On Skin Island, even the laws of creation can be broken.
On a remote island in the Pacific, Corpus scientists have taken test tube embryos and given them life. These beings—the Vitros—have knowledge and abilities most humans can only dream of. But they also have one enormous flaw.
Sophie Crue is determined to get to Skin Island and find her mother, a scientist who left Sophie behind years ago. With the help of Jim Julien, a young charter pilot, she arrives--and discovers a terrifying secret she never imagined: she has a Vitro twin, Lux, who is the culmination of Corpus's dangerous research.
Now Sophie is torn between reuniting with the mother who betrayed her and protecting the genetically enhanced twin she never knew existed. But untangling the twisted strands of these relationships will have to wait, for Sophie and Jim are about to find out what happens when science stretches too far beyond its reach.
***
Okay. I'm done. I'm done with all the books that have anything to do with Corpus. I'm just so frustrated with Vitro. Several times I just want to throw mu e-reader across the room. But I want to clarify something. 1) My frustration has nothing to do with Jessica's writing skills (I mean writing skills alone). In fact her writing skills is better than some of the more well-known authors. 2) There is actually a lot of improvement in Vitro.
Let's talk about the improvement first. The most significant one is probably the control. Yes, finally there's a control in those experiments in Vitro! It's also a fairly solid novel. At least, it's better than Origin. And then the experiments those scientist on Skin Island working on the Vitros are more... reasonable. Because even though immortal as a concept of science is nice, it's just not that logical. The book improves a lot.
But it frustrates me to no ends. First is Sophie herself. For some reason I really have a hard time connecting with Jessica's main female protagonists. I don't really like Pia, and I like Sophie even less. Yes, she's protective towards her twin sister Lux and Jim. But it seems like she has no common sense whatsoever. Okay, just because your mom (who has practically left you for years) tell you to come to a remote island and it's emergency (and most of all, you don't even know what exactly is your mom doing on such an island) doesn't mean you have to go, right? Everyone with two brain cells knows that it could very well be a trick or something. And she falls for the bait. In two seconds flat. Seriously? And that's not her biggest problem. She seems like she has a hard time getting her mouth shut when she's upset. It's not that I don't get her anger and frustration when she learns that everything is not as it seems. But does she have to yell to her mother constantly just because she's sad? It's immature! At least hold back the voice a little. It's pretty annoying.
And then there's the lack of impact of the book. It has even less power over me than Origin. I just can't feel what the characters feel, and I'm more judging than reading. There are times where I want to leave it unfinished just because it bores the hell out of me or pisses me off. The characters are also very weak. Either they have weak willpower or they have a blurry image in my mind. But they're not significant. Or they just pisses the hell out of me.
No more. I'm done with anything that has anything to do with Corpus.
Rating: 4.5/10
