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A review by bluekaren
Deviation by Heather Hildenbrand
3.0
I was pretty sure I had this series all figured out. I didn’t. Deviation proved even more entertaining than Imitation, which was a great start to a series. I am now dying to read the final book, Generation.
I recently reviewed the first book in this series, Imitation. This book is not a standalone. The author threw in loads of recaps, but you won’t really enjoy this book, unless you read the first one. Also, there is no way to review this book without giving away spoilers about the first book. So there will be spoilers here for book one.
Ven is doing it. Ven is an imitation living her authentic’s life. Maybe her situation is a bit more serious because her authentic’s father is Titus. Titus is the one who created all the clones, and now he has all the power. He is all business and if you cross him, he will get an imitation to replace you. Ven and Daniel team up to free the clones in the first book, but he is captured. It is now up to Ven to figure out how to get Daniel out and not get herself killed. As secrets of connections are revealed, Ven realizes there is more on the line than just her friends back at Twig (the clone factory) at stake if she fails.
There is almost too much going on in this book. Ven and Linc are getting closer. Daniel is in major trouble and he is the only one who knows where Twig city is and how to get the freed Imitations moved to a safe place. Titus is very manipulative and has all of these engagements for his daughter Raven, and so Ven seems to go from place to place. Somehow Ven still finds time to move around behind the scenes. She gains critical knowledge throughout the story.
There were a few things that really worked for this story:
*I got answers to some questions left by book one. The secrets revealed in this book were very shocking. I don’t mean that I didn’t expect some people to be lying, but this was just so much more than that. I was left wondering how I would feel if someone dropped that bomb on me.
*The concept of a bad guy just replacing someone who doesn’t agree with him. Someone like Titus literally playing god to the Imitations.
*The motivation for Ven to try and save her people. She is living a really sad existence just pretending to be someone else. Her motivation isn’t just to be free, it is for all the imitations to be free, too.
*There is a lot of alliances and new betrayals in this story. I am really not trusting anyone in this series at this point, except Ven. I am still really rooting for her.
The problems I had with this story:
*Ven is able to pull of Raven with ease at this point, she is really good at pretending. She lies throughout most of this story. She puts on a show for Titus and in every social situation. The other Imitations in this story, and there are quite a few, are just as good as pulling off their deceptions. It seems pretty unbelievable that anyone could be that smooth without more experience.
*I really wasn’t as impressed by the romance between Ven and Linc in this story. It was an odd thing roaming around in the background of this story. There was so much more moving throughout the story that the romance lost interest for me.
*I hated the ending of this book. I am rooting for Ven, so this is unacceptable. This ending cannot actually be the end. I have even more unanswered questions.
This book seems like a typical second book in a trilogy. It gave good angst, dragged a bit, but left me rooting for the protagonist.
I recently reviewed the first book in this series, Imitation. This book is not a standalone. The author threw in loads of recaps, but you won’t really enjoy this book, unless you read the first one. Also, there is no way to review this book without giving away spoilers about the first book. So there will be spoilers here for book one.
Ven is doing it. Ven is an imitation living her authentic’s life. Maybe her situation is a bit more serious because her authentic’s father is Titus. Titus is the one who created all the clones, and now he has all the power. He is all business and if you cross him, he will get an imitation to replace you. Ven and Daniel team up to free the clones in the first book, but he is captured. It is now up to Ven to figure out how to get Daniel out and not get herself killed. As secrets of connections are revealed, Ven realizes there is more on the line than just her friends back at Twig (the clone factory) at stake if she fails.
There is almost too much going on in this book. Ven and Linc are getting closer. Daniel is in major trouble and he is the only one who knows where Twig city is and how to get the freed Imitations moved to a safe place. Titus is very manipulative and has all of these engagements for his daughter Raven, and so Ven seems to go from place to place. Somehow Ven still finds time to move around behind the scenes. She gains critical knowledge throughout the story.
There were a few things that really worked for this story:
*I got answers to some questions left by book one. The secrets revealed in this book were very shocking. I don’t mean that I didn’t expect some people to be lying, but this was just so much more than that. I was left wondering how I would feel if someone dropped that bomb on me.
*The concept of a bad guy just replacing someone who doesn’t agree with him. Someone like Titus literally playing god to the Imitations.
*The motivation for Ven to try and save her people. She is living a really sad existence just pretending to be someone else. Her motivation isn’t just to be free, it is for all the imitations to be free, too.
*There is a lot of alliances and new betrayals in this story. I am really not trusting anyone in this series at this point, except Ven. I am still really rooting for her.
The problems I had with this story:
*Ven is able to pull of Raven with ease at this point, she is really good at pretending. She lies throughout most of this story. She puts on a show for Titus and in every social situation. The other Imitations in this story, and there are quite a few, are just as good as pulling off their deceptions. It seems pretty unbelievable that anyone could be that smooth without more experience.
*I really wasn’t as impressed by the romance between Ven and Linc in this story. It was an odd thing roaming around in the background of this story. There was so much more moving throughout the story that the romance lost interest for me.
*I hated the ending of this book. I am rooting for Ven, so this is unacceptable. This ending cannot actually be the end. I have even more unanswered questions.
This book seems like a typical second book in a trilogy. It gave good angst, dragged a bit, but left me rooting for the protagonist.