Imposter by Susanne Winnacker
Genre: Paranormal, Sci-Fi, Mystery
Published by: Razorbill
Pages: 310
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★.5
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I picked this book up at my local library mostly because the main character Tessa had a vaguely similar power to Rogue from the X-Men (which I love!), considering I read this book on a whim, I was pleasantly surprised! However, I didn’t feel like the story was necessarily anything I hadn’t read before. Definitely a book for fan of Starters by Lissa Price.

Characters:

What was different about this supernatural power book was that all of the main character that had powers already knew about them. Normally we follow the protagonist on a journey of acceptance and discovery, but in this case Tessa already had her ability and her backstory, although supplied, was skimmed over. I didn’t really feel connected to Tessa as a result. I didn’t see her grow into a character that accepted herself, instead I got a girl fawning over an older guy who already had a girlfriend. Slightly disappointing, to say the least.

The secondary characters weren’t as developed as I would’ve liked. I was really interested in finding out more about their origin stories, but Imposter mainly focused on Tessa, but even then because she spent so much time as Madison, it was hard to distinguish between the two.

Romance:

The whole romance in this plot felt contrived and didn’t add much to the plot. It followed a similar structure to that of Katie McGarry novels and I didn’t find the blend of genres to be extremely successful. I can’t say I was particularly rooting for the Tessa and Alec to get together, I was far more interested in who the murder was and when we were going to see more use of the abilities. On rare occasions I do love a good jealous boy plot, but this time it was ridiculous because Alec could’ve just broken up with his bitchy girlfriend. On that note, I thought Tessa’s presentation of the ‘mean girl’ was slightly unjust, and I’m note entirely sure what the girl had done wrong in the first place.

Plot and Pacing:

Undoubtedly, the premise was intriguing, with an interesting collection of characters and powers that I hope we see more of in the later books. I’ve read similar things in the past and can’t say I was particularly surprised by the ending. Susanne Winnacker throws a few curveballs to try and distract you from the real villain, but I had my suspicions from the very beginning, and although the other routes lead to some interesting discoveries that added conflict, the whole whodunit was not the most exciting of elements.

I really liked how conflicted she was about what she had to do, which was take the form of a girl that had recently died and pretend to take her place. Despite all the time she knew she was a variant, she still wasn’t in complete control of her powers, which added some tension to an otherwise simple plot. The pacing was well supplemented with new discoveries about the murder, but even by the end of the novel the enemy was very much ambiguous. We knew Able’s Army was a threat, but why it’s a threat we have no idea.

Undoubtedly, the premise was intriguing, with an interesting collection of characters and powers that I hope we see more of in the later books. I was definitely expecting more powers and thrilling action scenes, but we didn’t spend long in this world’s version of Xavier’s Institute. More explanation of the enemy and the Variants organisation was necessary!

Overall, I gave Imposter 2.5 stars on the plus side I was able to read it in one sitting, because there was something addicting about the story and it’s fast paced nature, but on reflection it certainly didn’t blow me away. I had a fun time reading it and if I see the second book in my local library then I’ll be sure to pick it up!