Author: Lillian Clark
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Published Date: June 9, 2020
Genre: YA, Sci-fi
Rating: ★★★⍣☆
REVIEW
I've had this book on my TBR list since it was published. I love the idea of cloning and the ethical/societal implications that it brings. Reading authors interpretations of these ideas is always interesting because there are so many ways to explore the concept of cloning.
SYNOPSIS
"An overachiever enrolls in an experimental clone study to prove that two (of her own) heads are better than one in this fast-paced, near-future adventure that's Black Mirror meets Becky Albertalli.
There aren't enough hours in the day for Lucille--perfectionist, overachiever--to do everything she has to do, and there certainly aren't enough hours to hang out with friends, fall in love, get in trouble--all the teenage things she knows she should want to be doing instead of preparing for a flawless future. So when she sees an ad for Life2: Do more. Be more, she's intrigued.
The company is looking for beta testers to enroll in an experimental clone program, and in the aftermath of a series of disappointments, Lucille is feeling reckless enough to jump in. At first, it's perfect: her clone, Lucy, is exactly what she needed to make her life manageable and have time for a social life. But it doesn't take long for Lucy to become more Lucy and less Lucille, and Lucille is forced to stop looking at Lucy as a reflection and start seeing her as a window--a glimpse at someone else living her own life, but better. Lucy does what she really wants to, not what she thinks she should want to, and Lucille is left wondering how much she was even a part of the perfect life she'd constructed for herself. Lucille wanted Lucy to help her relationships with everyone else, but how can she do that without first rectifying her relationship with herself?"
MY THOUGHTS
I really wish this book would have been in the adult age range. I absolutely loved the ideas explored and the growth experienced by both the original (Lucille) and her clone (Lucy), I did feel like this book was bogged down by all the teenage drama. Maybe even if the main character would have been in college it would have improved upon that, but since the character spends the majority of the book in the summer between her sophomore and junior year of high school, there was just a lot of extra teenage drama. I don't mind romance in books at all, but in this case it was so immature feeling and over-dramatic that I think it took away from the good parts.
Now, what this book excelled in was the cloning aspect. I really loved the reveal at the end of how the company, Life squared, came to be. What I love about the concept of cloning is that there is seemingly no way for it to be completely ethical. Sure, the original person may have consented to being cloned, but in all iterations that come to mind the clone is basically owned by whoever created them. In Half Life, things are no different. Luce is an experiment to see if clones can move about in normal society without being detected or suspected of anything.
Even with the science aspect, I do wish that it pushed to boundaries more. Towards the middle I was beginning to grow bored as it drifted more towards contemporary. However, the ending definitely picked up in both speed and in the sci-fi nature. With that though, it almost felt too late to have so much plot development. Most of the action happened within the last 50 pages, and I think it should have been stretched over more of the book.
Overall, this definitely felt young even though there was mentions of sex, drugs, and alcohol. Those aspects were mostly glossed over and didn't necessarily feel needed either. I would have enjoyed this more if I would have read it when I was younger, but it was still an enjoyable read nonetheless.
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