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A review by jenny_librarian
The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna
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.