“Thrilling and dangerous, with an ending that will leave you gasping!” —SUZANNE YOUNG, New York Times bestselling author of the series THE PROGRAMIn a world where everyone is the same, one girl is the unthinkable: unique. A high-stakes fast-paced series launch from New York Times bestselling author Rachel Vincent. Dahlia 16 sees her face in every crowd. She’s nothing special—just one of five … face in every crowd. She’s nothing special—just one of five thousand girls created from a single genome to work for the greater good of the city.
Meeting Trigger 17 changes everything. He thinks she’s interesting. Beautiful. Unique. Which means he must be flawed. When Dahlia can’t stop thinking about him she realizes she’s flawed, too.
But what if Trigger is right? What if Dahlia is different? But if she’s flawed, then so are all her identicals. And any genome found to be flawed will be destroyed, ONE BY ONE BY ONE. . . .
“Captivates.” —VOYA
“Thrilling.” —School Library Journal
“I loved every second of it.” —The Best Books Ever
more
Brave New Girl (Delacorte Press, 2017) is a YA dystopian novel by Rachel Vincent. The story is about Dahlia 16, a clone who was engineered to become a hydroponic gardener. Dahlia is one of 5,000 identical girls with the same DNA, all designed for the efficiency and productivity of their city, Lakeview.
>“‘You are just one pixel out of the thousands required to form a clear image, so you need to focus on that image as a whole.’” – Cady 34, p. 14
Among the rules of this stringent society are no ego, no individualization, and no fraternizing with people outside their divisions – especially not people of the opposite sex. But when a freak incident traps Dahlia in a broken elevator with a young Special Forces cadet named Trigger 17, Dahlia finds herself facing forbidden feelings she doesn’t even know how to define: fascination, curiosity, and infatuation.
>“I can hardly imagine how different his classes must be from mine. I learn how to nurture life, and he learns how to take it.” – p. 23
There’s something different about Dahlia, because her identical sisters don’t understand her feelings for the cadet. But if she wants to be with Trigger, then she must risk everything – including the lives of those very sisters. For, if Dahlia acts on her feelings, her genome will be recalled, meaning every friend she’s ever had will be euthanized.
>“‘Faith in the system is ultimately of far more importance than any individual within it.’
What about five thousand individuals?” p. 126
>“I have to know what’s wrong with me. Why my defects will mean doom for thousands of perfectly perfect girls.” p. 126
With such a steep price to pay – not just for herself, but for so many others – I would’ve hoped for a stronger romance between Dahlia and Trigger. The weakest point of this otherwise imaginative and gripping little novel was that Dahlia and Trigger’s romance fell flat. I had trouble feeling what they felt for each other or understanding why they’d make such tremendous sacrifices for someone they barely knew. The elevator scene that catalyzed everything wasn’t long or impactful enough; Dahlia hardly speaks to Trigger. Their relationship was insta-love, more of a plot device for a sci-fi thriller than the heart of a romance. So, I would’ve liked them to have shared more air-time and chemistry together before turning their worlds upside down for each other.
With that in mind, what makes this book worth reading is the capable dystopian world-building, the twisted revelation at the end, and the writing itself. Vincent’s style of writing in this book shares the same superb, concise simplicity as other YA dystopias, such as The Selection series, Soundless by Richelle Mead (which I know is more of a folktale, but carried dystopian vibes at times), and Atlantia by Ally Condie. This story held some of the best qualities of those books, but mostly reminded me of Delirium by Lauren Oliver – in how the characters aren’t allowed to fall in love, and what it costs them to do so – and Matched by Ally Condie. There were also some elements of The Giver, in terms of the city in which everyone is assigned their distinct roles, and from which escape is near-impossible.
SPOILER WARNING: Brave New Girl *does* end on a major cliffhanger, so the story is definitely not over when you reach the last sentence! Much of this book does feel like it’s setting up for, or leading up to, the sequel. The sample I read of the sequel actually seems even more interesting (I love Prince & the Pauper-type stories about a working girl colliding with royalty/socialites). All things considered, I had an overall good time with this book.
I listened to this book on all my walks recently and found I was engaged and wondering what was happening the entire time. I love a book that really grabs my attention and holds on. Dahlia 16 is one of 5000 people in her genome generation, made to be gardeners. She shares a face with 4999 other girls! Her life is orderly and neat, learning her trade so she can go on to be a gardener in her city, Lakeview. I liked that the story focused on her solitary viewpoint and slowly expanded to show us more and more of the city and the life in which she inhabits. That was so nicely done! And her awakening of her body and purpose with the help of Trigger 17 was fun and exciting. It was a good romance storyline.
I really enjoyed this book! But this is not a complete story by any means. It’s the first book in a duet and it ends on a cliffhanger, not having resolved anything of the main story. It left ALL the questions open. Normally, I find that to be rather annoying, and I figured I’d mention it in case you want something that has a satisfying ending.
Unpredictable plot. One minute, you’re sure you’ve figured out what might happen and then you’re back to square one, wondering how this could possibly end. I could hardly put this book down.
I loved loved loved this book. The entire premise is unique. I could not get enough of it and finished this book in one night (and fell asleep at my desk the next! ) Rachel Vincent does a wonderful job of developing her characters and there are plenty of twists in this spellbinding story. Great read! Highly recommend it for your summer reading list!