Review: What's Left of Me

    
    

Title: What's Left of Me
Author: Kat Zhang 

Series: The Hybrid Chronicles #1
Pages: 343

Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: September 27th 2012
Source: For Review
Rating: 4 stars
100 Book challenge: #84

I should not exist. But I do.

Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else—two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t . . .

For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable-hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet . . . for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything.

What's Left of Me is an extremely original read which is rather rare in the ever expanding dystopian genre. It poses a lot of ethical issues which I found to be very provoking. A refreshing debut novel in the sea of formulaic dystopians.

I thought the narrative from Eva - the trapped soul - was a really intriguing way of narrating the story. The distinct behaviour of Addie and Eva made it so easy to distinguish between the two despite them being in the same body. They has such different personalities and whilst I preferred Evie to begin with I began to understand and ultimately connect with Addie. The relationship between them was really touching and personal.

The actual concept of two souls residing in one body reminded me a lot of conjoined twins and whether it is right to kill off one twin in order to improve the life span of the other. The idea of sacrificing a child in order to prolong the life of an other, if both would result in an early death otherwise, is something that has, does and will happen and I can easily see how a society like this could have been formed. Books that pose such difficult ethical questions really resonate with me and I tend to hold on to them for a long while.

I am really looking forward to see how the series progresses and find out some answers to those many questions revealed in the first instalment.