Sci-Fi is one of those genres where someone’s imagination can go all kinds of directions.  Having read Mutate by Hetty Waite just over a year ago, I couldn’t wait to read book 2, Evolve. Looking at the title, I had a few ideas here this could go…

Hetty Waite, the author, has done a great job with book 2. Having all the characters lined up is a wonderful meeting again of friends and foes. Again, each chapter is from one person’s viewpoint, which makes it varied without causing chaos.

Evolve has some more medical issues, after the awful epidemic leading to the troubles in Mutate, but I’m not sure if the poor characters’ lives have improved… The main characters reach Amex, the city they had been aiming for, but whether it will bring them the freedom they were looking for isn’t clear. Cara and Brown with their adorable baby daughter have to settle in and overcome themselves and other obstacles placed before them.

Evolve shows the different people and the way they react to whatever comes their way. It also introduces quite a few new people, again without making it hard to follow the storyline. In the background there is Myla, Cara’s evil sister, determined to get her revenge. It makes you wonder when the two lines will meet and what trouble it will bring.

Evolve shows the strengths and weaknesses of the characters well, and the way it affects them in a new setting. I love how especially Cara and Brown have to grow up, make decisions for their family rather than just for themselves and how this new way of looking at life and others affects them and changes the story. Amex is different and for once, Brown feels stronger and more important, whereas Cara loses her power and protecting role, and it brings them closer together, but I love how carefully Evolve deals with their feelings.

Evolve is fast paced but doesn’t skip anything, taking you along with the characters and their choices. Until I came to the last page and realised it ends on a cliff hanger! No, Hetty, what have you done to me?? Book 3 better be here soon, as I will need to know what happens to Cara, Brown and their adorable daughter. Some friends were left in Amex, there’s the even more evil Myla, and a non-communicative friend still in the old town of Galex, so there are a lot of options again for book 3.

I was given a copy via Reading Between the Lines but was under no pressure or obligation to write a favourable review.