jeannamichel
Written on Jan 19, 2019
"Mara Dyer continues to unravel the mystery of her powers and her relationship with Noah"--
- ISBN10 1442421819
- ISBN13 9781442421813
- Publish Date 23 October 2012
- Publish Status Active
- Publisher Simon & Schuster
- Imprint Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
- Format eBook
- Language English
Reviews
layawaydragon
Written on Feb 26, 2016
I don't care if that was the point. With 100 pages left, I was seriously frustrated and kicking myself for not quitting already. I would've bailed had the action not finally ramped up into climaxing. Then I was stuck with another cliffhanger.
I was resolved to only start the final book, The Retribution, because I came this far. If it didn't pay off, I was abandoning ship early. From 4.5 stars to almost DNF, how pathetic.
It started off great but then turned into this revolving door gag. We learn some basic shit in the very beginning, then instead of following the first book's path of horrific, spine tingling tension, it floundered. It stuck to issues we knew the answer to: the stalker and Mara's mentality, then ran those into the ground and kept digging.
And came up on the other side: emo romance drama over whether the happy couple can kiss without paranormal consequences. Of all the questions to linger on... Not only did I not enjoy dawdling over high school insta-love but the answer was fucking obvious! Common sense. Okay, I know it's "ewww" to think about adults being romantic with each other when you're that age, especially those related to you, but god-fucking-damn. It's not like she wasn't digging into the past already or anything...
Noah does get better in this book, and Mara gets worse. Again, if that was the point, it succeed but the execution was torture. I wanted to shake her and scream over several things. Like the previously mentioned Mr. Fake Name they were trying to hunt down, only this wasn't a blind-spot but a sinkhole.
Mara's treatment of Phoebe and dismissal of her boyfriend is my main sticking point. She became a dumbass hypocrite. Didn't even bother to find anything out about Phoebe before piling on the stereotypical "she's nutso" shit, following the other teens lead, including Jamie's.
I was so psyched about how The Unbecoming handled mental health issues from a teen's POV and it turned nasty. I don't expect her to be a saint or buddy-buddy but some fucking introspection and thought would be nice. If she'd noticed that sooner, we'd get somewhere before the climax thus cutting most of the sagging padding and making the whole damn thing a lot more enjoyable.
It's possible for all that to be worthwhile and forgiven, if there was resolution and character progression. But it's a cliffhanger and Mara moves sideways instead of connecting the dots. Disappointing, to say the least. I expected better from her. Of course, this all sets up for The Retribution of Mara Dyer but it has its work cut out. The Evolution was so long and so bad I was resolved to throw in the towel early if it didn't pan out quick.
What did it do well? Well...Yay for Jamie.
Bottomline:
2.5 stars: For the beginning, the plot twist and for somehow keeping me reading. If only it wasn't so pointlessly drawn out and shat on everything that came before it.
Angie
Written on Nov 11, 2015
The Evolution of Mara Dyer was sooo good! I couldn't put it down! It most certainly does not suffer from middle book syndrome and is even better than the first! Mara learns more about her grandmother who apparently also suffered from mental health issues, but looking into it more, Mara sees that it could be something else. Through all of it, Noah is right at her side helping her find out what she needs to know. Of course, those two have to stumble upon something that explains their sudden connection and makes things even more weird.
I am still not behind this romance, but if you're into Noah and Mara, The Evolution of Mara Dyer will make you quite happy. There's plenty of kissing and steamy scenes! I do like how Noah is trying to help Mara the best he can, and that be actually believes what she says is happening when no one else will. I'm not happy with the declarations of love and how far he's willing to go for her. But I am glad that Mara has somebody on her side. Jamie is also around a lot more which was great, but he was less helpful with everything going on. And he has a billion times more chemistry with Mara than Noah does, but I'm enjoying their friendship.
That ending though (again)?! WTF is going on! I totally did not see that coming and my head is spinning! Why are they doing this?! What do they gain from it?! What's real and what isn't?! I'm probably more confused than Mara is! Waiting for the next book to come in at my library was torture!
Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.
readingwithwrin
Written on Apr 6, 2015
After having a lot of up and downs with the first book in this series I wasn't sure if I would want to continue with it. I am so glad I did though. This book was everything I hoped the first one to be. It was creepy, and gave us insight on possibly why she has this power. It also showed us that she wasn't alone in it and there is a lot more people with it then I ever expected it to be.
While their still was some romance elements they were drastically cut back thankfully and it was more about Mara, and what is happening to her, and who is doing certain things to her.
That doctor has to go though. Something very fishy is going on there and I don't like it all.
Now on to the third book and I hope it doesn't leave me feeling like the first one did.
