Good world building and intriguing characters. I was fully immersed in the plot and sped through the book. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Thank-you to the publishers and netgalley for the eARC in exchange of an honest review.

Rating: 2.5

This book is like you took divergent, matched, hunger games, and maybe blood red road and mashed them together with a dash of cyberpunk 2077 depression and the selection.

We have some dystopia
Some bad government people and guards (read: peacekeepers)
We’ve got some tasty instalove
We’ve got rich boy poor girl
We have tragic backstory and emotionally absent mother after tragedy
We’ve got a band of homogenous friends that are hard to tell apart but like the heroine despite her being pretty shit to them.
We have best friend who is clearly in love with MC
It feels like every single dystopia book I read in the 2010s but they added more sexiness and some non ya level swearing. Having very recently read shatter me as well also feels familiar. All these elements alone aren’t new but the book itself isn’t too copy cat. The most original thing is that the main character is a cage fighter.
There is of course an attempted rape scene for the hero to rescue maiden from, and we also get the I met first boy and now am constantly horny a La shatter me.

I’m not sure I’d read the next book or not to be honest, the reason I say this is although our main character does fall in love alarmingly fast with the first rich clean boy to show interest in her, she also still continues with her plan to try and escape regardless, because that is what she wants most. Something we don’t see often, she isn’t in some rebellion or trying to save everyone. She definitely does defend people but not everyone. She’s definitely very angry and struggles more with liking someone who represents her oppressors than other ya books of the time.
I appreciate that he isn’t like secretly the son of the guy in charge or something (as far as we know but I did get a bit sus when characters say ‘I lost my dad’ and I know nothing more).
Most importantly the guards are actually fairly competent and recognise Eve which is refreshing.
This also deals with an abusive relationship with one of eve’s friends though I felt it was handled poorly, and the sudden death of another. I did appreciate how many ripples that sent through the friendship group.

I may only continue for the sake of the fact I was given these for review purposes.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF'd at 25%. Unfortunately, I struggled to get through this one. The level of writing and readability would be more suitable for middle grade readers, rather than YA.

This book suffered from poor narrative beats and slow pacing. The crux of the central conflict/plot likely materializes eventually, but after 25% of repetitive narrative and no clear plot, I lost all motivation to continue.

I just really enjoyed this title. It was just really easy to get lost in this story. It just captivated me. I will definitely be reading more by this author.

Eve is a character you grow to love for her grit, for her nerve, for her tightly held dreams, and the tender heart buried beneath all the scars and toughness. She takes no prisoners, and won't be held down by anyone's rules, all while battling the entrapments that make her human. Things like hurt feelings, a desire for something more, a want of freedom, and at her lowest, revenge. I'm not saying there are those that don't deserve her rage, but there are certainly those that don't deserve the chances she gives them.

While Eve is our main character, there are plenty that share the spotlight. Take Wren. He was a Preme, someone from the higher floors, born and bred to be better than the rest, but he pushed back against that dictation. Still...he was someone I was constantly in flux over. I wanted to trust him. I wanted him to be the one for her... and yet, there were always these doubts lingering in the background, rearing their ugly head just when I'd grown comfortable. Then we have her Level 2 friends and fam... some more so than others. (*cough* like the misguided lovesick friend/traitor that I still haven't forgiven *cough*) Her own family was broken for SO MANY reasons, but the family she claimed, helped her be the strong person she was, while keeping what made her human alive.

...we're building the foundation, getting to know who's who, where they are, why they are, and the impossibility of the freedom of which she dreams. It's a blood soaked battle for survival EVERY DAY below ground, and she kicks some serious butt. Sometimes for the thrill of it, but most often to save someone else. Despite her hard edges, she knows right from wrong.

This book was such an exciting story in a great series! I loved getting into the world and experiencing the thrilling story unfold.

Eve is turning 16, a well-known amateur fighter in the Lower Mean levels of Compound Eleven, a horribly Dystopian underground Society, one of many into which humans descended long ago, escaping a scorched, parched, impossible Earth. Violence is a way of life, as is scarcity and lack of space and despair. But discontented Eve wants more; she wants to ascend to the aboveground, and take this fighter from the upper levels who proves to be like no one she's ever encountered.

First in a Dystopian SF YA Trilogy.

What an absolute thrill ride of a throw back to my YA dystopian phase! Escaping Eleven brought back so many memories of all those times I devoured the latest dystopian to hit the shelves, and even all these years later, I'm so glad this series came across my radar.

