More importantly, she is grappling with who she really is. Emma can't accept the hard truths she learned last year and refuses to share her secrets with anyone, isolating herself from her friends and Ollie.
But when more of the Similars' creator's plot is revealed, Emma and her friends will have to try to stop him from putting a plan into motion that could destroy everyone she loves. (Pub Date: December 10, 2019)
If you're not aware, this book is a sequel to The Similars, and you will need to have read the first book to understand this one. We have written a review to it, so you can check our opinion in case you don't know it. Also, there will be spoilers of the first book in our review, beware.
We take off from a little after The Similars left us. It's a new school year and Emma is coming back with Oliver, but not with Levi. She still need to process what Graveller revealed and face the anti-clone movement that spreads through her school. Above all, she needs to find a way to save Levi.
I'd rate this a 2.5. It's really there in the middle, it doesn't suck, but it's not that good either. I could finish the story but wouldn't reread it.
I was rereading my review of the first book in the duology and my complaints seem to have intensified in this second installment. You have a great plot, the story even has plot twists that make sense and yet you're not expecting them—a good plot twist.
This time, however, it wasn't only the development that didn't do justice to the idea, the writing was also lacking. I feel the book needed more editing, more rewriting, because at times it felt like a fanfic, as in someone wrote it and posted it instead of going through the many editions a published book should.
If you've read the first book, know this is the last. I mean, we can always make sequels (see Me Before You), but the story is pretty much over here. There's that big advantage of knowing where it goes. At the same time, I don't think I got any big reveal that changed everything about the story, so with what I knew from The Similars, I could have guessed how it would end without The Pretenders. A lot happens, I think there was much more action in the second volume, and it does bring closure, but the only unsolved thing we brought from the first aside from the bad guy still being around was that big reveal in the end and that one was clearly an excuse for the sequel. Aside from that, the first book solves itself well enough you won't really die if you don't read more. I hope I make any sense, but what I mean to say is read this if you liked the universe but don't expect it to blow your mind.
I'm really glad the story was released. I read this, I'm clearly on the group of those who wanted this closure and I've seen many series dropped in the first book. At the same time, it was sad to see the quality drop when the idea itself was good.
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Edelweiss. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
Rating: 2 out of 5.
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