This Vicious Cure by Emily Suvada ~ Book Review
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Hello friends,
Last week I reposted my review of the first two books in the This Mortal Coil series by Emily Suvada, you can read that here if you missed it, today I’m sharing my review on the final book. Just a reminder that if you’re thinking of picking up this series, it does feature quite heavily a deadly virus that’s spreading throughout the world. Some of you might find that difficult reading while we’re living through a pandemic.
But if you’re someone who doesn't mind reading about that durigin this time, then this might be the series for you.
So let’s get into the review…
This Vicious Cure by Emily Suvada is the final book in her This Mortal Coil Series and was the first of my most anticipated books of 2020 to arrive. I wrote a review of the first two books towards the end of last year, you can read it here. As this is the final book in a series, I won't be going into too much detail as I don't want to give anything away and spoil the series if you haven't read it. But I will share my overall thoughts and how this series left me feeling.
We're back with Caterina and the characters from the first two books, with a few new ones added in, and now the world is even closer to all out war while still trying to figure out how to stop the Hydra Virus. While this book felt a little slower, for reasons I will go into below, there is still a lot of action and suspense to keep you hooked into wanting to keep reading.
After only reading from Caterina's perspective in the first two books, This Vicious Cure is told from two points of view but I feel telling you who the other character is, is kind of a spoiler but it is a character that comes more to light as the first two books progress. While I always like reading dual perspectives, {most of the books I read are} I did find though, that sometimes I'd reach the end of a chapter and find the swap in perspectives with the next chapter a little jarring and felt the pace of the story suffered a little and each character had the alternate chapters. I think a contributing factor to this is likely because I was definitely more drawn to Caterina's chapters and it wasn't until I was coming towards the end of the book and I felt the other main character began to grow and develop more, that I started to like reading in their voice as well.
The first two books contain a number of plot twists and again this final book, didn't disappoint in this area. Emily Suvada does such a good job writing them and they never feel forced or convenient to make something else in the plot work. But as with the other books, I found myself guessing and working certain things out and then reading I had kind of got it right a few pages on. While some people find this problematic when reading a Thriller, for me, it isn't. It makes me feel that I'm at least following what's going on and a sign that I'm totally invested in the story and the characters. Also, it wasn't like I was guessing all the ins and outs of the plot twists, I had moments of "I bet that character is responsible for that" or "ABC is happening because of XYZ" and then a few pages on, I'd get all the details on why I was thinking that and that I'd kind of worked it out.
Again, This Vicious Cure carries on the STEM themes that make this series so unique and thought-provoking. The ethics of alternating people's DNA without their consent is a subject one of the main characters is constantly struggling with in this book. The topic of memory is also explored; {If you've read the second book, you'll know why} how memories impact who we are as a person and does taking the memories of a person from us, mean we'll never know them or is the emotional connection still there.
Now, those of you that have been reading my blog, especially my book reviews, for a while will know that I get a "oh no I've drunk my tea too fast" disappointed feeling when I reach the end of a book I'm enjoying too soon. That feeling is often intensified when I reach the end of an entire series, I mean, when you spend time with characters that span more than one book, it's hard not to get attached. All you want is that they all make it safely to the end of the book {no-one wants a repeat of Tris' fate in Allegiant} and on that front, I feel Emily Suvada did all her characters justice and the story was wrapped up nicely. Though I'm always left wanting more time with characters I've come to love, I didn't feel too disappointed with how this series ended. Yes, it did end a little quieter than I was maybe expecting, but all the way through this series, I just wanted Caterina to get all the answers she needed to find some peace and I felt she got that.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this series and I'm thankful to Emily Suvada for using her STEM knowledge to write it. As I said in my review of This Mortal Coil and This Cruel Design, if you like Thrillers and are also interested in real-world Science, especially Genetics and DNA, then I really do suggest picking up this entire series. It's clever, funny, a little heartbreaking in places and absolutely inspired!
Stay Safe. Read a Book.
L x
