Review: Falls the Shadow by Stefanie Gaither

Falls the Shadow by Stefanie Gaither

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: September 16, 2014

Rating: 3 stars

Source: eARC from Edelweiss

Summary (from Goodreads):

When Cate Benson was a kid, her sister, Violet, died. Two hours after the funeral, Cate’s family picked up Violet’s replacement. Like nothing had happened. Because Cate’s parents are among those who decided to give their children a sort of immortality—by cloning them at birth—which means this new Violet has the same smile. The same perfect face. Thanks to advancements in mind-uploading technology, she even has all of the same memories as the girl she replaced.

She also might have murdered the most popular girl in school.

At least, that’s what the paparazzi and the anti-cloning protestors want everyone to think: that clones are violent, unpredictable monsters. Cate is used to hearing all that. She’s used to defending her sister, too. But Violet has vanished, and when Cate sets out to find her, she ends up in the line of fire instead. Because Cate is getting dangerously close to secrets that will rock the foundation of everything she thought was true.

In a thrilling debut, Stefanie Gaither takes readers on a nail-biting ride through a future that looks frighteningly similar to our own time and asks: how far are you willing to go to keep your family together?

What I Liked:

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. On the one hand, I enjoyed the ride. On the other, it was nothing special. It felt like other science fiction novels I've read, which makes me a little sad. I love science fiction novels, but I love original ones. 

Cate and her sister have clones. Her parents decided to have clones made when Cate and her sister were born, because life is dangerous in this futuristic world. Diseases and sickness ravage the world, which make her parents cautious. When Violet (Cate's sister) dies, they go to get her clone. A perfect copy of Violet, with even her memories intact (the clone and the origin are linked in the brain through devices). Four years later, Violet (clone) goes missing, and Samantha Voss is presumed dead. Everything is about to change for Cate, and she will finally know the truth.

So basically, Cate doesn't know where her clone sister went, but everyone expects her to know. When she is taken to the CCA (which, for the life of me, I have no idea what that organization is or stands for), she learns that the cloning lab/company is evil, with nefarious, ulterior motives. But the CCA is just as bad, for kidnapping her and refusing to let her go. She goes on the run from both, and to find her sister.

The first half of the book was interesting. The second half of the book was anticlimactic. It wasn't an epic showdown, a heart-pounding thriller. I wasn't turning pages like a crazy person (or clicking the "next page" button on my Kindle, etc.). But I liked the first half of the book. It had my attention, even though I was convinced that this book wasn't anything unique.

There is romance in this book, but it's insta-love-y. The female protagonist was already in love with the male protagonist. And hey, maybe the male protagonist was already in love with the female protagonist. Maybe that's what the author was going for. But it seemed like instalove. These two were too familiar with each other, too forgiving, too able to make difficult, heartbreaking decisions for each other too quickly. 

Like I said about the second half... anticlimactic. I expected a more crazy ending, but it seems like things just smoothed out and ended, which is certainly NOT how I imagine science fiction thrillers ending. There was a pretty interesting climax, but it was so jumbled and ehhhh written that I barely understood what was going on. WAIT. I'm in the wrong section. Read on.

What I Did Not Like:

Anticlimactic borderline boring book. Instalove. Scrambled ending. Similar (in specific ways) to other science fiction books. Need I say more? 

I think I liked the book, but it was a bit boring. I wanted to finish the book, but I struggled. I wanted to like it, but there was no spark, nothing that made this book stand about. There was nothing special about this book.

It reminded me A LOT of Linked and Unravel by Imogen Howson. In fact, the ideas are eerily similar. Same publisher too. Hmmm. In Linked, there are twin girls linked together by a path in their brain. The spare escapes. In this book, there is an origin and a clone, linked in the brain. The clone has extra abilities, just as the spare does in Linked. I really enjoyed the Linked duology. It was a lot more fleshed out than this book. This book wasn't very developed, in my opinion. The plot is simple and predictable, and it doesn't hold much. The story isn't based on much, either. Who cares whether or not Cate knows where Violet is? Why is Cate so important? I still don't get it. Go after Violet, not Cate.

I'm confused about a lot of things in this book. Like what the CCA is. I don't even know what the acronym stands for. I understand the players in the game - Huxley or CCA or anything. I didn't understand why Cate was being chased like a terrorist. Yes, her father is the mayor. Yes, she is cloned. Yes, her sister possibly killed a girl. But why go after Cate like that? It makes no sense.

I already explained the instalove. Instalove is almost as bad as a love triangle, but not quite. No love triangle. Look, Cate's not a bad character. Neither is her boy. Neither is Seth, her boy's best friend. Don't worry, Seth isn't part of the romance - he's more of a comic relief character (love him!). I can't remember the male protagonist's name, so we're going to roll with "her boy". What was I saying... oh, yeah, the instalove. Meh.

I mentioned the characters in the previous paragraph... I didn't really *like* Cate, and couldn't connect with her. Jaxon - THAT'S HIS NAME - is cool, but too perfect. Too good. Too selfless. I like character flaws, imperfections, human (negative) traits. Ahem, Jaxon.

The ending was kind of meh too. It ended on a boring note and wasn't all that exciting, in my opinion. Meh.

Would I Recommend It:

No. Not really. It's an okay novel, and I think I liked it while reading it, but ehhh, I wouldn't recommend it. 

Rating:

2.5 stars -> rounded up to 3 stars. Perhaps if there is a sequel, I might read it. IF there is a sequel. We'll see though.

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