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I have grown in strength inside her. Filled her cells with mine until we must split apart. It's not my choice – that's how it's always been for us.
Though we've done this many times before, I know she is afraid, because I share her heart. Her memories are mine, his he sometimes, but mine. I feel what she feels. I have walked where she has walked, been in her every step. I have kissed where she has kissed. I sigh, but the breath that comes out is hers. It's time to breathe for myself. It's time to live.
She is in that dream place where her body cannot move into her mind is unsure and scattered. I stretch and fill every cell, feel them all expanded and swell to make room for me. I search for the weakest point to break out and find it: the little finger of the right hand.
Some deep memory tells me it's always been this way. The first cell splits with a tiny pop; she hardly notices. I'm controlling our breathing now. We take a deep lungful of steadying air and tense. I press her shoulders into the bed and that's when she realizes. That's when she starts to fight.
Teva is a 16-year-old girl who is also a 15-year-old girl. And a 14-year-old girl. And so forth, all the way down to a 3-year-old girl. Every year she spontaneously clones a version of herself who remains stuck at the age when it happened. All the Tevas live together, with only Four and Five missing. Why they're missing is unknown, along with why any of this is happening. Their single mother is terrified that they'll be taken away and experimented on if anyone finds out, so they all live together with only the most current Teva allowed to leave the house and attend school. Each successive Teva steps into the life of the previous one.
The current Teva is determined to somehow stop the next cloning so she can keep her life. The previous Teva, Fifteen, is furious at her for stealing her friends, her boyfriend, and her entire life.
This is an amazing premise I have never come across before, and the book generally lives up to it. There is some excellent body horror, a genuinely shocking climax, and a very satisfying ending. I wish there was more about the other Tevas – the book mostly focuses on the current one and Fifteen – but we do see enough of them to get a sense of who they are and how they interact. I'd also have liked more of the almost surreal, poetic voice of the opening - the rest of the book is more standard YA in prose and tone. But I was overall very impressed by More of Me. Evans only seems to have written one other book. I will snatch it up.
Though we've done this many times before, I know she is afraid, because I share her heart. Her memories are mine, his he sometimes, but mine. I feel what she feels. I have walked where she has walked, been in her every step. I have kissed where she has kissed. I sigh, but the breath that comes out is hers. It's time to breathe for myself. It's time to live.
She is in that dream place where her body cannot move into her mind is unsure and scattered. I stretch and fill every cell, feel them all expanded and swell to make room for me. I search for the weakest point to break out and find it: the little finger of the right hand.
Some deep memory tells me it's always been this way. The first cell splits with a tiny pop; she hardly notices. I'm controlling our breathing now. We take a deep lungful of steadying air and tense. I press her shoulders into the bed and that's when she realizes. That's when she starts to fight.
Teva is a 16-year-old girl who is also a 15-year-old girl. And a 14-year-old girl. And so forth, all the way down to a 3-year-old girl. Every year she spontaneously clones a version of herself who remains stuck at the age when it happened. All the Tevas live together, with only Four and Five missing. Why they're missing is unknown, along with why any of this is happening. Their single mother is terrified that they'll be taken away and experimented on if anyone finds out, so they all live together with only the most current Teva allowed to leave the house and attend school. Each successive Teva steps into the life of the previous one.
The current Teva is determined to somehow stop the next cloning so she can keep her life. The previous Teva, Fifteen, is furious at her for stealing her friends, her boyfriend, and her entire life.
This is an amazing premise I have never come across before, and the book generally lives up to it. There is some excellent body horror, a genuinely shocking climax, and a very satisfying ending. I wish there was more about the other Tevas – the book mostly focuses on the current one and Fifteen – but we do see enough of them to get a sense of who they are and how they interact. I'd also have liked more of the almost surreal, poetic voice of the opening - the rest of the book is more standard YA in prose and tone. But I was overall very impressed by More of Me. Evans only seems to have written one other book. I will snatch it up.
