I can not express how much I really enjoyed this book. While it had similar plot points to other dystopian futures, most notably The Handmaid's Tale, the author created an interesting twist, nothing brand new but different enough to keep me turning pages until the very end.
Pick it up for sure if you like strong females, tragic romance, and/or dystopian futures. ( )

This was a complete judge-by-the-cover pick at work this afternoon and holy smokes I do not regret it for one second. My mind is completely blown by how fantastic Archetype was, especially for a debut novel!

Emma's tale had me guessing from start to finish and while some of my theories were correct others, not so much, which I find is the perfect blend for a good novel. It is written in first person POV and I know a lot of people have issues with that in books but seriously- it was so perfect for Archetype because it backs up the authenticity of Emma's cluelessness to herself- we find out more and more about her when she does herself.

The plot line itself was mostly psychological rather than action orientated. Usually I am always craving more action in novels but it was so not necessary for this. It was an amazing blend of genres- science fiction, mystery, and a bit of romance- which all together made for the most compelling read.

Honestly, I don't think I can even properly put into words how much I loved this book. It will definitely be a 'Rachael' staff-pick and I am craving the sequel like mad! ( )

I sucked this book done last night. I loved it. It had an interesting plot about a girl who has amnesia. She has a husband who loves her and whom she loves but she figures out pretty soon by way of dreams that all is not as it should be. It is set on Earth in the future and so is a bit post apocalyptic. You never figure out what happened but the end result seems to be that there are not enough women to go around and birth rates even for those women are very low. The characterization of the heroine was particularly real strong. At first she was a bit done to rather than doing but she did get better. I teared up in places as there was quite a bit of angst here. The book is a little more romancy than most sci fi but I think it is more sci fi than romance.

Thank goodness the second book is out and I can pick it up today. ( )

I got lost halfway through the book and only started to figure out what was going on in the last hour or so. It's possible that it would've been clearer to me when the perspective shifted if I'd read the book instead of listening to the audiobook version. The narrator didn't pause or make any subtle changes in her voice to hint at the perspective shift, whereas the print version may use formatting to indicate that.

Overall I have mixed feelings about the book, mainly because I never understood what had happened to lead to a world where women were in short supply and needed to be cloned in order to provide more fertile bodies for raising families. I couldn't help but wonder: if the technology to "implant" an entire person into a cloned adult body exists, then why couldn't they find a way to create artificial wombs for carrying fetuses to term? If they did that, then they wouldn't need to subjugate women to the point of being "broodmares" and could instead let them be contributing members of society in whatever capacities suited them.

I've seen this book compared to Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale, but when I read that book, we were living in a time when the religious zealotry that led to the subjugation of women seemed frighteningly plausible. In other words, I could see how we as a society might get from here to "there." But I have no idea how we'd get from here to the "there" of Archetype.

The ending was interesting, as I didn't see that coming, but I'm not sure the promise of male clones will be enough to make me want to read the next book. ( )

Once I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down till it was finished and I even started the second book. I really cared and wanted to find out what happens to the characters even though the main character didn't know who she was through most of the book. I found this story intriguing. ( )