Book review! What's left of me by Kat Zhang

Hello hello!
I'm really excited to write this review because I absolutely loved this book, definitely one of the most unique books I have read in a long time. So here it is :D

I should not exist. But I do.

Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else—two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbours shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t . . .

For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable-hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet . . . for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything.

Doesn't that sound so exciting! Basically what the hook is that everybody is born with two souls within one body. For a long time both souls exist coherently in the same body until the body develops and then the more dominant soul will take control. What usually happens to the passive soul is that it basically withers up and goes into a super-extra long hibernation and never wakes up again (unless prompted to or that the passive soul never went into a "deep" hibernation.) The society in the novel calls this "Settling." If a body doesn't settle then both the souls are taken to a mental hospital/medical are to be treated. Yet in this book the main character has not settled in but the passive soul/personality (Eva) is still awake and did not go into said hibernation.

One thing that's really cool is that the POV (Point Of View) is almost third person but its also first person at the same time! I thought that was a really unique idea and this book has such a fresh perspective on dystopian novels and it is such a unique idea! I read this just after reading The Collector by Victoria Scott which was a drag in my opinion (I'll get to that some other time) and this was really refreshing. The novel is not that "literary" so if you are looking to expand your vocabulary I wouldn't say this is the book to read but you are an avid reader of YA or Dystopian novels then you should read this, I think (like me) you will love it <3

 The characters in this book just blew me away. I think that Zhang somehow managed to collate 6 types of major characters and fit them into the 3 main "protagonists" if you will. The character development is superb but I really want to know what happened to make Addie so uptight and quite frankly selfish. Eva has never been in control of their body yet Addie (at first) refuses to let Eva try! All right I wont say much more because people have been really controversial about this book so I will let you make your own judgements.

But lets just say that my expressions whilst reading this were all over the place. Kat Zhang really makes you empathize with the characters and it felt as if I was actually within the novel, as a character who couldn't speak, or be seen. I was special and had a super power, INVISIBILITY! You get the point

I went from this

to this

and this

in a matter of chapters

I also did make a playlist/soundtrack for this (Yay!) the link to that is here <- list version, the compact version for people who have spotify is the little playlist icon at the bottom of this post :) The problem with my playlists are that they don't account for the entire novel or how fast someone reads. So the songs are meant to be for specific parts of the book. I'm pretty sure when you listen to them you can figure it out because I don't want to spoil it for anybody. But if you must know then I will post a comment with which part is for what ;)

That's it guys I hope you enjoy this!