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paulinrr's review against another edition
5.0
Never have I felt so much heartbreak for a character. Eva brought tears to my eyes when she left her life to live someone else's. Thinking about how long she went without seeing anyone she loved killed something inside me. Her fears and hopes and dreams are so human, it's impossible to think anyone would ever say she wasn't.
Every single side character in the book was so fully developed, they each could have had their own book. Ammara, the girl in the letters; Sean, the boy back home; Mina Ma, the fierce mother; even Nikihil, the boy wise beyond his years. They all had stories and personalities and together created an unforgettable book.
Every single side character in the book was so fully developed, they each could have had their own book. Ammara, the girl in the letters; Sean, the boy back home; Mina Ma, the fierce mother; even Nikihil, the boy wise beyond his years. They all had stories and personalities and together created an unforgettable book.
burningupasun's review against another edition
5.0
Setting/World Building: 5/5
Main Character: 5/5
Other Characters: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Writing: 4.5/5
Triggering/Issues: 4.5/5 (Some touchy consent stuff for obvious reasons, but it never goes to far.)
AVERAGED TOTAL: 4.8 out of 5, rounded to 5.
I would probably give this book 4.5 stars if I could, but since I can't (and since it's not enough to bump down to 4 stars) it gets 5. Basically, this book just swept me up and carried me off and I could barely stand to put it down until I was done. It was just amazing, it really was. I cried several times, there were points where I was reading it through a film of tears because it was just so emotional.
This book is about a girl who is created to be an Echo of another girl, to replace her if she ever dies. Eva, as she names herself even though she is forbidden, has a life of her own, though. She has a spark and a soul and it is undeniable. She is passionate and stubborn and fierce and smart and she wants so desperately to live. You can't help but connect to her, you can't help but feel her pain every time she feels her life slipping away, or when she's made to leave the life she loves and go live the life of someone else. She just never stops fighting and she is just SO amazing.
I thought that the world created in this was nice, too, the modern world with the twist of the ability to create echoes from nothing (think Frankenstein rather than cloning). I saw some reviewers saying they found it unbelievable that parents would really pay to create copies, aka strangers, to come replace the people they loved... but I think they must not have been parents, or maybe they didn't quite understand how desperate people can do desperate things in an attempt to hold on to the people they loved. There were likely a few unbelievable things about the world (the thing I found weirdest was raising a clone of an Indian girl in England, which obviously affected her speech and such), but overall the story kept me so swept up I didn't care.
All in all a delightful book... although the ending was ambiguous, and apparently a sequel isn't guaranteed, which disappoints me a bit. I need to know what happens to Eva, if she gets her life or not. I NEED to know!!!
Favorite quote:
But maybe that's what the dead do. They stay. They linger. Benign and sweet and painful. They don't need us. They echo all by themselves.
Main Character: 5/5
Other Characters: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Writing: 4.5/5
Triggering/Issues: 4.5/5 (Some touchy consent stuff for obvious reasons, but it never goes to far.)
AVERAGED TOTAL: 4.8 out of 5, rounded to 5.
I would probably give this book 4.5 stars if I could, but since I can't (and since it's not enough to bump down to 4 stars) it gets 5. Basically, this book just swept me up and carried me off and I could barely stand to put it down until I was done. It was just amazing, it really was. I cried several times, there were points where I was reading it through a film of tears because it was just so emotional.
This book is about a girl who is created to be an Echo of another girl, to replace her if she ever dies. Eva, as she names herself even though she is forbidden, has a life of her own, though. She has a spark and a soul and it is undeniable. She is passionate and stubborn and fierce and smart and she wants so desperately to live. You can't help but connect to her, you can't help but feel her pain every time she feels her life slipping away, or when she's made to leave the life she loves and go live the life of someone else. She just never stops fighting and she is just SO amazing.
I thought that the world created in this was nice, too, the modern world with the twist of the ability to create echoes from nothing (think Frankenstein rather than cloning). I saw some reviewers saying they found it unbelievable that parents would really pay to create copies, aka strangers, to come replace the people they loved... but I think they must not have been parents, or maybe they didn't quite understand how desperate people can do desperate things in an attempt to hold on to the people they loved. There were likely a few unbelievable things about the world (the thing I found weirdest was raising a clone of an Indian girl in England, which obviously affected her speech and such), but overall the story kept me so swept up I didn't care.
All in all a delightful book... although the ending was ambiguous, and apparently a sequel isn't guaranteed, which disappoints me a bit. I need to know what happens to Eva, if she gets her life or not. I NEED to know!!!
