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cab65's review
3.0
I enjoyed this story but I have to admit that I almost gave up on it several times in the early few chapters. In part I hung in there because I really like the author. I was about 25% into the book on my e-reader before I started to get into the plot.
makenna_p22's review
4.0
4.5 stars. WOW! I wasn’t really expecting much going into this book, all I knew about it was that I liked the author but wow this book completely blew me away. I was hooked from the very first chapter which is not something that usually happens to me. There were very few parts of this book where I was bored but the rest was such a fun and interesting read. I cant wait to find out what happens in the next book!
addyisnothere's review
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
3.0
This book was what I wanted Shatter Me to be, but it wasn’t. It had all my favorite relationship elements: bisexual and polyamorous. I knew that Amber was bad when Reese found the listening devices in her house. I did not like Amber since that point. I did NOT expect Amber to be a fucking alien though. So many fun things.
vegantrav's review
4.0
--great YA sci-fi thriller
--one of the best YA novels I've read in the last few years
--intriguing initial mystery: birds suddenly begin flying into jets, causing them to crash, while still other birds are mysteriously dying
--wonderful protagonist in Reese, a 17-year-old high school girl, who finds herself a person of interest to "men in black" types after she has a car accident with her friend, David
--realistic love triangle with Reese falling for both Amber and David with the LGBTQ aspect treated tastefully
--well-paced plot that keeps the reader constantly engaged
--very enjoyable read
--definitely compels me to continue this series and read the sequels
--one of the best YA novels I've read in the last few years
--intriguing initial mystery: birds suddenly begin flying into jets, causing them to crash, while still other birds are mysteriously dying
--wonderful protagonist in Reese, a 17-year-old high school girl, who finds herself a person of interest to "men in black" types after she has a car accident with her friend, David
--realistic love triangle with Reese falling for both Amber and David with the LGBTQ aspect treated tastefully
--well-paced plot that keeps the reader constantly engaged
--very enjoyable read
--definitely compels me to continue this series and read the sequels
cornmaven's review
1.0
I felt this was a really lame and cheesy novel. Reasons:
1 - Purple prose abounds. Lo's sentences were immaturely constructed, and the story unfolded with a sixth grade flavor, imho. Way too many adjectives. Example: "It was an awkward, precarious scramble, and she was sure that she was going to slip out of his grasp at any second and plunge down into the shallow pool. But by some miracle - or maybe just stubborn persistence - she managed to throw herself over the top of the wall."
2 - Continuity issues - the birds attack the planes, which drop like, well, dead birds. Thousands killed. Government tries to cover it up. Chaos erupts as people panic and try to flee the cities. It's just like a disaster movie with the highways jammed. Which of course leads to Reese and David ending up in Area 51 as they skirt civilization trying to get home. BUT, when they eventually get home a few days later, the only vestiges of the total collapse of society and the military grabbing control is a curfew in San Francisco. No troops on the streets, no road blocks, no more food shortages, no nothing.
3. The Amber-Reese romance: Is it only because it's set in San Francisco that the female alien becomes romantically involved with Reese? Why all this sexual identity crisis stuff for Reese? The relationship clearly was the vehicle for the big reveal at the end, BUT it sort of took over the story. I felt as if I were reading two stories, and wondered what was going on.
4. The alien-government alliance revealed: Roswell/Area 51 finally acknowledged by the sci-fi aspect of alien DNA implantation was very badly drawn. It felt like a bad B movie set. When the alien spaceship arrives to rescue the aliens, "it moved with an unearthly silence and precision." And precisely what does that look like? What is an "unearthly silence?" I have no idea.
5. Reese really likes David: Of course we knew this all along. Is she then, bisexual? And how does David feel about that?
6. The Anonymous look-alikes try to find evidence: Bin42 is a conspiracy site which takes on the challenge of proving the official bird story false. I felt the trip to the warehouse to capture evidence was very fake.
The whole point of the DNA implantation was supposed to be an 'improvement' to the human condition. But the descriptions of the moments when the 'improvement' occurs - i.e. Reese can derive another's thoughts and feelings, and David can hear thoughts - were so clumsily constructed that they got lost in all of the other cheesy narrative.
So anyway, not recommended, despite its good reviews.
