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mhought's review against another edition
5.0
I don't normally write reviews for books, but this one has me so worked up I had to pen it. I liked this book from the word "go", but the more I read the more I fell in love. The mystery surrounding the main character drew me in as I tried, with Emma, to decipher her mysterious past and make sense of her suspicious new life. The BIG twist, I actually predicted, but never assumed I would be right and was therefore still floored when it was revealed.
I could never fully pinpoint how I felt while reading this book, and I'm not sure I can describe it accurately now. It caused me to question and to reflect and to consider. It pulled me in multiple directions. In the end I couldn't help myself from saying "Fight, Emma. Fight" aloud to my book as I read. The connection I felt to Emma was visceral - something I think, in part, caused by the writing style - and her battle felt personal.
How do you deal with the things She knows?
I can't wait to pick up the next book and see where things go from here.
I could never fully pinpoint how I felt while reading this book, and I'm not sure I can describe it accurately now. It caused me to question and to reflect and to consider. It pulled me in multiple directions. In the end I couldn't help myself from saying "Fight, Emma. Fight" aloud to my book as I read. The connection I felt to Emma was visceral - something I think, in part, caused by the writing style - and her battle felt personal.
How do you deal with the things She knows?
I can't wait to pick up the next book and see where things go from here.
nicoleabouttown's review
4.0
Let me start off by saying I normally stay away from any kind of book that has massive ‘hype’ behind it. It’s not to say that I don’t read the most anticipated books, but I do tend to read them way after they are published; specifically to stay away from all of the hype. I do this, because the hype tends to impact my enjoyment of the book. 9 times out of 10, I don’t enjoy the ‘hype’ books at all, and the other 1 out of 10 times, I enjoy the book but not to the extent that everyone else seems to. Breaking my own rule, I decided to take a chance on Archetype by M.D. Waters and read what is arguably one of the most ‘hyped’ books of the winter 2014 publishing season. The results you ask?
MIND.BLOWN
For those of you who like me love the New Adult genre, but are waiting for something with more teeth than your typical coming of age story, Archetype by M.D. Waters is that story. It’s different, fresh, and innovative. Archetype is a story that begs not just to be read, but to be experienced by the reader. There is something that just grabs you right from the beginning and sucks you right into Emma’s story and her world and doesn’t let you go. Finally a ‘hype’ book that lives up to all of the hype surrounding it.
Normally, I am not a fan of love triangles at all. They tend to annoy me greatly as it shows the characters lack of knowing their own minds and hearts. In Archetype, the love triangle is central to the plot and done so, so well that sometimes you really aren’t sure who you are rooting for. Each of the male main characters plays their role to a T. Both so different, and mysterious in their own ways, the reader and Emma alike are never quite sure just who is to be trusted or if they can be trusted at all. The conflict, confusion, and uncertainty that Emma goes through is just so real that the reader can’t help being drawn right in. How can Emma possibly know her own mind or heart when she has no memories to speak of?
The world that Archetype is set in may not exactly be a ‘new’ concept, but it is certainly done better than others I have read. It’s such a tricky thing to tie a world and society like the one in Archetype to the story and actually have it work. Does that mean that it’s not utterly terrifying to imagine this kind of a reality? Of course not. As we learn more about the world Emma lives in, and as a result, more of the mystery surrounding Emma is revealed, it is equally terrifying and fascinating.
Archetype by M.D. Waters, for me, is a must-have must-read book. Once you pick it up, not only will you not be able to put it down, but you will be dying for more. Lucky for both me and you, the follow-up book Prototype will be out in July 2014, so we don’t have that long of a wait to find out what happens in this utterly riveting story. I applaud you M.D. Waters for creating a story so captivating that readers will be buzzing about it for a long time to come.
MIND.BLOWN
For those of you who like me love the New Adult genre, but are waiting for something with more teeth than your typical coming of age story, Archetype by M.D. Waters is that story. It’s different, fresh, and innovative. Archetype is a story that begs not just to be read, but to be experienced by the reader. There is something that just grabs you right from the beginning and sucks you right into Emma’s story and her world and doesn’t let you go. Finally a ‘hype’ book that lives up to all of the hype surrounding it.
