Linked By Imogen Howson

Linked by Imogen Howson was not terribly convincing.  Usually I have a pretty open mind about YA now, since the whole paranormal/sci-fi movement has mass produced stories that can sometimes be identical to other stories.  I won’t say that Linked was identical to other stories, even though it did have pieces of other stories here and there. What I will say is that it was disappointing.  It took too long to get into Elissa’s world and understand that this was dystopian. 

When beginning this story I was under the impression that Elissa was sick (like terminally ill, maybe) and she needed a cure.  Come to find out the girl is suffering from hallucinations, as she thinks.  What in reality is happening is that she is linked to another person.  She doesn’t know who this person is, all she knows is that this person is tortured regularly and her hallucinations feel as if she were “linked” to someone and seeing things through their eyes.  Also, come to find out that this story takes place in the future, on a different planet, one that does not recognize twins. 

I would say that the author needed to work on a couple of things for me to have just liked it:  first, she should have done a better job of world building.  Secondly, I really did not appreciate the rushed sentiment of humanity.  Sure the whole premise is about what being human truly means, but the overall way it was conveyed in the story lacked conviction.  The world building would have helped with understanding what the hell was happening from the start but instead we find out about a third into the novel what kind of alternative universe the book was set in.

Overall I give this book 2/5 stars. 

Thanks Edelweiss.abovethetreeline.com