M.D. Waters lives in Maryland with her husband and two boys. She is a closet Housewives watcher, a wannabe goth-surfer with a side of nunchuck skills, and writes in her pj’s. 
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Prototype is the follow up book to M.D. Waters’ first book Archetype and I have to admit I was waiting a bit impatiently for the follow up as I really wanted to know what was in store for Emma and Declan. If you enjoy Sci-Fi thrillers, definitely check this series out. **Keep in mind, this is book two so if you have not read Archetype yet, you may want to hold off on reading. I will do my best to not include any spoilers but can’t promise anything.
As the story picks back up, we find that it has been over a year since she left Declan at the lake and she hasn’t had much success in tracking down her parents. As she follows a lead on her parents, she finds out that Declan isn’t dead like she thought. As a matter of fact, he has just offered up a pretty hefty reward to anyone who brings Emma back to him alive. Obviously this creates a pretty dangerous situation for Emma and she quickly realizes she doesn’t have many choices on places to go for protection. Because of this, she ends up back with the Resistance and face to face with Noah.
Emma is a solid character and I liked her. I think Waters did a wonderful job of showing me how, as a clone, she really was a different person from her host. Yes, they shared some memories but she was 100% a different person and she struggled with how people thought of her. As she comes back into the Resistance, it is clear some of the people don’t trust her and there are also some that don’t even see her as human but the people that really matter to Emma really do see her as a separate person.
As Emma becomes more integrated to the team, we get introduced to Leigh and Miles and I have to admit, they were one of my favorite parts of the book. Leigh because she became someone Emma could be friends with – that was something she didn’t really have and it definitely was a time when she really needed it. Miles was a favorite because he was somewhat inappropriate and funny…but also super smart.
Of course, Noah is there as well and it is clear he still struggles with his feelings for Emma. Despite this, he has moved on (or so it appears) and is now in a relationship with Sonya. Sonya, for all intents and purposes has been Adrienne’s mother for the last year and because of these two reasons, Emma decides to not push her feelings on either Noah or Adrienne…even though she wants to. With that in mind, they still can’t help but feel what they feel and Sonya quickly starts to feel threatened.
If you’ve seen my Goodreads update, you will know that Sonya is definitely not a favorite character. She does and says a number of things that just make her a horrible person and despite her trying to justify her actions by saying she was only trying to protect Noah and Adrienne, she really was doing it for herself.
On to Declan….I have to admit, I wanted more of him. I wanted to know what was going on with him over the last year and yes, I know the story isn’t from his perspective, but I still wanted it. With that said, we get the general idea of what happened when Dr. Travista found him at the lake and now that he is back to normal, he is determined to get Emma back. In a way, I felt sad for him. Yes, he loved Emma but he was willing to do whatever he wanted in order to get her back. Trust me when I say that he lost any sympathy from me by the end.
One of the minor pieces to this story that bothered me (in places) was the dialogue. Not because it was bad but because the writing felt very formal due to the lack of contractions. There were times that I had to internally adjust because every time Emma spoke, it felt a bit off. People don’t always say “do not” or “cannot” or “will not” and it was so consistent it didn’t feel like it fit. Again, take this for what it is…a minor issue to an overall enjoyable and engaging story.
A lot of things happen in this book and I don’t want to give anything away. I will say, we get to learn more about Emma’s parents, see Emma’s relationship evolve with Noah, and we also learn more about the clones. There is a bit of science, a lot of action, and even a bit of romance. If you are looking for a story that will keep you turning the pages to the very end, definitely check this series out.
Thank you to Netgalley and Dutton Adult for the review copy.
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