See more reviews like this on my blog
catiebug
Written on Mar 27, 2015
cornerfolds
Written on Sep 14, 2014
Okay, so after reading The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer I was already totally shocked. After finishing The Evolution of Mara Dyer I was like:
What did I just read???
Apparently the ending of the last book wasn't that surprising to some, but I was completely thrown off. Now Mara knows she's not crazy, which almost makes the entire thing even worse! This issue from her past just won't stop. And, let me tell you, the bad guy here... he's completely insane.
This book picks up where the last left off and things get progressively stranger and more infuriating. Mostly because while we know Mara isn't a crazy person, no one else believes her. Her parents, her doctors, her brothers - they all think that she's a possible schizophrenic. And Jude certainly doesn't make it easy on her. He's constantly moving things, planting things, using people to get to her. I can't believe I'm going to say this about a YA heroine, but Mara is certainly a stronger person than I am. She has to go through this [almost] completely alone! And the whole time I just want to have a... moment... with Mara's idiot family!
Mara's relationship with Noah is honestly quite believable, which is kind of a breath of fresh air in this genre. Still, his attitude is sometimes a little questionable. I mean, I get it. The guy has issues. But sometimes I wonder if he actually couldn't use a little time in a psych ward. Overall, I like him. I don't think he's completely psycho and I don't think he's an abusive boyfriend waiting to happen. My real problem with Noah is the way he flaunts his money all the time. I mean, this guy is constantly throwing around thousands of dollars like it's toilet paper. He's constantly telling Mara (and everyone else) that "it's just money" and "money can buy anything," and I just can't help but feel that this is getting really old.
The one thing that I'm really pretty confused about is the flashbacks - the "before" chapters. I understand that it's supposed to be Mara's grandmother. I get that she's supposed to be sharing memories genetically or something. But...
I really just don't get it. This is one area I'm really hoping they'll clear up in the next book because it really just seemed kind of thrown in. Then again, maybe I'm just really dense and it made perfect sense to everyone else.
I feel like other people "get" things easier than I do and maybe that's a good thing. Because the last few chapters were, like they were in the last book, a complete shock. The big conspiracy is finally uncovered and I'm just over here like
Those of you who have read it know what I'm saying. Those of you who haven't... WHY?! Go pick up this series right now! Luckily I only have a couple months to wait for The Retribution of Mara Dyer.
Notes on the Audiobook
I've figured out what the problem is with Christy Romano. She's a great reader, but she is a TERRIBLE actress. Her voice has the same tone no matter what she's saying or what the situation is. The accent she uses for Noah is awful. Luckily for this book, I cannot rate it based on the audiobook narrator.
girlinthepages
Written on Sep 1, 2014
This review would be more aptly titled “Reasons Why I Didn’t Sleep For Two Nights” because it was so delightfully eerie. I thought after reading its predecessor I couldn’t be creeped out, but Michelle Hodkin proved me wrong. It’s really hard to review this book without spoilers, but I will say this: I did not see the plot twists (of which there were several) coming AT ALL. And let’s be honest, that’s one of the ways you know you have a fantastic book in your hands.
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer left off on a cliffhanger, with a huge WTF realization: Jude has been alive the whole time! Or has he? That’s what I love about these books, is that I’m never quite sure if there’s actual supernatural/paranormal stuff going on, or if it’s all PTSD trauma-induced hallucinations within Mara’s mind. I NEVER know who to trust, and although I love Mara, I have to admit she’s most likely an unreliable narrator. So when The Evolution of Mara Dyer begins, I was relieved to see that the story picks up right where it left off. Despite having a lot of questions and mysteries already running through the series, this book introduces twice as many, delving into the family history of Mara and Noah, bringing up fascinating concepts such as genetic memory, Jungian archetypes, and (possibly) reincarnation. I developed theories as fast as I could read, and more and more information would be thrown at me, ruining my previous theories but leading me to just think up more. Reading this was kind of like running a marathon.
What I really love about this series is that Hodkin has definitely done her research into the psychological aspects used in this book, and the fact that Mara’s own mother is a therapist adds a great level of irony to the series. The counseling and psychiatry is carefully done, with just enough information being revealed via adults about Mara’s conditions and symptoms to make you doubt if you can trust anything she’s going through, because it could all be easily explained away as part of her supposed psychosis. And despite all of the eerie clues and happenings, the scariest scenes where those where Mara herself had done something to terrorize herself, though she had no memory of doing so…(helpmehelpmehelpmehelpme…*shudder*). It’s fantastic, because I really like Mara as a narrator and a character, but the author has managed to make me fear her, too.
