Adaptation

Adaptation #1

by Malinda Lo

Across North America, flocks of birds hurl themselves into airplanes, causing at least a dozen to crash. Thousands of people die. Fearing terrorism, the United States government grounds all flights, and millions of travelers are stranded.


Among them are Reese and her debate team partner and longtime crush David, who are in Arizona when the disaster occurs. On their drive home to San Francisco, along a stretch of empty highway in the middle of the Nevada night, a bird flies into their headlights. The car flips over. When they wake up in a military hospital, the doctor won't tell them what happened, where they are--or how they've been miraculously healed.

Things become even stranger when Reese returns home. San Francisco feels like a different place with police enforcing curfew, hazmat teams collecting dead birds, and a strange presence that seems to be following her. When Reese unexpectedly collides with the beautiful Amber Gray, her search for the truth is forced in an entirely new direction-and threatens to expose a vast global conspiracy that the government has worked for decades to keep secret.

Adaptation is a bold contemporary science-fiction thriller from the acclaimed author of Ash .

Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction, LGBT, Queer, Fiction, Romance, Aliens

416 pages, Paperback

First published September 18, 2012

About the author

Hi Goodreads! I've only created this profile to claim my name here, and I don't check messages here or add friends. I invite you to follow me on Twitter, Instagram, or visit my website at malindalo.com.

BIO: Malinda Lo is the bestselling author of Last Night at the Telegraph Club, winner of the National Book Award, the Stonewall Book Award, and the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, as well as Michael L. Printz and Walter Dean Myers honors. Her debut novel Ash, a Sapphic retelling of Cinderella, was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award and the Andre Norton Award for YA Science Fiction and Fantasy, and the Lambda Literary Award. She can be found on social media @malindalo or at malindalo.com.

Reviews

[Rick Riordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

YA sci-fi thriller.

When birds start to mysteriously fall out of the sky, Reese is in Arizona with her debate partner David and her debate coach. Soon, it becomes clear that something disastrous has happened all across the continent. Flocks of birds are going crazy everywhere. Dozens, perhaps hundreds of airplanes have crashed. Reese is stranded at the airport, and whatever the true nature of the disaster, the US government seems to be covering it up. Reese, David and her coach grab the last rental car available and start a dangerous cross-country trip to get home to the Bay Area, while all around them the social order begins to break down. Mobs raid stores. Military convoys and panicked refugees clog the highways. Soon Reese finds herself heading straight toward that most mysterious of places: Area 52. Then disaster strikes.

And this is only the first few chapters of the book!

In the aftermath of the national disaster, which comes to be known as the “June Incident,” Reese struggles to put her life back together. Something very strange has happened to David and her – something she does not understand and has been forbidden to talk about by shadowy federal agents. Reese is sure the government is watching her. She finds a surveillance device in her bedroom. Her best friend is running an investigation of government conspiracies for an underground website, whispering about secret programs and even . . . yes, aliens. The stranger her life becomes, the more Reese is tempted to believe his wildest wild theories.

All of this would be crazy enough, but during the summer, Reese also meets the beautiful Amber Gray. Reese has been nursing a long-time crush for her debate partner David, though Reese also has told herself she has no interest in getting physical with anyone at this point in her life. Meeting Amber, Reese begins to question everything she has assumed about herself and her sexuality. But can she trust Amber? Can she trust anyone?

Part love story, part thriller, part sci fi, Adaptation is a great young adult page-turner that keeps you guessing and packs a lot of excitement!

I found this book thanks to the website Queer Books for Teens: http://queerbooksforteens.com/

[karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

i have got to learn to read the entire dust jacket in the future...

this is what i saw:

Across North America, flocks of birds hurl themselves into airplanes, causing at least a dozen to crash. Thousands of people die. Fearing terrorism, the United States government grounds all flights, and millions of travelers are stranded.
Among them are Reese and her debate team partner and longtime crush David, who are in Arizona when the disaster occurs. On their drive home to San Francisco, along a stretch of empty highway in the middle of the Nevada night, a bird flies into their headlights. The car flips over.

that is as far as i got. i thought "evil birds!!!?? it's about time!! the world must know!!"

but it's not about evil birds at all. the initial action sequences are the result of birds, sure, but it quickly turns into a more "traditional" sci-fi, YA x-files book. which is fine, but i am just not the audience for it. but you know a book about the evil of birds, and i am first in line.



i liked a lot of the character development, and i appreciated the sweet LGB first-love stuff, and the sweet hetero-first love stuff, and the sad-sweet first heartbreak stuff.

but aliens are just not my thing. and that first violent scene: when their debate teacher gets shot at the gas station that whole scene just seemed implausible and rushed, just to get them away from adult protection. because if someone has just shot someone, i do not understand how locking the car door is any sort of protection against them. does that somehow interfere with their ability to shoot through the windows?? does it mess up their aim?? no. that is the equivalent of pulling the covers up over your head to avoid monsters. you should be dead.



so this is really a high-three star. i think it is a fun book, and is a very sensitive book, and for those of you who like a little paranormal in your romance, this one is probably a good match, and i hope you enjoy it!


but warning: cliffhanger ending!

come to my blog!

[Josephine (biblioseph) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bisexual love triangle? With sugar, please.

[Ash Wednesday · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty package wrapped around a skeletal core, padded by lots of glittery styrofoam.

Hey, at least they're glittery.

On their way home from a debate meet in Arizona, Reese, David and their coach, Mr. Chapman's flight back to San Francisco got grounded. Birds have caused four planes all over the country to crash for some mysterious reason. In true post-apocalyptic fashion, the three of them opted to travel by land, getting waylaid by the pandemonium generated by the uncertainty surrounding the strange events. Reese vaguely remembers an accident happening on the road, a strange chamber, a military base and 27 days she has no memory of. When they're returned to their families, she doesn't feel like herself. There are strange dreams plaguing her at night and stranger compulsions in the morning; suited men following her around and a beautiful girl simultaneously disturbing and drawing her in.

"It's like we're in a movie, and every time I am with you, the camera zooms in for a close-up and we're the only two people in the frame.
Do you know what I mean?
You're my close-up."

There's not enough F/F pairings in contemporary romance, true. In the few that I've seen, they are often pushed in the periphery or implied rather than blatant so this was quite refreshing to read about. The writing wasn't frilly but carried the tension in the mystery pretty well.

I feel that this book ran on two fuels:

A) what's going on with those birds?! (Not one quip about Capt Sullenberger? Book, I'm disappoint.) and

B) what happened in those 27 days? (Are we looking at a Matrix scenario here? X-Files? Independence Day?)

