Review Detail

The Evolution of Mara Dyer is a good sequel, to be sure, but I still have a few issues with it. Namely, Mara.

Okay, I can see her side of things. She doesn't want people to think she's any crazier than they already do. That's fair. I couldn't get on board with her hiding every single little thing from everyone but Noah, though. Honestly, Mara, did you have to hide the dead cat from your family? That seems a bit extreme. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think their first assumption would be that you did it yourself. And the sleepwalking? That is a legit thing that's happening so I think it'd be okay to tell at least someone.

I will say the pacing was good and the suspense was great. I didn't really think Mara was truly going mad, but I could still see her slow spiral into inner craziness. This just keep getting crappier and more confusing for her, so it's definitely justifiable. The last 50ish pages, my heart was pounding and I couldn't read fast enough. I needed to know what would happen next. I even stayed up until 4:30 in the a.m. to finish.

And what a finish it was. One the one hand, I really like the direction Hodkin is taking the unexplained powers(is that really the word for it?) thing. On the other hand, I'm really, really glad I waited until this year to read it. Hodkin is definitely a master of cliffhanger endings.

The Nutshell: While I enjoyed Evolution I wasn't quite as big of a fan as I was with Unbecoming. I didn't feel as completely in the dark as I had with book 1 and that was part of the fun. Mara also grated on my nerves a bit and I called one of the big reveals early on. I'm still really looking forward to the next book and can't wait to see what Hodkin has in store for Mara next.
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