The Unquiet by Mikaela Everett

Publication September 22nd 2015 by Greenwillow Books

Young-Adult, Dystopia, Science-Fiction

eARC provided by the publisher via Edelweiss

My Rating 3 Stars

For most of her life, Lirael has been training to kill—and replace—a duplicate version of herself on a parallel Earth. She is the perfect sleeper-soldier. But she’s beginning to suspect she is not a good person.

The two Earths are identical in almost every way. Two copies of every city, every building, even every person. But the people from the second Earth know something their duplicates do not—two versions of the same thing cannot exist. They—and their whole planet—are slowly disappearing. Lira has been trained mercilessly since childhood to learn everything she can about her duplicate, to be a ruthless sleeper-assassin who kills that other Lirael and steps seamlessly into her life.

An intricate, literary stand-alone from an astonishing new voice, The Unquiet takes us deep inside the psyche of a strong teenage heroine struggling with what she has been raised to be and who she really is. Fans of eerily futuristic and beautifully crafted stories such as Never Let Me Go, Orphan Black, and Fringe will find themselves haunted by this unsettling debut.

---

REVIEW I just really don’t know how to review this book. It’s a long tale that took me two weeks to get through. I immediately wanted to read this after reading Orphan Black, Fringe, and Never Let Me Go in the synopsis. I love all three of those titles, but I did not entirely love this book. It’s too long. I think that the writing got away from the author somehow. The first half is very slow. Lava slow. There were times when I had to backtrack, which made this an even longer read. The last half saved me from a DNF. I don’t like to use those much.

This has lots of similarities to Never Let Me Go (The movie, I’ve not read the book), but it is more action, less drama. I think the execution is all wrong for a plot such as this. Too much time in the beginning spent on world build and characterization. I know that’s not a bad thing, but the same thing could have been achieved with each action the characters took at the same time. And then there is just something not right about the characters. I get that they are some kind of clones & this is sci-fi, but come on. Cecily is 6 going on 26. There’s no way to get through this book without scoffing.

Lirael is not my favorite heroine. She thinks too much for my liking. There’s some romance here, which I just knew was coming. I rather like Gray, actually. If he was the sole focus of this story, I may have enjoyed it a little more. The ending made much more sense to me, and I think that it wrapped nicely. I think this is a standalone. I mean, the ending didn’t really have me thinking of a next book. If there is, I’d read it. I’d like to see what else the author could do with this world and it’s characters. Narrated differently, of course.

Think…. 2 earths mirroring each other. Earth I and Earth II are in some kind of a standstill with each other. Person on E1 is identical looking to the person on E2. Detached, trained killers, ready to assassinate their duplicates and takeover their lives. It’s a good story, I just wish that there was more action up front to speed up the pace. I think if you like Sci-fi and dystopia then you will enjoy this. Just be warned that it’ll take time to get to the good stuff.