Favorite quote:
But maybe that's what the dead do. They stay. They linger. Benign and sweet and painful. They don't need us. They echo all by themselves.
avgastright's review against another edition
1.0
So I just don’t get this book at all. Why do people dislike echoes so much? Wtf? It makes NO SENSE, and the author never really gives a reason why people hate them so much. Also, the main storyline was boring as shite. This storyline is just tired. It wasn’t the writing style, it wasn’t anything. It’s just this type of story is tired and no longer interesting to me.
jenny_librarian's review against another edition
5.0
A definite 5 stars!
I had been waiting a long time to read this book, for they didn't have it anywhere in Quebec libraries. Reading it, I wondered how they didn't have such an amazing story on their shelves.
Eva is an Echo. When her other self Amarra dies, she leaves her caretakers in England and moves all the way too Bangalore, India to live with her "familiars" (Amarra's family). But Echos are forbidden in India. If Eva is discovered, her familiars could be imprisoned and she could be given the Sleep Order - a nice way to say she would be killed.
One of the main themes of this story is cloning. Echos are clones. They are treated like less than human by most. People don't believe they have souls, or that they even are real. They are seen as robots, or empty shells filled with memories and feelings of the dead they are impersonating. What I found most interesting is how Eva proves times and times again to be completely human. She loves, she hates, she is sad and angry and lonely. She feels everything normal humans feel, yet she is treated as less. So much of the action tied to that theme reminded me of how humans really behave that I am quite glad we don't have clones walking around. Because I don't trust how we would behave towards them.
There was also a high level of romance taking place, but I don't mind it much. Eva needs to (or at least pretend to) fall in love with Ray, Amarra's boyfriend. A lot of her "love" for Amarra's family, friends and boyfriend is described as longing by Eva, since she doesn't really know them before Amarra's death. I think this was very well exploited. And her internal conflict about choosing Ray or Sean and how being with Sean would endanger both of them was one of the reasons I had to force myself to stop reading and go back to work (which, really, is the only reason I didn't finish this book in a day).
I am also really happy to see a novel written by a WoC, containing loads of PoC (basically everyone connected to Amarra, and Mina Ma), without focusing only on issues. PoC are normalized and I liked that.
I had been waiting a long time to read this book, for they didn't have it anywhere in Quebec libraries. Reading it, I wondered how they didn't have such an amazing story on their shelves.
Eva is an Echo. When her other self Amarra dies, she leaves her caretakers in England and moves all the way too Bangalore, India to live with her "familiars" (Amarra's family). But Echos are forbidden in India. If Eva is discovered, her familiars could be imprisoned and she could be given the Sleep Order - a nice way to say she would be killed.
One of the main themes of this story is cloning. Echos are clones. They are treated like less than human by most. People don't believe they have souls, or that they even are real. They are seen as robots, or empty shells filled with memories and feelings of the dead they are impersonating. What I found most interesting is how Eva proves times and times again to be completely human. She loves, she hates, she is sad and angry and lonely. She feels everything normal humans feel, yet she is treated as less. So much of the action tied to that theme reminded me of how humans really behave that I am quite glad we don't have clones walking around. Because I don't trust how we would behave towards them.
There was also a high level of romance taking place, but I don't mind it much. Eva needs to (or at least pretend to) fall in love with Ray, Amarra's boyfriend. A lot of her "love" for Amarra's family, friends and boyfriend is described as longing by Eva, since she doesn't really know them before Amarra's death. I think this was very well exploited. And her internal conflict about choosing Ray or Sean and how being with Sean would endanger both of them was one of the reasons I had to force myself to stop reading and go back to work (which, really, is the only reason I didn't finish this book in a day).
I am also really happy to see a novel written by a WoC, containing loads of PoC (basically everyone connected to Amarra, and Mina Ma), without focusing only on issues. PoC are normalized and I liked that.
gudistuff's review against another edition
3.0
It's kind of okay. It was too unrealistic though; if you want a girl to be just like a certain American girl, why do you put her in Britain and teach her to speak British? If you want a girl to have the same experiences (like going to a zoo), why don't you let her go there? Why do you expect a girl to be a copy of another by letting her grow up in completely different circumstances?
So that was meh. The story overall was good though, and I really really liked the little brother of her other. Thing.
So that was meh. The story overall was good though, and I really really liked the little brother of her other. Thing.
michelleheegaard's review against another edition
2.0
started out so great and then.... it went bad
The Plot/the world
I really, really love dystopia. Throughout time people have tried several ways to cheat death and the idea about an echo taking your place when you are gone that was a new one I had not heard about before. So naturally I was hooked. I expected a real true battle for trying to convince everyone that she was Amarra and in the end maybe fail. Well... that did happen. But what also happened was that the whole school found out what Eva was, and instead of going to the police (echoes are illegal in India, where she lives as Amarra) they start bullying her. This was just weird and not what you would have expected. Theee kids have been brought up their whole life believing echoes are a abormanation and illegal. Yet noone turns her in.