For a stretch, this read like a post-apocalyptic/sci-fi novel and I found the action gripping (up to a point) and the imagery bizarrely intriguing. It's what kept me reading, sustaining the interest well into a point that made DNFing moot.

But take away the avant garde atmosphere derived from poetic graffiti in a lesbian bathroom, the eggyolk chambers and birds slamming against airport windows, the essentials I look for in a good book felt lacking:

There was no unifying theme. I do not strictly look for a bigger message in books but there has to be a clear and apparent point to everything. This felt a little scattered, the details discordant and unemotional. It had a very sterile feel to it. I like that there's an underlying feeling of randomness to the context of the things happening here but I was waiting for a turn in the story that will elicit some visceral, human reaction from me as a reader. Possibly because...

There was barely any character development for any of the protagonists. Sure I appreciate the novelty of a bisexual heroine in the cusps of sexual awakening but at its core, this still fell prey to the clutches of love triangles and unfounded attraction. I'm having a hard time reconstructing Reese, Amber or David's personalities from memory, possibly because they had none.

The revelation felt milquetoast and dull.Totally robbing the book as a whole. The way this was resolved felt dated and unworthy of the creativity in the possibilities implied by the early chapters. I can't help but see the last quarter as a bit of a throwaway. The book being easily summarized thus with a great early sprint ending with a huffing and puffing walk to the finish line.

Given the balls, the swagger and the KILLER BIRDS this book had to offer, I still can't help but feel a bit disappointed. But then again, The First Malinda Lo Experience did manage to sustain my interest despite the Veronica Mars Distraction of March 2014, so there's that. Considering I have the attention span of a goldfish, I suppose there's something Adaptation has to offer that's worth checking out.

ARC provided by the publishers in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Also on Booklikes.

[Yusra ✨ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I need to find a way to get this book off my hands ASAP it’s physically hurting me to own it.
thanks to my local library for giving me a copy of this book BUT Y’ALL SHOULDN'T HAVE . I’m not being sarcastic.

no seriously, if you want this book I will gladly pay shipping and give it to you, wrapped in really fancy wrapping paper and with a bow on top. but uhh keep in mind you might want to keep the wrapping paper safe so you can reuse it when you re-gift it to someone you hate

[Breanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm torn between whether to give this one or two stars. The very beginning was pretty good, so I'm going to leave it at 2. But... mehhh. After the opening action (i.e. after the car accident), all of the momentum was completely lost, there wasn't a clear direction that we were moving in. That was really hard to read through. I almost put the book down again and again but such a good premise had been set up in the first 50 pages that I wanted to know what happened with that. When we finally got back to it, it felt thrown together and confusing... i.e. the government just randomly comes and kidnaps them because they need to "conduct more tests"? It was just so weak.

Obviously, momentum and plot are very important to me as a reader. If you're just interested in a LGBTQ character study, this could be worth your time. But if you're interested in the book for the actual stuff written on the dust cover, then you might be frustrated when all of the action disappears through the middle of the book so that we can explore our main character's feelings.

I think there were some good ideas here and also some interesting themes, but in my opinion it was poorly executed and needed to be more tied together. Because of this, this was REALLY hard to read all the way through, and in the end the plot just became so weak and illogical that the climax wasn't satisfying.

P.S. Sorry, one more complaint: why didn't David have ANY personality at all? Every character had a personality except for him. Go ahead: tell me one adjective that describes his personality. That made it really hard to see what interest she had in him or to feel any tension between the two of them as they interact in the book.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

My (old) review for this book can be found on my blog, the lowercase gimmick.

It can be hard to admit that a book I really liked and that really impacted me emotionally is flawed. But there are big parts of this book that don't work - mainly, the fact that Reese is a very passive protagonist, and the sci-fi elements don't fit well with the contemporary elements.

That said, it's still very emotional to see aspects of myself represented in this way, and this is a well-written book with a lot to like about it. I recommend it highly.

[Nafiza · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you have read the synopsis for this novel, you will understand exactly why it is so intriguing. The mystery it promises reeled me in and I began with the intention of reading a few pages but about two and a half hours later, turned the last page. Lo knows how to tell a story. She knows how to reel a reader in and while Adaptation had some flaws, you have to give credit where it is due.

It is inevitable that I will end up discussing the romance in this novel because of two reasons: one, it is a large portion of the novel and two, it is the weakest part of the novel in my opinion. The love triangle here is inevitable but it is an interesting one because one of the players for our heroine’s affections is a girl. I couldn’t connect to Reese at all and I felt that someone who has such overwhelmingly strong feelings for the boy in her life, falling almost immediately for the next person (regardless of their gender) was a bit unbelievable. The hurricane fast progression of Amber and Reese’s relationship is a bit baffling especially considering that Reese has not even considered liking girls before she met Amber. A bit more caution, a bit more hesitancy on Reese’s part would have made the whole thing a lot more realistic than it ends up being.

The only way I can make myself accept the hurried pace of their relationship is by a bit of theorizing and this will take place under the spoiler tags. Amber is an alien and comes neatly packaged with these supernatural talents which perhaps also includes persuasion. So their relationship may have had genuine seeds but Amber may have used her talents to get the ball rolling and keep Reese entangled, manipulating her emotionally to keep her pliant. This, of course, is supremely icky and I hope I am wrong but well, it makes sense in my head.

David is portrayed a bit too ideally for my taste and he is way too understanding and accepting for it to be realistic. Moving on to the actual narrative, the premise that is unsurprisingly overshadowed by the romance, things are interesting though the entire secret that the book is built on is not really as surprising as I was hoping it would be. And I was surprised how the reason for the plane crash is added in almost as an afterthought.

Despite all my complaints however, I did enjoy the book. It is very readable and Lo shows with eerie precision how helpless ordinary citizens can be when the enemy is the government. When people who are supposed to be working for your good turn around and decide you are expendable, now that is real terror and Lo is uncannily adept at narrating the fear, the terror associated with these instances. I can’t tell you whether to read this book or not, but I can encourage you to make up your own mind about it.

[Shenwei · Rating 5 out of 5]

the scifi thriller aspect was intense but i have to say it's refreshing read a bi girl book where there is both a guy LI and a girl LI they're both given development and the MC isn't framed as a slut or whatever for experiencing/expressing attraction to both ppl.

