Enclave's premise drew my attention more than a lot of the other, more hyped YA dystopias. And I believe that most of it lived up to my expectations.

Enclave starts with Deuce - or rather, at the time, Girl15 - en route to her naming ceremony. In the enclave, your name is merely your gender and an exclusive number. But if you're lucky enough to make it to the age of fifteen, you get a real name.
Six cuts, three on each forearm - these are the marks that make you a Hunter or Huntress. It has been Deuce's ambition to become a Huntress for as long as she can remember, but soon after she is inducted into the ranks of the Hunters, she begins to realize that maybe the ways of the enclave and the elders that have raised and trained her aren't what they seem; that maybe their teachings and rules are as misleading and corrupt as they are false.
And if that isn't disconcerting enough, the Freaks - the terrible monsters that lurk in the tunnels outside of the enclave, the very ones she has been trained to kill - have begun to show signs of intelligence.

Almost immediately after Deuce becomes a Huntress, she is paired up with Fade. Fade is aloof and mysterious, and because of that he is ostracized from the rest of the Hunters, and when Deuce becomes his partner she soon realizes that she will forever be treated in kind simply because of association.
Deuce's character is much more practical and level-headed than most heroines in YA lit. She reminds me of Katsa from Graceling.
It's amazing how much Aguirre doesn't focus on the romance. I don't know if it's because of the genre, or simply because the author isn't trying to cash-in on the current romance fad, but Deuce doesn't spend the majority of the novel fantasizing about Fade's physique and having fifteen-year-old hot flashes over his mere proximity. I found this fact very refreshing.
And there's no love triangle! I was very pleased that there's no love triangle. (view spoiler)[Or at least until the author decided to add one! Why? There are so many love triangles in the YA genre. I think the interlude with Stalker wasn't called for. However, I did like Deuce's reaction to Stalker's impromptu affections. She didn't seem very interested in him - but I do wish that the author would've left that out. (hide spoiler)] Deuce seems to have her head on her shoulders and she has a lot of strength and determination that I think a lot of authors, unfortunately, aren't adding to their heroines.
The romance is still there, but it doesn't overwhelm the rest of the story - it's just enough to add a little spice that a lot of readers (including myself) are looking for. Think of it as a perfectly seasoned pumpkin pie (and if that's not your kind of dessert, feel free to use a different analogy).

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

"He pushed away from the wall, skin gleaming pale in the torchlight. For a moment I wanted to put my hand over his heart so I could feel it beating, and the impluse frightened me. I took a step back."

This quote is kind of spoilery - click at your own risk.
(view spoiler)["It doesn't burn," I whispered.
In fact, it felt amazing. I hadn't bathed recently, and this was the next best thing. I started to smile. I turned slowly, admiring the flashes of light. Rain pounded against the ground until it sounded like a chorus of running feet combined with shushing whispers. I'd never heard anything so lovely." (hide spoiler)]

While Enclave is Aguirre's YA debut, it isn't her first foray into writing. Aguirre has two other adult urban fantasy series - Sirantha Jax and Corine Solomon - and her experience shows.

I must say that I utterly detest zombies. And that is basically what the Freaks are. However, Aguirre doesn't describe them as moaning, relentless, brain eating stragglers - therefore they didn't bother me.
So, if you're like me and hate zombies, don't avoid this for that reason.

One of the best things I can say about Enclave - besides the writing and the characters - is the atmosphere: I didn't find it horribly depressing and/or disturbing. I tend to stray away from dystopias because of their often bleak and disquieting themes, but Enclave was anything but the aforesaid.

Sadly, Enclave - thus far - doesn't appear to be garnering the attention that a lot of other dystopias are. Especially when you compare it to the Goodreads' ratings of Matched (11.000+), Delirium (4.500+), and Wither (1.900+) - compare those to Enclave's 300+ ratings.

And with all of that said, you're probably wondering, why not five stars? Well, Aguirre does a good job of keeping the reader engaged, but there were times when I found myself wondering where exactly the plot (or, perhaps, lack thereof) was headed. Enclave is split into two parts, and the first half is considerably better than the second. And when things finally started to get interesting again in the second half, BAM - it was over.
The ending is probably one of the most annoyingly sudden I've ever read. It's what my GR friend, Tina, would call "evil cliffy".
And I wanted more of an explanation as to why (view spoiler)[almost (hide spoiler)] all of humanity chose to move underground. Not much detail is given about what exactly happened to change the world so drastically. Deuce doesn't really know, and therefore neither does the reader.

All in all, Enclave is a great start to what will hopefully be a great dystopian series. And I'm very much looking forward to its planned sequels, Outpost (currently set to release in September of next year - which I think is a really long time to wait) and Horde (set to release sometime in 2013).

And I'd like to give a shout out to the librarian who checked this out for me, who was so enthusiastic over this novel. I hope she can read it soon. :)