"I have your back. I didn't mean only when it's easy. All the time."

Enclave (Razorland #1)
By Ann Aguirre

For the first few chapters I thought that this book was the love child between The Hunger Games and Divergence. I was happy to see that this dystopian novel evolved into something else giving it a nice twist of the setting.

The world is now made of enclaves underground that people now live in. And by people I mean teenagers. It seems that no one really lives to see their 20's. As a "brat" you can  choose on of the three fabulous job occupations; Breeders, Builders, or Hunters. Deuce has chosen to be a huntress. On her naming day she  is given her new name, Deuce (no longer just "Girl 15" followed by a number) and the scars to show her new found career. Deuce is paired with a seemingly mysterious partner Fade. Fade is different than the others in the enclave as he was not born there. In fact, he was found in the pathways between enclaves where the Freaks live. Even more shocking Fade says he's not from an enclave but from Topside, a place which is thought to be desolated and destroyed. Fade is ostracized by the others in the enclave because of his aloofness. Deuce soon find out that this aloofness is the outer layer covering a much different true nature.

Deuce's character traits of being a huntress with feelings, paired with her growing wariness that the things she was told may not be true builds to her complexity. Fade's character is portrayed as dark and dangerous but slowly we learn (along with Deuce) the true nature of Fade. The character development was strong in the first part of the book but began to lack in effectiveness at the end. The new characters added seemed to be weakly built secondary characters but that could be because we haven't had enough time to get to know them and we're left with a torturous cliff hanger.

As of now their seems to be no love triangle. That may change when it comes to the second book but I found it refreshing that the romance aspect was so subtle. Negatively, I felt not real climax point. Sure, there were ups and downs but it seemed as if some editor said "Hey this is a good story. Let's cut it in half and we can make everyone by TWO books."

Now for my favorite part- the research. I'm a huge stickler for making things accurate. I know that seems odd because this book contains the aftermath of an apocalypse but I am also the reader who becomes angry with books about werewolves because they don't follow the general mythology.
Ms. Aguirre DID her research. She even cites articles in her notes. Because of this I believe she created the most BELIEVABLE setting of a post-apocalyptic world. From the imagery given of the "topside" to the products found, everything makes perfect sense. Even Deuce's weapon's are post-apocalyptic. She carries a wooden CLUB for half of the book.

Although no climax  was reached and some characters remained under developed, their was a steady sense of building up to something good. Enclave was a good quick read and I will be awaiting the second book.