False memory

My attraction to this book was not exactly typical of me. Straight up action, even with a sci-fi edge, isn't really my style. Dan Krokos just kind of fascinates me. Believe it or not, even before the whole GR-negative-review-Twitter shenanigans I had an inkling of his, shall we say, word-vomit problem based a couple of blog posts and interviews he had done. There's something slightly trainwrecky about him. I find that kind of attractive, not gonna lie. And yes, there might be something weird about that.

This book was not by any means of a trainwreck though, it was wholly entertaining, exciting and interesting. I think what I found so remarkable about this book is that when I say its full of twists and turns, I really mean it. The is almost no downtime, and no aimless meandering, nor do said twists come blasting out of nowhere with little rhyme or reason. The plot moves smoothly and organically, and it moves constantly. There's always something else going on, always another layer. There's a lot of action, a lot fight scenes that are well-written. Even I, with my poor spatial reasoning skills who can't even tell what's going on when I read a comic book, could tell who was winning a fight (seriously, I'm terrible, it's one of the reasons why I was a hella confused while reading The Bourne Identity). I heard there are talks about this being turned into a TV series, which I think would work really well, not because its episodic exactly, but the complexity of the story would definitely serve a long-form medium better than it would a feature film.

I like Miranda North a lot, which is remarkable considering the fact that she's kind of half a person. No memories, no attachments to the world, but still highly functional, she doesn't think twice and she doesn't look back. I like that. I like how Krokos establishes her sense of identity in the here and now (this is probably the first YA book that I've read where use of the present tense was highly appropriate), rather than relying too much on trying to figure out the past. Even without the amnesia, I think Miranda North is a very much creature of the moment.

Of her friends, Noah is the only one with a really distinct personality – he's snarky but still sweet. Peter and Olive don't have much distinctive about them, but Miranda's chemistry with them and the value she gives her relationships with them make them feel more real. As for the romance/love triangle/quadrangle/hexagon/wtf, it's a little bit ridiculous, sexy and cute all at once. When you have four people who are raised together, how likely is it that they'll fall in love with one another, as opposed to just thinking of each other as siblings and get grossed out at the thought of kissing? Personally, I think it'd be a mixture of both – there'd be a while when its gross and then the hormones kick in and everyone's screwing like bunnies. This is why I don't write YA.

But in all seriousness, the romance does kind of illuminate some of the things that are wrong with this book. The two major points that the plot hinges on (Miranda's loss of memory, and the “dry run” that the foursome are trying to stop) are kind of nonsensical. Why in the world would Noah think messing with Miranda's memory shots would protect her? Why would he take a girl who is extraordinarily capable of taking care of herself and cripple her? It doesn't make any kind of sense. Somehow, this ceases to matter when it comes to the two of them. Miranda's anger at what he did is palatable and made me feel good about being in her head. And her chemistry with Peter is pretty sexy, actually, though there isn't really any particular reason why they're drawn to each other. It very well could have been Olive she decided to make-out with in a bathroom stall. Which would've been awesome. Just sayin'.

As for the dry run, yeah, I didn't get why it had to go down like that. Is it really necessary to descend an entire city into chaos just to prove the Roses work? But then again, there's still a lot about who Miranda and her friends really are and what their purpose is that has yet to be elaborated on, so I think I can leave that alone for now.

I also really like that despite the crazy complex romances going on there is distinct sense of family in this story. Even when there are new characters introduced to the group very close to the end, they're absorbed rather effortlessly, and the characters are not afraid to be open about their emotional attachments with people are doing or have done some very bad things. The love these characters feel for each other is rather fearless, and I appreciate that. Fun and fearless. There should be more books like this.