Into the Abyss by Stefanie Gaither (review)

This conclusion to a duo of novels about two sisters, focuses on Violet, the former human who is now a clone, rather than her fiercely devoted sister Cate, who was the star in Falls the Shadow. Violet’s much angrier than her sister, bitter about her treatment in society and aware that it will only get worse as the rest of the clones follow their coding and become weapons. She follows a slightly different path, but she’s still carefully controlled as she trains to be a weapon against the other clones. Society’s falling apart around them, and soon there are even bigger issues than who Violet wants to work for, as she’s running for her life and that of her beloved sister, picking up clues along the way about how to stop the other clones and regain any semblance of humanity. Unfortunately, Cate’s largely absent in this outing, and Violet is an unlikable protagonist for at least the first half of the novel. She remembers nothing prior to her clone awakening, so she lacks empathy, interest in humanity, or trust in anything; she’s also violent, reveling in ideas of damaging her bullying peers. There’s something tragic and desperate underneath her shell, however, and she begins to seem sympathetic once she starts admitting to herself that she might actually care about the lives of those around her. It’s helpful that Violet is the narrator, as she, like readers, needs a lot of exposition to catch up. Even those who read the earlier novel, though, may find this complex, dystopic world daunting to unpack but possibly worth the effort.