The Originals, by Cat Patrick

Okay, so my sci-fi obsessed brain automatically screamed SO MUCH POTENTIAL when reading the synopsis because it's basically about human cloning! And human cloning is like the sci-fi hook in any book realistically. But, unpopular opinion time, I didn't think this book filled its potential. Feel free to boo and hiss.

But I do want to make it clear, I did enjoy this book, I just think it could have been a million times better.

Let me start by explaining the premise of this story. Lizzie, Ella, and Betsy look exactly alike, but aren't triplets. Nope, they're clones. Instead of just pretending to be triplets (that's too mainstream/it's actually fully explained in the book), they live as one person, each having their own time of the day that they're responsible for. Lizzie has the first half of school, Ella has the second half, and Betsy has after school cheerleading and college course. Complicated, I know. But then, Lizzie screws up a math test and suddenly, her mother makes her and Ella switch times, which of course leads to her meeting a boy (doesn't it always?). But then, they still have to pretend to be one person. Add in that Ella also starts to like a boy. I told you it was complicated. Dating in high school is hard enough, but when you're three different people and two of you want to date different boys, someone is going to get caught and it ain't gonna be pretty.

So that's the gist. But wait, there's more. Did I mention the psychotic mother?

That woman cray. She helped clone them and yada yada yada she controls their life and makes all their crucial decisions and yada yada yada she lies and it just gets more convoluted as the story continues. So basically, you're ready for a ginormous showdown of epic proportions and crazy secrets to be revealed, but that's not really what you get. The ending's easy and doesn't really involve danger (like you would expect). I hate using the word cop-out, but that's the only way I can think to describe it. Not to mention, the end end of the book is weird. It's just so unrealistic that I had a hard time remembering what I liked about the book. Oops.

But I did like the book, I really did. I'm just picky and like to complain. The characters were awesome, and you all know how much I love me some good characters. What I liked most was how even though the girls were clones, they each had a very distinct personality so it was easy to tell who was talking. I also love the idea of human clones, not in a way that I want it to actually happen right now, but the possibility of it entices me.

It was a light, sci-fi read so if that's what you're looking for, then look no further. The skeleton of the story was there, I just wish there was more meat on the bones. And coming from a long time vegetarian, that really says a lot.

-Annie