[Cyna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like I’ve had a pretty good experience with Malinda Lo’s books so far. Huntress and Ash weren’t perfect, but I remember them fondly, and I was excited for Adaptation, Lo’s step from medieval fantasy into contemporary sci-fi. Unfortunately, I don’t know that I’ll be able to remember this one with as much affection as the others. It was kind of a slog. An on-the-bad-end-of-mediocre slog.

Adaptation‘s saving grace is that its heart is in the right place. There’s no uncritically perpetuated bigotry, misogyny, or racism, the cast is racially and sexuality(ily?) diverse, no stereotyping or tokenism, and it feels more accurately reflective of the world we live in than most things I read. Most importantly, Adaptation features a bisexual protagonist who finds herself caught up in a respectfully-handled bisexual love triangle.

If there’s anything to recommend Adaptation, it’s the protagonists’ discovering her sexuality: Reese’s experiences beginning her relationship with her female love interest, Amber, are by far the best parts of the book. I have issues with the plot and pacing and characterization and whatnot that I’ll get in to soon, but the scenes in which Amber and Reese went out on dates and spent time together were when the characters felt most real, when they had a depth and a sincerity that was harder to find in the rest of the novel. Their relationship is first-love sweet, and I love the way that it was handled, how accepting Reese’s everyone was of Reese and her relationship, and how frank and forthright the portrayal of the relationship itself is. It’s a much-needed portrayal, and I’m glad that it exists.

That being said, it felt like something out of a completely different novel.

I have a bundle of problems with Adaptation, and I feel like they all come from roughly the same place: it’s disjointed as fuck. The beginning of the book is intriguing, and it’s got a great disaster movie kind of hook: all over the United States, Mexico, and Canada, planes are crashing thanks to literal flocks of birds suiciding into the engines. Air travel is suspended all around the continent, so naturally people get paranoid and suspicious, fearing terrorism or some other doomsday scenario, and shit goes Mad Max almost overnight. Our protagonist, Reese, her classmate David, and their teacher, stranded states away from home because of a school trip, attempt to drive back to San Francisco, but are met with a series of terrible accidents that leave the teacher dead, and Reese and David horribly injured in a car crash.

Days later, Reese awakens in a top-secret military hospital, where she’s told that she and David only survived the accident thanks to “advanced experimental medical procedures”. They’re made to sign NDAs, and then they’re sent home, to find the intriguing disaster of the opening is completely over and life has returned more or less to normal.

It’s an interesting way to kick off the novel, very hectic and tense and cinematic and mysterious – I mean, birds? – but it makes promises the rest of the book doesn’t keep. The apocalyptic feel is completely abandoned once Reese and David wake up, and while I’m intrigued by the idea of a post-post-apocalyptic America on the mend, that’s not really what Adaptation is about, so what feels like a very sudden genre shift is jarring.

Given the set-up, you would expect the middle half of Adaptation to be the discovery part – you know, the investigation into what happened to Reese and David, what was going on with the bird thing, and how the two tie together, because you know they will. Instead, the focus shifts to the romance and Reese’s awakening sexuality, and the tone changes dramatically.

Like I said, I generally liked the romance between Reese and Amber, the girl who definitely has absolutely nothing to do with the other part of the plot, nope, but it doesn’t mesh AT ALL with anything that’s come before, or anything else plot-related that’s happening alongside it. It comes out of nowhere, and even though you know, logically, that it will HAVE to tie into the overall plot later, while you’re reading it, it feels like someone is flipping back and forth between a fluffy romance movie and the weird sci-fi flick that you started watching originally. There’s just such a disconnect between the two.

That being said, I’d almost rather watch the fluffy romance full-time, because the weird sci-fi flick has gotten boring as fuck at this point. Basically Reese discovers that the advanced medical procedure has given her Wolverine-esque regenerative powers, as well as the ability to, er, feel people from the inside when she touches them. It’s a weird power with no practical application that I can think of – worst X-Man ever, right? Meanwhile, David has developed the much more useful ability to hear people’s thoughts, but before you start thinking that this could lead to interesting power-exploring places, understand that all of this comes out reeeeeeeeally slowly, interrupted by a handful of date scenes, over the course of the junior detective investigation into the plane crashes that Reese’s best friend and conspiracy nut Julian drags her in to. It’s here that Reese just stumbles on to information linking the plane crashes to the government and the procedures that she and David underwent.

It’s at this point that I should probably pause to mention how utterly lacking in agency Reese is. Almost every single thing that she experiences, and ALL of the things that make up the plot and move it along, just happen to Reese. I’m going to be saying “stumbled on to” a lot in this review, because Reese doesn’t MAKE things happen, she doesn’t even really go out looking for answers after the bad shit has happened to her, that’s almost entirely Julian’s doing. Reese just finds stuff when the story requires it. She happens on to or gets dragged along to or kidnapped off to places where plot-relevant things are happening, and I think that this lack of an overarcing goal or mission for Reese has a lot to do with why the story feels so disjointed. The lack of a unifying personal drive towards…anything leaves Reese afloat in the river of the plot, drifting from place to place in a way that can often feel random.

Anyway, before Reese can do anything with the information that’s been doled out to her, she stumbles upon a scene between her girlfriend and the doctor who treated Reese at the secret military facility and discovers that, OH NOES, her girlfriend totally IS plot-related, here to keep tabs on Reese for…someone. They break up, which is understandable but a shame, because on her own, Reese has all the personality of a cardboard cut-out. David, too, actually, which is why I have issues getting behind that pairing.

So time out again to talk about the love triangle – it’s not exactly a love triangle in the sense that there’s not really any simultaneous pursuit. Reese falls for Amber despite her crush on David, because she believes he couldn’t possibly be interested in her. David is interested, but only confesses this after Reese has broken it off with Amber. There are lots of simultaneous feels, but it’s never framed in a competitive way. Like, Reese never agonizes over who she should choose – her bag is more about whether or not she wants to date anyone at all, and after Amber’s betrayal, whether she wants to take that chance with David. Obviously towards the end of the book things come closer to something resembling a romantic conflict – Reese commits to dating David, but Amber comes back, and the two love interests meet fully aware of their respective feelings for Reese for the first time – but the book ends before any progress is made on that front, so it’ll be interesting to see how this whole thing plays out in Inheritance. I’m Team Threesome, personally.



Speaking of, the bisexual aspect is very respectfully handled – there’s never any questioning of Reese’s “true preference”, no slut-shaming or biphobia, and David is neither weirded out nor threatened by the fact that Reese’s ex is a girl. It’s nice. Granted, biphobia is absolutely a real thing that bisexual people face in the real world, but there’s something to be said for the portrayal of the sort of environment in which a character is able to explore their sexuality free from judgement.

