Brave New Girl by Rachel Vincent

I don’t know if I can be objective when it comes to Rachel Vincent and her novels. Everything she does makes my soul so happy. I’m late to the party with this one too. But that’s ok, all good things come to those who wait. I really enjoyed reading this book, it was her first novel in a sci-fi world and outside of the normal of urban fantasy.

Dahlia is 1 of 1500 girls who look exactly the same, but they don’t only look the same they are the same, genetically. She is one of 1500 clones who look the same in a compound where they are trained to do mundane things, like cook, fight, practice medicine and garden. Dahlia is known as Dahlia 16 and is a year away from graduating and going out into the workforce, she’s a gardener and excels in what she does, which she loves doing. She is called in and praised for her work, she’s on the radar of those up high for potentially becoming a trainer, one of what seems like the highest praises a student could get. It’s almost like her life is all together.

Until she meets Trigger 17 and everything changes. Having spoken to him mid-panic attack Dahlia breaks one of the biggest rules in the compound: fraternising with the opposite sex. She tries to stop it from happening again but Trigger is convincing and leaves littles hint that entice her closer.

It’s with him that she learns she is defective because she doesn’t quite feel the same as the other clones, and because of this her entire class is wiped out.

Vincent has carefully crafted this story so well, it’s slow going but it also gives you the what if? Of what could be happening in the background with cloning and stem cell research.

I loved this book and I’m not someone who really likes a lot of sci-fi because it’s a little too far fetched for me (says the love of urban fantasy) but I can definitely get behind this one. I’m going to definitely grab the second book when I get through my TBR shelf. I’m determined to get through most of it.