Eve starts the story already toughened up; she's long been the fighter that her living arrangements have demanded. Instead of a blank slate heroine who is molded as the story progresses, Eve has already had the worst thrown at her - or so she thinks.

I think - as an adult reading dystopian YA - it's obvious that the adults, particularly the adults in charge, are hiding many important facts from the main characters. To that effect, the ending of Escaping Eleven wasn't all that surprising and was basically what I expected. But instead of feeling let down, I thought the ending was the perfect lead in to the next book.

Inside Compound Eleven, we see an often-ruthless society that has fought for generations to survive. The compound itself was an almost perfect blend of The Hunger Games' districts and Divergent's factions. Again, the fact that the powers that be in both of those series are misusing their power and keeping many secrets is a perfect comparison to those in power on Compound Eleven's fifth floor.

I loved the relationship between Eve and Wren. She was so tough at the start that it was great to see her letting someone like Wren in, even when her instincts were pulling her in another direction. I found Wren intriguing from the very first time we saw him, and I loved that he ended up being even more dimensional than I thought he would be.

Overall, Escaping Eleven combined all the things I love about dystopian YA while simultaneously giving readers a new world with a whole new set of rules to follow. Eve is one tough heroine, but Wren proves she has the capacity to lean on - and trust - somebody else. And after that ending, I can't wait to see what comes next for these two main characters. With as much action as Chisholm packed into this first book, I know the rest of the series will be a must-read for me.

It's been a while since I have discovered any good dystopian read, and Eleven Trilogy is just SO underrated!
Escaping Eleven is the perfect read for fans Shatter Me, The 100, The Maze Runners!

I love the concept of underground facility (as the above ground is not suitable for inhabitant) & hierarchy of floors (the higher level you're on equals to a higher position). Our main protagonist-Eve is a lower means, and a street fighter. With one goal in her life, to escape the life of compound Eleven and find her long lost brother (who was forced to live at above ground due to the one child policy).

After a intense match at the ring with her opponent-Wren, a guy from the upper level, Eve left the fight all bloody and bruised. Wren took care of her injuries (despite them being enemies), eventually they spent more time together and their relationship becomes closer.

That cliffhanger ending THO!!

I am LOVING this book. I’m about halfway through and decided why not on giving feedback cause I know my opinion isn’t going to change between now and the end of the book. I can’t wait to read book 2.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Absolutely loved! I couldn't put this book down it was honestly amazing. I think I've read it at least 3 times now

Escaping Eleven tells Eve's story and her life underground due to climate change making it uninhabitable above ground.
On the floor, she lives they can fight and work in factories for jobs. Eve has chosen to fight right now, and she's fairly good at it. That is until someone who she never fought before comes along and that's when things really take off in the story. The person she fights is a Preme or someone from an upper floor who is close to those running the underground complex they all live in.
Even before this fight though Eve was wanting something different, something more than the life she has always known. She wants to know what is really outside and to find her little brother who she hasn't seen in a long time.

Overall I liked this dystopian. It's a take on things we haven't seen over and over again with them living underground ( I can only think of one other dystopian-type of book mentioning it). Others have talked about climate change, but not in this way. Eve was a character that I did like and I enjoyed seeing things from her perspective most of the time. I loved her friendships with Maggie and Emerald and the way they all interacted and were there for each other through the good and bad times, and even when secrets were revealed. Eve and the Preme did work together well in the end as the story progressed and together I feel like they could potentially be an unstoppable team as long as they both actually work together and don't just assume things (looking at you Eve). There were some dark moments throughout this book, which was to be expected when you have soo many people living in a small space and separated in class/caste type systems that they were. There were those that had everything and those that had nothing and then Eve who is in the in-between spot it seemed to me. Because Eve was in the in-between spot she was in a unique position to be able to move around the complex and see things and interact with the Preme without too much fuss happening. This made it so the story could develop slowly throughout the book and no info-dumping happened, and also gave Eve time to come up with a plan of sorts for a potential way out.

I do plan to continue this trilogy and I already have the next book on order from my library so that I can continue on and see what happens to Eve next.
(Read a finished copy from the library)

I'm honestly exhausted after reading this, it was FAST. Gritty, dark, heavy, takes on its own life. Character voices are defeated,triumphant, defiant. Certainly well worth the read!!

Have you watched a series named ‘The 100’?? When I started reading this book I got the vibes of series. Well I must say that the backdrop and scenario is too good to lose interest. The story is woven so perfectly that many times you can actually see it happening in front of your eyes. Many times you can guess what’s going to happen and that many times you have to second guess too. I kept reading it all night, didn’t wanted to put it down.

