Monday, October 24, 2016

Book Review / Rant : Replica

Replica by Lauren Oliver

Genre: Science Fiction, Younge Adult,
Goodreads: Click
Purchase link: Amazon | B&N
Pages: 544
Published October 4th 2016 by HarperCollins
Two girls, two stories, one epic novel

From Lauren Oliver, New York Times bestselling author of Before I Fall and the Delirium trilogy, comes an epic, masterful novel that explores issues of individuality, identity, and humanity.Replica is a “flip book" that contains two narratives in one, and it is the first in a duology. Turn the book one way and read Lyra's story; turn the book over and upside down and read Gemma's story. The stories can be read separately, one after the other, or in alternating chapters. The two distinct parts of this astonishing novel combine to produce an unforgettable journey. Even the innovative book jacket mirrors and extends the reading experience.

Lyra's story begins in the Haven Institute, a building tucked away on a private island off the coast of Florida that from a distance looks serene and even beautiful. But up close the locked doors, military guards, and biohazard suits tell a different story. In truth, Haven is a clandestine research facility where thousands of replicas, or human models, are born, raised, and observed. When a surprise attack is launched on Haven, two of its young experimental subjects—Lyra, or 24, and the boy known only as 72—manage to escape.

Gemma has been in and out of hospitals for as long as she can remember. A lonely teen, her life is circumscribed by home, school, and her best friend, April. But after she is nearly abducted by a stranger claiming to know her, Gemma starts to investigate her family's past and discovers her father's mysterious connection to the secretive Haven research facility. Hungry for answers, she travels to Florida, only to stumble upon two replicas and a completely new set of questions.

While the stories of Lyra and Gemma mirror each other, each contains breathtaking revelations critically important to the other story. Replica is an ambitious, thought-provoking masterwork.

Honestly the hype of the book got to me which is why I picked up this book. I mean look at that cover so beautiful. Then there's the appeal of having different options to reading the book. You can either read the story from Gemma's POV or Lyra's POV or just alternate chapter from chapter. Which is what I did. I didn't want to read it one at a time, I knew both were going to hit on similar situations and thought this would be a better choice.

So as a quick summary as a whole Gemma was pretty sickly and isn't exactly popular but she's lives her normal life. When a sketchy af dude comes up to her questioning about Haven and her father's job. That when she notices somethings up and tries to delve deeper in what her really does at work. Then theres Lyra who lives at Haven, where all the kids are replicas (Clones) and are being tested on. For what? No one exactly knows. When a explosion occurs she manages to escape with another replica.

That's all I can really say without spoiling the book.

Just finished reading this book and I'm so annoyed right now. If you follow me over on instagram (@Essentiallybookish) on the stories part you'd see my progress of my feelings about this book. Towards the ending I realized there was not enough pages and now that its over I can't accept that. Thankfully I just found out that there will be a second story called Helix coming out in 2017 I don't see a release dates. Honestly I'm wondering if its worth checking out.

What I did like about this book was the storyline. Not something I'd normally read but I'm willing to branch out. With a story like this I was expecting a lot more action though. I mean they escaped shouldn't someone be looking for them asap? They were expensive to make, and there was plenty of sketchiness going on on that island you'd think someone would be on it as soon as possible. The characters themselves were interesting enough and I liked getting to know their backstories. I loved when I was able to piece things together and how everything worked out. I wishes that there was more going on though because there was just so many down times where it droned on about things that didn't seem to progress the book but just fill in some time. What I can say is that towards the ending was when things were really starting to get interesting and for some reason it felt like it fell flat when it was the ending. I was ticked off when I thought this was a standalone and that there was a possibility that that would be the ending, I couldn't accept that ending.

I'm not sure if I'm going to read the next book. I mean I just read 500+ pages with not much to show for it. I'm not sure if I want to read Helix and it turn out the same. Overall it was an ok book I just expected more out of it.

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