I have mixed feelings about this one; on one hand I like the story, but I also feel let down because the author decided not to write a third book - not yet anyway. If you've read this and the first book - Impostor, i think you'll agree that it needs a third book. The story was left hanging and i would really like to know what happened to the main characters, especially Tessa. It's still a good read though, so if you don't mind cliffhangers, give the Variants series a read. ( )

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

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When Defector showed up unsolicited, I was honestly kind of eh. Like, I read one Susanne Winnacker book and it was fine, but didn’t put a strong need in me to read another, and then a book two shows up. Finally, I managed to get book one and, shockingly, I liked it. I say shockingly because I’m always really surprised when I like a thing I didn’t expect to. Then Defector is even a bit better than Impostor. I can’t say that the Variants series is incredible or mind-blowing, but I think it’s solid, thrilling and super fun. These are great fast-paced reads.

One of the things I actually liked about Impostor was undone in the sequel. However, I actually like the way it was done. In my Impostor review, I noted how refreshing it was for the government facility to not be completely evil. Unsurprisingly, since the title is Defector, in the start of this one, Tessa learns some things that make her question the FEA. It’s a predictable change, really, but I do like that there’s a whole book devoted to her life before she realizes that her life with the FEA isn’t quite as idyllic as she thought it was. Plus, it’s hard to be too angry when I had advance warning that was coming.

The reason I actually like the way it was handled is because of how unclear things are. Defector is a bit like Impostor in the sense that things manage to be predictable but also kind of not? That makes very little sense and I apologize. In Impostor, I couldn’t tell who had committed the murders because Madison was surrounded by so many creeps. In this case, I honestly cannot tell for sure whether I should be rooting for the government or the rebels. I sort of suspect the answer might be neither, but I really don’t know. I think it’s really convincingly done, since Tessa really doesn’t know that herself. She’s just a teen girl who knew basically nothing about being a variant during her shitty childhood, spent a couple of years getting fed government lines, and then is trying to find the truth.

On top of that, knowing who to trust is really impossible, because so many people can manipulate emotions or memories or change their appearances. How do you know what’s real and what’s fake? Tessa isn’t the smartest heroine out there by any means, but she’s also not TSTL. She’s trying really hard to make good choices in a really confusing world. The only exception is when it took her waaaay to long to consider that the vehicle they stole from the FEA might have a tracker. No shit.

The romance takes a turn for the better in Defector. Since I can’t talk about this without spoilers, I’m going into the spoiler tags. I personally knew ahead of time and it didn’t detract from my experience, so if you’re curious feel free. I was not a fan of Alec. Even before the revelations of Defector, he was awful. I do think that Winnacker convincingly establishes why Tessa is into him, but he’s a cheater, a liar, and doesn’t trust Tessa, which leads to overprotectiveness. In Defector, Tessa learns Alec has been lying to her and dumps him right off. YOU GO, GIRL. She’s still drawn to him, but doesn’t consider actually getting back with him. She starts having feelings for Devon (yisss), but also doesn’t just jump straight into that, which I thought was also really nice.

Winnacker also does a better job striking for emotional resonances in Defector, I think. It’s still not an emotional read for me, but I think there are less moments where I’m TOLD about Tessa’s feelings and more showing. The plot line with her mother is surprisingly tactful. Tessa’s mother has not been a good mother to her, but I like that she’s not outright condemned when that would really have been so easy.

Defector continues the fun of Impostor and improves on some of the weak points. The writing in this series isn’t the strongest and I’d love to see further improvement of characterization, but I’m most certainly on board for the next book ( )