Anyway, the Amber thing happens and before Reese can do anything even slightly proactive on the “investigating-my-powers” front, she triggers a cut scene and we’re subjected to yet another setting/goal shift. This time David and Reese are taken to a completely different secret military base to be involuntarily experimented on, and the goal becomes escape. Also, because we’re like 3/4 of the way through the book, it’s time for some Answers. Both of these things are totally underwhelming.

The Answers are yet again just dropped in Reese’s lap. A little expositional dialogue here, a secret report mysteriously uploaded to her phone there, a couple lab reports, a Presidential address and voila, your answers, mademoiselle, on a silver fuckin’ platter.

Before we get into spoilers though, we need to talk about dat writing. Even putting the weird pacing and the lack of agency and the fractured feel of the story as a whole aside, the writing is just bad. I hate saying it, but it’s really, really bad. I mean, I had issues with the writing in Huntress and Ash, but both of those books had a sort of style to them, a Ye Olde Storytelling affectation, in Ash especially, that made all of the telling and the weird feelings-exposition at least kinda make sense. But here there’s not even a pretense of a style, it’s just normal contemporary prose and oh my godddd no. Stahp.

The characters are all incredibly shallow and/or boring, like Reese has one emotional hangup that she has to get over, but aside from that she has no interest or personality trait to speak of, aside from debate, apparently. David is just as bad, and their romantic interaction is bland city. It’s all tell, no show, all the time, with everything, to the point there’s a noticeably weird recurring redundancy where a character will say something that implies an idea or emotion, and then the descriptor tag following that statement will outright SAY the thing the dialogue implied. Like “Oh, this statement suggests that I am freaked out,” THE CHARACTER SAID, FREAKED OUT-EDLY. IN CASE YOU DIDN’T GET IT.

Plus, a lot of the background information on the military projects and the government conspiracies and the aliens and stuff is conveyed via “articles” and “medical reports”, which I get is meant to fill us in while cutting down on explain-y dialogue, but none of these articles or reports or news broadcasts or even the presidential speeches sound even remotely like what a news article, radio broadcast, medical report, or presidential speech would ever sound like. They read like a child’s approximation of what one of those things might sound like. I know, it sounds like a small quibble, but these things turn up ALL THE TIME and it’s really distracting.

Anyway, back to the story. ANSWERS. Speaking of childish approximations…

SPOILERS – YOU’VE BEEN WARNED

It’s aliens. Yeah. The “advanced medical procedure” was combining alien and human DNA to make Reese and David alien/human hybrids, which actually raises a whole lot of issues about medical consent, because the aliens are supposed to be the good guys in the end, but they did some previously lethal-ass experimental treatments on the two of them and fundamentally altered their bodies without asking anyone. On the upside, Reese actually brings this up, so hopefully that’ll be something addressed in Inheritance. I’d hate to see it brushed aside.

Also Amber is an alien, and knowing that one of the love interests is an alien is completely and totally a spoiler, THANKS ROBIN.

So I mean, it’s not a terrrrrrrible explanation in itself, but it comes so close to the end of the book that there’s no development of any of the alien stuff, and I just find it really hard to buy. It just seems so…silly, like, I WAS A TEENAGE ALIEN-silly. The whole approach this book takes to its aliens and conspiracies and its junior detectives and secret military labs is so middle grade, none of it feels like anything that could conceivably happen in the real world. Not because the premise is outlandish, I’ve bought books about dumber things, but because the execution feels so cartoonish and…loosely drawn. It just doesn’t have the right details for me, I guess.

Honestly, without more development of the alien stuff, that whole revelation means not a whole lot. Impact is minimal. Well, that’s not true. The real impact is sequel bait, and I’ll admit, in the last ten pages or so, Adaptation FINALLY picked up that intrigue ball that it dropped after the accident, and went somewhere unexpected. It succeeded in making me curious about the sequel and where it could go, even as I was thoroughly underwhelmed by the road it used to get there.

So yeah, Adaptation, man. Not great, but not awful, either, and if Inheritance is good, it might get a sort of retroactive boost for setting all this shit up. As a stand-alone, though, it’s pretty disappointing. I’d say that even if you liked Malinda Lo’s fantasy stuff, as I did, there’s still no guarantee that Adaptation is gonna do anything for you. I’d make it a rental.

Here’s hoping Inheritance makes it worth it.

TWO ****AND HALF**** STARS

Read more reviews at You're Killing.Us

[Elle (ellexamines on TT & Substack) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to remind people before I write this review that my opinion here is subjective. With many dystopian books I dislike, there are clear complaints and issues to point out. This is a book that I think many will enjoy, and maybe one I would've enjoyed a year later. I read this first semester of 8th grade, right before I started questioning, and I vaguely remember having a strong reaction to the fact that two girls were kissing. So while my complaints stand, it's quite possible I disengaged from the book for personal reasons. If this seems like your thing, try it out.

♔ My main issue is the pacing. The pacing of this book is really terrible. The book starts out so action-heavy and then... nothing happens for 200 pages. The book ends with a little action, but in terms of dystopias and scifi, this was sadly kind of boring. There's too little action for a scifi thriller.

♚ I think it just gets too weird, frankly. There's no slow build to a climax; it all feels completely thrown together.

♔ I wanted to love the concept of a bi main character in a love triangle, but frankly, David's character is too flat. Their romantic storyline is incredibly flat.

The thing is, though, that I might've just missed a lot due to my 2013 Confusion. I see so many people praising this one for character work, and I didn't feel that upon reading it. It's quite possible I just wasn't in the right place.

[Wendy Darling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whoa. THERE HAD BETTER BE A SEQUEL.

Review to come.

[Niamh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an extremely quick read for me! I don't think I've been this excited to finish a book since I read A Thousand Pieces of You in one day (and killed my sleeping pattern in the progress).

The synopsis had me intrigued, because evil birds? Who doesn't love to read about nature going haywire?! This book was well paced, with action here and a lull there. I sometimes felt that the lulls in the middle of the book were stretched out a bit too long though, as the storyline did get a little boring. But this was made up for by all the tense action at the end. Also, bisexual love triangle! And a gay, black, Jewish conspiracy theorist (that started out like the iconic line from "Kingsman")! Thank you Malinda Lo! This is what I needed in a book!

The big answer to "what made the birds go crazy?" was nothing like what I expected, neither was the answer to "what the hell happened to Reese and David?", because of course they have to be interconnected someway.

