Book Review: Beta by Rachel Cohn

Happy December! First for a NaNoWriMo update, in case you were curious: I won! (Sort of.) I wrote eighteen chapters and a little over 50,000 words in the month of November on my YA magical realism manuscript codenamed Serenity. (A little Joss Whedon homage, which has nothing to do with the book at all, but it makes me smile to see that title in my file folder.) I can't quite say that I'm finished, though. I've got about five chapters and about 15,000 words to go, with a goal of finishing before Christmas. Anyhoo...

Today I'm reviewing Beta by Rachel Cohn, which I read through an ARC tour by the Southern Book Bloggers.

The Summary, adapted from Goodreads:

Elysia is a Beta, an experimental model of a teenage clone, created in a laboratory and born as a sixteen-year-old girl. Elysia's purpose is to serve the inhabitants of Demesne, an island paradise for the wealthiest people on earth. Beneath the island's flawless exterior, an undercurrent of discontent exists among Demesne's worker clones. Elysia knows she is soulless and cannot feel and should not care--so why are overpowering sensations clouding Elysia's mind?

If anyone discovers that Elysia isn't the unfeeling clone she must pretend to be, she will suffer a fate too terrible to imagine. When her one chance at happiness is ripped away, rage, terror, and desire threaten to overwhelm her. Elysia must find the will to survive before it's too late. 


Cohn transports the reader to Demesne, a perfect world where clones are slaves and the humans are still not satisfied, even when they have everything. She even does an excellent job of incorporating the outside world and political complications through the supporting characters. Elysia's voice rings true from the opening chapter, and my connection to her kept me turning the pages, even when I questioned some of the plot development.

In the interest of staying spoiler-free, I'll just say that one of the major plot propellants shocked me, and not in a good way. This is definitely an upper-YA book, with sexual situations and a violent turn. I read a wide range in MG, YA, and adult fiction, and these kinds of situations don't bother me when they're an authentic development of the story. In Beta, though, I felt a disconnect when the tone shifted dramatically in the last quarter of the book. I respect Rachel Cohn immensely as a story-teller, but Beta just wasn't my cup of tea.

3 out of 5 stars.
Music for today: Bring on the Night by The Police