Title: Child of Lies
Author: Eric Kent Edstrom
Publisher/Year: Undermountain Books LLC 12/8/16
Length:   273 Pages
Series:  The Scion Chronicles #2

Overview

Sometimes living is the sacrifice one must make for love.

In this breathtaking second book of The Scion Chronicles, 17 year old Jacey vows to protect everyone at the Scion School from being overwritten. But when a VIP Progenitor arrives early to overwrite a 15 year old Scion, Jacey faces an impossible choice–risk everything to save her or to sacrifice her for the good of all.

Author Eric Kent Edstrom returns with his trademark thriller pacing, stunning twists, and surprising characters in this YA dystopian tale about cloning, mind transfer, and the power of loyalty.

My Thoughts

This incredibly dynamic story continues right where we left off, where we know that there was a transfer of minds and a lot of unrest and uncertainty at the school.  Jacey and Belle are still at odds, Dr Carlhagen is still trying to further is fortune and end game, and all of the Scions are at risk.

Throughout this second book in the series, we spend a lot of time wondering who’s who and who can be trusted.  This is where we see Jacey continue to come into her own, not just being a leader as we know she is already, but opening her eyes to what’s real in the world and then trying to figure out how to save those that she cares about and loves.  Humphrey, who we have learned is Dr Carlhagen’s scion proves to be made of stronger stuff, and he’s showing us that he does have a soul and a heart and that while he’s being forced to pretend to be someone he’s not, he is also working to keep his friends and ‘family’ alive.  From this, we also see that what seems like dislike towards Jacey has grown into something that’s much fonder and romantic.  (of course this makes Summer really angry because you’ll remember that she has a crush on him, but that will play out on it’s own).

Belle also plays a huge role in this 2nd installment.  We know that she’s in love with Vaughn and will believe that he’s who he says he is, even when everyone else says that he’s not.  She only wants to believe what she sees since that’s how her brain is wired.  What’s really sweet about how the author develops her though, is that we see that she goes from being incredibly stoic and selfish to being selfless in a way – with her story going in a path that we don’t truly expect.

Then there’s Mr Justin – the dr’s butler.  He’s always been a bit of a mystery – we don’t know what it is that motivates him, and i think that there’s more than just money and greed.  he’s certainly keeping his secrets, and we see bits of that coming through the story.  He’s secretive about information that he shares and people that he talks to, and we learn that he’s got his own plot to kidnap several Scions back to the mainland, but we dont’ know the end goal there.

So it’s a roller coaster of a story.  Jacey and Summer end up on the run out of the campus, and trying to survive while they are being hunted.  As we know, there’s no love between them, and getting Summer to stop being bratty and bullish is part of the challenge, but then Jacey also sees that Summer has a skill set that’s perfect for survival.  It’s impressive to see how quickly Summer’s character grows, since she’s also playing a pivotal role.  Her Proginator has come early to transfer into the new body as she is dying and everyone seems ok with letting that happen – except for Jacey.  So the clock is ticking on how to keep that from happening.

There are deaths, injuries, alliances and people returning from the dead.  All exciting and anxiety ridden.  What gets me the most is that the ending that we get here – the cliffhanger is that someone who’s found to be dead likely isn’t and now it’s trying to figure out where that person is and what’s going to happen now.  So…on that note, i’m going to track down book 3 and see what’s next for all these folks.  Enjoy!