Catch Replica (Replica, #1) Translated By Lauren Oliver Offered In Script

is such a shame that I could not give this book a higher rating, as I found the ideology behind the conception of the story, as well as how the book was physically set out, to be both unique and interesting.


This story is told from the split perspective of Lyra and Gemma, Gemma is your average teenager, obsessed with how her peers perceive her and concerned over highschool dramas, Lyra isn't actually a human being at all, and is instead a cloned replica of an original person, She lives, along with the other replicas, on Haven Island, There she is subjected to testing and harsh living environments,

Gemma and Lyra's stories combine about a third of the way through their individual narratives, From this point, my adoration with the story quickly dwindled, What was originally an exciting concept, to lay the book out in two split sections, became a dull one, There were subtle differences in the plot that made each worth reading, but often the scenes overlapped and it just felt like you were reading the same thing twice over.


The focus of this book was on identity and it was interesting, at first, to note the subtle different ways two people could react to and what they could take from the same happenings.
I appreciated what the book was trying to do, but, after a while, this felt dull and repetitive rather than exciting and innovative,

Also, if this book had continued to focus on the two original characters, it would still have managed to hold my interest, Instead, there were characters brought in, purely for added romantic drama, and this ruined any remaining affinity I had with the book, There were so many unnecessary characters and surplus drama when all I cared about was the central plot and the internal struggles of the protagonists, The extras felt like just that, . . extra. And not the good kind, For me, they served no purpose and I would have greatly preferred if this book had remained focused on the original and central topic of the concerns over identity, as well as the dystopian society being created, and continued to explore and open these themes up.


In all, I found this an inspired concept, but unfortunately, it was just not for me, The format is fascinating and I loved being able to switch POV whenever I wanted, The story itself was just lacking and felt far too rushed, Two people's stories squished in one book means that this seems to move at warped speed, with all the dreaded things that can bring cough INSTALOVE cough.
I loved the format, but the story was lacking, What a ride! I really loved how the whole concept of this book amp how you can flip it to each character's side and the story ebbs and flows perfectly!
I also loved the scifi element! Cloning and these replica's, so interesting! It makes you question how far we should go with new science and what really makes you human!
Will def.
be picking up the sequel in the fall!


I am filming a book review on this so I can share my thoughts on it, how I personally read it and if I thought the stories truly intertwined and etc! Be on the lookout for it soon!

A little better than I thought it would be.


Although "Never Let Me Go" this is not, the whole replica setup is fairly interesting, But, of course, the moral dilemmas of cloning are mostly forgotten to give space to romances, Which kind of grated because the span of the story is aboutdays, and both girls manage to fall in love with strangers anyway, Eh.

Only interested in how the duology ends if someone recaps the second book for me, Clones living on a scary compound hold my attention, kids in love on the run don't,

P. S. The dual narrative is an ineffective gimmick, If you read one half all the way through, the second doesn't have any reveals left, People in our group who alternated chapters from both sides ended up liking it better, which begs the question why not write it this way This review appears on sitelinkHappy Indulgence.
Check it out for more reviews!

They say theres three sides to every story and theres three ways of reading Replica, With two stories printed on either side of the book, you can choose to read one story at a time, or alternate chapters between Lyra and Gemma, which is what I did.


Lyra is a replica who starts off life in a research institute, who has never known anything else, Being subjected to endless medical experiments and seeing countless peers suffer and die, I kind of thought she would be more traumatised or emotionally affected at her circumstances.
However, despite her disturbing back story, Lyra kind of felt bland and boring, As she discovers the real world around her with the boy replica, she endlessly compares life to the research institute, She didnt really have a strong personality and didnt feel like a very believable character,

On the other side is Gemma, a girl who is searching for answers about her past which leads her to Haven, the same research institute where Lyra resides.
Despite her insecurities with her weight and her swooning for the pervy Pete and later, the symmetrically pleasing Jack, there also wasnt much personality to her.
She thought about kissing and her crushes at the most inopportune times, like when a man is holding a gun to her friends head, Also its kind of weird feeling anything for a love interest who is constantly referred to as “Pervy”, but there you have it,

If Lyra is from the freaky dystopian future, then Gemma is more of a contemporary character who is struggling with her identity, Being the key selling point of the book, I was waiting for their storylines to converge, but when it got there, it was kind of underwhelming.
Seeing the same situation happen in both of the characters point of views was repetitive and didnt really give any useful deeper insight, As twists and secrets unfold while reading each perspective, I also felt like reading one side of the story first would spoil the other,

While I always find clones to be a fascinating topic, Replica doesnt really delve too deep when it comes to them, I also didnt like how the book lacked action despite a few dead bodies here and there and some explosions, There wasnt much excitement while reading the story, despite a mild mystery as to what really happened at Haven, Upon reaching the end, I felt kind of disappointed like there wasnt really a point to the story,

This isnt the first time Ive read a Lauren Oliver book in fact, its theth one Ive read from the author, Aside from Delirium, which I read at the peak of my dystopian phase, Ive been disappointed with each and every one, Replica was no different and I dont think Ill pick up any of her other books after this, The books always end up focusing on a romance that I dont really care about and bland characters with no personality, This is also the first book of hers that Ive read that is set in third person perspective and it just didnt feel natural, with a lot of “She did this, she did that, then she talked to this person”.


