What's Left of Me

Actual rating: 4.5 starsDystopian novels have been disappointing me left and right these days. I don't know why. I'm not that hard to please. Yeah, I see your eyes rolling at that. *grin* But seriously, give me likable characters, solid world building and a good conspiracy theory and I'm good to go. Well, I guess there are only so many ways to tell the story of a deranged society killing off its children for the greater good. So, I went into What's Left of Me with, how do I say this? Er low expe [...]

When compared to most other dystopian novels I've read this year, What's Left of Me is pretty good overall. I found it very easy to get into and the characters quickly became ones I cared about. But, once again, there's just too little explanation for this to get more than three stars. The dystopian genre was born with novels like Nineteen Eighty-Four, which so expertly explored the political and social implications of having a society under strict government control and surveillance. More moder [...]

In the world of What’s Left of Me, children are born with two souls. One of those souls is dominant, and the other is recessive. Within a few years of the child’s life, the recessive soul will fade away (settle) leaving behind the dominant soul. But what happens when you don’t settle, and are known as a Hybrid? Addie and Eva are faced with that problem, being fifteen and having not settled yet. In a world where being a Hybrid is considered dangerous and a threat, Addie and Eva have to keep [...]

Two people - one body.Two personalities - one outward appearance.Two minds - ONE person in control.It's not very often that I am excited to jump enthusiastically into a book because the first few paragraphs hooked me right from the start. After only a few sentences, I was raring to go. What's Left of Me started strong and kept me wanting more chapter after chapter.The book's very first words :Addie and I were born into the same body, our souls' ghostly fingers entwined before we gasped our very [...]

I don’t get it. I mean, yeah, I understand the premise, the plot, the characters, the problems, the basic story behind What’s Left of Me, but even after the last page, I’m struggling to figure out what the point of this book is - and I really don’t see one. Pity, because otherwise there’s a lot of positive things I can say about the story, highly original, thought provoking, well written, but what it comes down to is I sort of feel the entire thing was rather pointless so I really can� [...]

Brilliant, heartbreaking, and absolutely unforgettable! I adored this book. :)

Imagine never being alone in your head, always having someone else tag along wherever you go, never ever getting any privacy. Kat Zhang has created this alternate world where humans are born with two souls until one takes over and "settles". Except, Eva and Addie never did. Eva and Addie, two completely different personalities are sharing one body - or more like, Eva is stuck in Addie's head, as Eva has not been able to take control in years. I found this very thought provoking as well as fascin [...]

The first time I saw this I wasn't really that interested. Although the premise does sound intriguing it wasn't that enough for me to be very excited about this one. So when I saw this in Edelweiss I wasn't really planning on requesting it, however my fingers have their own minds and took the liberty to click it and started typing why I wanted a review copy. And to my surprise I actually got approved. Then comes the glowing reviews from my GR friends and I was like, maybe I should thank my finge [...]

4.5 stars - ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! My half-star complaint is for the somewhat anticlimactic end (see below).Why did I love this book so much? Because the concept was actually mind-blowing. To be born with two souls and to become the dominant soul and to have the other naturally fade away - I can't even imagine how it feels to lose a part of myself like that. The prologue had me hooked, and the rest of the story sure didn't disappoint.But what made the book so great was that Zhang let Eva be the n [...]

A lukewarm attempt at alternate universe fantasy vaguely dressed up as scifi, and increasingly disappointing as our heroine(s) blunder through a not particularly scary and very generic Secret Medical Government Institution toward an uninspired and predictable end.Imagine every D-grade movie you've ever seen about someone different being singled out by the government and taken away to a shady institution for "correction". Said person somehow manages to do enough sleuthing to uncover the Terrible [...]

Read This Review & More Like It On My Blog!This was the perfect novel to bust me out of my bad book reading funk. The majority of last several books I've read had been frustrating, time-consuming, and often, disappointing. Happily, that is far from the case with What's Left of Me. Though this debut novel is far from being free of all errors, Kat Zhang's first novel in the Hybrid Chronicles manages to be innovative, engrossing, unique, and affecting. I absolutely could not, and did not want t [...]

