Fia and Annie are as close as two sisters can be. They look out for each other. Protect each other. And most importantly, they keep each other’s secrets, even the most dangerous ones:
Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Annie is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future.
When the sisters are offered a place at an elite boarding school, Fia realizes that something is wrong . . . but she doesn’t grasp just how wrong. The Keane Institute is no ordinary school, and Fia is soon used for everything from picking stocks to planting bombs. If she tries to refuse, they threaten her with Annie’s life. Over and over again the sisters are forced to choose between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways…or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.
Since it's been nearly a decade since I last read & reviewed this one, I want to share some thoughts and impressions from this latest read-through.
Honestly, this story never ceases to blow me away. I know I've harped on shorter books lacking development, but this story continually makes me eat my words with its masterful attention to world-building, character depth, and all-around complexity.
There's a huge focus on right & wrong, with Fia constantly having a feeling of wrongness associated with everything she's forced to do for her superiors, but with Annie's shifted viewpoint, we see how much right and wrong ultimately depend on perspective and ones own goals. We see this in the book's first incident, where Fia chooses to save a life that others would have sacrificed for a 'greater good', but also more explicitly in one of the flashbacks. The scene where Annie wants to tell Fia about one of the people she killed, but James explains that the justification wouldn't help Fia as much as Annie wants it to hits me hard every time. That even open and honest communication can't solve all issues, and that any evil can be justified given the right mindset just gives me chills.
My third time through this book, you'd think I'd have everything memorized, and yet its twists still had me smiling and engaged the entire time. I'm glad I finally decided to tackle reviewing the second book just to get the chance to read through this story again. If you haven't picked it up yet, it's definitely one I'd recommend, especially to those who might overlook it just because it's YA.
Read by Emily Bauer
Unabridged Length: 6.2 Hours
Listened at 2x Speed
Unabridged Length: 6.2 Hours
Listened at 2x Speed
One of the only audiobooks I can remember opening with "Performed by" as its introduction to its reader. I guess it's a good verb to use, since the best audiobooks do involve more than just flat recitation, but I just can't recall hearing in audiobooks before now. Maybe it's common and I'm just oblivious to how most audiobooks start?
Ms. Bauer certainly offers a good performance. Not only does she give a good differentiation between the book's two narrators (which I mentioned was an issue for me in my first reading), with Annie slightly higher and softer in tone and Fia just a tad gruffer, but she put in some great emotion during scenes, too. For example, there's a passage where Fia repeats the same line over and over again, during what we can interpret as a mental breakdown, and while the first few repetitions are definitely manic in their delivery, the last few noticeably slow down like Fia's adrenaline is coming down and she's turning from fear to relief. Great direction and a great performance all the way around.
Overall, a solid production that I have no qualms recommending. I did notice a few inconsistencies between audio and e-book, a couple missing sentences and dropped words, but it's hard to tell if these were mistakes or edits made after recording was completed, as the omissions weren't anything major and not noticeable except for me looking at the text. Regardless, if you're looking for a good performance based on voice alone, or are wanting something shorter that still packs a punch, I definitely recommend this one for audio newcomers and veterans alike.
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