Book: Impostors by Scott Westerfeld

Published September 2018 by Scholastic Press|407 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the hardcover from the library

Series: Uglies #5

Genre: YA Sci-Fi/Dystopia

Frey and Rafi are inseparable . . . but very few people have ever seen them together. This is because Frey is Rafi’s double, raised in the shadows of their rich father’s fortress. While Rafi has been taught to charm, Frey has been taught to kill. Frey only exists to protect her sister. There is no other part of her life. Frey has never been out in the world on her own – until her father sends her in Rafi’s place to act as collateral for a dangerous deal. Everyone thinks she’s her sister – but Col, the son of a rival leader, is starting to get close enough to tell the difference. As the stakes grow higher and higher, Frey must decide whether she can trust him – or anyone in her life.

I’ll admit, I was both really nervous and really excited about this book.  Excited, because we get to revisit the world of the Uglies, and way after the end of Specials.  But I was also nervous, because I wasn’t too enthused with Extras, which felt tacked on when I originally read.  I was nervous it would be the same with Impostors.

I’m glad I read it, though, because I ended up being nervous for no reason.  One thing I really appreciated is the fact that you don’t need to read the first 4 books in order to know what’s going on with this one.  Even though it’s the 5th book in the Uglies series, it also felt like a sequel or spin-off series.  You get an idea of what happened before, and it was worked into the book really well but it’s also a completely different story, and you can follow what’s going on pretty well.  I’d still recommend the previous books because they are really good, and the 4th might feel like less of an afterthought now that the series is continuing.

I really liked the characters, and part of me wishes we saw more of Rafi.  We get a good sense of who she is, especially by the end of the book, but I have the feeling there’s more going on with her than what we get in the book.

I liked Frey too, and I liked that she wasn’t always sure what to do, or how to act.  It’s understandable, considering she didn’t get the education Rafi did.  That was something that took me out of it a little, though.  I mean, I know she’s a body double and all, she’s just a stand-in for when they need to make an appearance in front of a crowd, but what if something were to happen to Rafi?  Eventually, it might become obvious that there’s something going on, and I feel like she should have had the same education Rafi did for it to really work.  It seemed like Frey really needed but her father obviously had other plans.

There is a lot of action, and it does move pretty fast, which is good.  There’s also a lot of twists and turns, and it was fun to go along for the ride.

4 stars.  I didn’t love it, and Frey not having the complete education Rafi did took me out of the story a little bit.  Still, it’s worth reading, especially if you liked the original series.