Read the review on my blog:thaliasbooks.tumblr/post/2

I have been fortunate enough to read this upcoming debut early, and I am so very grateful! The novel follows Addie and Eva, two souls living in one body. Souls are expected to settle at a young age, picking one to dominate while the other fades into oblivion. In Addie and Eva’s case, neither girl wins out and the girls live with Eva’s identity still present, but secret. The way dialog is handled between these two girls is fascinating, often treated like an internal monolog. Where most people [...]

Originally Reviewed on The Book SmugglersAddie and Eva. Eva and Addie. From birth, the two souls have shared the same breath and heartbeat, occupied the same flesh, inseparably intertwined. The girls are twin souls, hybrid souls - and like everyone else born in the world, they grow together sharing their every thought and feeling with the other. As the years pass, they also fight for control of their shared body, learning who is stronger and who is weaker. Because in Addie and Eva's world, by th [...]

Initial thoughts: I know what you're thinking: "Rose! Woman! 3-stars? 3-stars! Explain yourself this minute! You said you really liked this book, why are you giving it only 3-stars?!"I'll explain, I promise. XD First things first, I have to give it to Kat Zhang; her narrative kept me reading through this book from beginning to end, and I liked the premise of the story. For a good while, it kept me engaged in the toggle between Eva and Addie's personalities. The beginning of the novel was VERY go [...]

4.5 starsI kept meaning to read this book for so long. The reviews trickled in, my reading pile grew, my workload climbed ever higherd as time went on this book was pushed to the back of my mind, in the farthest corner, and left there to gather dust, until finally. Finally, I read it. And it surpassed any expectations I ever had.In Eva and Addie's world, each person born into the world is actually two people, where one body is home to two souls. Of those two souls, one is dominant and one recess [...]

Addie and Eva are two souls in one body. They were supposed to settle around 4 years old, 10 years at the very latest. Settle on which soul will stay and which soul will fade away. Settle on which soul is dominant and will get to live. Eva didn't want to give up on life. She fought as hard as she could. But by 12 years old Addie had to settle and hide Eva's existence or risk being sent away to doctors and experiments and possible death. Eva shouldn't be there and no one can know. Eva continues t [...]

THE GOODThe concept:I won’t tell you how unique the idea is, because you see, I’ve read The Host a while ago and 2 souls in one body, one not fading away is not really something new for me. But a story doesn’t need 100% originality to be a good story. It needs to to have an interesting plot that makes you turn page after page, it needs a pack of great characters to make you wish to know more about them, it needs an intrigue to keep you up all night reading and it needs a great ending that [...]

Review can also be found on my blog: HERE!I was given a copy of the book back in June and was so happy once I got it in the mail. The cover is gorgeous and plays so well with the concept behind the story. Right from the start when I heard about What's Left of Me on I knew I wanted to have a arc to read for a review on my blog. I was so intrigued by the plot and characters within. Addie and Eve's story presented itself to be most fascinating to me. I love the idea of one body sharing two souls. [...]

Check out this review and others at badassbookreviewsWhat’s Left of Me is a book with no easy answers. The first book in the Hybrid Chronicles series tells the story of Eva and Addie, two souls that share one body. According to the laws of their country, Eva – the recessive or “weaker” soul – should have disappeared in childhood but she’s held on, unbeknownst to her parents and society. She can’t control the body but shares her thoughts with Addie and witnesses everything that Addi [...]

An unsolicited Advanced Reader Copy was provided by the publisher for review. Quotes have been pulled from an ARC and may be subject to change.Two souls inside one body. One soul is recessive and the other is dominant. The book is narrated from the recessive soul’s point of view, Eva. All her life, she’s had to watch Addie grow up, and live her life. Not being able to control their shared body takes a toll on Eva, and so does their sisterly relationship.It was definitely scary to think of wh [...]

