Strange New World
Strange New World by Rachel Vincent
(Brave New Girl, Book 2)
SYNOPSIS
Dahlia 16’s life is a lie. The city of Lakeview isn’t a utopia that raises individuals for the greater good; it is a clone farm that mass-produces servants for the elite. And because Dahlia breaks the rules, her sisters—the 4,999 girls who share her face—are destroyed. She and Trigger 17, the soldier who risked his life for hers, go on the run, escaping into the wild outside the city walls. But it turns out Dahlia has one remaining identical, one who shouldn’t even exist.
Waverly Whitmore is teenage royalty, a media sensation with millions of fans who broadcasts her every move—including every detail of her wedding planning, leading up to the day she marries Hennessy Chapman. Waverly lives a perfect life built on the labors of clones like Dahlia. She has no idea that she too is a clone . . . until she comes face to face with Dahlia.
One deadly secret. Two genetic sisters. And a world that isn’t big enough for both of them.
REVIEW
⭐ ⭐ ☆ ☆ ☆
Is this even the same story? 👭
Strange New World feels like it wandered off from the story the first book was telling. It turns into a mix of a reality show and a non-violent version of The Devil’s Double.
SLIGHT SPOILER (this is revealed at the beginning):
It turns out that Dahlia and Waverly were effectively switched at birth, meaning Dahlia is the real person and Waverly is the clone. On its own, this is an intriguing twist that adds some needed complexity to the narrative. But it also makes the events of the first book feel even more contrived in hindsight. Of the 5,000 Dahlia clones, the one who gets stuck in an elevator with Trigger and sets the whole plot in motion just happens to be the real deal?! That’s a pretty big coincidence for a story that wants its revelations to feel earned.
Dahlia and Trigger also spend even less time together than they did in the first book, and somehow they’re even more in love. The relationship does not earn the intensity the book keeps insisting on. It feels more asserted than it is shown.
The final chapter is where the logic really slips. The characters set a 3-minute timer counting down to an explosion, and they are supposed to be racing to get out as fast as possible. But when a guard stops them, they do not run or force their way through. They pause to play a video of the outside world and convince the guard that Lakeview is a lie. With 3 minutes on the clock, that is not a choice the scene can afford. It loses nearly all momentum.
The explosion itself is also unnecessary. They had already exposed the truth about Lakeview with the live stream, and they had the pre-recorded backup video ready as planned. Trigger suddenly pulling out a bag of explosives makes it seem like he planned this all along, but because it was never mentioned or foreshadowed, it comes off as a radical decision out of nowhere. It is then undercut again when Mountainside troops arrive to arrest Lakeview’s Administrator in response to the live stream. The blast does not change the outcome. It only makes the escape more theatrical than it needed to be.
