Defector (Variants #2)

Alec and Tessa's new budding relationship is the first thing that is pushed onto us. We already know how much they care for each other from the first book and knew they were going to get together from the end of that one, but we finally get to see what their relationship consists of when they are locked in a facility and potentially being hunted by other variants. What it also shows, more subtly, is that while she may have got what she wanted, and was able to get together with the first person who properly showed her care a love, that doesn't mean that all the insecurities that she constantly worries about have disappeared.

She still holds the worries that she isn't good enough, that she doesn't deserve love, which affects her ability to retain normalcy in her relationship with Alec, even through his constant reassurance.

It is then that we learn that agents are still disappearing. We have known that there is another organisation out there for people with variations, Abel's army and that they are either kidnapping people, or the people are willingly leaving their posts to join that other organisation. No matter which is the real reason, it doesn't help Major in any of his decisions, or the ability to stop the agents from being on the other side.

Speaking of Major, he is a character that is very hypocritical. He gets annoyed at Abel's army for allowing kids to kill other people, and yet he puts kids in dangerous situations all the time. Although their methods are different, and they think much differently from the other, their overall lack of care for life, and only caring about the talents of the people that they 'possess' is one thing that they share in common, and one thing that makes them the same genre of person.

I was glad that instead of showing that Kate had some kind of meltdown when Alec broke up with her and moved on with Tessa. She wasn't someone who was out for vengeance and she also wasn't someone who was very hurt from the whole thing. She was a strong woman, and even before when we knew both Holly and Tessa disliked her, it always seemed like she wasn't overly meant to them, and that they only disliked her because they were jealous. Not only was she more experienced, but she was also an expert when it came to her emotions, and seemed like a much better fit inside the organisation than either of the other two. Her power isn't the greatest, so I am sure that she felt some jealousy towards the other two as well, but that doesn't make her a bad person. In fact, she is one of the most morally righteous people, not only in the organisation but also in the whole book.

In this book, Tessa finally started to realise just how much some people babied her. Not Holly, or Kate, but Major, somewhat, and mainly Alec. They, especially Alec, only wanted to keep her the same, but the whole organisation and business they were in didn't allow anyone to be safe. Alec's care is nice, but can't lie and say that seeing Tessa brush it off as if it was nothing wasn't satisfying.

Learning more about Alec's power made me realise just how hard it would be to even be friends with someone like him. You'd be constantly worrying, even if you trusted him completely, about what could potentially happen if he one day decides to do something. If something drastically changes you'd always be questioning him first. If I was Tessa I am not sure that I'd be able to deal with that constant anxiety. It would be too much.

As we learn more about the two different entities, the FEA and Abel's army things start to make sense. Criticisms that I had of the first book are further explained by new information that fits in and perfectly gives reasoning as to why that was the case. People that I thought weren't fitting to be given titles that they owned were brought into question and I think that this added a lot to this book. It makes it seem more real, and because a lot of questions that I had about the first book were answered in this one.

By the time the ending of the book started coming up I and I checked if there was a third, I was annoyed to see that there wasn't and that there probably isn't even going to be a final book in this series. There were a lot of questions left unanswered, and a lot of things that I was still questioning.

For example, we can see that Alec cares for her very much, even if what he has been doing isn't worthy of her trust, it doesn't diminish her feelings. Also, what about Kate? She was one of the most interesting characters to me, and also the one I could see joining Tessa on whatever she does, with them becoming good friends. Her story was left off in the middle of everything. Learning more about Major, and why he is so insistent on everything being done the way that he wants it to be done would've been a great part of this continuation. We know the bare minimum about him, and, of course, learning more about what makes him tick only makes him a more interesting character.

There was also a new character, Penny, who we probably would have learned more about, as she would've had a lot of information having worked in a bar for varients for so long. There also would have been Devon who, although he isn't new, is someone who has much less experience in these situations when compared to every other agent that has been introduced previously. We could have also seen where their budding relationship would lead, as their change from friends to more than friends was much more natural than her and Alec. She even showed hints that she liked him in the first book as well, which further shows how their relationship would've been healthier than her and Alec.

And finally, moving on to the ending. Spoilers ahead, so skip this part if you aren't interested in knowing what happens in the final moments of this incomplete trilogy.

Okay, so in the final parts of this book, Tessa meets with her brother, learns about his power, which is memory manipulation, and then get, basically get an information dump of sorts. We learn about almost everything that we didn't know before, including how Zach and Abel had been looking for her the whole time. They had apparently even tried to find her when they didn't know that she had a variation, which is something that she always assumed was the case, and they only started to come after her once it was revealed that she had powers. The timelines matched up, but there was only her conjecture based on the things she had been told. Nothing from the actual source up until this moment when she is talking to both Zach and Abel.

The most annoying part of this book and the one that doesn't allow it to get a higher rating is the way it ended. There was so much room for extra things but we will probably never be able to explore that, and instead are left with Tessa getting some of the painful memories edited by Zach. I thought that this was very weird, as although they are obviously painful, we didn't get to see how it explicitly affects her. Of course, as the reader, we can tell, judging by how she acts, that she is deeply affected by her past, but it doesn't ever seem that she latches onto this. Another thing about this moment is that what I would've hoped to see from a second book is the exploration that although you can alter memories and make them less painful, it isn't always the right thing to do. You lose something within yourself, something that makes, you, 'you' and I think this would've been explored more thoroughly if there was the next instalment of this series.

Overall, would I recommend this series? It depends. I did like it, but I wasn't deeply affected by the knowledge that this series isn't going to get another final book. There was more to be explored and talked about, and although I do care, the fact it isn't doesn't change too much for me. I would recommend this series if you don't care that it doesn't have an ending.

Don't come in expecting the world because all you're going to receive is a chunk.

7/10