Adaptation by Malinda Lo Review!

       

Title : Adaptation
Author : Malinda Lo
Pages : 432
Published : April 3rd 2014 by Hodder Children’s Books 
Source : Netgalley


Flocks of birds are hurling themselves at aeroplanes across America. Thousands of people die. Millions are stranded. Everyone knows the world will never be the same.

On Reese's long drive home, along a stretch of empty highway at night, 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.

For Reese, though, this is just the start. She can't remember anything from the time between her accident and the day she woke up almost a month later. She only knows one thing: she's different now. Torn between longtime crush David and new girl Amber, the real question is: who can she trust?

My Thoughts : 

When Reese and David are in the airport waiting for their plane home Reese sees something odd out the window. A bird just fell out of the sky. She thinks no more of it until she hears disturbing news on the TV. A plane has been brought down because of birds. Next thing she knows she is seeing news alert after news alert saying planes are crashing because birds are flying into the engines. All flights are grounded till further notice so Reese, David and their debate coach decide to drive home. 

They stop at a gas station but when their coach is on his way out he is stopped by a stranger trying to rob their car. The man shoots the coach but David is able to get them safely away. With birds dropping from the sky at an alarming rate and people freaking out Reese and David don't know whats happening. Reese takes over the driving when suddenly a bird flies straight into the windscreen and causes Reese to crash. She blacks out and when she wakes she sees she is in a hospital. They tell her she is lucky to be alive and that they had to treat her with top secret military care. She is made sign a non disclosure paper and left go home. When she is home she realises she isn't the same. What happened her? Why is she having these strange flashes?  

This is my first Malinda Lo book. I was expecting kind of an end of the world type book but its not. 

I liked Reese up to a point. She seems the typical all American girl. Smart, quiet and kind. She has a crush on David for ages but when he seems to reciprocate she pulled back. Then she meets Amber and its attraction at first sight. Now my problem is that Reese loved David but yet she pulls back and then when someone else comes along she dives head first into the relationship. She is conflicted with her feelings for both David and Amber yet her relationship with Amber is super quick. This is her first relationship with a girl so I would of liked a bit more hesitancy and holding back considering she still has feelings for David. 

Onto David. He was a nice guy but a bit too nice. He felt like he had no backbone and just accepted everything. He didn't grow either through the book! Then we have Amber with her dyed hair and skateboard. I thought, here's a girl with some spunk. She was a good addition to the book but I still think her relationship with Reese should of been slower. 

Plot wise I am still confused. The first half of the book was awesome. It had me gripped and I kept waiting to see what caused the birds to go crazy but I kept waiting and waiting and nothing, then when we did find out it was like the author remembered that part and just threw in an explanation but gave no reason as to why. It annoyed me. 

Then when Reese and David finally get home after a month the pacing slows WAY down. It started off like a Apocalyptic book, then went to focusing on Romance, then onto Sci-Fi. I wanted the book to make up its mind!! The middle of the book was so dull that I wanted to put the book aside but I also wanted a reason to what happened the birds and whats happening to Reese and David. When we get to the final part of the book the action picked up again but again I had problems with the plot. There was so much intrigue and mystery at the start but when it ended it was so flat and boring. I honestly didn't care what happened any of the characters and nothing was explained properly. Im giving it 2.5 stars simply because the start was so good, its what happened after that brought it down.