Book Review - Adaptation

Adaptation

Author: Malinda Lo

Series: Adaptation #1

Genres: Science Fiction, Aliens | Young Adult

Release Date: September 18th 2012

Publishers:  Little Brown

No. Pages: 386

Source: Review Copy - Little Brown

Rating: 

Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones

Reese can’t remember anything from the time between the accident and the day she woke up almost a month later. She only knows one thing: She’s different now.

Across North America, flocks of birds hurl themselves into airplanes, causing at least a dozen to crash. Thousands of people die. Fearing terrorism, the United States government grounds all flights, and millions of travelers are stranded.

Reese and her debate team partner and longtime crush David are in Arizona when it happens. Everyone knows the world will never be the same. On their drive home to San Francisco, along a stretch of empty highway at night in the middle of Nevada, a bird flies into their headlights. The car flips over. When they wake up in a military hospital, the doctor won’t tell them what happened, where they are—or how they’ve been miraculously healed.

Things become even stranger when Reese returns home. San Francisco feels like a different place with police enforcing curfew, hazmat teams collecting dead birds, and a strange presence that seems to be following her. When Reese unexpectedly collides with the beautiful Amber Gray, her search for the truth is forced in an entirely new direction—and threatens to expose a vast global conspiracy that the government has worked for decades to keep secret. 

Adaptation is one of the many books I requested of Netgalley just before I took a year out, obviously I didn't get to read or review them so I'm trying to catch up and if you were to ask me why I requested it in the first place, honestly I couldn't tell you. My answer would probably just be that I was being accepted left right and center for things and it's something I took advantage of. Anyway like I said, I couldn't remember why I requested it, and when I reread the summary I wasn't sure about it, but in the end it was a book that surprised me.

The book is centered around two characters, Reese and David. They are on the debate team and on their way home from a competition when strange things start happening. Big flocks of birds are hurling themselves into places causing numerous crashes and deaths across the country leaving a flight ban, and people without a way to get home. After a while of sitting in the airport, Resse, David and their teacher decide to make their own way home. Chaos is everywhere, and after a horrible tragedy they kids set of by thyself, only to find them in a spot of trouble themselves. Cue them waking up in military hospital they undergo treatment to keep them alive.

As I haven't read any more of Malinda Lo's work I have nothing to compare this book too, as it's not similar to anyting I've read before. Though as much as I enjoyed this easy read, it unfortunately wasn't without it's faults. 

The character development at time's wasn't there for me, I felt we knew a lot about who they were after the accident but not enough about who they were before. I liked the characters, not Reese so much but I love David, and could totally see why she had a crush on him only... he wasn't the only person and I'll be honest, I didn't understand the turn her feeling took or think it was necessary at all. One minuet she's pinning over him only to be hooking up with someone else and I just didn't believe it or feel anything towards it.  Though I love the story line and the uniqueness (if not only to me who hasn't read many book like it) I did find it to start of brilliant, all fast paced and action packed, only to slow a little towards the middle and end. 

All in all it was a really interesting book, the relationships weren't always believable but for the most part enjoyable, the characters weren't fantastic but I was interested to see what was going to happen next and the ending was in a way predictable but still surprising. It had me hooked from about half way through (after deciding to put it in my DNF pile or not) and I am looking forward to getting my hands on the second book, I'm just sorry its taking me this long to read it.