All in all, I found this book to be quite engaging and interesting, but also with somewhat simplistic writing, a fact that is to be expected with Young Adult books.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a love for this kind of story and I can't put my finger on why. I like good science fiction but there are certain tropes in the genre that work for me and this is one of them. COME ON ALIENS ARE AMAZING. THEY'RE TERRIFYING AND MYSTERIOUS! How can you NOT like an alien story if it's well done?

Lo's novel is fast paced up until the end, where I found there was a little bit of a drag as the real information and back story was revealed. It's not problematic, but it's a change up in the speed. Reese and David are great characters, and I thought the third person worked very well here. Especially given the subject matter. The writing here and the narrative choices were big strengths.

I love how this is such a human story: aside from the terrifying things going on around them (dead birds, plane crashes, network interruptions, curfews, government cover ups) this is also a story about bigger issues. More specifically, this is a story about sexuality, about questioning the lines of what is and isn't right to feel and experience. Reese has no idea if she's interested in David (even after he rejects and hurts her) or if she's interested in Amber (who makes the first move and shows the first true interest in her). And it all ties back perfectly with the sci fi trope, too. Because she feels alien now that she's attracted to another girl. That she's attracted to anyone after that big David rejection! And then when it turns out Amber is alien, that only throws her to question things more. What does Reese believe about herself? Can she be attracted to more than one person? Or is it only one? Can she forgive someone? Can she forgive herself? Oh and then there's the secondary theme encompassing that of sexuality, which is romance and love more generally: Reese's father has a long talk with her about how he feels like he can love more than one person (even though what he's engaged in isn't love but lust but it brings up those questions to Reese even further).

I saw what was coming from a mile away, hoped it wouldn't happen, and then it did. But as much as that disappointed me, I liked this story a lot anyway. The ending was a perfect cliffhanger, but there is a whole story here. It's not simply set up (but it's a set up too!).

I had a little trouble parsing out the government conspiracy elements but I suspect that's all going to flesh out in the next book.

This is a fun story that'll appeal to readers who like this trope. I'm not spoiling it because I didn't go into this one spoiled and I think that was what made it so fun.

Full review here: http://www.stackedbooks.org/2012/10/a...

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been meaning to read this since it first came out, and at one point I even had an ARC of it, I think for the UK release. I ended up grabbing it and the sequel on our way to the airport, and read it on the flight. Which was possibly not a good idea given all the plane crashes at the start, heh. I don’t quite buy the explanation given in the book for that — genetically manipulated birds all somehow released at once and in multiple places worldwide? Seems a bit of a hole in the story there.

Still, if you elide the science stuff (e.g. I’m also not sure introducing alien DNA via mitochondrial DNA would have reliable effects), this is still pretty fun. It’s definitely YA, with the preoccupations of teenage readers fairly front and centre. What stands out is less the plot and more the characters. Even then, it’s not characterisation I’m talking about, but character diversity. The main character is, for instance, actually bisexual! And she actually initially read to me as ace, maybe grey-A, because she doesn’t seem to grok attraction as a general thing.

So that’s pretty cool. I’m not overwhelmed by plot and character, though there are some great moments — Reese’s mother, for example, and her adult life going on in the background — but it’s enjoyable and easy to read.

Originally posted here.

[Harrow · Rating 2 out of 5]

My only problem was that it long, with quite a bit of unnecessary stuff thrown in, as is common with Malinda Lo books. That being said i loved the plot and and characters. Most of all i loved the main romance, even better that it was relevant to the plot and wow that reveal.


"𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐬𝐤𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐬. 𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝐑𝐞𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙚."

they were adorable and i really enjoyed their scenes much more than anything else in the book


“𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲.”

Yes, she does David, go away now. I just didn't see the chemistry between Reese and David, also it didn't help that every moment she spend with David she compared him to Amber (e.g. his hands, their kisses) while her time with Amber was just theirs.
It was great sci-fi mystery with quite a few twists.
warning: it is a cliffhanger ending.

[Nemo (The ☾Moonlight☾ Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Birds are attacking planes and dropping dead from the sky. Reese and David are trapped in an airport when the planes are grounded, and make a mad dash to drive home. On the way, a bird attacks their car, and they crash. Waking up a month later, Reese finds that she and David have weird new abilities and are being stalked by the government, and also by someone who is not the government…

Um… not sure if my above summary really describes this book that well. Sure, all the above happens, but it’s a lovely slow burn. The car doesn’t even crash until about Chapter Five or so. The book is a mish-mash of sci-fi, thriller, suspense, and contemporary romance.

I really loved the way Lo wrote all the relationships to Reese. Reese and her mother have an amazingly strong, awesome relationship, and she’s not absent like other YA parents. Reese’s relationships with her love interests (love triangle alert!) are also achingly realistic, from the embarrassment of a first crush to the swooning of a first kiss and ‘coming out’ to your mother.

Lo’s writing has the perfect balance of description, depth and action to move this book forward and she’s not afraid to skimp on the non-action details. That’s not to say that this book is primarily a romance, because it’s not. The romance definitely takes a back seat, but of course there must be some time dedicated to it. But it’s not like the first half is relationship and the second half is action, it’s all weaved through and to be honest, I thought the blossoming lesbian relationship was really sweet. Lo wrote in third person limited which made the inclusion of news items Reese was reading a clever way to insert the the extra information needed instead of switching to omniscience.

I’m not sure I can really talk about what happens in the second half of the novel without spoiling, so suffice to say that I was pretty much horrified when Reese’s liberty was denied over and over, and there was absolutely nothing anyone could do about it, which was the most terrifying aspect of the novel: sanctioned kidnapping and mandatory testing. I’m still struggling to understand why anyone would do such a thing to two minors without their (or their guardian’s) prior consent, and I also have an enormous pet peeve about the representation about a particular group of characters, and even in a sci-fi novel where I can accept birds attacking airplanes and psychic abilities, my suspension of disbelief will only go so far.

But you know what? Lo’s an amazing writer who doesn’t shy away from not whitewashing or, I dunno, ‘sexuality-washing’ her cast. Her cast of characters are as diverse as real people, with all different sexualities and all different colours, which is a lovely thing to see – and even a female President of the United States. Lo’s more progressive than most other writers out there. This book is clearly designed to set up something epic in the second book, but until I whittle down my massive to-reads pile I won’t be getting to it.

Thanks to Hodder Children’s Books and Netgalley for providing this advanced reader copy for an honest review.

[Tandie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adaptation was different from the YA I've been reading lately. Very sci-fi, X-Files feel with government cover ups and conspiracy theories. There's an unusual love triangle, but it's not the focus of the story, so it didn't annoy me.

