Review: Replacement by Jordan Rivet

Replacement follows the story of Jane, a forgotten clone in a factory-like facility where most of the others are part of larger "batches" who have been cloned/designed to take on specific roles in society. Jane is yearning and searching for "batchmates" and for answers. She wants to know who "sponsored" her to be cloned in the first place and why. To connect with her identity. 

She thinks she might get answers when she is sent to replace/pretend to be Janie, one of these batchmates she has been yearning to find, but she find a whole bunch more questions! 

This was a great, well-written read that had mystery and explored the ethical issues that arise from cloning in an entertaining way. Since Jane is a teenager there was a bit of school life/teen relationship stuff that was written in a realistic way that didn't overpower other aspects of the story. It all served to move the story along and help explore Jane's struggles, because on the one hand she has to convince everyone she's Janie, but on the other hand, she's starting to actually get emotionally connected to different aspects of Janie's life and that's making it harder for her to just pretend. Great storytelling overall. 

I also really enjoyed the other dimensions to the story beyond her trying to fit into Janie's place. She does her own exploring and digging and uncovers a lot of information and also makes some allies and enemies along the way. There's spying, implant technology, secret factories and shady characters. 

One aspect of the ending, and how some things ended up being done by only one character where I expected it to be a larger issue, kind of annoyed me, but it did allow this first book in a series to have its own ending, so I guess it was good in a way. 

Overall. a great read and it sets the bar high for the other SPSFC Quarterfinalists that I will be reading as part of my judging for team Peripheral Prospectors. This review is only my own opinion on the book. The decision will be made on whether to move the book forward in the competition or not as a team once we've all read the books!