Also, something happens in Evas life that makes her run away. But very soon the weavers catch. She is offered an alternative to death from the weavers. She accepts, but very soon she tries to run again. And then she does not want to run but want to hold her ground and fight. All of this is really ignoring. It seems as if teh author had all of these really great ideas and then just threw them all in on those 40 pages. It makes it so unrealistic and ruins the reading experience. Instead of threwing them all in to one book, she could have spread them all out more...
But I liked the idea that started it all; create another that takes over your role in life when you are gone. That was a great idea that got lost in all of the other.... stuff.
2 out of 5
The Characters
Eva
I liked that Mandanna made Eva different from Amarra. What i did not like was that Eva just seemed to forgive everyone that was mean to her. She was always so understanding about other peoples feeling and why they did what they did. That really pissed me off. You do not just forgive people that bullies you everyday, and you do not just forgive people that order you dead. You just don't. God, I hated that.
Also, this story really tries to make you question wheter echoes are humans and have a sould or are a abormanation and are soulless. The author could ahve gone more into that. She makes Eva so human-like that she kinda erases her own question; do echoes have a soul? Not good. She could have made her more non-human. Eva could at some point had acted totally different from what a human being what have done, or not have had that many emotions. Something...
The Guardians
Echoes are still not accepted and some people called the hunters hunt down echoes and kill them. They call them a abormanation to God.
Because of that every echo has some guardians to watch over him or her.
Evas guardians are called Erik, Ophelia and Jonathan and she is being raised by a woman called Mina Ma.
Jonathan dies at some point and his son, Sean, takes his place.
Now, what is all so wonderful about these guardians is that they are all just so good to her. Their job is partly to keep her save, and partly to tell the weavers whenever she does something that is not something Amarra would have done. They do the first part but forget the second. That is really unrealistic. We are talking about 5 people who are all working for the weaver and none of them tell on Eva.
Opehlia is the daughter of one of the three weavers and not even she tells them about Eva. Erik is a really good friend to another weaver and he does not tell them either. Is that realistic? I mean Eva does quite a lot of things that are not Amarra-like and noone tells them! Why? Because of love..... I really ahted that part. Really, really unrealistic.
Sean
Sean takes as Evas Guardian after his father, Jonathan, dies. Sean is around Evas age and (big spoiler) they fall in love. Their little love story is one of those really unrealistic ones, where the couple from one day to another just falls in love. The exception here is that they do not even kiss before at the very end. They have not even explored there feelings and yet they are still madly in love with each other. Sigh...
Ray
Ray is Amarras boyfreind and one of the only characters I relly really like. We both see his good side and his really mean and bad side. We see him being conflicted about Eva, because she looks and acts like his dead girlfriend Amarra, but still he knows that it is not her. For me he really represented the whole issue of grieve. At one point you want to hold on as tight as you can and at another point you just have to let go and tell your goodbuys somehow.
He was awesome eventhough he pissed me off sometimes.
Amarras familie
Amarra lived with her parents and younger brother and sister in India.
Amarras mother is the only one, who actually believed that Amarra had walked in the Eva and Eva was just some kind of 'backup-body'. The rest of the family, the father and the siblings does not. That was really unrealistic as well. The parents has been paying for this echo all of Evas life and yet the father does not believe what he pays for?
Also, the younger brother are around 13 years old and he is described as wiser for his age... First of all the only thing that indicates that he wiser than his age is that he does not believe Eva is Amarra. That's it.
The youngest girl is about 5 years old and she instantly knew that Eva was not Amarra either. I don't really know if I would call that realistic but I actually really liked that. You say that small children can sense some things without really know what is going on and I liked that this story had that. I liked that little touch.
2 out of 5
The Plot/the world
I really, really love dystopia. Throughout time people have tried several ways to cheat death and the idea about an echo taking your place when you are gone that was a new one I had not heard about before. So naturally I was hooked. I expected a real true battle for trying to convince everyone that she was Amarra and in the end maybe fail. Well... that did happen. But what also happened was that the whole school found out what Eva was, and instead of going to the police (echoes are illegal in India, where she lives as Amarra) they start bullying her. This was just weird and not what you would have expected. Theee kids have been brought up their whole life believing echoes are a abormanation and illegal. Yet noone turns her in.
