She’s the socially awkward badass girl who can’t recognize love-related cues. Frey was honestly incredibly bland in that way, feeling very much like a character I’d read millions of times before.

It seemed to fit into this formulaic pattern that a lot of YA novels fall into. While the premise had a lot of potential, the execution did fall a little flat for me. I never fell in love with anything, though. No one knows Frey exists and her sole purpose in life is to keep her sister safe, be it by protecting her from assassins or standing in as her double to take the risks herself. There’s a lot of corruption to the decisions of the two girls’ father just from the summary of the novel. Extreme measures are taken to ensure that Rafi can be the face of her father’s goals and Frey the protection to prevent anyone from using Rafi against him. She’s the bodyguard hidden in the shadows, the stand in whenever a dangerous situation arises. Only a few select people, at the behest of the girls’ father, know Frey even exists. Born first, Rafi is the daughter chosen to exist in the public. Frey’s entire life has been about protecting her twin sister Rafi. I really loved the premise for Impostors. And why wouldn’t it, really, if this book was built upon the world of another series?

However, I do believe that beginning with Impostors over Uglies did contribute somewhat to my feeling that the world building was lacking somewhat in this novel. Supposedly, there are a number of spoilers peppered throughout, but I’ll be fair in saying I didn’t really notice them. Admittedly, I do feel somewhat like it was a mistake beginning with this novel since I didn’t realize it was a follow up series to one that he’d previously written called Uglies. Impostors is my first experience delving into the other works of Scott Westerfeld, an author whose writing I fell in love with upon reading his Leviathan series.

Impostors scott westerfeld series