Sennett's Book Blog: The Hybrid Chronicles Book Review

This was a very interesting holiday read. I read a good portion of the last book outside because the weather was heavenly. (And I got sunburned, thanks to my pale skin and unwillingness to put on sunblock.) This is my last review before I leave for Berlin, which I will in four days. So enjoy your last cookie before the jar closes with this spoiler free review.

The Hybrid Chronicles by Kat Zhang

This trilogy is a lot less mainstream than what I normally read. I turned to it anyway because of that exact reason. I felt like reading a dystopian-ish novel, but things like Delirium, Uglies, and Matched are always so focused on the romance, which I think is often a waste of an intriguing concept. So I picked up that one special book on my shelf of sci-fi-or-dystopian that did not mention a boy in the synopsis. And I am so very glad I did.

Synopsis:

The Hybrid Chronicles are set in an alternate reality in which every human body is born with two sentient souls who share control of the body. For most people in the US, the recessive soul fades away around the age of five, and the dominant soul is given complete control of the body.

Only with Eva and Addie, this is not the case. We read from Eva's POV, who is the recessive soul and has lost control of her limbs, voice, and only really exists in Addie's head. However, she still hears, sees, and experiences everything Addie does. At the start of the first book, they discover a possible way for Eva to regain control again, but this comes with great risks.

I'm a little bit of a quirky reader. I like weird themes and concepts in books. Bring on the murdering contest between teenagers! Bring on the monstrous mechanical spiders! Bring on the kids of Greek gods that are attacked by monsters! So, naturally, two souls in one body is completely up my alley.

Why?

Because of the endless list of deep sociological and moral issues this idea brings along.

Think of:

Privacy. This is touched on in the books in a beautiful and earnest way.
The advantage two-souled have over single-souled.
Marriage and intimacy. How do countries where hybridity is accepted handle relationships and sex? How do they handle people living together? Imagine one girl soul marries a boy soul. She still has a twin, who might be in love with someone entirely different. And the boy has a brother, too, who might be in love with another boy or girl soul.
Homosexuality and transgenders. What if only one soul in a girl body identifies as a boy?
Having children. Who is the mother/father? Are there two?
Mental health problems. Can you imagine sharing a life with a sociopath or narcissist?
Jobs. Maybe one of you wants to be a vet and the other wants to be a truck driver. There would be a lot of part-time jobs in this world.

And at the end of the day, that's what this book series has going for it: it knows exactly how to deal with this world building and focuses on it most of all. And I so missed that in all those dystopian novels I've been reading lately.

There is some romance that I wasn't really invested in. But because of the theme and the questions above, the addition of a love story makes total sense.

I want more of this. I really do. It's not really sci-fi, but it isn't fantasy, either. It's this beautifully complex and ridiculous alternate reality story.

And I need 'alternate reality' to become an acknowledged genre so I can find more of it.

Now, here's a little warning: the actual events of these books are pretty Generic YA Dystopia In New Shiny Cover. Still, it didn't bother me whatsoever. It does it in a way that sets it apart from the rest.

Why this series is not mainstream:

Sarah J. Maas recommends it to EVERYONE!!, the trilogy reads easily and is very solid, and the average Goodreads rating is 3.80 stars, which is pretty good. Still, it's only been rated 12.567 times on Goodreads. Why?

Let's illustrate this by comparing it to Wither by Lauren DeStefano, a popular dystopian novel with two sequels and an average of 3.82 stars of the 81.364 ratings.

So on the rather blurry picture above, you can see just how those numbers came to be.

Notice that even though the amount of 5-star ratings for Wither are a lot higher, the 3 and 4-star ratings of What's Left of Me come in greater numbers. There are also fewer people who really disliked What's Left of Me compared to Wither.

My theory on how that happened: The Hybrid Chronicles are very consistent in quality, deal with serious issues, contain a reasonable amount of action and have a fair share of characters. But it's not a 'hysterical' book series. It's good, but not a favorite. It's amazingly interesting, but not cry-scream-laugh-die book candy. I almost feel like this book is my soulmate. I'm also overly serious to most and quiet and unromantic. This is like the underestimated jewel.

When someone asks for your favorite food, you'll think of pancakes, fresh fruit, ice cream, chocolate, cake and pies in your favorite flavors. You'll want to eat pizza, that delicious beef stew your mom makes, or a particular fancy lunch you've had. You don't think of that vegetable that makes you excited for dinner. That delicious vegetable covered in your favorite sauce. We think of the hysterical food first, which is also how we treat or books.