The Watchers of Eden (The Watchers Trilogy, #1)
by T.C. Edge

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BOOK SUMMARY

Her gift is her curse. Her world is her prison. Her fate is bigger than she knows…

In the hot and harsh farming region of Agricola, 16 year old Cyra prepares to be tested to discover what duty she’ll hold for life. All school leavers across the regions are in the same position, and few expect anything more than to follow in their parents’ footsteps and stay in the region they live in.

For Cyra, there was never a choice. With her father dead and brother and sister assigned elsewhere, she’s desperate to stay close to her sick mother so she can take care of her.

On the day of the Duty Call, however, Cyra’s world turns upside down in one stroke. She’s to be assigned to Eden, the largest and most powerful sea city and central hub of control. Only the most important live there, and no one from Cyra’s town has ever been assigned there in her lifetime.

So, she sets off on a journey away from everything she knows, without knowing what her duty will be. Soon, she discovers that she, along with a small number of school leavers from across the regions, has a special power; a gift that will pit her as a secret protector of the nation.

Only, it’s not a gift, it’s really a curse, and before long Cyra will learn that her once small world is filled with a great deal more corruption and injustice than she ever thought possible.

BOOK REVIEW

5 STARS

*A copy was provided by Kobo for free. This is an honest review.*

“I write about everything that has meaning to me and everything I feel passionate about. All in the hope that, one day, when there’s nothing left of me, I’ll be able to read my words and maybe, just maybe, remember who I was.”

The Watchers of Eden was described as a book that is similar to Divergent and The Hunger Games but I personally think it is so much better. As someone who couldn’t even get into the second book of the Divergent series and not even a single chapter of The Hunger Games, this book I devoured and longed to read every day. I even spent my mornings in the office dreaming about finishing this book on my commute back home.

Duty Calls, the concept of taking a series of tests that challenges and identifies your strengths and categorising it in a way that could best serve the country. Wherever they send you, that’s where you go for the rest of your life, no siblings, no parents – just you to start your new life. Stripped away from Agricola, her loved ones and the life she once knew, Cyra is losing a part of herself day by day.

Tough and rebellious against the system, Cyra tries to remind herself of who she is. Being a watcher, she is expected to tell the commander of what visions she had seen from the future. But on some occasions, things became a bit odd and she questions who she can trust from Eden and her newfound friends.

Some parts of this was predictable but I loved it still. I loved the protagonist and her forced (by the idea of Pairing) partner, who I ended up loving in the end. I love everyone’s character development and the plot twists in the story. The world-building was cleverly thought out and well executed, it would’ve been better if there’s a map though, since it would be very satisfying and interesting to see what the world looked like since there were many cities.

My only problem with it was that towards the ending, it changed to a rather quick pace. The transition from being attacked to their new location happened so suddenly that I can’t help but to think that it’s because the author had no idea how to write it out. It seemed very abrupt compared to the consistently well-written book. I also (very softly) yelled in the bus when I reached the end of the book. I personally wished that the author chose a better name since I can’t help but to be reminded of a certain pop singer and it ruined the whole feeling for me.

Overall, I loved this book a lot, enough to close an eye for the abrupt transition and rate it a 5 star.