Imitation » Book Review

I hereby make a pledge to myself. I WILL allow myself to 'DNF' books.

This novel was an utter disaster, all the way from its sub-par plot to its incompetent main character. And the romance made me want to claw someone's eyes out. Preferably those of Ven, our protagonist.

The Good

I learnt that I have a surprisingly high threshold of drivel. Apparently, I enjoy having a taste of true suffering.

The God-Awful

Where do I even begin...

Let me start with Ven, our Imitation (aka clone). She has spent her whole life living with other Imitations, training for the day when she might be called to serve her Authentic, Raven. Raven has been attacked and Ven is to take her place and draw out Raven's attackers while living under the thumb of Titus, who is Raven's father and also the creator of the Imitations. A significant portion of Ven's training was spent on learning about Raven and her social circle, and imitating her behavior. And oh boy, is she absolutely INCOMPETENT at that.

I don't get it. If you've spent YOUR WHOLE LIFE (in this case, 5 years) learning to be someone else, why on earth are you so terrible at it?? Not only that, Ven frequently mentions the daily challenging physical routine that she experienced with the other Imitations but she is SO USELESS at taking care of herself it makes me want to throw something.

I abhor incompetency in my main characters.

The only reason she barely makes it through this book is because of her bodyguard/love interest, Linc. He is always saving her, and getting her out of tricky situations because Ven is the most incapable character ever to exist. It takes until we get to 37% of the book for her to realize, hmmm, maybe I should save myself?

REALLY!?! Whatever gave you such an idea that YOU had to take care of yourself?! What a disgrace!!

"Linc always manages to show up when I need him most. I'm so overwhelmed by the sight of him - saving me, once again - that I can barely breathe."

Hmm, that whole taking care of yourself plan went straight to hell, I see.

The romance was nauseating. Within a meeting or two, Ven already can 'feel Linc's disapproval'. In fact, it's really clear that Linc had the hots for Raven, but figured she was too shallow or slutty for him. Which is just creepy.

"You've never turned down a boy," he says quietly. My eyes fall quickly to the floor. "Oh." Suddenly, I'm ashamed for something I've never done."

SLUT SHAMING IS NOT OKAY.

Another thing that irritated me to no end was how obtuse the villainous characters remained about Linc's true loyalties. Everything Raven does is monitored, including where in the house she goes, and her phone calls. She doesn't know this of course, and it's only because it was Linc who observed her (instead of one of the other bodyguards, which is pure dumb luck) that she remained safe. Not only that, Linc has been found in Ven's bedroom SEVERAL TIMES, and still no suspicion falls on him. I refuse to read the rest of the trilogy, but I sincerely hope that Linc is a traitor because all that was too easy.

Let me pepper you guys with some more wonderful quotes in case you need a dose of Ipecac. This will do the job.

"How can I give myself over to defeat now that I've finally found someone else [Linc] to believe in my victory?"

"My world cracks, crumbles, and reassembles itself - with Linc at the center."

"But it's Linc. And I won't refuse him.

*gags*

The blurb promised to keep me guessing till the very end. Do you want to know what the big reveal was at the end?? I figure you guys won't care, I highly doubt my review has convinced anyone to do so, but I shall add spoiler tags just in case.

[spoiler]That even clones are people with feelings![/spoiler]

No shit.

Linc leans in and kisses me lightly. "Thank you for having hope when I didn't," he says. I kiss him back, lingering longer than he did. "You are my hope."

I'm glad one of them has hope. My hope withered and died about 20 pages in.