Adaptation: Review

Title: Adaptation
Author: Malinda Lo
Release Date: September 2012
Published By: Little, Brown
Pages: 400
Goodreads Rating: 3.57 stars

Review: Reese and David are in Arizona when a bird flies into their headlights. When they wake up in a military hospital, the doctor won’t tell them what happened, where they are—or how they’ve been miraculously healed. Things are even stranger when Reese returns home: police enforcing curfew and hazmat teams collecting dead birds. Soon, her search for the truth threatens to expose a vast global conspiracy that the government has worked for decades to keep secret.

This is the first novel I've read by Malinda Lo, and though I heard good things, nothing could have quite prepared me for the fast-paced ride that was ADAPTATION. From start to finish, this book had action that just kept rolling, and it introduced plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader on their toes. Although this wasn't a particularly creepy book (as, I admit, I had hoped), there was enough suspense to satisfy me and keep me desperate to know what was going to happen next.

I also found that, as a whole, the book was very easy to read, and I do mean this in a good way. Reese was one of my favorite kind of young adult narrators, the sort that "speaks" (reads?) in a relatable, flowing manner, and she was entertaining to boot. It almost feels like you're talking to your best friend when you read this book.

Even though the action and suspense were pretty high up there, the author took the time to explore the softer, more emotional aspects of the characters, which I certainly appreciated. Most notably, Reese had a deeply personal struggle with her sexuality when she met Amber Gray, especially in light of her previous crush on David, and I was happy to see how well the author handled the page time. There was just enough devoted to these aspects to really flesh out the characters and make it an excellent read on a deeper level, without too much to detract from the overall plot.

All in all, ADAPTATION was an excellent and suspenseful read that didn't fail to keep me on my toes. The romance was also interesting and while not perfect, certainly better than most romantic sub-plots that occasionally get forced into action/suspense books. This wasn't by any means a flawless novel but it was a very enjoyable read and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to any fans of lighter science fiction.