Archetype by M. D. Waters (Archetype #1)

If there are 10 books that will have blown my mind away for the year of 2014, Archetype by M.D. Waters is definitely one of them. It was so good, I couldn’t put it down until I read it cover to cover. Sadly I will have to wait for the second (and last) book in the two part series, called Prototype, until July.

Archetype is not your regular mystery novel. It is really more of a dystopia set in a futuristic world where infertility is a major issue. The way things are going on in our world today, I can easily imagine this world sometimes in our very future. The book is, however, also a mystery where you try to put the clues together to figure out what exactly is going on.

When I started reading the novel, it strongly reminded me of Host by Stephenie Meyer. At some point I even thought of the Stepford Wifes. But then the more I read, the more it became its own strong story, as unique as it can only be. The story starts with Emma waking up in a hospital not remembering anything about herself. Who she is, where she is and how she got there. She only knows she’s Emma because people call her that. And she knows she has a very handsome husband who cares deeply about her, because he’s always around her bed. Declan. How lucky she must be to have such a wonderful husband.

Emma is recovering from a horrible accident that wiped out all her memories, the doctor says. She can’t remember anything in her waking life, however much to her surprise, all her dreams are full of another life with another man deeply in love with him. And that man is not Declan, so she’s probably just dreaming.

If it only weren’t for that strange voice in her head telling her to keep quiet and not tell Declan and the doctor, Dr. Travista, about her dreams.

I was trying to figure out who Emma is every step of the way. I wanted to know why she’s there and what happened to her. Every page offered some tiny new insights about her situation, which in fact only gave her (and me) more questions to ask. And who is that guy that she’s madly in love with in her dreams? She can’t see his face. And who is that angry guy Noah, who even wanted to kill her at some point?

The book is full of twists and turns that kept me guessing all the way. The budding romance – and the love triangle – only left me thirsting for more.  Was Emma maybe unfaithful to Declan in her life before her amnesia? Is maybe Declan not her real husband? What is reality? And who is the girl talking to her in her mind?

The more time passes, the more Emma remembers through her dreams given by the voice inside her. The more she remembers, the more she realizes that what she’s living right now might be nothing more than a enormous lie. And sometimes knowing it might just mean that her life is real danger. But who is the enemy?

I am really trying to keep this review without spoilers, and it’s not an easy thing to do. It did take me awhile to start seeing glimpses of what is really going on, and I was just as confused as Emma until at least half of the book. But don’t get me wrong, I was never bored or annoyed or wanting to push things along. The wonderful writing style and the suspense kept me reading page after page, gulping down every word.

I love dystopian fiction, and I also love a good mystery – and of course, romance. And I got all three favorites in this book, which probably helped with my decision to give this book a 5 stars rating.

The writing is really well done with no choppy bits that you’d expect from a debuting author. Everything flows nicely together and the atmosphere is haunting and grabbing at the same time. The only thing I”m really sorry is the fact that the second book, Prototype, is also the last. Sadly this series is not even a trilogy.

Will I be getting the second book in the series? Oh yes, I’ll head over to Amazon to buy it as soon as it’s out. I bought the first one, Archetype, on a whim, and I’m so glad I did.

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