1 - Purple prose abounds. Lo's sentences were immaturely constructed, and the story unfolded with a sixth grade flavor, imho. Way too many adjectives. Example: "It was an awkward, precarious scramble, and she was sure that she was going to slip out of his grasp at any second and plunge down into the shallow pool. But by some miracle - or maybe just stubborn persistence - she managed to throw herself over the top of the wall."
2 - Continuity issues - the birds attack the planes, which drop like, well, dead birds. Thousands killed. Government tries to cover it up. Chaos erupts as people panic and try to flee the cities. It's just like a disaster movie with the highways jammed. Which of course leads to Reese and David ending up in Area 51 as they skirt civilization trying to get home. BUT, when they eventually get home a few days later, the only vestiges of the total collapse of society and the military grabbing control is a curfew in San Francisco. No troops on the streets, no road blocks, no more food shortages, no nothing.
3. The Amber-Reese romance: Is it only because it's set in San Francisco that the female alien becomes romantically involved with Reese? Why all this sexual identity crisis stuff for Reese? The relationship clearly was the vehicle for the big reveal at the end, BUT it sort of took over the story. I felt as if I were reading two stories, and wondered what was going on.
4. The alien-government alliance revealed: Roswell/Area 51 finally acknowledged by the sci-fi aspect of alien DNA implantation was very badly drawn. It felt like a bad B movie set. When the alien spaceship arrives to rescue the aliens, "it moved with an unearthly silence and precision." And precisely what does that look like? What is an "unearthly silence?" I have no idea.
5. Reese really likes David: Of course we knew this all along. Is she then, bisexual? And how does David feel about that?
6. The Anonymous look-alikes try to find evidence: Bin42 is a conspiracy site which takes on the challenge of proving the official bird story false. I felt the trip to the warehouse to capture evidence was very fake.
The whole point of the DNA implantation was supposed to be an 'improvement' to the human condition. But the descriptions of the moments when the 'improvement' occurs - i.e. Reese can derive another's thoughts and feelings, and David can hear thoughts - were so clumsily constructed that they got lost in all of the other cheesy narrative.
So anyway, not recommended, despite its good reviews.
kylielace's review against another edition
2.75
It was just okay.
Started off good. Left a lot of questions so I will read the sequel.
Was pleasantly surprised by the romance and liked both parts of the triangle.
Started off good. Left a lot of questions so I will read the sequel.
Was pleasantly surprised by the romance and liked both parts of the triangle.
lilyalthea's review
4.0
> French Review <
> English Review <
Reese and her debate partner David are about to fly home when North America grounds all flights. Dozens of airplanes crashed suddenly when flocks of birds hurled themselves into them. As the population goes nuts over the possibility of terrorist attacks, David and Reese are victims of a car accident while trying to go back to San Francisco… A month later Reese finally wakes up in a mysterious military hospital. After signing a confidentiality agreement, the two teenagers are sent back in their family but things start to get weirder. Reese develops strange connections with people she gets in contact with, she heals way faster than humanly possible, and has the awkward feeling that she is being watched anywhere she goes… What really happened during that whole month she was unconscious in this military facility?
To be honest, I love everything that is related to Area 51 and conspiracy theories. I’m not saying that I believe them but I always found these stories, which gets their start with real events, particularly endearing. So obviously Adaptation was the perfect book for me. A young adult sci-fi thriller whose background is government secrets, lies and experiments? I’m in! And I believe that every reader who enjoys these sort of foundations in books will be pleased by the outcome of this one.
Reese, the main character, is easy enough to like. She has a good common sense and doesn’t blindly/stupidly run in any situation. It is particularly pleasant considering how discreet David, the boy from the book’s description, is throughout the story. I wish we had seen more of him, alongside of Julian, Reese’s BFF who happens to be a big fan of conspiracy theories. We are mostly focused on our main character which is a shame, even though it is simply echoing Reese’s cautious personality when it comes to get involved with people. Her dad left the family when she was still young and it’s evident that’s the reason why she is so persistent on being on her own. She protects herself by keeping others at bay and it’s one of the many things she’ll struggle with the whole story.
The only other character that has some sort of importance is Amber, a young woman Reese meets after she gets back to San Francisco. I instinctively disliked her and I wasn’t too excited about their blooming relationship. I felt like that Amber was always way too convenient and I couldn’t really warm up about her because of this. Though the story hints at a love triangle between David, Reese and Amber which was somewhat original. I’ve never seen this configuration, where a girl has romantic prospects with a boy and a girl, and it’s a nice change from the poor girl stuck between two hot guys that are fighting over her. I’m still not that sure about how it’s supposed to play out since the relationships were a bit shaky throughout this first book, but I’m sure it’ll be developed more strongly in the sequel.
