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| cover from Goodreads |
Author: Heather Hildenbrand
Publication details: July 29, 2014 by Alloy
Copy: e-ARC from NetGalley
Everyone is exactly like me. There is no one like me.
Ven wrestles with these contradicting truths every day. A clone of wealthy eighteen-year-old Raven Rog
en, Ven knows everything about the girl she was created to serve: the clothes she wears, the boys she loves, the friends she loves to hate. Yet she’s never met the Authentic Raven face-to-face.
Imitations like Ven only get to leave the lab when they’re needed—to replace a dead Authentic, donate an organ, or complete a specific mission. And Raven has never needed Ven . . . until now.
When there is an attack on Raven’s life, Ven is thrust into the real world, posing as Raven to draw out the people who tried to harm her. But as Ven dives deeper into Raven’s world, she begins to question everything she was ever told. She exists for Raven, but is she prepared to sacrifice herself for a girl she’s never met?
There were two reasons why I requested Imitation. First, the cover. Just look at it, pretty right? Second reason was the synopsis. I've never read any books about clones before so I was really excited when I was granted access to Imitation.
Unfortunately though, I wasn't too keen on how the story unfolded. Imitation has potential to be a very good sci-fi YA novel. I did enjoy my reading experience; however, I think I expected too much.
As this was my first book about clones, I was really curious on how things will play out. The concept of clones, or the so-called Imitations, replacing the Authentics is a refreshing one. It's interesting how technology can go so far from cloning plants and animals to humans. Well, interesting and scary. Imagine having your clone and replacing you, your life, entirely. Isn't that scary?
The book also showed the usual power play of the government authorities and the rich people, while the middle class try to live, and the poor try to survive. Same old, same old but thankfully, my reading never got dragging despite of some aspects being predictable. I just felt like a lot was going on that the whole book became a one big introduction. If I can put the whole story in a graph, it would look like this:
The ending strengthened my opinion, btw. Refer to the graph. Haha!
It may be that the purpose of Imitation, which is first book in the Clone Chronicles, is to introduce everything. I can understand that. However, it didn't really work out for me. I think a portion or two of the whole problem may have been enough. Also, the characters and scenes did not appeal to me as strongly as I expected. Some characters can be condescending too.
And of course, we have our hot love interest, Linc. Pretty much cliché. I'm not complaining about the love interest though. Haha! He's another fictional boyfriend. Anyway, I'm really hoping there'll be no love triangle. I'm sensing one in the Clone Chronicles. Hoping there'll be none. I don't like love triangles. Haha!
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The style of writing is okay. Smooth flow and easy to read. However, like what I've said, too much going on for a short read. Imitation is only around 270 pages.
Despite my seemingly negative review, I would still read the second book because I want to know what’ll happen- plot wise and character wise. The progress of the story and character development are slow, a la Shatter Me trilogy, so I'm looking forward to how things will turn out.
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| (source: Goodreads) |
Heather Hildenbrand was born and raised in a small town in northern Virginia where she was home-schooled through high school. Since 2011, she’s published more than eight YA & NA novels including the bestselling Dirty Blood series. She splits her time between coastal Virginia and the island of Guam and loves having a mobile career and outrageous lifestyle of living in two places.
Heather is also a publishing and success coach bent on equipping and educating artists who call themselves authors. She loves teaching fellow writers how to create the same freedom-based lifestyle she enjoys. For more information visit www.phoenixauthorink.com and find out how to create your own OutRAGEous Life.
She is represented by Rebecca Friedman. (Source: Author's blog)