ARC Review: "Inheritance" by Malinda Lo

Release Date: September 24, 2013
Publisher: Little Brown
Pages: 480

From Goodreads:"The triangular spaceship hovered motionless in the sky above Reese Holloway’s house, as inscrutable as a black hole. It had seemed like a good idea when they were inside: to tell the truth about what happened to them at Area 51. It didn’t seem like such a good idea now.

Reese and David are not normal teens—not since they were adapted with alien DNA by the Imria, an extraterrestrial race that has been secretly visiting Earth for decades. Now everyone is trying to get to them: the government, the Imria, and a mysterious corporation that would do anything for the upper hand against the aliens.

Beyond the web of conspiracies, Reese can’t reconcile her love for David with her feelings for her ex-girlfriend Amber, an Imrian. But her choice between two worlds will play a critical role in determining the future of humanity, the Imria’s place in it, and the inheritance she and David will bring to the universe.

In this gripping sequel to Adaptation, Malinda Lo brings a thoughtful exploration of adolescence, sexuality, and “the other” to a science fiction thriller that is impossible to put down."

After having finished "Adaptation", the first book in this series, I HAD to read this book- not only to see how the general populace would react to learning that they were, in fact, not alone in the universe (or universes beyond), but to see how Reese would navigate her relationships (if any) with both David and Amber. That being said, once I started reading this book, that initial excitement began to wane, becoming almost non-existent.

My largest complaint about this book was its pacing- I can typically read a book within a couple of hours, however, this book took me near two weeks to read because of it. While I thought that the previous book was too focused on the romance aspect, in this book I thought that it was too focused on the politics and too 'info-dumping' about the Imria. As such, I found that I could only read a few pages before my eyes started crossing, being dragged down by it all.

I further had problems with Reese in this novel- while I understand that her thoughts, feelings, and emotions are probably very true to life for many teens in her situation (questioning their sexuality, trying to find out where they belong in the world, and so forth), I couldn't relate to her in the slightest. It increasingly grated more and more on my nerves about how she was unable to make a concrete decision about anything- forever flopping back and forth.

All in all, while I was not a fan of this book, I do think that many others will be (especially those who were major fans of the first). Furthermore, despite my complaints, I really do appreciate what Malinda has done for the world of YA- not only presenting characters we typically don't see in the genre, but presenting alternative relationships to what we typically see."

Rating: 2/5

I received this book from the publisher to read and honestly review. I was not compensated in any way for said review.