Becky's View: Linked by Imogen Howson

Linked by Imogen Howson
♦publisher: Simon and Schuster
♦release date: June 11, 2013
♦hardcover, 368 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: Linked, book 1
♦source: from publisher for honest review

Elissa used to have it all: looks, popularity, and a bright future. But for the last three years, she’s been struggling with terrifying visions, phantom pains, and mysterious bruises that appear out of nowhere.

Finally, she’s promised a cure: minor surgery to burn out the overactive area of her brain. But on the eve of the procedure, she discovers the shocking truth behind her hallucinations: she’s been seeing the world through another girl’s eyes.

Elissa follows her visions, and finds a battered, broken girl on the run. A girl—Lin—who looks exactly like Elissa, down to the matching bruises. The twin sister she never knew existed.

Now, Elissa and Lin are on the run from a government who will stop at nothing to reclaim Lin and protect the dangerous secrets she could expose—secrets that would shake the very foundation of their world.

Riveting, thought-provoking and utterly compelling, Linked will make you question what it really means to be human.

Review: Going into reading Linked, I was completely drawn in by the idea of twins who are so intimately linked that they can feel each other's pain, share visions, and even bruise when the other is injured.  I was intrigued by a government who would see these twins as a threat and why.  I was expecting an exciting and emotionally-driven dystopian novel, and for the most part, that is what I got and I really enjoyed it.  However, I was not expecting something so heavy on the Sci-fi.  And while I do often really enjoy some lighter sci-fi stories, the detailed descriptions of buildings and gadgetry in a futuristic world and the intricate workings of space travel...some is fun to read, but sometimes, well, it just leaves me a little bored.

Aside from that, I did love how all the characters, even some minor characters, meshed and conflicted and grew. Lissa is from a privileged family, but has lost everything due to her mysterious "illness".  This poor girl, what kind of sad, shallow friends must she have had to have them all abandon her because she gets mysterious bruises and illnesses!  Her world turns upside down when she discovers the real reason for her visions and injuries, and suddenly she has to get her and her twin sister, Lin, to safety.  Lin, whose strange powers are barely controlled and has no concept of human compassion, proves to be quite a handful---but Lissa's strength of character and Lin's innocent need to please Lissa is often what saves them. And whoa, their mother!  Rarely have I come across a mother in a story who is so cruel and harsh in such an ugly manipulative way as this one.  I did really like the subtle romance: a slowly-evolving relationship with tons of real emotion and history behind it---my favorite kind of love story.

The action and danger of the chase was what kept the pages turning for me and a building curiosity to know the truth about why an entire government would be so desperate to catch Lissa and Lin.  The reason was shocking and horrifying and the conclusion of the story was pretty surprising, but also left the door open for a sequel without a harrowing cliffhanger. I think readers who really enjoy true sci-fi will appreciate this one even more than I did.

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Purchase Linked: Amazon  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound