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A review by nicolewolverton
Doppelganger by Milda Harris
2.0
This was a 2 or a 2.5 for me.
There are certain novel openings that will never stop being cliched. One of them is “I knew it was going to be a bad day when . . . “ That is exactly how Doppelganger begins. Couple that with an enormous amount of back story on the first two pages, and I wasn’t primed to love Doppelganger. I’m sorry to say that this story never picked up and, ultimately, just wasn’t for me.
The idea is a good one--it plays on the idea that we’ve all got a twin somewhere in the world. And in Citrus’ world (yes, the main character is named Citrus), this equates to an evil twin. Citrus wakes up late because she was up the night before reading The Hunger Games, and when she arrives at her World History class discovers her doppelganger already in the room, taking her test. As she attempts to make sense of it, her dream boy--Aeden--arrives. His doppelganger is in the room as well, and with no evidence to suggest it could be true, he deems the doppelgangers evil, bad, and dangerous and convinces Citrus to leave school grounds with him so they can talk privately in a nature reserve.
Okay, so being a naturally suspicious kind of girl, I wondered a] why Aeden was so hot to get her off school grounds and into a secluded spot; and b] why Aeden would jump to a conclusion about the doppelgangers. I mean, sure, having a twin randomly show up probably isn’t a good thing, but he immediately assumes they’re aliens out to take over the world. Which leads me to jump to my own conclusion: the Aeden currently speaking to Citrus is the real Aeden’s doppelganger, and he’s purposefully screwing with Citrus. Couple this with the fact that he is not even remotely concerned about his girlfriend being replaced by alien pod people, and it was a lock for me. I was sure of it.
And as it turns out,I was right. And having figured out the plot twist in the second chapter, I was spoiled for the remainder of the book .
I'm not convinced this novel should really be marketed as a YA novel. Yes, truly, the characters are teens, but they also come off quite a bit younger. The language is quite simplified and basic, the romance part of it is incredibly innocent, and even the violence is downplayed and mostly occurs off-screen, so to speak. It seems more written for an older MG or perhaps a tween audience that isn't looking for anything too complicated (think Disney or Nickelodeon).
In an overarching, meta way, there are some similarities between this and Rick Yancey's The Fifth Wave. However, comparing the two throws into high relief the differences in tone and intended age group.
*from Netgalley
There are certain novel openings that will never stop being cliched. One of them is “I knew it was going to be a bad day when . . . “ That is exactly how Doppelganger begins. Couple that with an enormous amount of back story on the first two pages, and I wasn’t primed to love Doppelganger. I’m sorry to say that this story never picked up and, ultimately, just wasn’t for me.
The idea is a good one--it plays on the idea that we’ve all got a twin somewhere in the world. And in Citrus’ world (yes, the main character is named Citrus), this equates to an evil twin. Citrus wakes up late because she was up the night before reading The Hunger Games, and when she arrives at her World History class discovers her doppelganger already in the room, taking her test. As she attempts to make sense of it, her dream boy--Aeden--arrives. His doppelganger is in the room as well, and with no evidence to suggest it could be true, he deems the doppelgangers evil, bad, and dangerous and convinces Citrus to leave school grounds with him so they can talk privately in a nature reserve.
Okay, so being a naturally suspicious kind of girl, I wondered a] why Aeden was so hot to get her off school grounds and into a secluded spot; and b] why Aeden would jump to a conclusion about the doppelgangers. I mean, sure, having a twin randomly show up probably isn’t a good thing, but he immediately assumes they’re aliens out to take over the world. Which leads me to jump to my own conclusion: the Aeden currently speaking to Citrus is the real Aeden’s doppelganger, and he’s purposefully screwing with Citrus. Couple this with the fact that he is not even remotely concerned about his girlfriend being replaced by alien pod people, and it was a lock for me. I was sure of it.
And as it turns out,
I'm not convinced this novel should really be marketed as a YA novel. Yes, truly, the characters are teens, but they also come off quite a bit younger. The language is quite simplified and basic, the romance part of it is incredibly innocent, and even the violence is downplayed and mostly occurs off-screen, so to speak. It seems more written for an older MG or perhaps a tween audience that isn't looking for anything too complicated (think Disney or Nickelodeon).
In an overarching, meta way, there are some similarities between this and Rick Yancey's The Fifth Wave. However, comparing the two throws into high relief the differences in tone and intended age group.
*from Netgalley