I am going to go ahead and assume this book is a standalone, since I see no indication otherwise. That does affect my feelings, so I wanted to put that out there. You'll see why later. I tried to do some internet stalking, but found no mention of one- only several reviewers questioning if there would be one.
Anyway. This was a fairly even split of positives and negatives- so a middle rating is in order.
The Good:
- • The premise is kind of amazing, right? Right off the bat I enjoyed that her family didn't just cave to pressure and drown their baby. Because who drowns their baby!? But of course, now our unnamed main character lives- and that's about the only thing she does. She can't be seen anywhere near her twin, Jey, because obviously everyone will know she's a twin.
- • Twins switching places is always fun. I like it. I had friends who were twins, and they always switched in high school and even college. I had no idea how our teachers couldn't tell them apart, but they couldn't- or didn't care enough to. Anyway, I always enjoy this particular trope. Only Jey and No Name aren't exactly the same, because No Name has like, marks on her, and special powers, and is potentially evil. You know, the everyday things that all twins go through.
- • No Name is kind of badass and snarky, and I liked it. She doesn't agree with this "you're supposed to be dead" business. And once she has a taste of the world... well, she's fun. The thoughts in her head are a lot like the thoughts in my head, so that's fun. Plus, she's quite resourceful.
- • The rebel group is pretty great too. When they came into the picture, the book really picked up for me. They were smart, and they had plans, and they were going to do things to change this society. I approve!
The Not So Much:
- • The aforementioned society is kind of confusing. There are all kinds of different baddies. And some of the priests are baddies? Or maybe all of them? See, it's really confusing. There were names and phrases that just never made sense to me, I think because there were so many of them that my brain stopped trying to compute.
- • To that end, the world-building was lacking for me too. It all takes place in one... country? City? I don't know, but there's royalty. So some kind of place ruled by people, but also priests. I kept wondering where the rest of the world was- or even if the was a "rest of the world". Maybe it was just this one place?
- • The sister, who had been an integral part of the story, turns into a real jerk and then is out of the picture for most of the time, with the occasional reference. Dad also handily goes missing for a great case of Parent-in-YA Syndrome. (Mom is dead, because I guess you die if you don't drown your devil baby.)
- • I didn't really feel a huge connection to any of the characters, even though I found some of them entertaining.
- • There were just a lot of loose ends and unanswered questions for me when the book was done. While staying vague, there were loose ends romantically, with the main character's family members, with the world in general, and a lot of information about the "others" in general. So if there was a sequel, I think I could have been more satisfied with there being questions, but since this is currently a standalone, there were just too many topics that were unsettled.
Bottom Line: It was entertaining and I enjoyed certain aspects, but the confusion of the world and its members and the general lack of connection and cohesion were turn offs.