Half Life Blog Tour Review + Giveaway

Thank you to Fantastic Flying Book Club for letting me participate in this tour! Check out FFBC’s website to sign up to be a tour host!

About the Book

Half Life

by Lillian Clark
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Release Date: June 9th 2020

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction

Synopsis:

An overachiever enrolls in an experimental clone study to prove that two (of her own) heads are better than one in this fast-paced, near-future adventure that’s Black Mirror meets Becky Albertalli.

There aren’t enough hours in the day for Lucille–perfectionist, overachiever–to do everything she has to do, and there certainly aren’t enough hours to hang out with friends, fall in love, get in trouble–all the teenage things she knows she should want to be doing instead of preparing for a flawless future. So when she sees an ad for Life2: Do more. Be more, she’s intrigued.

The company is looking for beta testers to enroll in an experimental clone program, and in the aftermath of a series of disappointments, Lucille is feeling reckless enough to jump in. At first, it’s perfect: her clone, Lucy, is exactly what she needed to make her life manageable and have time for a social life. But it doesn’t take long for Lucy to become more Lucy and less Lucille, and Lucille is forced to stop looking at Lucy as a reflection and start seeing her as a window–a glimpse at someone else living her own life, but better. Lucy does what she really wants to, not what she thinks she should want to, and Lucille is left wondering how much she was even a part of the perfect life she’d constructed for herself. Lucille wanted Lucy to help her relationships with everyone else, but how can she do that without first rectifying her relationship with herself?

Review

Have you ever wanted or needed to be in two places at once? Half Life has the solution for you! You just go in, get some tests done, and they’ll grow you a clone.

Lucille is uptight and academically driven and because she’s that way she often skips out on living life. When she realizes her best friend isn’t making her a priority anymore and she’s been wait listed for the program she’s worked so hard to get into she starts to feel the pressure of loneliness. To top it off her parents have just told her their getting a divorce. Then she receives an email with an offer she can’t refuse.

Lucy. Not Lucille. These are some of the first things Lucy realizes when she wakes up. She’s a carbon copy of Lucille but why does being called Lucille bother her so much? Lucy has been created using Lucille’s genetics and is her exact clone but as the story progresses she comes to realize that she may look and sound like Lucille but she has other ideas about how she wants to live her life.

I thought the concept of this book was really cool. Who wouldn’t want to be able to do all the things they want to without having to give everything up. I liked that Lucy and Lucille realize that even when there’s two of them it’s not perfect. Lucy doesn’t want to be told what to do and where to be all the time and Lucille realizes that it’s a lot more stressful worrying about getting caught than it would’ve been to have life be the same. I liked that each one of them still had their own identities and dreams in life. It was like Lucy had the qualities naturally that Lucille didn’t. They even fell for two different guys that fit each one of them individually.

I would recommend this to anyone looking for a fun and unique sci-fi contemporary.

About the Author

Lillian Clark, a graduate of the University of Wyoming, grew up riding horses, climbing trees, and going on grand imaginary adventures in the small-town West. She’s worked as a lifeguard, a camp counselor, and a Zamboni driver, but found her eternal love working as a bookseller at an independent bookstore. Now living in Teton Valley, Idaho with her husband, son, and two giant dogs, she spends her time reading almost anything and writing books for teens.

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