Two Girls

Two Girls #1

by Justin Sirois

Starting in the year 2018, every person born has an identical twin. What was dubbed the mysterious Set Mutation is now, twenty years later, a worldwide phenomenon. Penny and Sam, two 16 year old twins, have never understood why they are different from one another. While all the other sets of twins grow to be more alike, in every way, Penny and Sam struggle to fit in—they aren’t naturally the same person. Soon they will find out how deadly their secret really

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy

226 pages, Paperback

Published March 15, 2017

About the author

I'm a novelist and game maker. I own Severed Books, based in Baltimore, MD.

Reviews

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two Girls (Two Girls #1) by Justin Sirois is a sci-fi adventure set in the near future that is really chilling. Manipulation of birth and genes, cover-ups, and murder if the heroes the readers are following get caught. All very exciting and lots of twists and exciting ending. Loved it all the way through.

[Daniel J · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first taste of Justin Sirois was his So Say The Waiters trilogy. I devoured those books, I consumed them with a veracity. I believe that the reason I enjoyed them so much, and so quickly, was because they were a finished work. While Two Girls is good, I'm a bit sad that I can't continue onto the next installment. That's a bummer. I really love the world that's been constructed her, a future where a mutation causes a BOOM of twin births, and there hasn't been a single child born in 20 years-ish. The main Set, Sam and Penny, are wonderfully developed, and their growth (whether apart, or closer) is well executed. This hit a special place for me. My two best friends growing up were twins, and I loved to pick out their similarities, as well as their differences. If you liked So Say The Waiters, pick this up. If you liked The Hunger Games, go ahead and pick this up. If you like smart writing that's "on the level", and doesn't speak down to you, pick this up and read it. Justin's writing is great. You could enjoy reading it and then have a PBR with it.

[Jayde Holmes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into this expecting a fun YA story with an interesting premise, and found myself liking it more than I expected.

In this book, we get a world where every human birth results in identical twins. These twins seem to be more connected and dependent on each other than regular identical twins, to the point where if one twin gets sick, the other will too. They are identical to the point where people view them as one person with two bodies.

Enter Penny and Sam Van Best. Sixteen-year-old high school students and, of course, identical twins. Unlike other identical twins though, they struggle to look and act identical. That may not seem like a big deal in our world, but in a high school environment where every pair of twins is expected to match perfectly, this creates some problems. Penny wants to be normal and fit in, which means that she and Sam must appear to have the same interests and style. Sam however hates being the same as her sister, and doesn’t care what other kids think. Both are also very different people, and their fellow students pick up on their differences and aren’t always that nice about it.

There is also a plot with a corrupt government and a paramilitary group out to get Sam and Penny’s mother. The plot was alright, but I actually enjoyed the ‘petty’ teenage dramas that Sam and Penny had better. The conflict between a longing to fit in and a desire to be unique was very relatable to me, and done really well. I think I would have enjoyed this story just as much if the stakes were lower, and it was just a high school drama in this twin-dominated world.

There is also a romance element. Again, the twin dynamic made the romance in this book much more interesting. In this world, the twins always match, and so a pair of twins will always date another pair of twins. Unlike the other twins though, Penny and Sam don’t have the same tastes, so they’ll never find a pair of boys they both like. There is this one boy that Sam has a crush on, but as she spends time with him she discovers that having a crush on someone does not actually mean you know them, or that you are guaranteed to be compatible. It’s a very realistic approach to teenage crushes and romance, despite the twin element.

The twin mutation in this book is well thought out, and we also see hints that it has led to a darker world. The first hint we get is at the very start, where the girls are competing in a popular rifle shooting contest on the last day of school, using their state-issued guns. Yes, state-issued guns in schools. We also see how the twin mutation has changed day to day life with the way the characters talk. ‘Anytwo’ replaces ‘anyone’ in a lot of speech. At first I liked this, as it showed just how the twins were seen as a matching set rather than individuals, however, it quickly became infuriating as characters would say two instead of one even when referring to a singular person. (e.g. I’m not the ‘two’ who did such-and-such.)

