I not so recently finished (lol, sorry) a book called Replica, written by Lauren Oliver and published by HarperCollins. I originally wasn't that interested in this book because of the cloning theme and I read a book called cloning Miranda that I didn't particularly enjoy. However, I ended up picked this book up because I heard of a Lauren Oliver book signing and I absolutely had to go. To go you had to have bought the book to get it signed and they were also having a discussion about it, along with Kendare Blake and M-E Girard. If you want to read my report on that event here it is:! I ended up really enjoying it and below is my review. A key thing to keep in mind is that Replica is actually two completely different books in one: Lyra and Gemma.
But let's get into what Replica was actually about:
Summary:
Replica is the story of two completely different girls, Lyra and Gemma. The book is actually also split up into two different mini books each around 300 pages. One is told from Lyra's point of view, and one is told completely from Gemma's point of view. These point of views mainly differ because Lyra has spent her whole life at Haven and Gemma has spent her whole life in a normal home and school. Haven is a research facility on an island where scientists secretly create clones, called replicas. Lyra is one of the Replicas and has lived her whole life there not knowing many things and believing that her sole purpose in life was to be useful to others. Gemma, however, was brought up in a normal home with both her parents. Gemma has always been an outlier in her world mainly because she has a few health problems and isn't a typical "pretty girl". She has a best friend named April at the beginning of the book, but she also meets a few other people throughout the book. Gemma's dad was somehow involved in the creation of Haven and throughout her half of the book, Gemma is trying to figure out how she is related to Haven. Lyra on the other hand is fine where she is, she's not super adventurous and is quite content as long as there is no change. She is friends with a few girls and nurses, but in Haven friends are almost non existent. When Lyra is forced out of Haven because of a fire she is forced to join forces and try to survive in conditions she's never experience before. In this perfect blend of modern contemporary and science fiction two girls experience things they never have before, and are forced to step out of their comfort zones.
My personal opinion of this book is that I actually ended up really liking it. Firstly, because I love all of Lauren Oliver's books, I just really like her writing style. And secondly, because it was just super intriguing and interconnecting and I just couldn't put it down. I really appreciated all the different characters and seeing them from different perspectives, and getting that much more development out of each side. I also really loved Lauren's use of description and how real her settings seemed and of all the problems they faced.
The plot and settings of this book were both really intricate and both served a major purpose. Lyra's parts were first mainly at Haven, the research institution, and then all around the nearby area. Haven was a major setting in Lyra's POV because she spent almost her whole entire life there, and everything she ever knew came from that place. Haven played a major part in Replica because it is what brought the two perspectives together. Haven has so many different levels, that Lauren was forced to create and analyse. As in the personal and emotional level, the physical level, and the scientific level. What goes on in Haven is kept top secret so very few people in these two novels actually knew the truth, and the truth is what everything is built on. I especially love how the plot forced the two characters together, but that even after they met they had completely different perspectives and opinions. I also really liked how the settings that both characters visited were in both their points of views and you got to see a bigger picture because of it.
I also really enjoyed this book because of the characters. Gemma had such an easy going and relatable personality and character. I personally liked her more, because her portion of the book was more contemporary and also a lot of self-discovery. At first she was like a spoiled princess with some problems and problems with her dad not always being around, but as the book progressed we got to see so much more of her character. I really enjoyed all the people she met along her journey like Pete, Lyra, and Jake. Some of the characters could've had a bigger role and more plot leading up but overall the Gemma half was pretty good. On Lyra's side I actually enjoyed the characters less but the story more, it was really interesting. Lyra never wanted to get out of Haven or go anywhere at all, and then she was forced to. Her views on everything are very different from Gemma's and since I read Gemma first I knew some of the things that were going to happen, but not the full story. Also the characters in Lyra's POV were a lot more interesting because we got to actually see life inside Haven and what all the nurses did and how the Replicas were treated.
In conclusion, I would say that I was surprised that I actually enjoyed this book, and while reading each half was so intrigued I could barely put it down. Usually when I read a pretty decent book (so most) I can't put it down, but it really depends on the writing style. I really love all of Lauren's work, probably her others more than this one but I really did enjoy Replica. I would probably give this book about an 8.4/10 stars because I really did like Lauren's style, but some of the content wasn't as interesting as I would have liked and a bit cliche. The Gemma half was about a spoiled girl with daddy issues who was self-conscious about her body and wanted to break the rules a little bit. While Lyra's half was a bit less cliche it still followed the major plot of someone escaping a prison, or somewhere were they were raised and seeing the real world for the first time. Even though as I mentioned there were a lot of cliches, Lauren's writing style just makes everyone more interesting. She makes everything more emotional and also really funny at times.I would also recommend this book to anyone who likes sci-fi and contemporary both. Also mainly towards people who are age 14-18 because it does deal with some very mature issues, but also because it features some scenes that some youngsters would not understand, it really is YA. Overall, I would recommend this book to people who like both sci-fi and contemporary/romance but also like the whole clone thing, because that is a big part of this book. It was also super interesting how it was two books in one and you got to see different scenes but also some of the same from different perspectives.