Reece and her debate partner, David, are in an Arizona airport when strange bird behavior results in all flights being grounded. They attempt to drive home to San Francisco and end up in a strange military hospital after a horrible car accident. Neither has any memory of what happened after the accident, and they've been in comas for 28 days.

Reece has had a longtime crush on David and feels awkward and shy around him. She notices that she's different after her mysterious hospital stay but writes it off as a result of her severe concussion. She literally runs into a beautiful, charismatic girl named Amber and is inexplicably drawn to her. It quickly turns into a crush & her first kiss. I couldn't tell if it was genuine attraction or Amber's ability to draw others to her & manipulate them. Reese is confused around David because she's also attracted to him. Reece seems more affected by their ordeal than David, she had headaches and a strange ability to feel the emotions of others. He admits to hearing voices, and their bodies both experience rapid healing.

People are keeping tabs on them and it's difficult to tell the bad guys from the good guys. Secrets and lies abound, and Reece needs to figure out who to trust. Lots of action and adventure. The story seemed to stall in a few places, and the end was drawn out. Reese got overly dramatic & the plot lost steam, turning my 4 stars into 3. Still, an enjoyable read overall.

[Kaethe · Rating 4 out of 5]

One day, traveling back from a debate tournament, everything goes crazy and awful: flocks of birds cause several plane crashes. Okay, birds are creepy. Then there's a national state of emergency which leaves Reece, her teammate and their debate coach stranded farm from home with phones out/down/whatever and no flights. Highschool students unable to get home or contact their folks during an emergency, that's a hell of a situation. And then things get worse. And worse. And still more worse.

Plotwise, there's a hell of a lot to work with. Sadly, there's so much going on that things don't necessarily get a chance to build. On the plus side, the emotional relationships do get a chance to build, so they come off really well. I think the book is weakest in the scifi/thriller aspects, but those are still good ideas. I'll definitely be picking up the sequel.

Library copy

[Hallie · Rating 3 out of 5]

(More like 2 for enjoyment, but I'm trying to give credit for -- something.)

One of those books that you expect to like, and then find about as easy to fall into as molasses. Very cold, bordering-on-solid molasses. There were plenty of elements I thought should have been appealing, but I kept getting thrown out by the characters being flat, flat, flat. Reese sure told us a lot about her crush, and exactly how each kiss made her feel, but it never connected for me in any way. When the big Twist finally came, I was so disengaged it just seemed eye-rollingly silly. Also - just no to the aliens tinkering to upgrade humans so they were more better. Silly.

[Eleanor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, and it was a nice throwback to classic YA dystopia / scifi, but with LGBT+ characters and relationships. I found it intriguing and fun, if a little weird in places, and I would definitely consider reading the sequel. The characters weren't the most interesting, but the plot kept me interested, even if it was a bit awkwardly paced, especially in the middle.

[TheBookSmugglers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ana’s Take:

Reese, her debate team partner David and their teacher are at the airport on their way back home from a debate competition in Arizona when reports start to show that across the USA flocks of birds have hurled themselves into planes causing several of them to crash. Fearing terrorism, the government grounds all planes and their flight is cancelled. The trio manages to rent a car and on their drive home, an event of unspeakable violence sets Reese and David on a manic drive along an empty stretch of road in the middle of Nevada.

In the middle of the night, a bird crashes against their headlights and the car turns over. Horribly hurt, Reese and David are taken to a military hospital in the area where they undergo treatment to keep them alive.

When they wake up nearly one month later, everything is different. They just don’t know what yet.

I’ve been a fan of Malinda Lo’s novels for a while now – I loved Ash and enjoyed Huntress a great deal – and Adaptation is a huge departure from Lo’s previous books. Both Ash and Huntress were Fantasy stories in a secondary world setting, featuring lyrical writing and a coming of age motif at their centre. Adaptation is a contemporary (or rather, near-future) Science Fiction Thriller with a simple yet readable writing style. The writing of the book is probably my biggest point of contention here: Malinda Lo’s beautiful fairytale-ish lyrical style used up until now, obviously isn’t a good fit for a Thriller. As such, at times, I felt the writing to be vacillating between extremely capable and annoyingly clumsy. There are plenty of writing shortcuts that tell instead of show and my copy is littered with my underlining of examples:

“Adrenaline surged through her” “homesickness throbbing like a drumbeat inside her” “ a familiar flare of self-consciousness burned through her”.

And so on and so forth.

Another criticism I have is how the novel falters in terms of pacing. It starts kicking and screaming with an engaging, awesome and scary set-up. Then it sags in the middle as the plot meanders around a more romantic storyline then it eventually moves toward an extremely rushed ending.

I am not criticising the actual content of the story. I actually loved everything about it: the smart beginning and the SCIFI mystery (as well as the eventual revelation of what happened), the (hot) romance and how things ended. It is just that these aspects of the novel were not seamlessly woven together to form a coherent whole.

These things said, there is also a lot in Adaptation that is worth of praise and they come from the main motif (“adaptation”) ,its metaphors and the way those were worked in the text.

Just like the author’s previous books, Adaptation has a very strong element of coming of age and Reese’s internal arc is extremely bold for a YA novel – her coming of age involves not only the realisation that she is bisexual but that she also has feelings for two people at the same time. It goes beyond a stereotypical Love Triangle of Doom by actually engaging with the possible scenario of falling in love and having a relationship with two people at the same time. I am curious to see how this storyline progresses in the sequel and for the record: I thought Reese’s interactions with Amber to be a lot hotter than the ones with David. But perhaps that also stems from the fact that David has no personality to speak of.

I also loved how the novel ended in a way that was surprisingly serene. Although there is a “bang” that precedes the actual ending as Reese and David find out what happens to them, the denouement works really well with the theme of “adaptation ” and “identity” that runs through the novel. Ultimately, that’s what all characters in this world – in different ways – will have to do as the book comes to a close.

Adaptation is one of those rare, unique birds in YA: a good, cool and geek-friendly sci-fi story featuring an extremely diverse cast of characters and a beautifully portrayed bisexual protagonist.

Thea’s Take:

I have some conflicted feelings when it comes to Adaptation. On the one hand, I love the idea of the book (familiar that it is), as it kinda reminds me not so much of The X-Files but of Roswell. Man, I loved Roswell.1 You’ve got the same basic setup of teenagers, humanoid aliens, special abilities, and government conspiracies (that aren’t nearly so dark or complex as The X-Files in scope or depth). I like the basic framework for the story as well as the overall storyarc, and felt the writing was engaging and even-handed.

