Once We Were by Kat Zhang

Once We Were by Kat Zhang is the second book in the Hybrid Chronicles trilogy. I read the first book a couple of years ago with the gap resulting from US and Australian release dates not being aligned and generalised confusion/lack of release date tracking on my part.

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.

After the long gap (in number of books read, even if you're not willing to agree that two years is that long in actual time) since book one, I mainly remembered the worldbuilding — still my favourite aspect of this series — and the ending of the first book. Luckily, there was enough recapping near the start to bring me up to speed quickly. I found it useful, but I suppose someone picking up Once We Were with What's Left of Me fresh in their minds might find it a little tedious. But it only lasted about one short chapter, promise!

As I said, the worldbuilding remains my favourite aspect of this series. The story continues to support the exploration of the two people in one body aspect, even as the plot deals with more immediate external concerns. The dystopian pan-American society wants to eradicate all hybrids — people who don't "settle" into just one soul per body — which puts the main characters in permanent danger. But while dealing with that they're also grappling with the issue of how to have a boyfriend when your body is not solely your own. Really, it continues to be an interesting exploration of such issues.

The main action of the plot is less creative but still written interestingly enough. At the end of the first book I was a bit uncertain about where the series was going; or more accurately, I was disappointed that it seemed to be following the dystopian formula. It does seem to be continuing in that vein with this instalment focussing on acts of rebellion. However, the framing of the worldbuilding is sufficiently interesting that I'm invested in the story and definitely want to know how it ends. (I'm also kicking myself that I didn't buy book 3 at the same time as book 2, sigh and curses at pricier hard covers.) I should also add that this is a dystopian series that remembers the Rest of the World exists and, in this volume, even touches on why they aren't doing anything about the Americas. There are also some nice titbits about world history and how it both differs from and parallels our world (to clarify, two people being born in one body was something that always happened, not a new development or anything).

Once We Were was an engaging read that I pretty much read in a day. I have enjoyed this series a lot and I am looking forward to reading the last book. It explores a science fictional concept in an interesting way, albeit in a YA dystopian framework. I highly recommend this series to YA fans and also to SF fans who find the central "What If" interesting.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: 2013, Harper Teen (US, the Australian release was later but still with HC)
Series: Hybrid Chronicles book 2 of 3
Format read: Paper, gasp!
Source: Purchased from a non-Amazon-owned online book shop

What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang

What's Left of Me is young author Kat Zhang's debut novel. It's just come out (October) from Harper Collins and a review copy was provided to me by the publisher.

What's Left of Me is set in a world where everyone is born with two minds in one body. The parents name both children and then, at around the age of six or seven, one of the minds will prove to be dominant and will take over sole control of the body. This is called settling and, in the Americas (ruled by a single president after much warring), it happens to everybody. Or almost everybody. Eva and Addie never settled. They pretended to, so that they wouldn't be taken away from their parents to a hospital to fix them. Now in highschool, with Addie the dominant mind and Eva, the point of view character, in the background, they try not to get noticed so that no one will suspect their secret.

At first I didn't really buy this as a dystopian novel. For most of the country, it's not really a dystopia. Mostly, it felt like our world, with democracy and everything, but with an alternate history past. Even the fact that everyone believes hybrids like Eva and Addie need to be institutionalised and fixed didn't strike me as particularly... un-real world-ish. From the point of view of the society, Eva/Addie are mentally ill for not settling and trying to fix and fearing people like them isn't wildly different to the way the psychiatric system works (or has worked in the past) in the real world.

So it wasn't until about half way through that I became convinced that, OK, maybe we can call this dystopian. It was mainly the structure of the climax of this (first book in a trilogy) and the hints for the sequels that did it (and some spoilery world building helped). To me, at it's heart, What's Left of Me is a classic science fictional "what if" story, wrapped up in the trappings of modern YA dystopia. What if every body contained two minds? We see some of the ramifications of this question in What's Left of Me with very obviously more left to come in the future books.

I enjoyed reading this book a lot. I was impressed with how well it was crafted and how fascinating the ideas were. The blurb, in my opinion, did nothing for it, making it seem a bit paranormal or evoking ideas of ghosts. It's not paranormal. No one has magic powers. It's down to Earth, high concept science fiction. And it's great.

I highly recommend what's left of me to fans of YA and to fans of What If science fiction who aren't predisposed to disliking the YA trappings. I am eagerly awaiting the next book in the series.

4.5 / 5 stars