False Hearts
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Courtesy of maximumpopbooks
One night Tila stumbles home; terrified and covered in blood. She’s then
arrested for murder, the first by a civilian in decades. The San Francisco
police suspect involvement with Verve, a powerful drug, and offer her twin
sister Taema a chilling deal…
The sisters were raised by a cult, which banned modern medicine – yet as
conjoined twins, they needed life-saving surgery to replace their failing
heart. And with help from co-conspirators, they escaped. Taema now discovers
that Tila has found links between the cult and city’s criminal underworld…
False Hearts is a novel written by Laura Lam. I hadn’t had
the pleasure of reading any of her books before so when Maximum Pop! sent me a
copy on its release date, I was so excited. I had no idea what this book was
about apart from the fact it was probably the most beautiful book I’d ever held
in my hands. I’m a real fan of the way books are presented and this book is
simply stunning.
This book gives off very futuristic vibes and
I’d say it’s aimed at 16+, mainly because there is quite a lot of violence
involved. It is classed a YA novel but I wouldn’t necessarily agree. (I
probably would have read it much younger but I’ve read pretty much anything I
can get my hands on from a very young age).
Laura Lam, I salute you. The world you have
created in this book is incredible. You are not left guessing about anything in this world, no matter how
small or insignificant the detail. I have been so worried about writing this
review as even now, I’m struggling how I can describe the intricacy of such a
book in just a few hundred words. I will say this, The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon is my all-time favourite
series and although the stories aren’t remotely similar, the style of writing
is similar and the level of description is.
False Hearts is written from both Tila and Taema’s points
of view. Tila and Taema are two of the most interesting protagonists I’ve ever
encountered. They are 26 years old, living in their own apartments, with stable
jobs in San Francisco. Sounds pretty normal, right? Except these girls were
once part of a cult and had escaped their centuries old ways…and not to mention
the fact that they were conjoined twins until they were 16 years old.
Tila stumbles home one day and she is covered
in blood, inconsolable. Moments after, she is arrested for a murder and whisked
away. Taema is so confused. Her sister has never kept anything from her, surely
this can’t be true…that her own sister was capable of murder?
The police suspect that Tila could have been
working undercover for a very dangerous mob called the Ratel. Taema can’t
believe what she’s hearing and before long, she’s agreed to take on her sister’s
identity and find out what she knows and how deeply involved she is with this underground
mob. There is a drug in San Francisco called Zeal which enables you to hook up
to an IV line and make it feel as though you’re living out your fantasies…but
the Ratel have created Verve. This makes Zeal seem like child play...
Before long, Taema is sucked into this world
and things from her past start colliding with her present. Were the people she
spent the first 16 years of her life with as innocent as they had once seemed?
Honestly, I’ve written over 500 words but I’ve
only just scraped the tip of the iceberg of this world. There are flesh
parlours (you can pop in and have cosmetic surgery instantly!), you can
brain-load (which essentially means wiring yourself up and whatever you see,
goes straight into your brain and stays there) and so many more ideas that
really bring this world to life before your eyes.
I will admit, it took me a while to get my
head around this book because for the first 100 pages or so, I felt completely
lost because it was all so new but stick at it because the ending is
sensational. This book is a must read this
year so grab yourself a copy now!
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