I do, however, agree with Ana regarding the pace issues. Adaptation does start off fast and furious with an apocalyptic-style disaster scenario rippling across North America and two teens and their debate coach trying to find their way home. After The Accident, however, things cool down…a lot. There’s a disproportionate amount of time spent on Reese’s confusion and then a seemingly out-of-the-blue romantic storyline. While everything ties together by novel’s end, the sagging middle portion of the book is a bit disappointing. Too, the frenetic ending (involving another government facility and secrets revealed) feels rushed and not as developed as it could have been, which is a shame.

These criticisms said, my real issues lie with the main characters. While Ana says that David has no personality, I actually think this affliction applies to Reese as well. As a heroine, Reese is kind of a Bella. She’s nondescript. Pretty, awkward and reserved, serious and studious (but not TOO smart), the only thing we really know about Reese and her personality is that…she doesn’t want to date, and she apparently likes debate team (though we never really see her in action). Basically, Reese is utterly non-threatening in every imaginable way. David has no real traits either, other than his apparent shared love for debate (again, we don’t see any of this in action or any flashes of argumentative action, so it’s hard to tell), and the attraction he feels to Reese (mimicked by the attraction she feels to David). Then there’s Amber, the vivacious blonde pixie that inserts herself in Reese’s life conspicuously after Reese returns from her ordeal in Nevada and quickly becomes Reese’s flame. Amber has a bit more oomf than the other two characters combined, but still feels more like a stock figure than a fully fleshed out person.

Which brings me to my next point: I love that Reese is bisexual, that she feels attraction to both David and to Amber. I love that she’s not ashamed of these feelings, and I especially love the exchange between Reese and her mother after her mother catches her kissing Amber. The openness of this relationship, the love between mother and daughter, the tangled emotions that Reese feels for Amber and David are all very well done. In fact this, in addition to the plot (when it gets going), is my favorite aspect of Adaptation.

That said, it doesn’t change the fact that this IS another love triangle of doom and two of the people involved in it are kind of…duds. Reese falls for the Sexy Stranger who obviously is part of a plot, whose involvement with Reese is obviously manufactured – of course, Amber starts feeling something for her mark, too, which is yet another cliche. The fact that the love triangle features a bisexual character, a girl and a boy doesn’t change these basic facts. Of course, your mileage may vary – and perhaps I’m being unduly harsh as this is a book about identity and sexuality, much more than it is a science fiction novel.

On the bright side, Adaptation ends strongly and there’s plenty of room for growth in future books. I’ll stick around for more.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun, quick YA sci-fi read!

First off, this has some awesome bisexual representation. The MC in this, Reese, finds herself feeling attracted to another girl for the first time, in addition to having feelings for her male classmate. It's handled well, and it's lovely to see OTHER characters (including parents!) so immediately supportive and accepting of Reese.

The plot was a bit predictable, but it ticked along at a nice pace. It didn't feel terribly original, but I still had fun! I will say that if I had read this as a teen--this is YA after all--I would have LOVED it. This is exactly the type of story I loved reading in late middle school and early high school.

I also really appreciated all of the little details about San Francisco, which is where the majority of this is set. Clearly Lo knows the city! Often authors are either very vague about settings they've never lived in themselves, or they stick to very tourist-y locations. Not the case here! As a SF native and current resident it was really fun to read.

[XR · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started with a bang, which I enjoyed. It got a bit bland after that though. The highlights for me was finding out Amber and her mother weren't douchebags after all but were trying to help Reese and David. Even if Reese is being a pain in the arse about it all.

It's good enough that I want to know what happens next.

Now if only Malinda Lo and Amazon can sort out the pricing issue on the short story (Natural Selection) about Amber, everything would be peachy.

[Jenni Arndt · Rating 2 out of 5]

You can read all of my reviews at Alluring Reads.

Actual rating is 2.5.

I grew up watching horror movies, probably long before I should have ever been watching them. When I think back there is one movie that sticks out as having actually scared the crap out of me, that movie is Fire In The Sky. There's something about people being taken aboard an alien ship in the middle of nowhere and being tested on then coming back changed. It's so creepy, because no one knows about it and these people come back forever changed. Since then the topic has fascinated me, so when I saw the premise for Adaptation I knew I had to read it. This is going to be a hard review to write, because I don't really have too much to say about Adaptation, other than I was very bored throughout.

I guess I'll start with the writing, which grated on my nerves quite a bit throughout. A lot of it felt quite long winded and un necessary to me. There were tidbits of information thrown into sentences that the reader obviously knows, yet Malinda felt the need to reiterate it for some odd reason. I feel as if she should have put all that extra effort into creating more of a back story for her characters. We didn't really find out too much about their past or their feelings so there wasn't enough for me to latch on to and make me actually care about them. This could also be due to the story being written in the third person. I think that if I was in Reese's head for the abduction, the dreams, the exams and the adventure I would have felt a bit more of her desperation, rather than feeling like an outsider not getting enough information.

The beginning of the novel does definitely set off a creepy vibe, we have planes crashing after running into flocks of birds all over America and that is maintained quite well throughout. Once David and Reese return home they are changed and weird things are happening to their bodies. Reese is having odd dreams of being in a bleeding room. It's all very intriguing and I liked how those elements were tied in, I just once again wish that the characters had a bit more to them so I could have latched on to their desperation. We also get a bit of self discovery in this novel as Reese goes through some emotional changes and wonders about her sexuality. There was some worrying from me that we were going to have a new angle on the dreaded love triangle but it really did work itself out in the end and didn't feel like a triangle at all.

Is there enough in Adaptation for me to come back for more? Probably not, though I do have questions. I'll probably just read a review of the next on with lots of spoilers so that I know how it plays out.

A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Giselle · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Electronic Advance Reader Copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for review. Quotes have been pulled from an ARC and may be subject to change.

Here is Reese, a normal sixteen year old girl who is on the debate team with her crush David, and debate teacher when the unthinkable happens. Several airplane accidents caused by birds have grounded all flights out of the country. Reese and David manage to rent a car and try to drive home and on the way they get into an accident caused by you guessed it, birds. She wakes up in a strange place, with very little questions being answered. Reese believes the accident happened around the area most commonly known as Area 51. With David in tow, the doctors tell her she has been healed completely even though the extent of her injuries were so massive, her scars have shown up all over her body. When the following day, her scars simply disappear, more questions pore into the conspiracy that the government is keeping a rather big secret. It’s up to Reese to find the truth.

