

Now, you may be wondering, 'Ridiculous.how?' Well, without giving anything away, I'll say that there's a lot of confusion as to the presence and actions of some characters, one of the Similars has a newly added ability that seems a bit too convenient, and XXX has been replaced - gasp! - while XXX has returned - double gasp! Really, I could keep going, but I won't.

I feel like the inclusion did somewhat work in one instance for me that the POV of this book is from a Emma Duplicate, but honestly, I think I disliked the idea more so because THINGS WERE GETTING EVEN MORE RIDICULOUS!!! The addition of the Duplicates was just so ridiculous and unnecessary to me. For starters, there are duplicates, yes, duplicates, of the same people that we already have clones of, and of course this leads to new troubles and concerns for the Simliars, as well as our formerly illustrious MC Emma ('formerly', because, yes, for me, she managed to become an annoying MC). But unfortunately for me, that was not how this played out. That aside, I mistakenly assumed that meant that book 2 would be just as good, and eventually lead to an awesome - and extremely satisfying - end (because this is a duology). While the first book was awesome because of it's "newness" (in terms of a fresh concept.at least one that I hadn't yet read), as well as a plot line that was not only intriguing, but kept me engaged until the very end - which was obviously a cliffhanger, because that is apparently my lot in life. Thank you Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.Īs much as I loved The Similars, I can't say I felt the same about this one. Not to mention Emma's internal monologue for categorizing Levi as hot and tough while Oliver as cute and sweet? Just nope. However, the romance pissed me off even more than before because of Emma's continuous emphasis on physical attractiveness, which happened multiple times (ever since the first book) and made her shallower than ever. The plot twists didn't leave any dramatic impacts. Sadly, my review of the first book is still applicable for this sequel. ☆ You might want to consider it because: The romance plot was extremely way more dominating, considering this book promoted as a YA Sci-fi. ☆ Read this book if you're: Fan of a fast-paced & light sci-fi. ☆ Short synopsis: After discovering a shocking truth on Castor Island, Emma must figure it all out while also stuck in a love triangle with two boys who has the same face. **special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review** If you like sci fi I’m sure this will be a good ending for you but for me it was like they tried to cram the entirety of Orphan Black into a half hour and for me it just didn’t work. I don’t know I feel like there was a lot of potential here for some sort of conversation since it relies heavily on a narrative we’re seeing play out on the news and the concept of hating other simply for being different but even that arc got wrapped up without any final statement as the characters in question were shuffled offscreen suffering no real punishment.

I was interested to see how the reveal for Emma would carry her and her relationships with Ollie and the Similars towards the final resolution of the book and if we would see a climax that put the creator up against those he felt wronged and abandoned him but instead we got a mess of an ending that was supposed to have this emotional weight to it but given how fast the information was thrown in it left me rolling my eyes than appreciating the sacrifice. I feel like the author took every chance they could get to throw in plot twists for shock value instead of writing a story that took a very real issue and made it a jumbled mess. “The Pretenders” follows Emma as she works through the chaos that found Levi back on the island and Ollie home sage and though she wants to celebrate having her friend back he can’t fill the hole in her life where his clone used to be and when mischief in the form of Duplicates shows up on campus the 10 must work together to bring down their creator once and for all. You know that scene in the office where Jim says that Dwight revealed that he was a double agent which allowed Andy to share that he too was a double agent and then wait for it Michael was also a double agent? That’s this book.