If you read this book or have anything to say about it comment below! :) Thanks so much for reading! Talk to you soon! <3
- As Always, Kat
(Btw Lauren Oliver's amazing book, Before I Fall, is a movie and it's coming <-- out March 3rd, 2017. I am super super excited guys!!!)
Summary:
Replica is the story of two completely different girls, Lyra and Gemma. The book is actually also split up into two different mini books each around 300 pages. One is told from Lyra's point of view, and one is told completely from Gemma's point of view. These point of views mainly differ because Lyra has spent her whole life at Haven and Gemma has spent her whole life in a normal home and school. Haven is a research facility on an island where scientists secretly create clones, called replicas. Lyra is one of the Replicas and has lived her whole life there not knowing many things and believing that her sole purpose in life was to be useful to others. Gemma, however, was brought up in a normal home with both her parents. Gemma has always been an outlier in her world mainly because she has a few health problems and isn't a typical "pretty girl". She has a best friend named April at the beginning of the book, but she also meets a few other people throughout the book. Gemma's dad was somehow involved in the creation of Haven and throughout her half of the book, Gemma is trying to figure out how she is related to Haven. Lyra on the other hand is fine where she is, she's not super adventurous and is quite content as long as there is no change. She is friends with a few girls and nurses, but in Haven friends are almost non existent. When Lyra is forced out of Haven because of a fire she is forced to join forces and try to survive in conditions she's never experience before. In this perfect blend of modern contemporary and science fiction two girls experience things they never have before, and are forced to step out of their comfort zones.
My personal opinion of this book is that I actually ended up really liking it. Firstly, because I love all of Lauren Oliver's books, I just really like her writing style. And secondly, because it was just super intriguing and interconnecting and I just couldn't put it down. I really appreciated all the different characters and seeing them from different perspectives, and getting that much more development out of each side. I also really loved Lauren's use of description and how real her settings seemed and of all the problems they faced.
The plot and settings of this book were both really intricate and both served a major purpose. Lyra's parts were first mainly at Haven, the research institution, and then all around the nearby area. Haven was a major setting in Lyra's POV because she spent almost her whole entire life there, and everything she ever knew came from that place. Haven played a major part in Replica because it is what brought the two perspectives together. Haven has so many different levels, that Lauren was forced to create and analyse. As in the personal and emotional level, the physical level, and the scientific level. What goes on in Haven is kept top secret so very few people in these two novels actually knew the truth, and the truth is what everything is built on. I especially love how the plot forced the two characters together, but that even after they met they had completely different perspectives and opinions. I also really liked how the settings that both characters visited were in both their points of views and you got to see a bigger picture because of it.
I also really enjoyed this book because of the characters. Gemma had such an easy going and relatable personality and character. I personally liked her more, because her portion of the book was more contemporary and also a lot of self-discovery. At first she was like a spoiled princess with some problems and problems with her dad not always being around, but as the book progressed we got to see so much more of her character. I really enjoyed all the people she met along her journey like Pete, Lyra, and Jake. Some of the characters could've had a bigger role and more plot leading up but overall the Gemma half was pretty good. On Lyra's side I actually enjoyed the characters less but the story more, it was really interesting. Lyra never wanted to get out of Haven or go anywhere at all, and then she was forced to. Her views on everything are very different from Gemma's and since I read Gemma first I knew some of the things that were going to happen, but not the full story. Also the characters in Lyra's POV were a lot more interesting because we got to actually see life inside Haven and what all the nurses did and how the Replicas were treated.
In conclusion, I would say that I was surprised that I actually enjoyed this book, and while reading each half was so intrigued I could barely put it down. Usually when I read a pretty decent book (so most) I can't put it down, but it really depends on the writing style. I really love all of Lauren's work, probably her others more than this one but I really did enjoy Replica. I would probably give this book about an 8.4/10 stars because I really did like Lauren's style, but some of the content wasn't as interesting as I would have liked and a bit cliche. The Gemma half was about a spoiled girl with daddy issues who was self-conscious about her body and wanted to break the rules a little bit. While Lyra's half was a bit less cliche it still followed the major plot of someone escaping a prison, or somewhere were they were raised and seeing the real world for the first time. Even though as I mentioned there were a lot of cliches, Lauren's writing style just makes everyone more interesting. She makes everything more emotional and also really funny at times.I would also recommend this book to anyone who likes sci-fi and contemporary both. Also mainly towards people who are age 14-18 because it does deal with some very mature issues, but also because it features some scenes that some youngsters would not understand, it really is YA. Overall, I would recommend this book to people who like both sci-fi and contemporary/romance but also like the whole clone thing, because that is a big part of this book. It was also super interesting how it was two books in one and you got to see different scenes but also some of the same from different perspectives.
If you read this book or have anything to say about it comment below! :) Thanks so much for reading! Talk to you soon! <3
- As Always, Kat
(Btw Lauren Oliver's amazing book, Before I Fall, is a movie and it's coming <-- out March 3rd, 2017. I am super super excited guys!!!)
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