What's Left of Me (The Hybrid Chronicles, #1)

by Kat Zhang

"Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else-- two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren't they settling? Why isn't one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn't. For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she's still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable-- hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet-- for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything"--Publisher's web site.

• ISBN10: 0062114875
• ISBN13: 9780062114877
• Publish Date: 18 September 2012
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

I have a lot of respect for writers who can create a book vastly different than the thousands already out there.
When I first came across this book I suspected that it might have been a schizophrenic first person story or maybe some alien version of life. The premise of it though intrigued me enough to find out for sure, and boy was I impressed. The book was well paced, innovative and well written. The ending was sufficient enough to end the series if you decided not to pursue the next book but also leaves some missing details to reveal later if you wish to continue the story even further. I will be picking up book 2 very soon!
Good read for middle grades and higher.

[inlibrisveritas]

What’s Left of Me is a book that capitalizes on the incredibly cool idea of having two people inhabiting one body. It revolves around Eva and Addie, two sister-souls that share the same body in a dystopian United States where after a certain age there should only be one. It’s a story about their struggle to maintain their ‘normalcy’, their relationship, and their right to live.

The writing for What’s Left of Me is really solid and I think Zhang really handles the whole idea with great precision. The world we’re introduced to is one where Hybrids exist in great numbers and are common in every country except the United States where they prefer the dominant soul to take over and the recessive soul to disappear entirely. I had some reservations about the possibility of us gaining extra souls in the future, but Kat actually explained that she considers this story to be a sort of alternate universe. So while things feel modern and true to our society outside it’s been changed and tweaked to form a new society similar but wholly different.

Addie/Eva are fantastic main characters. Addie is a bit more impulsive and brash while Eva is the only that thinks things through and can handle tough situations with logic and quick thinking. Addie is the dominant soul and thus she is in control while Eva resides in the recesses of their mind. I really love how their relationship is presented. How they still have fights and ignore each other like real siblings and how it’s a lot harder and more hurtful to put that distance between them. It’s an extremely close and extremely vulnerable relationship. I also really liked Hally/Lissa and Devon/Ryan, brothers and sisters who are also hiding their dual nature and become lifelines for Addie/Eva.

I really loved that this book wasn’t just about some messed up world with laws causing people pain but instead about two sisters trying their hardest to survive and take control of their lives. It’s about the closeness they share and the fact that someone wants to rip that away from them without so much as a second thought. I’m really excited to get to the second book, Once We Were, because I’m really hoping that it sheds some light on the rest of the world as well as who these supposed hybrid rebels are. If you’re looking for a dystopian with a twist and centers around personal relationship with some added action then I definitely recommend checking this one out.

[Joséphine]

Two souls in one body make up a hybrid. It is tough enough to write about various characters as it is but to pull off writing about characters sharing bodies requires another whole level of finesse. Kat Zhang definitely brought that to her first novel, so much so I can't wait for the sequel to be out later this year.

Throughout the book I felt that I was getting to know Addie & Eva, Devon & Ryan, and Hally & Lissa as separate characters, despite being hybrids. Each one of them was well developed and fit into the whole framework.

One gripe I did have was the lack of explanation of why the government of the Americas viewed hybrids as a threat to their society. Usually a hybrid was made up of a dominant and a recessive soul, where the recessive soul would fade away by the time a hybrid turned ten. Being settled like that was the supposed norm. Yet while those who didn't settle were, there were hints that for the rest of the world remaining hybrid was the norm. I would have very much liked for this aspect to be explored more to tie up the loose ends.

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

This review is also posted at Pages Unbound Book Reviews.

Source: ARC

Review:

What’s Left of Me is an imaginative story about what it means to be human. Here, it is to be a unique, living soul. Eva is completely trapped inside the body she shares with Addie, unable to move and unable to communicate with anyone besides her twin soul. As far as the rest of the world knows, she no longer even exists. But she does, and she, Addie, and the reader know it. Her courage, passion, determination, and kindness immediately woo this reader to her side, and there is no doubt she has the right to life as much as Addie, the “dominant” soul. The problem is in convincing Eva’s own society and government.

