Book Review: Half Life

Half Life by Lillian Clark

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This book is about Lucille Harper, a high schooler who strives for perfection in everything she does. This obsession with overachieving causes her to become isolated from her friends as she repeatedly chooses school over spending time with them. When she receives an email from a company called Life2 asking her to be a beta-tester for producing a human clone, she accepts the request, hoping a clone of herself will mean she won’t have to choose between friends and good grades. However, Lucille soon finds that having a clone is a lot more complicated than she originally thought. She wasn’t expecting her clone to have a mind of its own, and she’s forced to go along with all of the decisions that Lucy, her clone, makes. The workers at Life2 also plan to take Lucy back to their laboratory after a month so that they can present her to other companies. As it becomes clear that Life2 will do anything they can to ensure the success of their business, including tearing Lucy away from the new friends she’s made as a human being, Lucy and Lucille have to think of a way to take down the company…before it’s too late.

My favorite thing about this book is how relatable parts of it are. The author highlights the negative side effects of aiming for perfection, and she also shows how split-second decisions sometimes lead to involvement in something much bigger than expected.

I thought this book was really well-written, and I would give it 5/5 stars. I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys science fiction novels!

-Review by Teen Advisory Board Member, 2/27/21