Once We Were (The Hybrid Chronicles 2) by Kat Zhang

Once We Were
by Kat Zhang

Once We Were (The Hybrid Chronicles 2)

By: Kat Zhang

Release Date: September 17, 2013

Rating: 3 stars

Summary: 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.

 

Review: I loved “What’s Left of Me” – like blown away by the concept and sucked into the story. This one was still enjoyable enough, but I couldn’t really get into it until the last third.

First of all, I’m glad to see Eva coming out of her shell. Sure, there were times I wanted to yell at her for being stupid or for being a self-absorbed, selfish brat, but I could sympathize that she finally has an opportunity to let her personality surface. And I honestly do like her. My complaint, however, is Eva was the recessive one, the weaker one. But in this book, Addie was such a weakling, and Eva was the strong, determined one. Like I said, I understand that’s she’s finally discovering what it’s like to be in control, but if she had always been like this, she would have never almost faded away. I had expected this book to be about her finally being able to experience everything, appreciating and savoring each thing she was able to do. Not at all like she was in this book. It’s as if she was a different person.

And sort of like my Addie and Eva complaint, I really wondered what happened to Halle and Lisa? Again, I understand they went through a pretty traumatic experience near the end of book 1, but they were so strong and determined back then. They were the one urging Addie and Eva to consider something very dangerous. They hardly appeared in this book, and when they were, they were either aloof, or like the book said, seeking acceptance from others. Not the same characters I grew to love from the first book.

My thing was there were so many characters in this book. I mean, you have a lot of players during a rebellion, in general, but to double everyone up, it was just a little hard to keep track of.

As for the book itself, it was good, but not mind-blowingly amazing. I don’t know, it just felt like any other book about oppressed citizens seeking for equal rights and preparing a rebellion, not knowing who to trust and constantly battling with themselves whether this was the right thing to do. The only thing that stuck out was the two people sharing a body concept. So yeah, I knew Zhang was trying to build up to the big climax at the end, but I struggled a bit to stay with the story, and I kept waiting for something to happen.

And when something finally did happen, starting in the last third or so, everything occurred really quickly, and I remembered why I liked the story so much. There was a LOT of action, a lot of twists and turns, some betrayals and surprises (although some you will probably see it coming). And when Eva and Addie come face-to-face with Jensen again? Okay, totally NOT what I would have expected, and it’s got my gears churning in my head.

So okay, I think this book had a lot of the second-book or middle-book elements in it. If Eva and Addie had been portrayed differently or if Zhang had incorporated what was going on in the laboratories more instead of the drama and tension in the little rebellion group, I probably would have been more sucked in. But I just know that book 3 is going to knock my socks off, and I’m pretty excited to find out what Jensen and his gang has up his sleeves and reveal whatever it is that we thought we knew but we really didn’t or what we were led to believe is not really as it had seemed. So putting this one aside, the end has me pumped up for the next book.

Go to Katy’s review on Goodreads.