MY 10 FAVORITE READS OF 2020

Here we are at last, at the end of another year. And this one was particularly trying. What with the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting quarantine, 2020 has felt long. It wasn’t as hard for me as for other people (I’m an introvert) but I wouldn’t call the year a pleasant experience. 2020 was quite the tough start of a new decade. I’m with everyone hoping for a better 2021.

Even without a pandemic or home isolation, I read a lot. The number of books I finished this year wasn’t that much higher than usual. A bunch of them were riveting, which made it a hard choice to pick between them. As I’ve done before, I ended up with 10 choices. These are the books I enjoyed the most this year. Without further ado, here they are:

BOOK REVIEW: DEVIATION BY HEATHER HILDENBRAND

Title: Deviation

Author: Heather Hildenbrand

Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult

Published on: December 30, 2014 by Alloy Entertainment (Kindle edition)

Protect. Obey. Sacrifice.

These words are the mantra of my existence. I’m not sure if it’s Titus Rogen inspiring my desire to go against what I am or my own DNA deviating. All I can think is how Titus will look when he meets his end. It trumps even my wish for freedom. In this moment, I want nothing more than to watch the life bleed from Titus’s body. And I want it at my own hands.

Titus. The Creator.

I stare at my palms. Strength aside, I wonder if I’m capable of taking a life. A human life; one with a soul. And I wonder if that isn’t easier than taking the life of an Imitation. At least humans have souls that live on. What do I have after this? Where will I go? Back into a syringe? Will Titus recycle me? Or will I be lost forever down a lab drain?

We don’t deserve that.

We don’t deserve him.

Deserving and receiving are so very different here. And I am beginning to understand, to beat someone in this world, I‘ll have to play in it.

The Clone Chronicles trilogy continues with Deviation. It is the story of Ven, an Imitation. In the book’s world, Imitations are clones meant to serve a variety of roles, like posing as their Authentics. Ven’s Authentic is Raven Rogen, the daughter of a rich and powerful businessman. This man, Titus, deployed Ven after his daughter suffered repeated kidnapping attempts. Ven's goal was to draw out the attackers so Titus could apprehend them. It wasn’t long before Ven learned stuff that completely changed her worldview. 

After a few weeks of posing as Raven, Ven found out that Titus isn’t the man she thought he was. It turns out that the kidnapping attempts on Raven were part of a rescue effort. Daniel Ryan, Raven’s boyfriend, tells Ven about Titus’s true goals with the Imitations. As their creator, he has nefarious plans they can help him achieve. This surprised me a little bit. Given the first book’s synopsis, I thought the general public (or at least wealthy people) would know about Imitations. No one does except some of Titus’s most trusted allies.