In a post-apocalyptic future, fifteen-year-old Deuce, a loyal Huntress, brings back meat while avoiding the Freaks outside her enclave, but when she is partnered with the mysterious outsider, Fade, she begins to see that the strict ways of the elders maybe wrong--and dangerous. - (Baker & Taylor)
After training to become a Huntress and being partnered with a mysterious Hunter named Fade, Deuce, who has only lived underground, is exiled topside with Fade, where they must survive the gangs who live among the ruins of the city. - (Baker & Taylor)
In a post-apocalyptic future, Deuce, a loyal Huntress, brings back meat while avoiding the Freaks outside her enclave, but when she is partnered with the outsider, Fade, she begins to see that the ways of the elders may be wrong. - (Baker & Taylor)
Ann Aguirre's thrilling young adult novel Enclave is the story of two young people in an apocalyptic world--facing dangers, and feelings, unlike any they've ever known.
New York City has been decimated by war and plague, and most of civilization has migrated to underground enclaves, where life expectancy is no more than the early 20's. When Deuce turns 15, she takes on her role as a Huntress, and is paired with Fade, a teenage Hunter who lived Topside as a young boy. When she and Fade discover that the neighboring enclave has been decimated by the tunnel monsters--or Freaks--who seem to be growing more organized, the elders refuse to listen to warnings. And when Deuce and Fade are exiled from the enclave, the girl born in darkness must survive in daylight--guided by Fade's long-ago memories--in the ruins of a city whose population has dwindled to a few dangerous gangs.
- (
McMillan Palgrave)
Post-apocalyptic NYC is the setting for this tense adventure as two teens seek a safe haven they're not sure exists, fighting gangs and mutant humans along the way. - (McMillan Palgrave)
Ann Aguirre has been a clown, a clerk, a savior of stray kittens, and a voice actress, not necessarily in that order. She grew up in a yellow house across from a cornfield, but she now lives in a terracotta adobe house in Mexico with her husband and two adorable children. The post-apocalyptic novel Enclave is her first book for young adults. She also writes the romantic science fiction series about Sirantha Jax, starting with Grimspace, as well as urban fantasy and paranormal romance. As Ava Gray, she writes paranormal romantic suspense.
- (
McMillan Palgrave)
Booklist Reviews
Aguirre's young adult debut is a gripping survival story set in an apocalyptic future. At her naming ceremony, Deuce receives triple slashes on each arm, signifying her status as a Huntress, an elite warrior who protects their underground enclave. She is paired with Fade, a scarred, taciturn veteran who claims to have lived Topside and chafes under their exacting rules. When they find proof that the mutant Freaks who share the tunnels are banding together, they are exiled to silence their warnings. Forced Topside, the pair heads toward a settlement Fade has only heard stories about, picking up two others: Stalker, a violent gang leader, and Tegan, a brutally abused girl. This is a tense, action-packed dystopian story with intriguingly gray characters, much more thriller than romance—although Aguirre teases at a future love triangle, it never intrudes. While the enclave's elders are initially presented as morally corrupt antagonists, Aguirre's gritty future is not so simple; like Deuce, readers must weigh the comparative values of law and freedom in a functioning society. Copyright 2011 Booklist Reviews.
Horn Book Guide Reviews
Deuce the Huntress understands the need for the brutal order that lets the members of her underground enclave survive in their post-apocalyptic world. But when she is exiled Topside, she learns that everything her leaders taught her is a lie. Dark and unblinkingly bloody, this tough tale relies on the strength of its characters to reach a hopeful ending. Copyright 2011 Horn Book Guide Reviews.
Kirkus Reviews
A standard post-apocalyptic dystopia with enough rich worldbuilding to appeal to most lovers of the genre. Deuce is a Huntress trainee in the tunnels beneath the long-fallen ruins of New York City. Like the rest of the Hunters, Deuce wants only to provide her city with meat and protect it from the subhuman, zombielike Freaks. So why, oh, why did they need to appoint that weirdo Fade her hunting partner? He's from outside the enclave and never learned how to fit in the way Deuce wants to. With Fade by her side, Deuce can't help seeing cracks in the elders' façade of benevolent protectiveness. Soon the two must embark on a new adventure, to the not-so-abandoned city Topside. Up here, they need a whole new set of survival skills to protect them against everything from sunlight to violent gangs of rapists and thugs—not to mention the ever-present and growing packs of Freaks. The well-developed tension is marred only by recurring inexplicable references to what readers seem to be expected to recognize as one of the more obscure stories of Victorian fantasist George MacDonald, but these are only mild stumbling blocks. All in all, this well-paced zombie-esque adventure in an urban wasteland will keep fans happy. (Science fiction. 13-15)
Copyright Kirkus 2011 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.
Publishers Weekly Reviews
In this skilled though violent postapocalyptic thriller, Deuce has newly earned the rank of Huntress, after years of training have taught her to "wield a knife or a club with equal proficiency." It's her duty to provide meat for her loveless, draconian enclave, deep beneath the streets of a ruined city, as well as to defend it against cannibalistic Freaks, who are gradually eliminating the scattered human survivors of a vaguely remembered plague. Deuce's is a world of terrifying encounters in near-complete darkness, but she's very good at what she does. Then Deuce stands up for a friend unfairly accused of hoarding and, accompanied only by her talented but unpopular partner, Fade, is soon exiled with little chance of survival either in the lightless and dangerous sewers or Topside. In her first young adult novel, Aguirre (the Sirantha Jax series) has created a gritty and highly competent heroine, an equally deadly sidekick/love interest, and a fascinating if unpleasant civilization. This series is likely to hold considerable appeal for fans of The Hunger Games. Ages 12–up. (Apr.)
[Page ]. Copyright 2010 PWxyz LLC
School Library Journal Reviews
Gr 8–10—Deuce gets her name when she is declared Huntress and protector of College, the enclave where the survivors of "the second holocaust" dwell. They live in abandoned subway tunnels, never venturing Topside; the stories of aboveground dangers are enough to keep everyone below. Deuce and her partner, the enigmatic Fade, bring news of the destruction of enclave Nassau by the mutant cannibal Freaks and are banished Topside for their trouble. Once there Deuce recognizes the treachery of the College enclave elders and must face the real dangers—and wonders—of a long-ruined New York City. Joined by vicious ganger Stalker and abused Breeder Tegan, the four young adults make their way North to fabled safety. While the pace is quick, the characterizations are flat, and without a personality on which to hang an empathetic hat, there is little to involve readers emotionally. Continuity problems and some contradictions in logic result in world-building that does not fare well under scrutiny: the inhabitants of College lack knowledge of their own environs and the people who dwell there despite constant patrolling and occasional trading; the gangs who take over the city never range beyond its boundaries, and no one in the finally reached safety of the aboveground enclave returns to the city, despite apparently frequent trade-runs elsewhere. The familiar tropes of postapocalyptic fiction get no new handling here, but those looking for a "Hunger Games" read-alike might be willing to accept this lukewarm offering.—Janice M. Del Negro, GSLIS Dominican University, River Forest, IL
[Page 166]. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.