Review: Once We Were by Kat Zhang

Once We Were by Kat Zhang
Series: The Hybrid Chronicles #2
Release Date: September 17th, 2013
Publisher: HarperCollins
Order: Amazon | Book Depository

Goodreads Summary

"I'm lucky just to be alive."

Eva was never supposed to have survived this long. As the recessive soul, she should have faded away years ago. Instead, she lingers in the body she shares with her sister soul, Addie. When the government discovered the truth, they tried to “cure” the girls, but Eva and Addie escaped before the doctors could strip Eva’s soul away.

Now fugitives, Eva and Addie find shelter with a group of hybrids who run an underground resistance. Surrounded by others like them, the girls learn how to temporarily disappear to give each soul some much-needed privacy. Eva is thrilled at the chance to be alone with Ryan, the boy she’s falling for, but troubled by the growing chasm between her and Addie. Despite clashes over their shared body, both girls are eager to join the rebellion.

Yet as they are drawn deeper into the escalating violence, they start to wonder: How far are they willing to go to fight for hybrid freedom? Faced with uncertainty and incredible danger, their answers may tear them apart forever.

“Everybody’s got sad stories.” Devon’s voice was as ungiving as stone. “And everyone thinks they’re so very special and broken because of them.”

I read What’s Left of Me back in 2012 and fell in love. I read Once We Were in 2014 and fell out of love. What’s Left of Me became a favorite of 2012 while Once We Were became a disappointment and it makes me wonder what went wrong? Was it me? Or was it the book?

I think the answer is both to a certain extent. One of the things that intrigued me in the first book was the hybrids. I was drawn in by this new spin on souls. It was so different from what I had read before and while some of the details concerning the concept bothered me, the uniqueness of it all made it easy to overlook things that didn’t work. In this book, the shiny gleam of originality wore off and I started to get really bothered by the idea of two souls in one body. I couldn’t wrap my head around it and it made no sense to me.  It was so HARD to imagine these hybrids. It seemed so weird and some things didn't line up for me as a reader. I felt like the idea hadn’t been as well thought through as it should have been because it was so DIFFICULT to wrap my head around. I'd be lying if I said it was easier to understand the concept of hybrids in the first book, but the problems with said idea really nagged at me in this book, making it harder to enjoy.

Eva was a character whose name reminded me of Wall-E who really shined out to me in the first book. Her struggles were realistic and her journey was a joy to experience. In this book that went down the drain. She read as a naïve girl who in spite of everything she had faced earlier, learned nothing. She, although not selfish, was incredibly self-centered. She never really bothered to ask how other people felt and went along with whatever she thought was right, dragging her sister and her close friends into her mess. She blindly followed other people because they were obviously ‘right’. It was disappointing because hadn’t the last book taught her anything about how much you can trust people? Character development didn’t occur until the last 20% and by then it was too late. I thought she had had it (referring to a certain event) coming and felt no sympathy for her.

Addie was annoying as always. She is a major hypocrite. She makes it impossible for Eva to have a normal relationship with Ryan for the first third of the book and then gets pissed when Eva freaks out about her relationship with Jackson. Oh and Eva feels guilty. For the most part though, Addie is very subdued. Not in a good way though. She acts even more childish than Eva (and throws tantrums).

The romance is very light and honestly, I don’t give two shits about the romance. It seems too awkward to me. I mean you’re making out with a guy but the guy’s brother and your sister can feel you making out and it seems so weird *shudders*. I am not sure a romance was even a good idea in this case. There was something brought up in the book that would make these romantic situations more bearable but I think that would negate the whole ‘point’ of these books. Hybrids aren’t defects, they’re ‘normal’, so doing what was suggested would be implying otherwise.

