4.5 stars
This book was so enjoyable to read! I sped through it really quickly and almost wish there was more for me to dig into.
Although it may seem like romance-centric, I found that this wasn’t really the focus of the plot–there was so much more happening in the story.
The characters were all very interesting to me–Jack and Althea were very different, but the same underlying theme of “outsider” ran true between them.
Jack obviously strongly feels that all-permeating loneliness of being the only human on Earth, and his isolation from the other clones really helps shape his personality. Although I couldn’t really connect much with him (or any of the characters because of this sci-fi world), I really liked reading about him. He’s got a lot of layers in his character that make him so distinct.
Althea-310 (not to be mixed up with the other Altheas) was also enjoyable to read about. I did, however, find it a little odd that for a clone, she had so much independent thought, even at the beginning. I kind of wished there was a little more internal struggle on her part from going from full-blown clone-iness to more independent. She was still an interesting character as she does deal with the isolation from her sisters and the curiosity that causes her to make possibly unwise decisions.
For Jack and Althea together–I wasn’t the hugest fan. But it’s true that I say that for almost every romance in a YA book I read. The romance worked well as a plot device–spurring action and change–but I didn’t really feel the chemistry between them.
But all the subplots and plot and layers in the story really made up for this. Finlay did such a great job in building the world up–at first it seemed like it’d be a good ol’ dystopian romance, but then things just kept adding up.
I can’t spoil all of them, you’ll have to read them for yourself when Your One and Only comes out on February 6th, but there are a lot of important subplots that build as the story goes on (such as things involving the death of humanity, things involving what’s happening to the clones, things involving that mysterious outside force). There are so many of these little mysteries in the story and it just contributed to making the plot really, really good.
This book was paced super well, and like I said before, I totally sped through it. The ending in the last 50 pages got so intense, but it wasn’t unwarranted as if all the action was happening then. It felt more like a buildup and things just got more and more until it was climax time and things were burning and people were running and there was so much action.
I did hope for a little more discussion on humanity in general and what it means to truly be human, which was something I felt could have been expanded more. Honestly, I felt a lot of this book could have been expanded more, but I think Finlay made a good decision in keeping it to be a standalone because it’d end up being awkward with secondary books that weren’t exactly relevant to the first. There could have been more content to make this a little longer, but there wasn’t enough for a second book, in my opinion.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this novel! I would definitely recommend for anyone who enjoys romance in unique settings, or for someone who wants to read an interesting dystopian with a lot of layered mystery elements!
This book was so enjoyable to read! I sped through it really quickly and almost wish there was more for me to dig into.
Although it may seem like romance-centric, I found that this wasn’t really the focus of the plot–there was so much more happening in the story.
The characters were all very interesting to me–Jack and Althea were very different, but the same underlying theme of “outsider” ran true between them.
Jack obviously strongly feels that all-permeating loneliness of being the only human on Earth, and his isolation from the other clones really helps shape his personality. Although I couldn’t really connect much with him (or any of the characters because of this sci-fi world), I really liked reading about him. He’s got a lot of layers in his character that make him so distinct.
Althea-310 (not to be mixed up with the other Altheas) was also enjoyable to read about. I did, however, find it a little odd that for a clone, she had so much independent thought, even at the beginning. I kind of wished there was a little more internal struggle on her part from going from full-blown clone-iness to more independent. She was still an interesting character as she does deal with the isolation from her sisters and the curiosity that causes her to make possibly unwise decisions.
For Jack and Althea together–I wasn’t the hugest fan. But it’s true that I say that for almost every romance in a YA book I read. The romance worked well as a plot device–spurring action and change–but I didn’t really feel the chemistry between them.
But all the subplots and plot and layers in the story really made up for this. Finlay did such a great job in building the world up–at first it seemed like it’d be a good ol’ dystopian romance, but then things just kept adding up.
I can’t spoil all of them, you’ll have to read them for yourself when Your One and Only comes out on February 6th, but there are a lot of important subplots that build as the story goes on (such as things involving the death of humanity, things involving what’s happening to the clones, things involving that mysterious outside force). There are so many of these little mysteries in the story and it just contributed to making the plot really, really good.
This book was paced super well, and like I said before, I totally sped through it. The ending in the last 50 pages got so intense, but it wasn’t unwarranted as if all the action was happening then. It felt more like a buildup and things just got more and more until it was climax time and things were burning and people were running and there was so much action.
I did hope for a little more discussion on humanity in general and what it means to truly be human, which was something I felt could have been expanded more. Honestly, I felt a lot of this book could have been expanded more, but I think Finlay made a good decision in keeping it to be a standalone because it’d end up being awkward with secondary books that weren’t exactly relevant to the first. There could have been more content to make this a little longer, but there wasn’t enough for a second book, in my opinion.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this novel! I would definitely recommend for anyone who enjoys romance in unique settings, or for someone who wants to read an interesting dystopian with a lot of layered mystery elements!