Eve is a fierce female fighter who fights in wring for sport since she was 9 years old and being a 16 year old now and since the school finished she had to decide on a job to survive in the underground compound ELEVEN. The compound has hierarchy established which is the utmost priority for their superiors and Eve being from the second last one, had to suffer alot of injustice. Her actions are defined by the people are treated.

We have one dashing Wren who is 18 years old and from the superior ones. He’s a preme who have all the privilege of the compound and yet he’s a humble soul. I was intrigued by the way story goes around him with Eve. Theirs is a budding romance that’ll be so sweet and sour at the same time. Side characters are written so well that they add up to the spice. I’m so enthralled by the book that I’m diving in the second book right away.

It's been a while since I've picked up a dystopian. I finally read this one and it was exactly what I remember loving from the genre when I used to read it all the time. I was thrilled to get back to a favorite genre and find a new world to love. I have so many questions about this world, both underground and above, and I can't wait to find out more!!

This book was very interesting and enjoyable. It reminded me of Malice by Pintip Dunn. I like these kinds of stuff.

It is about a society that is now living underground because the sun is too hot to be out in. Eve is a fighter and lives on one of the lowest floors. She is a curious girl and figures out some secrets. There are a lot of bad things going on. The government is starting to do things that are very unethical. Eve decides that she wants to escape the underground world and see what’s on the outside for herself.

This book is full of mystery and is interesting. I’m excited to see what’s going to happen next.

Honestly a 3.5 stars

Trigger Warnings:
Abuse, killing, assault, anxiety

Gritty, exciting, and at times hard to swallow, Escaping Eleven is an amazing young adult dystopia that needs to be on way more to be read lists! The premise is fantastically done and a scary “what if”. There were so many scenes that were hard to read. It just makes you cringe for the world Eve and her friends live in and the things they have to deal with and witness.

Also, can we talk about how gorgeous these book covers are? I LOVE them and want them to be posters.

I will say when I started reading the main character, Eve, seems just too angry and too detached to fully connect to. However, as we get to know her you come to realize why she has to be this way. On the other side, I absolutely adored Wren and will take ten of him. I really want to know more about his background though. Why his mother said some things… I’m really hoping it comes up in book two.

Overall this is a fantastic start to what is sure to be a dark thrill ride. I cannot wait to read book two!

Wow! One word I would use to describe this book is Phenomenon! I mean look at this quote "Those who know great violence are capable of great violence" like damn this really says what a good portion of what this book is about! Violence! But what I didn't like about this book is that the similarities to Divergent are too close for comfort! So PLEASE Jerri doesn't kill Eve as Veronica did to Tris, I will be devastated! But other than that I loved the book! Wren and Eve are complete badasses, especially Eve! What Eve goes through in the compound is crazy like I know for a fact that if I lived there I would not survive a day. Now before I talk about the ending first this quote"I gasp" honestly Eve same after that ending!

If you love Divergent make sure to check this series out!

Thank You, Entangled Teen and Netgalley for the eARC!

2.5 stars

Stories about people living underground because the world has become hazardous are something that fascinates me, especially if generations have passed. This book gave me The Platform (2019) vibes because the synopsis talks about floors and fighting. Well, it definitely didn’t meet my expectations because the fighting was just a job option not the entire premise of the setting (but some fights do breakout but the book doesn’t revolve around that often).

Eve started out okay but as the book goes on, I started to find her annoying. She brings up the discrimination when she's together with Wren a lot and being dramatic over how he “almost killed her” when she insisted on fighting him and she was literally beating him up when he repeatedly told her to stop (this was a match btw). She sometimes thinks he would kill her somehow eventually even though he has been saving her ass every time.

Overall, the lore and the world setting were very interesting but I honestly got tired. I have been waiting the entire book as to when will they escape but it never happened until the very last page. The escape keeps getting derailed with romance and melodrama shoved in between. The fighting scenes were good but what I wanted was the escape and them trying to survive in the wild while trying to make others aware of the situation they’re placed in by the higher ups. Reading the synopsis of book 2, I understand why the escape was so derailed and things being buildup but that's what I hated about the book so I have no plans on picking up the series because I know I’ll just be exhausted reading through it again.

Trigger warning: violence, attempted sexual assault and domestic abuse (her friend had bruises because of her boyfriend but offscreen).

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy for an honest review.