Naturals (Lost Souls)

by Tiffany Truitt

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

Picking up immediately after the ending of Chosen Ones, Naturals begins with Tess being escorted to the Isolationist camp that sprung for her rescue. While Tess had mixed feelings about entering this new society, I was eager for her to arrive. I wanted to know more about what lies outside of the compounds, and what life is like there. Again, this all reminded me a lot of the Delirium series, specifically the second book where we get to see life in “the wilds.” I do think that Naturals developed and explained this outside world much better though. We’re shown the people’s day to day routines, what they do for fun, their belief system, how they get supplies, and everything else. It’s all explained in more detail than life in the compounds was, so I was satisfied in that regard. However, in general this sequel was mostly just okay.

The first half of Naturals is bogged down a bit by several flashbacks. Tess is desperate to hold on to her memories of James, but all of these scenes are verbatim repeats of Chosen Ones. There’s nothing new to be gained by these flashbacks, so I could have done with out them. On the other hand, her memories of her childhood were interesting. Those pieces did give us some insight into how life was in the compounds, at least for Tess and her family who were much better off than most. It also explained the tough exterior that she presented until James brought her walls down.

Naturals does present a few answers to some of the world-building questions that I had from the first book. While they do make sense, they’re not totally satisfying either. We get more information about why women are the ones blamed for the world’s trouble, but it was all shallow reasoning. I wanted more of a solid explanation, not just “women are emotional and make men do stupid things.” Another group of lab created life was also introduced in the form of “abnorms” who are nothing like the chosen ones that we’re familiar with. They are clearly beings meant to kill, and their existence does provide some new information about why the council was so focused on making their soldiers beautiful and not just deadly.

Naturals is a good followup to an interesting start. It didn’t wow me, but I still liked it. I’ve enjoyed watching Tess grow. She no longer shuns emotions and doesn’t believe all of the propaganda regarding sex and her own innate weakness that she was fed as a child. The twist at the end was not a shock at all. I feel like all of the hints along the way were more like neon signs, but I am curious to see where this all goes.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.