The beginning had me gripped and on the edge of my seat. I instantly devoured it, and as soon as Reese got home, the pacing stalled. Reese still had a lot of questions about what happened to her, and ultimately brings David in to verify their stories, but what I did not understand was the sudden change in her sexual preference. All along, you’re led to believe she is in love with David, but then as soon as she met Amber, she instantly latched on to her for attention. To add to my confusion, Reese even told herself she would never get into a situation where she would fall in love just because she was afraid to get hurt. But I’m guessing she only meant romances with males, because she fully powered on with her relationship with a female. I rather liked how it was Malinda addresses a lesbian relationship in this novel. There aren’t very many YA books that I have read where the main character falls in love with a girl, so it was ultimately refreshing.

The pacing definitely had issues, because the story and plot developed rather quickly in the end. Every piece was tied up, and most of the questions are answered in the last few chapters, so that was also a relief to read. I loved the science fiction element in the novel. There’s always a lot of conspiracy stories out there, but this one was rather good to read. I also loved how realistic the portrayal of the government was revealed, and what their actions entailed.

Adaptation definitely held my attention, and I can’t wait to read more about Reese and her abilities in the sequel.

[Rachel Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Malinda Lo’s latest novel opens with birds falling dead from the sky. Teenage Reese Holloway and her crush object/debate partner, David Li, are caught in a strange near-apocalypse as all over the world, flocks of birds crash into airplanes. Unable to get a flight home from their debate, they rent a car and try to drive back. After adventures which I won’t spoil, they make it back to San Francisco, where life has gone more or less back to normal… except for their strange new abilities, gaps in their memories, and the men in black who keep following them around. Reese meets a cute, mysterious girl, Amber, and finds that she isn’t as straight as she had thought. But that’s only the beginning of her discoveries…

Adaptation is quite different from Lo's Ash, a fairytale retelling, and Huntress, a quest fantasy. I liked it the best of the three, partly because so many elements of Adaptation suit my tastes, but more because it has an emotional immediacy that the other two didn’t quite reach. The setting, from apocalyptic freeways in Nevada to a lesbian club in San Francisco, is as vividly depicted as the characters’ feelings. The structure is distinctly three-act: action-packed beginning, long leisurely slow build of a middle, action-packed climax. I enjoyed all three, but you will probably like the book more if you know going in that the whole thing isn’t the wild ride of the beginning.

It’s old-school science fiction given new life by Lo’s gift for depicting moment-to-moment physical and emotional sensations, especially those of sexual attraction, and by her likable cast of characters, who are diverse in a natural-feeling, realistic way. Adaptation is built from familiar tropes, though ones currently extremely rare in YA, but is executed beautifully. Imagine an episode of the X-Files – an early one, back when it was still good – done as a sensual YA novel with a bisexual heroine and a love triangle that doesn’t make you want to throw things. If that sounds good to you, you will almost certainly enjoy this novel immensely.

It doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, exactly, but it’s definitely one half of a complete story. The sequel will be out next year. I intend to buy it in hardcover.

Psychic kids! Spaceships! Black ops! Secret experiments! ALIENS!

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never set out with the intention to read science fiction, but as it happens, I read a fair amount of it anyway. Usually this is because I pick up something that sounds really interesting and it turns out to be sci-fi, but in this case, however, a friend added an ARC of this book (surreptitiously, of course) to a pile I was borrowing and it wasn't until I'd read the first 20 pages that I realized what I was really getting into.

Since the book has yet to be released, I will refrain from any spoilers and give a more broad opinion with the intention of exciting other people about the storyline.

This novel is compelling, it's imaginative, and it's very real despite being a work of fiction. Malina Lo captures the awkward, the tender, and the terrifying in a believable way. Two teens find themselves in the midst of a medical mystery and government coverup. Their experiences were anything but everyday. Set in Nevada and San Francisco, their challenges in discovering the truth changes everything they thought they knew about each other, and themselves. Perhaps it was my own teenage proclivity towards The X-Files that I felt a deep connection to the mythos of the story, but despite having had years of "experience" with a deep-rooted government conspiracy, I was still surprised by several elements of the story.

This is the first Malinda Lo novel I have read, but I am excited to read the others. She brings a refreshing honesty to her genre, and even transcends the YA category. I highly recommend this novel to all readers, despite the genre.

[Sherwood Smith]

Picked this off the giant stack to look at while I was involved in a long, tedious dinner-cooking process, and ended up so absorbed that I nearly burned the food.

Then last night I picked it up again, and read until very late, finishing this morning over breakfast.

First reaction: ARGH! Talk about the cliff-hanger of the century!

Second reaction: a terrific book. I was deeply involved in how Lo managed to blend friendship and relationship conflict within the tense story of seeming apocalypse and governmental coverup and the old snfnal "Are there aliens among us?"

I was, at first, disturbed by the apparent evidence that Reese's sudden attraction for a girl was because she was being manipulated psychically by Amber, who was clearly not all she said she was. This sense of unease spiked after Reese spied on Amber and Dr. Brand. But at the end, when Amber explained that she'd shut herself away from Reese, I thought, oooooh. So it was a real attraction, but Amber, having shut herself away, didn't see how Reese was going brainless in what in effect was a psycho-emotional echo chamber? Cool!

That jives with Reese's other emotional ambivalences, and leaves the door open for more development there, as well as with the outer story.

Really, one of the best YAs I've read this year.

[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

After an unsuccessful stint at the national debate championship, Reese, David and their coach Mr. Chapman waits to board their flight but things got awry because of birds crashing on planes. There were a total of 9 plane crashes because of these birds and a flight ban was raised. Believing that this was not a normal occurence, Reese convinces David and Mr. Chapman to consider renting a car and driving back to San Francisco. On their way home, Mr. Chapman gets shot by a car jacker and the two gets in a car accident after fleeing.

27 days later, Reese wakes up dazed in a military hospital. She was healed nonetheless, she and David all patched up and ready to go home as if nothing happened. They signed a non-disclosure agreement and were sent home.

Things seems strange when they got home. Curfews are enforced and there were teams collecting dead birds every now and then. Reese and David then decide to discover what else happened in the 27 days and whatever it is that is hidden from the public.

1. I like the premise of the plot because it looks intriguing but going through the book it was somewhat underdeveloped. This is a first of a series and I hope the author picks up the pace soon enough.

2. This is the first book I read involving lesbian romance.

3. The character development lacks strength.

4. The book gets dragging at some point.

5. The climax was anti-climactic.