Release Date: March 10, 2015
Publisher: HarperCollins
Rated: YA 15+
Format: eGalley
Source: Edelweiss
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Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before the accident that left Dara's beautiful face scarred and the two sisters totally estranged. When Dara vanishes on her birthday, Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. But another girl, nine-year-old Madeline Snow, has vanished, too, and Nick becomes increasingly convinced that the two disappearances are linked. Now Nick has to find her sister, before it's too late.
In this edgy and compelling novel, Lauren Oliver creates a world of intrigue, loss, and suspicion as two sisters search to find themselves, and each other.
In this edgy and compelling novel, Lauren Oliver creates a world of intrigue, loss, and suspicion as two sisters search to find themselves, and each other.
Even though I’ve only read two of Lauren Oliver’s books, she’s definitely an author that’s an automatic must-read for me. After finishing Vanishing Girls, it made me want to pick up the Delirium series where I left off–I never got around to reading Pandemonium and Requiem despite loving the first book. Other than the one big thing I just didn’t understand with this book, this book was amazing. Yup, you heard me. One problem, but the rest was fantastic. The writing is impeccable: Oliver truly has a way with words. She makes writing look seamless and easy, but if you look closer it’s really a complex story that I don’t think anyone else could have written.
This story, in essence, is about sisters–Lauren Oliver makes this very clear from even before the book starts. I have a younger sister (and a younger brother as well, but this book is about SISTERS so I’ll leave him out of this), and because I’m the oldest child and older sister I felt like I could relate more to Nick. I mean, I’m sure other people would as well because her POV pretty much dominates the book, but just the way that she always has to look out for Dara even if she doesn’t want to, or being frustrated with Dara a lot of the time. Obviously, my sister and I are nothing like Nick and Dara, so there’s really no comparison. Anyway, even though you don’t really hear much from Dara’s perspective you still do get quite the picture of her from Nick, which truly helps with seeing how different and how similar they both are. Parker is another character who is heavily featured–and causes some conflict and makes things a LOT more interesting–and I really liked his character. His character that changes the relationship between Nick and Dara, and it’s a pretty unsettling atmosphere between all three characters when he’s thrown into the mix.
The eGalley I had was missing artwork–there would be spaces in the text where it would say ARTWORK TK. It was kind of sad for me, because I love books with photos, illustrations, maps, etc., and missing out on it in an eGalley takes away from the experience of reading such a book. I tried finding out what the missing “artwork” was and I believe it’s photos? I don’t know, because the only one I found was a photo of two sisters at the beginning of the book. It was just a small thing, but I just wished the eGalleys and early copies would have the artwork present just for the experience or to add to the tone of the book.
As I mentioned before the main problem I had with this book was the end. Don’t get me wrong, the end was a HUGE twist that I didn’t see coming. At all. I didn’t have a problem with how it ended, but more with how it actually works out with the book. It’s more to do with the whole story surrounding the big twist. I’ll probably have to re-read this book just to see how it all plays out because, despite the shock from the twist making my mind go nuts trying to figure out how I didn’t guess what was going to happen, I need to figure this out on my own and take into account all the warning signs and foreshadowing that occurs beforehand.
Vanishing Girls is a riveting psychological thriller that will capture readers from the start and won’t let go even past the end. Lauren Oliver is a master of her craft and has created a novel that will be difficult to forget. Dark, tense and mesmerising, do not hesitate to pick this one up: it’s beautiful, it’s sharp, and it’s absolutely extraordinary.