The things this novel has going for it is the stellar concept, quality of prose, and well-crafted characters.I don’t know about you but a YA novel focused on the concept of two souls – or in essence two entities living in one – instead of a forbidden romance is extremely refreshing. It’s very unique and fairly original as far as this fiction category goes. I really loved it and I was glued to the pages, eager to find out how the plot would progress and how Eva and Addie would overcome an [...]

Original. It’s so absolutely different from anything else out there; I was so impressed by how good it was. The whole idea of dominant and recessive souls and settling was so new to me What’s better? It’s not that hard to figure out but not lacking in explanation either. It’s clear what the crux of the matter is: their feeling abnormal because of what they were, and other people fearing the same. I got it, and I was hooked with each page. There was a lot of things I’d never come across [...]

Checkout my full review on my blog! omgbooksandmorebooks.Addie and Eva are two souls, inhabiting one body. One soul is suppose to fade away and the other survives, but Addie and Eva are different. Eva has yet to fade away and they both are living with a dangerous secret. No two souls are suppose to inhabit the same body after childhood. The cover really portrays Addie and Eva and who they really are. But Addie and Eva meet those similar to them and they discover who they are and why they are a t [...]

Originally posted here: theloyalbook/2012/(scroll down for English)What's left of me l'ho divorato in poco più di una giornata. Quando ciò accade solitamente vuol dire che il libro era 1) molto corto oppure 2) molto bello. L'opzione numero due in questo caso è quella giusta.Partiamo dall'inizio. Ammetto di aver scelto il libro per via di quella copertina inquietante e del titolo altrettanto angosciante. A posteriori, confermo che sia titolo che copertina sono assolutamente perfetti e rispecch [...]

3.5 StarsFrom the post-apocalyptic wastelands of Obernewtyn, to the stark contrasts of poverty and lavish opulence in Pan Am, Dystopian – YA’s enduring wunderkind – comes in many shapes and sizes, and never has it seemed it so normal and suburban, yet so alien, cruel and wrong as in the alternate reality of Kat Zhang's What’s Left of Me.The StoryIt's an accepted certainty that every person is born with two souls, two girls or two boys, opening their shared eyes for the first time, as sep [...]

See this review and more on The Moonlight Library!Kat Zhang’s lushly imagined What’s Left of Me spins the tale of what happens when a recessive soul sharing one body with a dominant soul refuses to fade away, as they’ve been led to believe is inevitable. Anyone left with two souls in theor single body is a ‘hybrid – dangerous, illegal, and swiftly dealt with by the government. Eva is our recessive soul, and the book is told from her point of view. She shares a body with Addie, and they [...]

**4 1/2 stars**So, it’s been awhile since I’ve read The Golden Compass and even longer still since I’ve seen Girl, Interruped, but I don’t think a cross between those is how I would pitch this novel. No, I think the comparisons to Meyer’s The Host are more apt, and though I appreciated that book quite a bit more than I expected to after reading Twilight, I still think What’s Left of Me handles the symbiotic relationship between two souls in a more fascinating manner. I’m not thumbi [...]

Thanks to HarperCollins for sending this ARC to me for review! Wow! This is a one of a kind mind blowing experience! At first I was a little worried about the concept of the book. 2 souls sharing one body? Was I going to be able to keep them separated and follow along with the story? Kat turned what could have possibly been a reading confusion if written by anyone else, into a MUST READ of 2012! So a huge thank you to her for that. Do not shy away from this story. It is amazing! And she managed [...]

Two souls sharing one body.The other soul is dominant, while the other is subservient. Eva is the submissive, since she's trapped and unable to control their body, she has no choice but watch Addie live the life she should've had. Addie and Eva, inhabiting one body, could at least be the same, right? But they are not. They're total opposites. They don't think alike, they have different characters, and their voice are distinctive too.Despite their differences, they have a really strong bond that [...]