However the main strong part of this book is its story. I liked how well Melinda Lo handled her plot and how nicely things came into place. Of course this first book mostly evolves on characters building but the paranormal aspect wasn’t too neglected either. You can say that Adaptation is a contemporary sci-fi novel, and even though I’m not a huge fan of sci-fi, it totally worked for me.
Adaptation is a nice read mixing contemporary YA and sci-fi very well together. It’s the kind of story you would expect to see as a TVshow (it reminded me of CW’s show where paranormal elements are inserted in everyday settings like high school or family dramas). I particularly liked the tone of the book, the background of government’s secrecies and conspiracies, and I’ll happily read the sequel to see where Reese, David, and the others will end up.
> English Review <
Reese and her debate partner David are about to fly home when North America grounds all flights. Dozens of airplanes crashed suddenly when flocks of birds hurled themselves into them. As the population goes nuts over the possibility of terrorist attacks, David and Reese are victims of a car accident while trying to go back to San Francisco… A month later Reese finally wakes up in a mysterious military hospital. After signing a confidentiality agreement, the two teenagers are sent back in their family but things start to get weirder. Reese develops strange connections with people she gets in contact with, she heals way faster than humanly possible, and has the awkward feeling that she is being watched anywhere she goes… What really happened during that whole month she was unconscious in this military facility?
To be honest, I love everything that is related to Area 51 and conspiracy theories. I’m not saying that I believe them but I always found these stories, which gets their start with real events, particularly endearing. So obviously Adaptation was the perfect book for me. A young adult sci-fi thriller whose background is government secrets, lies and experiments? I’m in! And I believe that every reader who enjoys these sort of foundations in books will be pleased by the outcome of this one.
Reese, the main character, is easy enough to like. She has a good common sense and doesn’t blindly/stupidly run in any situation. It is particularly pleasant considering how discreet David, the boy from the book’s description, is throughout the story. I wish we had seen more of him, alongside of Julian, Reese’s BFF who happens to be a big fan of conspiracy theories. We are mostly focused on our main character which is a shame, even though it is simply echoing Reese’s cautious personality when it comes to get involved with people. Her dad left the family when she was still young and it’s evident that’s the reason why she is so persistent on being on her own. She protects herself by keeping others at bay and it’s one of the many things she’ll struggle with the whole story.
The only other character that has some sort of importance is Amber, a young woman Reese meets after she gets back to San Francisco. I instinctively disliked her and I wasn’t too excited about their blooming relationship. I felt like that Amber was always way too convenient and I couldn’t really warm up about her because of this. Though the story hints at a love triangle between David, Reese and Amber which was somewhat original. I’ve never seen this configuration, where a girl has romantic prospects with a boy and a girl, and it’s a nice change from the poor girl stuck between two hot guys that are fighting over her. I’m still not that sure about how it’s supposed to play out since the relationships were a bit shaky throughout this first book, but I’m sure it’ll be developed more strongly in the sequel.
However the main strong part of this book is its story. I liked how well Melinda Lo handled her plot and how nicely things came into place. Of course this first book mostly evolves on characters building but the paranormal aspect wasn’t too neglected either. You can say that Adaptation is a contemporary sci-fi novel, and even though I’m not a huge fan of sci-fi, it totally worked for me.
Adaptation is a nice read mixing contemporary YA and sci-fi very well together. It’s the kind of story you would expect to see as a TVshow (it reminded me of CW’s show where paranormal elements are inserted in everyday settings like high school or family dramas). I particularly liked the tone of the book, the background of government’s secrecies and conspiracies, and I’ll happily read the sequel to see where Reese, David, and the others will end up.
tregina's review against another edition
3.0
SUCH mixed feelings about this one. In some ways it felt like completely different genres smashed up into one another, and the characters and relationships seemed fairly shallow. I was really uncomfortable with the assaults, and in general I wasn't sure I liked the story all that much. But at the same time, I burned right through it, so obviously something about it appealed to me. And I've been thinking lately that I really miss aliens and conspiracy theories. The 90s really were my time.