ARC Review: The Unquiet by Mikaela Everett

Title: The Unquiet
Author: Mikaela Everett
Paperback ARC, 464 pages
Published:  September 22nd 201
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Genre: YA - Science Fiction

For most of her life, Lirael has been training to kill—and replace—a duplicate version of herself on a parallel Earth. She is the perfect sleeper-soldier. But she’s beginning to suspect she is not a good person.

The two Earths are identical in almost every way. Two copies of every city, every building, even every person. But the people from the second Earth know something their duplicates do not—two versions of the same thing cannot exist. They—and their whole planet—are slowly disappearing. Lira has been trained mercilessly since childhood to learn everything she can about her duplicate, to be a ruthless sleeper-assassin who kills that other Lirael and steps seamlessly into her life.

An intricate, literary stand-alone from an astonishing new voice, The Unquiet takes us deep inside the psyche of a strong teenage heroine struggling with what she has been raised to be and who she really is. Fans of eerily futuristic and beautifully crafted stories such as Never Let Me Go, Orphan Black, and Fringe will find themselves haunted by this unsettling debut.

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  I received an ARC copy from HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review.

The Unquiet is a book that is like no other. Back when I can only count the fantasy/sci-fi books that I chose to read per year in one hand, the words "parallel universes" or "time travel" made me want to immediately read a book. Because of that, most of the fantasy/sci-fi books I've read are of those topics. And among those many books, I can say that this one is the most unique.

The Unquiet proves that only one of the same thing can exist. Therefore, having two Earths, it is inevitable that one of those Earths must die. And it happens to be our main character Lirael's Earth. Because of this, a number of children have been trained since birth to take over the other Lirael from the second Earth. But as time passed, Lirael started to question what is right and what is wrong, if they are the good guys or the bad guys, and if their killing their alternates is justifiable or not.

The Unquiet's story is very captivating and deeply imaginative. The world was vibrant in my head, and I had no trouble whatsoever in imaging the world. Contrary to other reviewers, I found the pacing of this book just about right. And despite it having more than 400 pages, I found that it was easy to get hooked and that it was a quick read.

It's kind of hard to recommend this one because I feel like this book is not for everyone, but in my case, it really suited my taste well. If you think that the synopsis interests you, then definitely give this a shot. Fair warning though, this book is kind of violent.

 Totally Awesome! I loved it, would read again.