Title: The Evolution of Mara DyerAuthor: Michelle Hodkin
Release Date: October 23, 2012
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Mara Dyer once believed she could run from her past. She can’t. She used to think her problems were all in her head. They aren’t. She couldn’t imagine that after everything she’s been through, the boy she loves would still be keeping secrets. She’s wrong.
The Evolution of Mara Dyer is captivating and compelling, a thrilling but frightening exploration of the past, the present, memory, and truth. The world Mara knows has changed, it's not what she thought it was, and so it's left to her to figure it out, to expose the truth and unravel the secrets kept buried. To discover it's not all in her head.
Mara returns with passion, with courage, with strength, but also with fear, with uncertainty, with confusion. She wants to reveal the truth to everyone, but she's frightened by it if it turns out to be real because then she and everyone she cares about is in danger. Things are happening but she still has no idea why. Noah understands, Noah wants to help her, but what if he's keeping his own secrets from her?
For Mara Dyer, the world is not what it appears anymore. The title suggests she's about to change, to evolve into something new. And in a way she does, but it's all about what she becomes and what's waiting for her on the other side.
What does truth mean when almost everyone around you can't see what you see? Are you the problem, are you ill, or are you the only one who sees what's really happening? Mara is on a mission to prove that she's not crazy, that someone is after her, that something is wrong. She needs evidence, even if searching for it is dangerous.
This is a rather intense psychological thriller. As with the first book, I could read it multiple times and still not find every clue Michelle Hodkin has secreted away, not unless I wrote down every single thing I thought was a clue and cross-referenced with each book. It would most likely involve pages of charts and notes and wouldn't be complete until the third book's release. And even then I think I'd miss some things.
It's a journey into a complicated world with complicated characters. What is truth? What is the truth? Will Mara ever discover what really happened when the asylum collapsed, or what she's really seeing, or what's really happening to her? More questions arise and I hope that at least some of them will be answered in the last book.
(I borrowed a copy of this title from the library.)
Great review! I found these books so confusing and frustrating, but at the same time I loved them. They really got me thinking; what was in her head and what was real?
ReplyDeleteLove your review! Like you I too thought it can get a little confusing because of the unreliable narrator. However, I love these books, I love Noah, and her brother and everything about them. I think they are well written psychological thrillers and I feel like we don't have too many of those in young adult books.
ReplyDeleteKay @ It's a Book Life