Also, something happens in Evas life that makes her run away. But very soon the weavers catch. She is offered an alternative to death from the weavers. She accepts, but very soon she tries to run again. And then she does not want to run but want to hold her ground and fight. All of this is really ignoring. It seems as if teh author had all of these really great ideas and then just threw them all in on those 40 pages. It makes it so unrealistic and ruins the reading experience. Instead of threwing them all in to one book, she could have spread them all out more...
But I liked the idea that started it all; create another that takes over your role in life when you are gone. That was a great idea that got lost in all of the other.... stuff.
2 out of 5
The Characters
Eva
I liked that Mandanna made Eva different from Amarra. What i did not like was that Eva just seemed to forgive everyone that was mean to her. She was always so understanding about other peoples feeling and why they did what they did. That really pissed me off. You do not just forgive people that bullies you everyday, and you do not just forgive people that order you dead. You just don't. God, I hated that.
Also, this story really tries to make you question wheter echoes are humans and have a sould or are a abormanation and are soulless. The author could ahve gone more into that. She makes Eva so human-like that she kinda erases her own question; do echoes have a soul? Not good. She could have made her more non-human. Eva could at some point had acted totally different from what a human being what have done, or not have had that many emotions. Something...
The Guardians
Echoes are still not accepted and some people called the hunters hunt down echoes and kill them. They call them a abormanation to God.
Because of that every echo has some guardians to watch over him or her.
Evas guardians are called Erik, Ophelia and Jonathan and she is being raised by a woman called Mina Ma.
Jonathan dies at some point and his son, Sean, takes his place.
Now, what is all so wonderful about these guardians is that they are all just so good to her. Their job is partly to keep her save, and partly to tell the weavers whenever she does something that is not something Amarra would have done. They do the first part but forget the second. That is really unrealistic. We are talking about 5 people who are all working for the weaver and none of them tell on Eva.
Opehlia is the daughter of one of the three weavers and not even she tells them about Eva. Erik is a really good friend to another weaver and he does not tell them either. Is that realistic? I mean Eva does quite a lot of things that are not Amarra-like and noone tells them! Why? Because of love..... I really ahted that part. Really, really unrealistic.
Sean
Sean takes as Evas Guardian after his father, Jonathan, dies. Sean is around Evas age and (big spoiler) they fall in love. Their little love story is one of those really unrealistic ones, where the couple from one day to another just falls in love. The exception here is that they do not even kiss before at the very end. They have not even explored there feelings and yet they are still madly in love with each other. Sigh...
Ray
Ray is Amarras boyfreind and one of the only characters I relly really like. We both see his good side and his really mean and bad side. We see him being conflicted about Eva, because she looks and acts like his dead girlfriend Amarra, but still he knows that it is not her. For me he really represented the whole issue of grieve. At one point you want to hold on as tight as you can and at another point you just have to let go and tell your goodbuys somehow.
He was awesome eventhough he pissed me off sometimes.
Amarras familie
Amarra lived with her parents and younger brother and sister in India.
Amarras mother is the only one, who actually believed that Amarra had walked in the Eva and Eva was just some kind of 'backup-body'. The rest of the family, the father and the siblings does not. That was really unrealistic as well. The parents has been paying for this echo all of Evas life and yet the father does not believe what he pays for?
Also, the younger brother are around 13 years old and he is described as wiser for his age... First of all the only thing that indicates that he wiser than his age is that he does not believe Eva is Amarra. That's it.
The youngest girl is about 5 years old and she instantly knew that Eva was not Amarra either. I don't really know if I would call that realistic but I actually really liked that. You say that small children can sense some things without really know what is going on and I liked that this story had that. I liked that little touch.
2 out of 5
beth27's review against another edition
4.0
A young couple breaks the rules by falling in love and breaks some more rules when Eva decides to be her own person.
steeftb's review against another edition
So... I started this book on 29th of january 2014.. More than 1.5 years ago, oops!
I have had this on my shelf for so long now, I think it is time to move it to the didnt-finish category. Honestly, I can't see myself finishing this book. It wasn't really a bad book at all. It just starts off somewhat slow so I lost interest then. (As far as I can remember) The writing was fine and I can't really pinpoint anyreason besides the slow start that made me stop reading this book.
I have had this on my shelf for so long now, I think it is time to move it to the didnt-finish category. Honestly, I can't see myself finishing this book. It wasn't really a bad book at all. It just starts off somewhat slow so I lost interest then. (As far as I can remember) The writing was fine and I can't really pinpoint anyreason besides the slow start that made me stop reading this book.