"But just because no one strapped you down and plugged a machine into your head, it doesn't mean you don't have scars too." (Lin to Elissa)
Linked has an it's-me-not-the-book problem. This book had decent characters, plot and pace, but I just wasn't feeling it.
Lissa has hallucinations that involve pain and bruises for three years. The one thing that can cure these hallucinations is a brain surgery, but a few days before the surgery, Lissa finds someone who looks exactly like her, her twin.
I'm a character-centred person. One-dimensional characters or characters that I can't relate to or understand have the potential to ruin a book that I'm reading. In Linked, I couldn't connect with anything in this book, including the characters. I didn't wince when they were in pain. I didn't smile when they were happy. I wasn't angry at the torture that the Spares faced. I didn't worry about the characters when they were in danger. I didn't even care what happened to them when they were in danger. I wasn't screaming at the universe to make things right in the world. Ellisa and Lin are just flat characters who evoke no emotions out of me.
The second thing that didn't evoke any emotion from me is the romance. The romance is supposed to be a slow-burning-hate-to-love romance, but it feels quite abrupt. Due to my lack of care for the characters, I wasn't shipping the romance. Nothing in this book managed to melt my ice cold black unemotional heart!
The world-building is also non-existent. For a futuristic, sci-fi world, that's not okay. In the beginning of this book, I was so confused about the structure of the planets and the towns and when I completed Linked I was still confused. I don't know if this was a me-being-stupid thing, but whether it is my stupidity or not, it did stop me from enjoying Linked. Not much is explained about the Spares and what happened to them or Lin's electricity power (I forgot what it's called). I wanted to know the origins about this ability and whether the other Spares had it, but none of these questions are answered.
Linked had such an interesting premise and plot relating to twins and the bonds between them that I should have enjoyed, but I couldn't care less about what was happening in this book. Linked a bland read.