Even a pretty package and a cool premise couldnt save Replica for me, with its bland characters, lacklustre plot and directionless story, At overpages, its quite a long book to be invested in and it really dragged out for me, While some people might enjoy the alternating chapters, I found myself to be quite disappointed when I reached the end,

I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, I liked the idea of ainbook, but it only worked when MCs were separate,
I also liked the idea of the story, but overall, I can't say I enjoyed it, I also couldn't connect with characters, so I didn't really even care about them,
Not sure if I'm going to continue the series,.stars



There comes a day when an author you like writes a book you aren't fond of, This is one of those days, unfortunately,

I'm a fan of Lauren Oliver, I liked Before I Fall, the Delirium trilogy Yes, I did like Requiem but a little miffed about the ending, and I even liked Panic, Rooms and Vanishing Girls despite their flaws.
So when Lauren announced Replica, I was intrigued by

it, And when I heard about the format it was written in, I was almost excited to read it,

However, Replica was a bit of a disappointment for me,



Replica is told from two perspectives, Lyra and Gemma, Lyra is a replica, a clone that was created for unknown reasons and lives with other clones at the Haven Institute, There, the replicas are observed by several doctors and the reason for it isn't explained to the replicas, Lyra never questioned her life until she starts to suspect something isn't right about a few things, Then there's an attack at Haven and Lyra and a male replica, number, escape and run into Gemma,

Gemma is just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life, She's been in and out of hospitals for most of her life and wants to feel normal, not be this sick person, One day, after she is nearly kidnapped by some creep, Gemma discovers that her father had some connections to the Haven Institute, Her curiosity leads her to Florida where she encounters Lyra,

Both girls begin to discover what is really going on at Haven and with these answers, their lives are in danger,

The premise alone sounds enticing, You got clones and government conspiracy, It makes for a great book, Sadly, it wasn't what I had expected,



The Cons outweigh the Pros but I'll start with the Pros because while I didn't enjoy much of the book, there were a few things I did like.


Pros
The mystery behind the Haven Institute, I do like a good mystery and the Haven Institute is one big mystery, I wanted to know just what the hell is going on in that building,

Plot, There were parts of the book that was engaging and captured my attention, Parts of the book does have good scenes where there are conspiracies and some revelations,

Here comes the Cons,

Cons
The characters, The characters fell flat for me for the most part, At the beginning of each story, Lyra and Gemma had the potential to be good characters, But as the story goes on, they didn't change much, There wasn't much of a gradual change within them, If I had to choose, I did like Gemma more than Lyra but I didn't care for either of them, They aren't bad characters, but they're not the best either,

The writing, The book was written inrd person and while I do likerd person, it didn't do well for this book, Lauren is a great writer and an even better writer when she's writing inst person, Rooms and Panic are written inrd person, but I did like them, even with their flaws because of the characters, But for Replica, the writing hindered on the character development, I wasn't really that engaged with the writing, It was even bland at some parts,

The format of the book, The book is written in an interesting way, On one side, you have Lyra's story and if you flip the book, you have Gemma's story, While it does seem like a unique way to read a book, it didn't do well for me, At the beginning, the format was good and done well, But as the story progresses, it begins to fall apart a bit, I get the idea of having two characters having different thoughts on one big event, but it became tedious and frankly a little boring at some parts.


I really wanted to like Replica, By no means do I think Replica is a bad book, It has it's moments. And while I did enjoy some parts, most of it was just not good, This brings up the question if I want to read the sequel, Ringer, And the answer is yes. Why Because I do want to know what's going to happen to the story and characters, Though my expectations will not be as high as they were for Replica, Also there's th fact that I hate quitting a series when I don't know if the next book will be better, And since Replica is a duology, I don't mind having to readmore book, I think I might read one story first and then start the other instead of alternating between both characters,

Verdict

It was a bit sad to see that I didn't like a Lauren Oliver book, I liked her other ones even with their flaws, But Replica was just not for me,



In the end, . .



Thanks for reading my review!

Cesar,