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fantasynovel's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 stars.
I honestly thought I was going to like this book way more than I did. Aliens, a bisexual narrator, birds falling out of sky? Like, sign me up. But I thought this book would be just way more than it turned out to be. It kept feeling like the book was waiting to really start and get into the plot. There was so much filler stuff happening. I thought this would be more one of those "teens work for the government" books. I think it would have been much cooler if Brian and Reese had never gone home. It didn't make sense, it was boring, and it didn't need to happen.
I honestly thought I was going to like this book way more than I did. Aliens, a bisexual narrator, birds falling out of sky? Like, sign me up. But I thought this book would be just way more than it turned out to be. It kept feeling like the book was waiting to really start and get into the plot. There was so much filler stuff happening. I thought this would be more one of those "teens work for the government" books. I think it would have been much cooler if Brian and Reese had never gone home. It didn't make sense, it was boring, and it didn't need to happen.
stargirllxo's review against another edition
5.0
Wow what a great book! I loved every minute reading it and once I started reading it, I didn't want to put it down. It was amazing start to finish and I can't wait to read the next one. I wish there was more of David and Reese together even though that wasn't the main ship. The ending was unexpected to me, learning about what happened to Reese and David in the military hospital was sort of a surprise to me and that made the book even greater.
alicebme's review against another edition
4.0
I got Malinda to sign my ARC at the ALA conference in Anaheim, and I was pretty thrilled to talk with her. I love that she went another way, even though I was hooked into her medieval, fairytale sort of realm as well. The romantic scenes between the main character and Amber were hot and tasteful, and I am so pleased to have read something like that finally. I also can't say enough thank yous to Malinda for having a character who is attracted to people regardless of their sex. The conversation between the main character and her best friend about labels rang true.
There were some pretty silly parental behaviors in this book, I suppose it is necessary in the YA world to kill off adults or render them useless whenever possible. It always makes me giggle and roll my eyes when it happens as abruptly as it did to the poor debate coach. Geez.
There were some pretty silly parental behaviors in this book, I suppose it is necessary in the YA world to kill off adults or render them useless whenever possible. It always makes me giggle and roll my eyes when it happens as abruptly as it did to the poor debate coach. Geez.
brendalovesbooks's review against another edition
I'm halfway through this book, and I'm just so bored. It's not really what I thought it was going to be. The beginning started off really exciting, with a lot of craziness happening. But then all of a sudden we are almost at a standstill. It has turned into a teenage romance, and that's not what I'm wanting to read right now. It's just not my type of book unless I'm in the mood for it, which I very rarely am.
I'm sure there is going to be more excitement to the story. At least, I'd think there would have to be to explain the beginning portion. But the pacing is so off that I'm just not interested.
I'm sure there is going to be more excitement to the story. At least, I'd think there would have to be to explain the beginning portion. But the pacing is so off that I'm just not interested.
abaugher's review against another edition
3.0
really surprised that a book by Malinda Lo would read this way, so unlike Ash and Huntress. Not sure I want to read the sequel to this, but I might.
izzys_internet_bookshelf's review against another edition
1.0
1.5/5
I was so intrigued by this book but I felt like it took forever for the plot to get moving. Hopefully the sequel will explain more
I was so intrigued by this book but I felt like it took forever for the plot to get moving. Hopefully the sequel will explain more
myriadreads's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 up to 4. Fascinating premise, and definitely kept my interest, but the end felt rushed, and charterers could have been more developed.
shhchar's review against another edition
4.0
Adaptation was a marvelous sci-fi/conspiracy novel. While the action was light at times, it still managed to keep me turning pages and wanting more. The addition of an unorthodox love triangle that was written with so much ease and normality really set the book apart from others.
The exposition opened wonderfully up into some mild action. The action only sped up more as the book went on, but I do think the majority of it was in the first half of the book. The second half of the book was more focused on figuring things out and wrapping up ends. While there was a climax, I think the beginning's action was more dramatic. The second half could have used more action.
Even though I have a love-hate relationship with more than one of the characters, I still related to all of them and felt for them during their plights. Reese was a good protagonist, not great, but still likable. I admired that she still stood up for herself even when put in dangerous and scary situations. I loved David, but I still don't feel like the reader knows much about him. Amber was very interesting, and I LOVED her relationship with Reese. This book did what seems almost unthinkable in YA lit: it had a normal, (well mostly, ignoring the obvious sci-fi stuff) sexually-flexible character. (Reese herself doesn't label it, so neither will I.) For once, I LOVED the love triangle!
Other things I loved: the articles and lab reports, all the conspiracy and political stuff, and Julian. I definitely recommend this book to any fan of YA sci-fi!
The exposition opened wonderfully up into some mild action. The action only sped up more as the book went on, but I do think the majority of it was in the first half of the book. The second half of the book was more focused on figuring things out and wrapping up ends. While there was a climax, I think the beginning's action was more dramatic. The second half could have used more action.
Even though I have a love-hate relationship with more than one of the characters, I still related to all of them and felt for them during their plights. Reese was a good protagonist, not great, but still likable. I admired that she still stood up for herself even when put in dangerous and scary situations. I loved David, but I still don't feel like the reader knows much about him. Amber was very interesting, and I LOVED her relationship with Reese. This book did what seems almost unthinkable in YA lit: it had a normal, (well mostly, ignoring the obvious sci-fi stuff) sexually-flexible character. (Reese herself doesn't label it, so neither will I.) For once, I LOVED the love triangle!
