Review: What's Left of Me

What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



GoodReads Synopsis: Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else—two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t…

For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable–hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet…for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything.

My Thoughts: This really reminded me of “The Host” by Stephanie Meyer. Maybe that’s an unfair comparison because Meyes’ book had an alien soul transplanted into a human body where the human soul refused to leave.

Anyway, in this book, each body is born with two souls, and one eventually fades away, usually around 6 or 7 years of age. While young the two souls each have a name and kind of take turns controlling the body. In Eva and Addie’s case, they didn’t “settle” until much later, 11 or 12. Which caused much concern and many doctor and hospital visits. Having more than one soul in the body is great cause for concern, reporting to the government, whispers among neighbors, and usually moving to new areas where no one knows your history. If anyone discovers you have two souls (hybrid) you are usually taken away at the government’s insistence to be “fixed”. Scary thought!

My issue was that we, the reader, never learned how the two soul thing came about, nor why the government is so concerned about it…other than the “rebels” are generally hybrids, ie people with two active souls.

The story read fast and posed many interesting questions, some that were never cleared up but I am hoping the next installment will address them. Zhang had a tendency to repeat herself, which got tiring. Zhangs characters are endearing in their humanity…all of them have flaws and are likeable even when they try not to be. This was an interesting premise and I hope Zhang is able to keep the momentum up as the series continues.




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