There were a few other things about the story I didn’t like. As I mentioned, the plot didn’t really interest me that much. It was also painfully obvious what the twist was, but I have no idea why it was a twist. It was information that could have (and should have) been told to Sam and Penny at the start. Though, I suppose if the girls had such an important thing to worry about, it would have changed their actions and we wouldn’t have gotten the character development we did.

I also found myself liking Sam a lot more than I liked Penny, but I got the feeling I was supposed to like Penny more. At one point Sam realises that she’s been selfish for making it so hard for Penny to match her, and we get a list of douche moves Sam had pulled in the past to support this. However, in story we see Sam going out of her way to match Penny for a special event, and suppressing her impulses to sabotage Penny’s matching outfits.

Despite these flaws, I really enjoyed this book. I also found out at the end that this is the start of a series. The weird thing is, I’m actually more interested in seeing how the relationships work out than I am in following the plot, which is weird for me. Not that the plot is bad, I’m just not as invested in it. Though, given the subtle world-building and the way things ended, I have a feeling that the plot may get more interesting next book and am looking forward to it.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A world where all births from a certain time on are inexplicably twins? Pretty interesting. I loved the clever language touches that casually reinforced the twin reality (anytwo). Then picture this same world, more or less accepted by all, tilted by a single event.

The author contacted me a couple of weeks ago, I forget how (an email maybe?) to let me know that a sequel is in the works. Happy to hear it.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book poses an interesting "mutation" where all births result in identical twins, who behave identically. Like most things that go against the norm, problems result for Penny and Sam, identical, but with different personalities. All Sam wants is to be different, while Penny wants to be the same. There's an adventure in the book, while they flee an organization that wants to "study" their mother, Jill (for reasons you'll learn later in the story). But mostly, it's a human nature story, about the conflict between the two girls, and their struggle to come to terms with who they are. The book loses points for the unnecessary political biases at the beginning that have nothing to do with the plot. Also, there's a bit of cussing that didn't need to be there.

[Patricia Kaniasty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story was pretty good. I loved the characters, the plot, and the ending. Kept me turning the pages.

[Abbey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, this book is crazy, but in the best way possible! Although it takes place in the year 2038, the author's imagined future feels eerily realistic. The story itself is so suspenseful and fast-paced that the book was hard to put down. I liked how the characters were developed too and really felt like I knew them. Looking forward to the next book in this series!

[Bizzles1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this ebook free by nominating it for publishing through KindleScout. The excerpt I read when choosing it for nomination intrigued me but when I read further into the story once I received a full copy, I was a bit disappointed. I did enjoy the story, the writing, and most of the characters but there was a bit of political propaganda relevant to this day and age that I did not enjoy reading about and I felt it could have been left out since it held no real relevance to the story. Although, after much consideration, I felt that the behavior of the character it emanated from, it did add to his malevolence. The characters were well developed, the writing was interesting,and the world building was decent. I especially loved how realistic much of the lingo used in the book was. The author was able to juggle teen angst, budding romance, action and adventure all into a fun sci-fi story. Without the political parts which spoke ill of past presidents and presidential candidates, I would have rated this book four stars. Unfortunately, I went with a 3.5 this time. I do look forward to the next installment and learning how the rest of the story will play out.

[Jamie Perez · Rating 5 out of 5]

The whole way through, you feel like your on the edge of something bigger. Justin plays with the tension -- in the twinning, the bureaucracies of the quasi-government, the hints of a much different world given in glimpses. As the plot unfolds and the characters develop, so does the world they are moving through (or surviving?). The build up and reminded me a lot of the intrigue and suspense of something like Children of Men in a very good way. Can't wait to see where it goes next. Justin couldn't have predicted how different a world we'd be living in back when he was first writing this story, but I can't help but feel all the ways it plugs into today.

[Tamar Elder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, I'm not sure what i was expecting but this book far exceeded my expectations

[Lesli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great but not terrible. More info on the Set Mutation would have helped. Saw the big reveal coming a mile away. More world building was definitely needed.

[Rizzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok book but slow going and not that memorable. I will read the second book if I remember to, just to find out how the story ends.