Book lover. Stephen King Fanatic. Will try anything once. General Lover of Fiction. Reviewer Everywhere. All views my own. Mostly.
Thoroughly enjoyed Evolution and as the completion of a trilogy it worked really well - no going off on wild tangents unlike some I've read and a very decent solution that made utter sense within the rest of the wider story which can also be rather unusual, as some struggle to cohesively bring together all their wider arcs.
In Evoloution, Clem is heading back to the core - hoping to make a deal with arch enemy Commander Charlie and join forces to defeat the wider threat, that of the invasion, she is already staggered by loss and unsure which way to turn. Again though she does not have the whole picture and as we head towards the final battle, the complete truth starts to emerge...
I've really been highly entertained by this whole series. Clem is one of my favourite YA heroines, tough yet not so tough that she becomes caricature and the best thing is there are no overwhelmingly saccharine love stories muddying the waters. She has her fella, right from the start and that is that. Yes she fights for him but keeps her eye on the prize - that of freedom from a particular kind of slavery - all the way through. She stumbles and falls, makes both good and bad decisions and as far as that goes is beautifully realistic.
In other characters, we have the "bad guy" Commander Charlie who is evil beyond belief but also very believable - Stephanie Diaz creating a psychological picture of enough depth to make the battles, both verbal and physical between these two opponents very compelling. The wider cast as well all have a nice depth to them, overall the character drama threads are very well done.
World building is great- an imaginative story that feels real, a setting that is well described and easy to see in your head. Plot construction also of a high standard - as I said at the start, it all comes together, all the previous novels have lead up to this and here we are.
Overall then a great YA trilogy, one I could easily imagine transferring to the visual medium very well, emotional depth, great storytelling and really highly engaging from start to finish.
Recommended
Happy Reading Folks!