The Stages of Disappointment in the New Book of A Favorite Author: As Told Through a REPLICA Review

I'll admit it: though I say Lauren Oliver is a favorite author, the more I think about it, I have had a somewhat rocky relationship with her books. I like Delirium okay, but wasn't blown away by it. I really fell in love with that series with book two, Pandemonium, and by Requiem, book three, I was a total Lauren Oliver fan. Then, Panic came out, and really the only thing I liked about it was the tigers. I still haven't read Before I Fall, any of the MG books she's written, Rooms, or Vanishing Girls, which I've had on my Kindle since it came out. Still, I loved the Delirium books on the whole so much that I count her as a favorite author.

As you can imagine, I was very excited with she came out with her new series, Replica, last year, but I was in a reading slump for a good portion of that year, so I didn't get around to reading it until last month. Replica has been super hyped because of its format: it's dual POV, but you can read it in a variety of ways. You can read Lyra's story first, then Gemma's, or Gemma's, then Lyra's, or alternate chapters and flip the book upside down every other chapter. It's about clones, basically, and the idea is that different things get revealed through the two stories.

Let me tell you, the format was not all that unique, because you could do that with literally any dual POV book if you really wanted. The POV gimmick was pretty much the only cool thing about this book, because it was depressing AF.

But anyway, onto the stages of reading a disappointing book by a favorite author, as told through my thoughts about Replica:

- Pre-reading: OMG, what if this isn't as good as XYZ previous book
- also pre-reading: OMG, new book by XYZ author, can't wait
- while reading: surprise, I actually like both POVs and don't like one more than the other
- actually, I don't like one more than the other because neither is very interesting
- the writing is very simplistic and juvenile compared to her other books, but she's a favorite, so maybe it will get better
- writing does not get better
- story gets really depressing, consider DNFing
- but wait, it's a favorite author, so I have to give it a chance
- almost done with the book, still debating DNFing, but okay, now I'm almost done and have to finish it
- upon finishing: I kind of want to know what happens, but do I really want to go through a mediocre book again?
- But it's Lauren Oliver, so maybe Ringer will be better
- plus I have it as an eARC, so I don't necessarily have to buy it
- but it's really depressing
- but I also kind of want to know what happens
-but it's not very good
- but it's Lauren Oliver
- but but but...

That was basically the thought process I had while reading this book. Overall though, it did not deserve the hype and the gimmick was not that great, in reality. If I did end up reading the sequel, I'd probably try reading it in another format, so I'd just read the story straight through and read them separately. But who knows; maybe I won't read it because it was just very depressing, mediocre, and simplistic in writing in a way that did not make me want to read more.

But we'll see. Maybe I'll read it just because I have the eARC, and it'll probably be quick. Hopefully. Maybe. We'll see. As you can tell, I am having much conflict about this book.