Normally, I am not a fan of love triangles at all. They tend to annoy me greatly as it shows the characters lack of knowing their own minds and hearts. In Archetype, the love triangle is central to the plot and done so, so well that sometimes you really aren’t sure who you are rooting for. Each of the male main characters plays their role to a T. Both so different, and mysterious in their own ways, the reader and Emma alike are never quite sure just who is to be trusted or if they can be trusted at all. The conflict, confusion, and uncertainty that Emma goes through is just so real that the reader can’t help being drawn right in. How can Emma possibly know her own mind or heart when she has no memories to speak of?
The world that Archetype is set in may not exactly be a ‘new’ concept, but it is certainly done better than others I have read. It’s such a tricky thing to tie a world and society like the one in Archetype to the story and actually have it work. Does that mean that it’s not utterly terrifying to imagine this kind of a reality? Of course not. As we learn more about the world Emma lives in, and as a result, more of the mystery surrounding Emma is revealed, it is equally terrifying and fascinating.
Archetype by M.D. Waters, for me, is a must-have must-read book. Once you pick it up, not only will you not be able to put it down, but you will be dying for more. Lucky for both me and you, the follow-up book Prototype will be out in July 2014, so we don’t have that long of a wait to find out what happens in this utterly riveting story. I applaud you M.D. Waters for creating a story so captivating that readers will be buzzing about it for a long time to come.
katkfern's review against another edition
4.0
Could NOT put it down!! Waters sets it up perfectly, feeding you just enough information where you can try to piece things together...but end up being way off base, making the final reveal that much more jaw-dropping. Really enjoyed the futuristic setting - despite the circumstances women face. I'm not sure how I feel about the ending, but I guess I'll have to see what happens in the next book!
districtreads's review against another edition
5.0
Too often, thrillers simply don’t live up to their name. That’s not the case with M.D. Waters’ Archetype, which I can only describe as BBC’s Orphan Black meets The Handmaid’s Tale and Gone Girl. We meet Emma, the main character, struggling with a case of amnesia after a devastating accident. She is fighting to be herself – but is that Emma Burke, wife of the wealthy Declan Burke, or is she someone else entirely? And what does the voice in her head – one Emma calls “Her” – have to do with it?
The slow buildup will keep you turning pages, as a thoroughly contemporary world is revealed to be a futuristic one, where a low fertility rate means that fecund women are valued as important commodities to be bought and sold. Women are “prepared” for marriage in Women’s Training Centers, and then bought by the highest bidder for their reproductive attributes.
Emma doesn’t know any of this at first – all she knows is that Declan is a loving, caring husband, and that she cares for him very much. If only she could remember their past…
When she meets a man in public who has featured heavily in her dreams – and nightmares – Emma’s world is turned upside down. There is a very real betrayal, and a love triangle with conflict tied up in the knots. Her very understanding of who – or rather, what she is – is shaken. I was breathless until the very end.
And that ending! I couldn’t put this book down. You don’t have to be a science fiction buff, or the kind of fan who watched Battlestar Galactica religiously or in a Netflix marathon, to get into this book. Put simply, this is one of the best thrillers I have read all year. The best part? It’s a duology, so the second book will be published in late July. That way, you won’t have to wait very long to get your fix. (Lucky me, the folks over at Dutton sent me both at once, so I read them back-to-back in a few days.)
Cross-posted to http://www.off-the-book.org/2014/06/face-in-book-book-reviews-archetype-by.html
The slow buildup will keep you turning pages, as a thoroughly contemporary world is revealed to be a futuristic one, where a low fertility rate means that fecund women are valued as important commodities to be bought and sold. Women are “prepared” for marriage in Women’s Training Centers, and then bought by the highest bidder for their reproductive attributes.
Emma doesn’t know any of this at first – all she knows is that Declan is a loving, caring husband, and that she cares for him very much. If only she could remember their past…
When she meets a man in public who has featured heavily in her dreams – and nightmares – Emma’s world is turned upside down. There is a very real betrayal, and a love triangle with conflict tied up in the knots. Her very understanding of who – or rather, what she is – is shaken. I was breathless until the very end.
And that ending! I couldn’t put this book down. You don’t have to be a science fiction buff, or the kind of fan who watched Battlestar Galactica religiously or in a Netflix marathon, to get into this book. Put simply, this is one of the best thrillers I have read all year. The best part? It’s a duology, so the second book will be published in late July. That way, you won’t have to wait very long to get your fix. (Lucky me, the folks over at Dutton sent me both at once, so I read them back-to-back in a few days.)