This book also introduces a new cast of characters, many of whom seem to be more disturbing than Mara herself. It was anxiety-causing, watching Mara spar verbally and mentally with some of these characters, but also had you internally cheering for her when she stood up for herself and fought the battle against her own brain to try to enjoy her life as normally as possible. With all of these character additions, you’ll learn (if you didn’t already know) that you simply CANNOT TRUST ANYONE (except maybe Noah, because he’s sadly probably the sanest person in this book).
And then the ending will come along and slap you with the biggest, most massive, hanging-off-the-side-of-Mount-Everest-Cliffhanger. You thought the last one was bad? It’s got nothing on this one. In fact, it may have slightly shifted the entire genre of the series. It caused me to call my psychology-major boyfriend and read him every psychology-mentioning passage and try to dissect it word for word, theory by theory, bless him. I will be permanently sleeping with one eye open until I get my hands on the last book in the series in November, and Michelle Hodkin has solidified herself in my mind as an auto-buy author.
Overall: If you want your brain to be pushed to its limits in guessing and to question your own perception about everything (in the most wonderful, most thrilling way possible, of course) you need to read this series NOW. Be prepared to sleep with you bedside light on for a while, because The Evolution of Mara Dyer will, just like the cover, drag you into its depths of never-ending plot twists, questions, and downright creepy happenings. It’s fantastic.
“Everyone is a little crazy. The only difference between us and them is that they hide it better.”
This review was originally posted at Girl in the Pages
boghunden
Written on Aug 31, 2014
Noah is amazing. Just as he was in the first book. Absolutely amazing! I really, really liked him! There were a lot of other characters as well, and I think I liked most of them. Mara's big brother, Daniel, was so good to her and loveable. He's a great brother! :) Her parents though. Why won't they listen to her? I mean, they don't even shut up and hear her out! THat's gotta be frustrating.
The story had a lot of twists and I really, really liked them. I definitely didn't see the being objects thing coming. I mean... WTF?! I had a lot of theories going on, but this surely wasn't one of them!! I'm very excited to see whether it'll be true or not, and to see if Dr. Kells is good or bad, if sge's lying or not. I think she's evil and lying, but so far all of my theories have been wrong, so...
I really, really liked this book. Mostly because, well, Noah ♥♥♥♥
Katie King
Written on Aug 4, 2014
My Thoughts
I was told I would like this book more. I was told this book would be good.
It wasn't.
The romance was boring. Mara & Noah make promises to stay together 4ever, have intense make-out sessions that last for 4 pages, and spend the rest of the book talking about how much they love each other and how they'll make it through whatever is going on. What a snoozefest.
The plot was boring. The bulk of the book was spent talking about what just happened or what Mara should do. Pages and pages and PAGES of this. If I wanted an in-depth conversation I would've talked to someone in person, not picked up a book.
The characters are boring. Mara USED TO BE really crazy in the first book, but now she's just super lame. She barely uses her powers and all she ever does is black out when the timing isn't good. Noah used to be a sexist jerk, and now he's a simpering wet blanket. Mara's family and friends continues to be taken from the NYT bestselling "Last 50 Cliches & Stereotypes You Will Ever Need." If I had a token for every stereotypical character, I could win some amazing prizes on the crane machine.
The ending was boring and quite far-fetched. The twists are so randomly inserted that I feel the author got pressed for time and decided, "fuck it! I'm throwing in everything!!" The last page is supposed to be a heart-stopping ball of adrenaline barely hanging on a cliff in the Grand Canyon. While I was reading it, I looked up and stared at some rain on the tent and walked to the campground bathroom.
I can't even write a proper review because I was SO bored I barely made it through this book conscious.
Summary
Crazy cliffhanger - I think NOT. Who decided to publish this? This book has the same problem as it's predecessor: 15 minutes after I had finished, I couldn't remember the plot.
kimbacaffeinate
Written on Aug 3, 2014
The tale centers on Mara who may or may not be suffering from delusions. She may have killed, or is completely sane and in serious trouble. Think conspiracy theory, and it is intense! Mara herself narrates the story, leaving the reader to ascertain the truth. Thankfully, she has Noah...yummy, sweet, strange, Noah. I was unsure of his motives in book one, but here he has Mara’s back.
Hodkin’s writing is brilliant, and she does an excellent job of making me doubt my own conclusions. The tale moved slowly at first, but than began to escalate, and all I could do was hold my breath and read on. Mara still grated on my nerves at times, but the more knowledge I gained, the more I understood her. While not perfect, she does command some appreciation and respect. The imagery was amazing from the doll, to near death accidents and oh gads the dead animals. I was riveted and the narrator added an element of suspense I found engaging. I love the voice she has given Noah and the doctor.This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer