Adaption by Malinda Lo

Adaption
Adaption: Book One
Written by Malinda Lo
Young Adult, Science Fiction, LGBT
Published September 18th 2012 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
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★★★
Reese can’t remember anything from the time between the accident and the day she woke up almost a month later. She only knows one thing: She’s different now.

Across North America, flocks of birds hurl themselves into airplanes, causing at least a dozen to crash. Thousands of people die. Fearing terrorism, the United States government grounds all flights, and millions of travelers are stranded.

Reese and her debate team partner and longtime crush David are in Arizona when it happens. Everyone knows the world will never be the same. On their drive home to San Francisco, along a stretch of empty highway at night in the middle of Nevada, a bird flies into their headlights. The car flips over. 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 become even stranger when Reese returns home. San Francisco feels like a different place with police enforcing curfew, hazmat teams collecting dead birds, and a strange presence that seems to be following her. When Reese unexpectedly collides with the beautiful Amber Gray, her search for the truth is forced in an entirely new direction—and threatens to expose a vast global conspiracy that the government has worked for decades to keep secret.
Reese and David are at nationals for debate, far from their humble abode in San Francisco. The day after their competition in Arizona, is the day that all things go to hell. Planes all across North America are being brought down by mass flocks of birds. Hours before Reese and David are to board their own flight, the President bans all airplanes from taking off. Conspiracies of terrorists and government involvement spreads like wildfire, causing riots to bloom across the States. Now the two, alongside their debate coach, are stranded in Arizona. Before complete hysteria hits, the three grab a rental car to drive back home to San Francisco.

However, things do not go as planned. On the way they are in an accident which causes serious injury. A military team brings them to a base called Plato. Reese and David don't wake from their coma for twenty-seven days. When they wake, they begin to realize that a lot more went on during their coma than they are led to believe. Stranger occurrences begin to happen once the duo returns back home to San Francisco. Both David and Reece must discover what the doctors at Plato did to them, while also combating other issues such as self discovery, friendship and romance.

Kynndra's Thoughts

Adaptation began really strong. I was completely drawn into the story when I first picked it up. When the birds began to take down the planes - I was hooked. And then, as the story progressed into Reese and David attempting to get to the bottom of their month long coma, I was also invested in the story. It was raw, it was disturbing and I quite honestly am a sucker for conspiracy theories. I've always been fascinated about the possibility of something more. I have no doubt in my mind that all governments have their dirty little secrets. That they do things we all may never know about. So this aspect held onto my attention for awhile - until our MC's got back to San Francisco.

When Reece get's back home she runs into a girl named Amber. From there, the two begin to form a relationship of some kind. This leads Reece down a path of self discovery. I really enjoyed the fact that for once a YA dystopian(ish) book doesn't rely on having that hunky, hot kickass male alongside our female. Don't get me wrong, I'm always lining up to discover more book boyfriends but in this case it just would not have worked I don't think. That being said, the middle of the book was a HUGE drag to me. I was so lulled while reading that I even contemplated continuing.

But I was already 200 and some pages in so I went forth, I stuck through it. Perseverance and all that good stuff. Unfortunately, I found that I didn't really like any of the characters. I didn't hate them, but I found that they were plain. Their voices didn't leave an impression on me, and if one of them were to die I probably wouldn't bat an eye. Although, a secondary character by the name of Julian might have a little spark of intrigue for me. I wish he would have been more prevalent, at least for entertainment purposes. Oh well, I suppose. Maybe in the second book.

Another frustrating thing is that I was hoping that the world/setting would have been in more disarray. But the only thing really noticeable was the culling of Canadian geese and having a curfew set at 9PM. I was expecting the end of the world and big booms and explosions. Although, there were moments of excitement near the end, but that was brief and rushed. Overall it was a disappointment.

in conclusion

Adaption had a strong and compelling plot. I kept on with the book for the sole factor that I needed to know what was going on with Reece and David - what the doctors at the military base had done to them when they were injured. I also wanted to see what the government was hiding, and what caused the plane crashes all over North America. While the plot was interesting enough, I wouldn't really say it was worth the 386 pages. It wasn't an entire waste of time, but I also could have lived without it. That being said, some may think differently. I'm still on the fence about reading book two, I doubt I will as it has nearly 500 pages and I wasn't impressed with the first book.

Kynndra is currently scrolling through tumblr and admiring all the pretty edits. Also she's reading and dying over an episode of Teen Wolf.


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20 comments

  1. I've been meaning to read a Malina Lo book for AGES. I'm not sure this one exactly appeals to me, but in the future I might just give it a chance. :) Lovely review, Kynndra.

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    1. I've never heard of her before this - but I hope whatever you read of hers is great c: thank you.

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  2. That's too bad because the summary sounds great. It's too bad that the middle was a drag.

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    1. The summary sounded so good, I was so dissapointed though. I really wish it hadn't dragged as much.

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  3. This was the frustrating thing I found about ASH by Malinda Lo - the characters just weren't memorable and the plot really dragged. So Adaptation probably won't be the book for me.

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    1. I've never read anything from her before this. It's unfortunate that her characters are bland, but when the plot drags the book really just plummets. If ASH is the same way I probably won't read it.

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  4. Yikes I really dislike it when middles drag in a book...but sometimes endings more than make up for it. Seems like it wasn't the case with this one though. :(
    I once went on a weird (but surprisingly common) reading phase where I'd start a book, rapidly lose interest, and then read the ending once I'd gleaned enough off the plot. I can't imagine doing that now!

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    1. Yeah, I can handle a bit of a drag in the beginning but if the middle drags it's just a painful read :c ooh I could never do that, but sometimes when a book is super lame I want to.

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  5. Sorry this started to drag a bit in the middle. That's never fun! I also don't like when you don't really care or connect to the characters in any way. Thanks for sharing though!!

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    1. It's always the worst when the characters are no more interesting than a cardboard box. I found the MC in Adaptation to be just that, unfortunately. The drag only made it worse. No problem!

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  6. Hmm, yeah, it sucks when a story stars dragging in the middle. And oh boy, the next one is 500 pages ... that would definitely be taking a chance.

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    1. It definitely sucks when there's a middle drag. Ha! Yeah, tbh I doubt I'll chance it. I'm not invested at all so I think I'll live :p

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  7. Sorry to hear this book was a disappointment despite its strong start. I totally agree with you that most of YA nowadays have “hunky, hot kickass male alongside our female”, so it’s good to have different approach.

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    1. It was definitely nice to see the implementation of a girl/girl relationship; although the characters weren't at all interesting. Still, the diversity was awesome to see ^^

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  8. The plot sounds so intriguing at first, but even reading the blurb it petered out for me in the last paragraph. I was all 'oooh interesting interesting...nope' lol I am terrible (I get so judgey toward books).

    It's a pity this one didn't meet its promise, one of the worst things as a reader is when things lag in the middle of a novel :(

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    1. Ha! I know, right? I'm judgey too, don't worry xP the middle lag is actually the worst!

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  9. This book was so weird. I mean, I like weird. But this one went to the direction of weird that I didn't want to go. Also the romance? Don't even get me started.

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    1. Ugh, I couldn't agree more Joy. It was just a big flop in the end tbh. I wasn't a fan.

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  10. Well this book sounds . . . strange. I don't even know what to make of it honestly lol. I'm glad to see something other than contemporary being done with the LGBT genre, but this just doesn't sound like my cup of tea.

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  11. I had heard of this one, but was kind of on the fence. Still am, I suppose haha. I mean, the premise DOES sound amazing. I want to know the answers too! But like, if I don't care about the characters, AND the plot is draggy, then I am probably not likely to care too much. And like, if you aren't really wanting to read the second book, that definitely means a lot to me. Because I wouldn't want to start something that I probably wouldn't want to finish. Too bad this wasn't better, it sounds like there's potential! Great review :)

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