Author: Mikaela Everett
Series: None
Pages: 464
Genre: YA, Sci-fi
Date Published: September 22nd, 2015
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Format Read: eARC provided by publisher (via Edelweiss) for honest review
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Summary:
For most of her life,
Lirael has been training to kill—and replace—a duplicate version of
herself on a parallel Earth. She is the perfect sleeper-soldier. But
she’s beginning to suspect she is not a good person.
The two Earths are identical in almost every way. Two copies of every city, every building, even every person. But the people from the second Earth know something their duplicates do not—two versions of the same thing cannot exist. They—and their whole planet—are slowly disappearing. Lira has been trained mercilessly since childhood to learn everything she can about her duplicate, to be a ruthless sleeper-assassin who kills that other Lirael and steps seamlessly into her life.
An intricate, literary stand-alone from an astonishing new voice, The Unquiet takes us deep inside the psyche of a strong teenage heroine struggling with what she has been raised to be and who she really is. Fans of eerily futuristic and beautifully crafted stories such as Never Let Me Go, Orphan Black, and Fringe will find themselves haunted by this unsettling debut.
The two Earths are identical in almost every way. Two copies of every city, every building, even every person. But the people from the second Earth know something their duplicates do not—two versions of the same thing cannot exist. They—and their whole planet—are slowly disappearing. Lira has been trained mercilessly since childhood to learn everything she can about her duplicate, to be a ruthless sleeper-assassin who kills that other Lirael and steps seamlessly into her life.
An intricate, literary stand-alone from an astonishing new voice, The Unquiet takes us deep inside the psyche of a strong teenage heroine struggling with what she has been raised to be and who she really is. Fans of eerily futuristic and beautifully crafted stories such as Never Let Me Go, Orphan Black, and Fringe will find themselves haunted by this unsettling debut.
-Goodreads
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My Thoughts:
An Open Letter To The Unquiet,
I think you're one of my favorite books of the year, and that's saying something, because I've read a lot of good books so far. You made me think a lot. You made me feel a lot of feelings. You are a book that's going to stick with me for a really long time (if not the rest of my life). You're based on twisted morals and a main character who isn't supposed to be likable, and yet, still manages to be. I can't get over how many days it's been since I finished you, but I still find myself thinking about your layered themes. You get a gold star!
-The White Unicorn
This book is masterful. I had no idea what I was getting into when I started it, but now, days later I can't stop thinking about it. I think it's the best books that stick with us, and somehow The Unquiet snuck up on me, and won't let go. Everett gives us a layered story about a girl who's trained to be unsavory, and yet still manages to have a heart.
This book is messy. I'm not talking about the writing. The writing is glorious, and Everett picked the perfect pacing as well as an interesting voice when telling her story. I mean that it's messy from a moral standpoint. It asks a lot of questions about humanity and what you're willing to do, or not do, to hold onto it. Nothing is what it seems, and yet everything is laid out in the open for us to see, if only we search for it.
Lira has to be one of my favorite heroines of all time. She's the perfect anti-hero. I know that I'm not supposed to like her, and yet I found myself digging everything about her. She's been trained to be something horrendous, but she slowly learns what she's really made of. I can't even begin to imagine what Lira has gone through on top of what Everett shares with us. I think that the best characters make you wonder questions like that. They make you want to know even more about them, even though you've already been given tons of information.
On top of all of this, Everett adds a really compelling cast of secondary characters. There wasn't one character that I didn't like. In fact some of them I ended up falling a little bit in love with. I'm looking at you Jack. Jack's such an interesting character. Cecily is also a wonderful character, and it was interesting to see Lira's relationship grow with her, since they're not actually sisters.
The relationships in this novel really pack a punch. I don't think that it would be the same story if Everett didn't focus on the relationship aspects presented. It's how we really start to understand Lira and the world that she lives in. There's even a slight romance, but it doesn't take away from the story, and it fits really well, so it doesn't feel light or silly when thrown into the plot.
I'm just going to say it, you need to read this book, and you'll do it if you know what's good for you.
Rating:
5 Unicorns = Get your hand on this NOW!
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