Falls the Shadow by Stefanie Gaither

Argh, this book was so frustrating!

Don't get me wrong, it's a decent read. I just feel cheated somewhat in that the story promised was not the story delivered in my eyes. There are so many books about cloning and I've never had much of a desire to read them but the blurb of this book was so inviting that I had to give it a look. And like I said, it's not a bad book. But oh, the author just had to go for the bigger picture.

Here's what I wanted from the book-an intriguing, philosophical look at the implications of cloning using the family unit as the basis for the story. Here's what happens-it starts off well and then soon descends into the usual 'rebellion' plot line that The Hunger Games has made so popular.

Listen to me YA authors, you don't always have to threaten all of society to make an interesting story. I picked up this book on the basis that I wanted to hear about what one girl thought about her sister being replaced with an identical clone (and a potentially dangerous one at that). I wanted to see the problems the clone had with fitting in, the kind of prejudices she would encounter. I did not want a story about taking down society and deadly assassins and stuff like that.

On the whole, Falls the Shadow is a perfectly acceptable book. I'd go so far as to say I even enjoyed it. I'm just disappointed by the fact that I feel like it could have been something so much better, something different. Instead we get the same-old rebellion story, albeit told well. It might not be better but hey, it could be a whole lot worse.

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