The plot was my biggest problem in this book. Where the first book had been doused with the element of danger, something I as a reader LOVE, this book hadn't been. Of course, that isn’t to say they weren’t in danger, I just didn't feel the danger. I wasn’t sitting on the edge, I was roaming around taking breaks because I was bored out of my mind. The plot of this book is basically stupid teens trying to start a revolution. Emphasis on stupid because none of them even think of the consequences and are surprised when things don’t go as planned. When I say everyone, I mean even the ‘kids’ who were older. Who should have been smarter but they weren’t. An eye for an eye isn’t actually a solution; it just makes both sides half blind and also provides some truth to the government’s claims about hybrids being dangerous. I can understand their rage but they are adults. They should know better than to let their rage control them. Their experiences should have matured them even if it turned them into rage beasts out to get the government.

At this point, I am so turned off by this series that I am not even sure I want to go through with it and read the last book. The ending does leave room for improvement but the idea of hybrids no longer appeals to me and is hard to wrap my head around. When I cannot even accept the building blocks of this series, I am not sure continuing is a wise idea, even if I really want to. 

What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang

Title: What’s Left of Me
Author: Kat Zhang
Series: The Hybrid Chronicles #1
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date Published: September 18, 2012
Buy: Amazon

Goodreads summary

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.

I read this book because of the promising synopsis (and the pretty cover). From my experience, books dealing with souls usually tend to mess up somewhere, may it be a small or large error, something that nags at me. This book however seemed promising for the sole reason that it had another take on the whole idea of souls.

In this world created by Kat Zhang, a human being has not one but two souls. I think one of the interesting things about this book is that Zhang treats both of them like individuals and that what souls are (from what I understand), they make you who you are. Sometimes it seems as though we are dealing with two different humans instead of one living being which has two separate souls residing within.

Eva and Addie started out the same as everyone else, the only difference was that by the age of six, neither one of them disappeared. Neither one of them became the dominant soul. Addie had a better grip but Eva wasn’t ready to let go, she didn’t want to stop existing. They started getting treatments around the age of 10 so that one of them would be repressed, Eva was declared gone but she wasn’t. Addie and Eva have hidden Eva’s existence ever since because if she were to be discovered, they would have to be put down. One day however, they encounter two siblings similar to them, they say that they can help Eva take control once again, Eva yearning to get a hold on her life begs Addie to take them there. Addie finally gives in.

“She was Addie. She was the other half to me. She was more important than anyone.”

I am not sure whether the two souls can be considered siblings, they act like twin sisters yet they aren’t sisters biologically, they are the same thing, but they have different personalities, different dreams, etc. Their relationship is similar to the one of real siblings yet it has so much more meaning to it. They are incomplete without each other, Addie however much Eva’s continued existence frightens her, cannot live without Eva. She loves Eva to bits and would take risks for her. Some people may say that Addie is selfish but she isn’t, she loves Eva and is ready to take risks for her, but if it means harm to herself I believe that she has the right to think twice, she has the right to blame Eva when something goes wrong even if she is putting the blame in the wrong place, I believe it’s because it’s how we are as human beings, we will take risks for loved ones but it doesn’t mean we will completely disregard ourselves.

Although there isn’t much of a romantic relationship explored in the book, I think the relationship between Eva and Ryan is really cute. The other relationship explored is the friendship between Hally, Eva, and Lissa was also really amazing. I don’t know what to say about these relationships, they all touched my heart and sometimes I felt really emotional and stricken by the beauty of them.

I think the plot was amazing as well, I think one of the things that made it amazing was the writing style, there is almost a lyrical beauty to the way Kat writes, it kind of gives the whole book a musical feel and makes it appeal to our emotions even more. It wasn’t fast paced but it wasn’t slow. Things build up slowly bit by bit. The author feeds us bits of clues and finally near the end she gives us one big one, leaving us one step closer to solving the mystery. She ends this book as if it were a standalone, leaving a bit of space for the sequel. I think the whole dystopic concept of the book also works, it doesn’t seem exaggerated yet we can see the flaws in the system.

This book left me feeling content yet yearning for more. I think I’ll survive the wait but I still wish it would come out a bit sooner. Coming across such unique books is hard in the YA genre and to have to wait for the sequel kind of sucks. I can only hope the sequel won’t disappoint and will be worth the wait.