Duplicity by N. K. Traver

Young Adult Novel

I received an Advance Reading Copy (ARC) of Duplicity by N. K. Traver for free through Goodreads First Reads in exchange for an honest review. Below is my review of Duplicity by N. K. Traver.

First off, I love the cover art for Duplicity. It's very eye catching and one of the things that first drew my attention to this novel. Secondly, I enjoy reading young adult novels from time to time, so the fact that Duplicity falls into the young adult genre was also appealing to me. And thirdly, the storyline and characters for Duplicity sounded intriguing, so looked forward to reading it.

The following is a summary of Duplicity by N. K. Traver from Amazon's website:

A computer-hacking teen. The girl who wants to save him. And a rogue mirror reflection that might be the death of them both.

In private, seventeen-year-old Brandon hacks bank accounts just for the thrill of it. In public, he looks like any other tattooed bad boy with a fast car and devil-may-care attitude. He should know: he's worked hard to maintain that façade. With inattentive parents who move constantly from city to city, he's learned not to get tangled up in things like friends and relationships. So he'll just keep living like a machine, all gears and wires.

Then two things shatter his carefully-built image: Emma, the kind, stubborn girl who insists on looking beneath the surface - and the small matter of a mirror reflection that starts moving by itself. Not only does Brandon's reflection have a mind of its own, but it seems to be grooming him for something--washing the dye from his hair, yanking out his piercings, swapping his black shirts for … pastels. Then it tells him: it thinks it can live his life better, and it's preparing to trade places.

And when it pulls Brandon through the looking-glass, not only will he need all his ill-gotten hacking skills to escape, but he's going to have to face some hard truths about who he's become. Otherwise he'll be stuck in a digital hell until he's old and gray, and Emma and his parents won't even know he's gone.

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As far as this novel goes, Duplicity starts of with a bang and grabbed my attention immediately! I liked the leading character of Brandon a lot. He's moved around a lot due to his parents having to move because of their own career ambitions... Brandon's parents aren't the most attentive parents in the world. Their careers come first and Brandon comes a distant second. So, Brandon acts out by getting piercings, tattoos, dyeing his hair, computer hacking, etc. Brandon's computer hacking crimes come back to haunt him in a BIG way!

The middle part of Duplicity was a bit slow for me. Brandon is eventually caught for his hacking crimes and is placed in 'digital hell'... I found reading about Brandon's time in the digital realm a tad dull for me. While Brandon is in so called 'digital hell', I had a difficult time trying to figure out who the character of Seb really was at first... But that was answered as the story moves forward.

The last one third of Duplicity picks up again and left me wondering how the story was going to end. I liked the ending of Duplicity a lot... The author really ties things up nicely. The way in which Duplicity ends, leaves me if there will be a sequel to Duplicity?!?! I certainly hope there will be a sequel to Duplicity. I liked not only Brandon's character, but Emma's character as well... Perhaps we can see the two of them in their college years and working together as a team in overthrowing the 'Project' in the next novel!

I'm giving Duplicity by N. K. Traver a rating of 4 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!!