Other things I loved: the articles and lab reports, all the conspiracy and political stuff, and Julian. I definitely recommend this book to any fan of YA sci-fi!
stephxsu's review against another edition
3.0
Malinda Lo takes her readers way outside her previous fantasy genre with her third novel, ADAPTATION, which I suppose I would describe as “sci-fi lite.” While the events of ADAPTATION were at times hard for me to immerse myself in, Lo adds a refreshing LGBTQ element to her story that may encourage readers typically reluctant to pick up sci-fi to give this a try.
Part 1 was mind-blowingly awesome. Scary events—bird strikes downing planes, people forgetting their humanity in the face of their impending mortality, Reese and David struggling to make it home as transportation unravels around them—unfolded in an ominously quick fashion reminiscent of apocalyptic movies. I hardly breathed as I followed Reese and David through a “road trip” fraught with danger, one that led them right up to the accident that changed their lives forever.
…And then the rest of the book becomes…weird, and awkwardly paced. Obviously there’s a speculative element to the story, as the story hints of weird things occurring to Reese and David’s bodies and minds—though nothing is confirmed until the end of the book, in a manner that seemed rather far-fetched despite all the hints that were dropped throughout. In Part 2 and beyond, ADAPTATION loses the steam it had been so excellently accumulating, and becomes a plodding and seemingly endless period of rising action where little happens and the characters run into more and more questions but don’t get any answers. Why is this so often a symptom of YA novels, for which I thought good pacing was key? Little (with the exception of one thing, which I will discuss next) happens in the middle third or so of this book, and the effect of cramming all the information-revealing actions into the last few chapters of the book was that I was left unpleasantly disoriented and unprepared for the shocking curves the story threw us at the end.
I have mixed feelings about Reese’s romantic conflicts in ADAPTATION. On the one hand, what Lo always does well in her stories is give lesbian interactions and relationships the full consideration and respect they deserve. This is especially significant in a current publishing world where heterosexual romances often seem written into a story for the sake of having a romance, not because the MC actually learns anything through the experience of a romantic relationship. It adds some well-appreciated novelty to the typical YA love triangle trope. On the other hand, the balance between ADAPTATION’s romantic and sci-fi plotlines felt uneven—most especially in the nothing-happens-sci-fi-wise section of Part 2—and the two seemed to come too easily together in the end for me to believe that these characters and their predicaments could exist outside the realm of fiction.
And that, I think, is my ultimate feeling toward ADAPTATION. It’s a technically precise YA thriller with LGBTQ aspects, but its uneven pacing never let me forget that I was reading a YA novel that would probably better enthrall a younger audience that may not yet appreciate the shockingly possible dystopian worlds of books like [b:1984|5470|1984|George Orwell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1348990566s/5470.jpg|153313] or [b:The Hunger Games|2767052|The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)|Suzanne Collins|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1337857402s/2767052.jpg|2792775]. It fits the current trend of YA sci-fi-ish thrillers with more-or-less plausible premises that nevertheless rely on their assumption of your investment in the book’s “mystery” to keep reading.
Part 1 was mind-blowingly awesome. Scary events—bird strikes downing planes, people forgetting their humanity in the face of their impending mortality, Reese and David struggling to make it home as transportation unravels around them—unfolded in an ominously quick fashion reminiscent of apocalyptic movies. I hardly breathed as I followed Reese and David through a “road trip” fraught with danger, one that led them right up to the accident that changed their lives forever.
…And then the rest of the book becomes…weird, and awkwardly paced. Obviously there’s a speculative element to the story, as the story hints of weird things occurring to Reese and David’s bodies and minds—though nothing is confirmed until the end of the book, in a manner that seemed rather far-fetched despite all the hints that were dropped throughout. In Part 2 and beyond, ADAPTATION loses the steam it had been so excellently accumulating, and becomes a plodding and seemingly endless period of rising action where little happens and the characters run into more and more questions but don’t get any answers. Why is this so often a symptom of YA novels, for which I thought good pacing was key? Little (with the exception of one thing, which I will discuss next) happens in the middle third or so of this book, and the effect of cramming all the information-revealing actions into the last few chapters of the book was that I was left unpleasantly disoriented and unprepared for the shocking curves the story threw us at the end.
I have mixed feelings about Reese’s romantic conflicts in ADAPTATION. On the one hand, what Lo always does well in her stories is give lesbian interactions and relationships the full consideration and respect they deserve. This is especially significant in a current publishing world where heterosexual romances often seem written into a story for the sake of having a romance, not because the MC actually learns anything through the experience of a romantic relationship. It adds some well-appreciated novelty to the typical YA love triangle trope. On the other hand, the balance between ADAPTATION’s romantic and sci-fi plotlines felt uneven—most especially in the nothing-happens-sci-fi-wise section of Part 2—and the two seemed to come too easily together in the end for me to believe that these characters and their predicaments could exist outside the realm of fiction.
And that, I think, is my ultimate feeling toward ADAPTATION. It’s a technically precise YA thriller with LGBTQ aspects, but its uneven pacing never let me forget that I was reading a YA novel that would probably better enthrall a younger audience that may not yet appreciate the shockingly possible dystopian worlds of books like [b:1984|5470|1984|George Orwell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1348990566s/5470.jpg|153313] or [b:The Hunger Games|2767052|The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)|Suzanne Collins|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1337857402s/2767052.jpg|2792775]. It fits the current trend of YA sci-fi-ish thrillers with more-or-less plausible premises that nevertheless rely on their assumption of your investment in the book’s “mystery” to keep reading.
dcgingerreads's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0