail and I wasn't engaged because of a lack of action. The book just resorted to slow-paced talking about what to do.

I don't really have much to say beside that as the ending was very anti-climactic. For me it also brought up questions on the logistics of the book and plot structure as some of the parts just didn't add up in my mind. That might be because this is a trilogy but personally it did make me question certain aspects as they lacked realistic qualities.

Overall, The Bane starts off well but it failed to hold my interest as it moved on and I found myself having to force myself to finish it. It may appeal to others interested in sci-fi and post-apocalyptic stuff but for me, I just couldn't connect.

2.5