In their search for freedom, Eva and Addie take the reader through a whirlwind of emotions and experiences. The story is not built on life-or-death cliff hangers that will keep their audience reading through the night, but it is certainly interesting. The subtle commentary on the nature of humanity is encased in an exciting and action-packed tale and populated with a variety of characters, ranging from love interests to villains. (The love interest also raises more questions, such as how two souls in one body can ever maintain a romantic relationship. Part of an explanation is offered, but Zhang will have to delve further into the issue in the next book in order to make the success of such a situation sound practical.)

What’s Left of Me offers the things I truly love in science fiction: a unique vision, important questions, and humanity. However, the book may have been stronger if it had remained purely science fiction—a compact standalone that resolved its most important issues immediately. Instead, at the end it veers off into the typical dystopian mold with Eva and Addie seemingly poised to join a secret resistance fighting a corrupt government. The hybrid story is new, but this part is just old.

[Rinn]

I received a copy of this book for free from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Thank you also to the publisher, HarperCollins. This review is also posted on my blog, Rinn Reads.

With so many positive reviews, blog tours and general excitement around the book blogging community over this book, I felt I should give it a try. On first read of the blurb, I was reminded of Stephanie Meyer's The Host, a book full of lacklustre characters, in which not much happens. Which makes What's Left Of Me its complete and utter opposite - the society in which it is based slowly appears more and more sinister, and I actually cared for the characters within a matter of pages.

It is explained throughout the book that every person is born with two souls, one dominant and one recessive. The people of this world - which is ours, but I'm not sure if it's a future or parallel universe - believe that one of the souls will naturally disappear, which is known as 'settling'. Now, with this being a dystopian novel, you know it can't be that simple. Children are meant to settle around about five years old, with ten being the cut off point. However, some do not - and these 'hybrids' are seen as dangerous, and shipped off to be 'cared for', and never seen again.

I do feel that there could have been a little more development with the world building. Is this our Earth, in the future? If it is, when did people start being born with two souls? Is it a parallel universe? Why is there only really talk of the Americas? As well as this, it seemed very odd that all these families would be effectively losing a child - as each soul has their own name, and is treated as a separate person - but very few seem really bothered by it. Perhaps it is just one of those things that society just accepts at face value, because they can't be explained. As well as this, the use of 'we' and 'our' instead of 'I' and 'my' etc, certainly took some getting used to; at times the writing felt a little clunky for it. However, I believe that Kat Zhang made the right move in only having Eva narrate the story, otherwise it would have gotten incredibly confusing.

What starts off as seemingly a pretty normal society slowly darkens, until the reader realises just how little the people of this world know. Part of the book made me feel almost claustrophobic - in a good way - because I could completely imagine the situation the characters were in. Zhang's writing flows very smoothly. And thank goodness for the lack of love triangle!

I rushed through the last twenty percent or so of the book - it was a thrilling and very tense ending, though some events could have perhaps been shown, rather than told. It also set up what I believe could be a possible plot for the second book - which I will definitely be looking out for!

Overall, I really enjoyed this one, and it took a couple of turns that I did not expect, and I few I managed to guess. Definitely worth a read if you're a fan of the YA Dystopia genre.

[Angie]

The blurb for What's Left of Me immediately reminded me of The Host, which is one of my favorite books. I knew I was going to like it, well, I definitely hoped that I would.

While I loved the whole concept of two souls sharing a body and both being present in some capacity, I don't think it was explained very well in this book. I have no idea how it was possible to have two souls in one body, or why it happened. I also didn't understand this whole hybrid war that was going on, and why America hates them and foreigners. By the end, I think I was even more confused about everything than I was at the beginning.