Cross-posted to http://www.off-the-book.org/2014/06/face-in-book-book-reviews-archetype-by.html
amyjoy's review
3.0
This was pretty enjoyable. It helped that one of my favorite narrators was reading it, but by the end I really felt for Emma and wanted everything to work out. I like the ending Waters gave her, . I would definitely be willing to read a sequel, though I am glad that Waters didn't leave Emma's story totally hanging with zero resolution.
Spoiler
in which she gets to go out in the world and figure out who the hell she isamandacole's review
4.0
I received this book free from Penguin First to Read.
When I first saw this book and read its description, it looked interesting, but I worried that it would be a letdown, like many of the books in this now-overdone genre. I was pleasantly surprised to find a unique story with a few unexpected twists.
What I liked most about this was that I really, really wanted to find out why Emma didn't remember her past and why Declan was telling her things that conflicted with memories she did have. I kept reading well past my bedtime to get to the bottom of it, finishing the book in one sitting.
I liked that we learned about the world in which the characters lived through Emma's memories, which revealed only bits at a time. I'm curious to learn more about this world, and I expect there will be a follow-up to this book that gets us further immersed in this world.
I also liked the characterization of Declan and how we learned more about him over time. I'm still not entirely sure what to think about him; is he as bad as Noah and Foster say? Or is he trying to do things differently from his father? I liked that he seemed more sinister over time. I think his character was written very nicely.
What I didn't like was the Adrienne element: while it certainly explained some of Noah's frustrations, it just doesn't make much sense to me. Maybe with more of their story, it would, but it just seemed like it was out of place. I also felt like I wanted to know more about Foster, Noah, and the resistance.
That said, I'm curious enough about these characters and their world to read more books about them. This was a quick read, and I did enjoy it.
When I first saw this book and read its description, it looked interesting, but I worried that it would be a letdown, like many of the books in this now-overdone genre. I was pleasantly surprised to find a unique story with a few unexpected twists.
What I liked most about this was that I really, really wanted to find out why Emma didn't remember her past and why Declan was telling her things that conflicted with memories she did have. I kept reading well past my bedtime to get to the bottom of it, finishing the book in one sitting.
I liked that we learned about the world in which the characters lived through Emma's memories, which revealed only bits at a time. I'm curious to learn more about this world, and I expect there will be a follow-up to this book that gets us further immersed in this world.
I also liked the characterization of Declan and how we learned more about him over time. I'm still not entirely sure what to think about him; is he as bad as Noah and Foster say? Or is he trying to do things differently from his father? I liked that he seemed more sinister over time. I think his character was written very nicely.
What I didn't like was the Adrienne element: while it certainly explained some of Noah's frustrations, it just doesn't make much sense to me. Maybe with more of their story, it would, but it just seemed like it was out of place. I also felt like I wanted to know more about Foster, Noah, and the resistance.
That said, I'm curious enough about these characters and their world to read more books about them. This was a quick read, and I did enjoy it.
blenchbooks's review against another edition
4.0
So I made the most tragic mistake with this book, I started to read the sequel before realising it was a sequel. That said I still found the first three quarters of this book incredibly intriguing even though I essentially knew where the story was going. The overall idea of the book was fantastic and I felt that knowledge of what was going in was held back in the right way. However, the last 50 pages or so just weren't as enjoyable for me and I found myself not realty wanting to read it, which is incredibly rare for me. As well as this, the ending felt incredibly rushed and most of the time I had no idea what was going on. One minute they're showing her the origin Emma and then without much explanation they're blowing up the cloning room, then she's somehow back at the mountain house. I got the feeling that the author just wanted to get it over with which disappointed me as I thoroughly enjoyed the rat of the book.
dcrice's review
1.0
As I was reading I just kept wondering why the main character never used contractions. She sounded like a robot. Maybe she was. I don't know. I didn't care enough to read far enough to find out. The characters and plot were just not interesting enough to draw me in - and it bothered me to be so focused on those contractions!
tanyarobinson's review
3.0
3.5 stars for this book that reminded me of Stephenie Meyer's The Host. The beginning wasn't strong, but it got better as it went on, to the point that I requested the sequel from the library as soon as I finished.
tab256's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyed the story and the distopian world setting. The plot kept surprising me and I'm anxious to read the sequel. Does contain a smattering of adult language and situations.