Review: What's Left Of Me by Kat Zhang

What’s Left of Me by Kat Zhang

The Hybrid Chronicles #1

Release Date: September 18^th, 2012

Number of Pages: 343

Publisher: Harper Collins

Source: ARC from BEA 

I should not exist. But I do. Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else—two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t . . . For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable-hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet . . . for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything.

Wow. I wasn’t really expecting anything when I first started this book. In all honesty, I picked it up a BEA, because a fellow blogger seemed really excited about it, and I though I should probably check it out. What a good that was! This book nicely surprised me, since it felt like a nice change from the usual dystopian I’ve been reading lately. I love there is a lot going on is within between Addie and Eva, since there relationship is so intriguing and unique. I mean it’s not everyday that you read about two souls living in the same body.

That’s the thing. The two souls aren’t supposed to still be there after a certain age. One, the recessive one, is supposed to fade. Yet, Eva and Addie are still both there. Eva may not be as strong as Addie, but she’s still there, and she doesn’t want to fade. I was surprised to see that there wasn’t any real anger toward Addie because of that, since Eva isn’t technically alive to the world, except to Addie. She only can take control when Addie lets her. This made the relationship between those two so intriguing. You can see that there is so much love between them, since no one no them like the other does. Yet, Addie is in control, which could have created some jealousy with Eva. Also, Eva’s presence is dangerous for Addie, since being a hybrid (having two souls) is judged to be dangerous. It was also extremely interesting to see their interaction with other hybrids like they, since Kat Zhang really made it possible for us to see the changes within them, as they switch souls. It was fascinating to see that I could recognize which souls Eva and Addie were talking to. This proves that she can write characters amazingly, making them each so different to the others.

The only thing that I felt lacking, to be honest was a little more background information about the world the story is set in, which is not that surprising to me.  I still have many questions left unanswered after having finished this book, but I have great hope that they will be answered in the next book, especially since I really want to know the reasons why they seemed to find hybrids so dangerous. Other than that, with absolutely amazing.