Once We Were (The Hybrid Chronicles, #2)

by Kat Zhang

[Angie]

Once We Were is, sadly, a filler book. There are no answers and there's no plot progression. Luckily, it's not boring. Some interesting stuff does happen, but as a whole it was disappointing. Eva/Addie and the other escaped hybrids have been in hiding for a few weeks now, and are becoming restless. Eva especially wants to go out and do something to help their cause. Then they meet Sabine, a girl who seems to have all of the ideas. Eva gets so caught up in trying to prove herself that she causes some tension between her and Addie.

A lot of Once We Were is the characters planning. They plan their first demonstration, and then once that goes off without a hitch, then start planning a larger, more complex feat. Life is unfair to hybrids, so I can understand them banding together to actually do something rather than just sitting and waiting in fear. However, we don't learn anything new about their situation. Why do hybrids exist? Why does the government want to be rid of them? How am I suppose to get excited about what they're doing if I don't even know what's going on?! Also, I still can't tell if this is some kind of alternate history or if it's a situation where the government has just been lying about their past.

The one thing that I did really enjoy about Once We Were was the relationship between Addie and Eva. They're continuing to switch off control of their body, and they're practicing disappearing completely to give the other more privacy. However, things are also getting more strained and confusing for them. Eva's obsession with working with Sabine and the other kids is isolating Addie, who really doesn't want to go through with their plans. Then there's Addie keeping secrets from Eva (or at least trying to). It was just interesting to me how they balance having privacy and full-disclosure over what's happening to their body when they're "under."

The last quarter was where Once We Were started to frustrate me and made me round down instead of up. The truth about the hybrid's next big movement comes out, and Eva who was all for it, is now 100% against it. I know she's doing the right thing, but I just couldn't agree with her actions. Yes, what's going to happen is awful, but she's also ruining things for a lot people who are trying to fight for a better world. Then when all hell breaks loose, all because of Eva, everyone starts coddling her and saying it's not her fault that things have gotten worse. Um? Yes, it is! It is her fault! It was just extremely annoyed.

I just wish something big had happened at the end instead of Eva's misguided hero complex. It was building and building and building, and then fizzled. Once We Were essentially ends in the same place where it started: the characters hiding out and waiting.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.