I really liked how this was told from Eva, the "weaker" soul's perspective, despite usually preferring multiple POV. I think it would have been confusing to have both Eva and Addie, and I also liked how there was some mystery added, since we have no idea how Addie feels about anything happening. I actually had this looming bad feeling about Addie, once they're taking away for testing. I also found it interesting how whenever there was a crisis, Eva was the one who had to tell Addie how to handle it even though she has absolutely no control over the body. It seems like she's actually the stronger of the two, but just got pushed aside.

This one is fairly fast paced with Eva/Addie constantly on the move. I enjoyed it, but not as much as I thought, since I was confused quite a bit. I'm definitely looking forward to the next book though, and hopefully some answers!

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[celinenyx]

What if you live with two people in one body, and only one of you can control it? What if one of the two has to die, but refuses to?

That's the situation Allie and Eva are in. Eva is the recessive soul, and she was supposed to disappear when they were five. But she weakened but didn't disappear, so they faked it. In a society where being hybrid is the highest crime, they are both in danger. Especially when they meet another hybrids, who can help Eva to get just as strong as Allie is.

I absolutely loved the concept of two beings in one body. It brings a massive list of complications. Who should be in charge? What if you both want different things? What if the two of you can't stand each other? And of course, what if you fall in love with someone your other soul doesn't like?

It took me a while to get used to the writing in What's Left of Me. Every time Allie and Eva's body does something it gets described as "we scratched out nose" and "we walked down the road". I had a hard time getting used to them using a plural personal pronoun, even though considering the story it fits perfectly. The "we" and "us" thing was consequently used throughout the story, which was a very nice touch, even though it complicated reading a bit at first.

I very much liked Eva and Allie. They're both in a tough situation, and both of them deal with it differently. It was great to see that they actually had different personalities, and weren't just twice the same person. Eva is more of an action kind of person, while Allie likes to observe first. Together they made a great team, although their cooperation isn't flawless.

What's Left of Me was an interesting twist on the omnipresent dystopian genre. It has the standard dystopian tropes like American centered with the rest of the world non-existing, a government that's pure evil and hides awful stuff from its people, outcast rebels that go against said government. The fact that it still adheres to concepts that are so common in dystopian books is why I think it's a great book, not a perfect one. I'd love to read the next book in the series to see if it differentiates some more from the genre slush pile. The Hybrid Chronicles definitely have potential to become an amazing series.

[Amber]

What first caught my eye about this novel was the interesting concept of two souls sharing a body. The whole idea of the government going after the anomalies (those with recessive souls that had not faded away) was so intriguing and kind of exciting, in a way. What would happen to the siblings once they were taken away? And what does happen once a soul fades, anyway? Are they lost forever, or can they all be coaxed back? The idea of a child completely disappearing after spending several years with their siblings and parents is scary.


Eva and Addie were both adorable, and I loved them from the very first page. The thing I liked most about them was their relationship with each other. Sure, they'd get into some disagreements and fall out, but they'd always come back to each other. They loved each other so much, and it made me want to run and hug my little sister after I read some of the scenes in this novel.

Interestingly, What's Left of Me is written from the point of view of Eva, the recessive soul who can't do anything except watch and 'talk' as her sister controls their body. I thought this was a fantastic choice by the author, because I think if the novel had been written in Addie's POV - or even alternated between the two - I don't think it would have had the same effect.

The pacing of the novel felt pretty calm throughout the whole thing. Even at the end, when there was a little bit of action going on, I never really felt that exhilirating feeling that I get when really great novels reach their peak.

I'll definitely be reading the second book in the series, because I really want to know what happens to Eva and Addie, as I've grown slightly attached. I also want to know what happened to some of the other characters as well, although I can't say who because that would spoil you! I am hoping that one of the characters who appeared towards the end of the novel will have a bigger role in the sequel, because I am really intrigued by them. I'm crossing my fingers!