The Similars Spoiler Free Review

The Similars
by Rebecca Hanover

Release Date: January 1st, 2019

Synopsis:

When six clones join Emmaline’s prestigious boarding school, she must confront the heartbreak of seeing her dead best friend’s face each day in class.

The Similars are all anyone can talk about at the elite Darkwood Academy. Who are these six clones? What are the odds that all of them would be Darkwood students? Who is the madman who broke the law to create them? Emma couldn't care less. Her best friend, Oliver, died over the summer and all she can think about is how to get through her junior year without him. Then she comes face-to-heartbreaking-face with Levi—Oliver's exact DNA replica and one of the Similars.

Emma wants nothing to do with the Similars, but she keeps getting pulled deeper and deeper into their clique, uncovering dark truths about the clones and her prestigious school along the way. But no one can be trusted…not even the boy she is falling for who has Oliver's face.

My Thoughts:

I received an ARC for an honest review

I gave this book 4.25 stars. I really enjoyed this book but decided not to give it 4.5 stars because I figured the rest of the series would be even better so I’m leaving room for higher ratings.

This book cut off so suddenly it surprised me. I mean, usually when there is a cliffhanger there is a lead up to that, but for this book, I felt like we were in between huge action scenes and this one just sort of ended.

There is kind of a big plot twist that happens in this book, but it isn’t completely a surprise. If you’re paying attention to what is happening in the novel then you could probably guess what it is pretty easily.

This book isn’t anything partially new to me, but it did bring me back to everything I love about Young Adult. This reminded me of the feelings I had about 5 years ago when I couldn’t stop reading anything and everything YA. There was excitement, plot twists, coming of age problems, even love life drama. It was everything I love in a YA novel.

This story follows Emma, who has just lost her best friend and is returning to her boarding school for the first time since his death during the summer. Emma is raw and understandably shaken after what has happened. We follow her as she tries to make sense of everything that has happened and the incoming of her best friend’s clone.

Overall, I’m generally not a big fan of dystopian, but I feel like this one was in the near enough future that the problems were very parallel to what is happening in today's society.  The prejudices shown against the clones are similar to what is happening to people of color and those in the LGBTQ+ communities. I think this novel is really suitable for the times.