Okay, anyone I know read this book? Because it gave me serious Annihilation vibes for most of it. Not only the stairway parts, but I feel like something about the writing just reminded me so much of that. The whole thing just really felt like a dream, and so did Annihilation. It might just be me alone thinking that though. Either way, I’m caught between rating this three or four stars, because although it was really interesting and unique, it just wasn’t my new favourite book. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t good, though.
Following a girl named Cole, at the beginning of the story we find her working surveillance. That means, in her world of the Refuge, all grey everything, everyone looking and acting the same, and never wanting or wishing or dreaming of anything, for fear the Mara will come and kill them. Very interesting and horrifying, this gory book had me constantly on my toes waiting for the next strike from the monsters, but I couldn’t really picture them. She works very hard to stay neutral in all aspects of her life after losing her memories and gaining a ghost named Cadence to the monsters not long ago, but it’s not enough. It seems like someone’s just out to get her.
After being called up to investigate something on a medical floor, she’s lost. Her ghost is always pestering her and telling her what to do, but she knows she needs to stay safe and ignore her. That is, until she’s headed up to investigate, and stopped by a boy who says he can get her out of Refuge. She doesn’t trust him and so she doesn’t go with him, but what’s waiting for her on the medical floor is unlike anything she could begin to imagine. She heads into a room to find the corpse of a woman, and when she touches her body, she’s pulled into a dream like experience and forced to live inside the memory that the Mara have created for the woman to drag her to them. What she’s just beginning to learn, however, is that she’s different. She can fight back against the monsters. She just doesn’t know how to.
Something I really liked about Cole, is even when she’s lost to herself in the book, she’s still able to remember that she just wants to help people. I felt like I was reading this in a haze, and I imagine that’s how she felt as well. I both liked and disliked that aspect of it. Will I read the next book in the trilogy? If I can get my hands on it, I most likely would. But would I seek it out? I’m not sure. That’s just my opinion on the matter though. I really did think it was super unique, and I’m interested in seeing what happens next, but I’m just not in a huge rush to run out and grab it. I think if you liked Annihilation, you might like this, too.
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