"The Fox Inhertitance" by Mary E. Pearson

**Spoilers!!**

Today I finished The Fox Inheritance, by Mary E. Pearson, a sequel to The Adoration of Jenna Fox. The book is set 260 years in the future from where The Adoration of Jenna Fox was set. This was one of the factors that originally made me intrigued by the book. The new book came with a new panel of characters, and a new setting set even further in the future than the original. Sadly, I was really only disappointed by the book. I liked that the book did use new characters, and those who had experienced all of what Jenna Fox hadn't. It was almost a, "What if..." story. I did like the new setting and words and  whole new culture introduced. It made it more interesting to read the book.

The setting also was one of the down falls however. I don't really know how far in the future the original book was set, but they clearly didn't have any of the Bots, Non-pacts, cloning or the Network that they have in the first book. Pearson just kind of glides over this, and thought it's explained to Locke, you stay guessing (in a bad way) a lot of the time because of the generality of all the descriptions.

The story was really predictable. That was one of the things that I loved about The Adoration of Jenna Fox, it was new and fresh and dealt with issues in a new way. This book, while still dealing with issues like survivors guilt, teenage angst, and biotechnology, puts a lot of this stuff to the side, and when the author does bring this up, it's the same note that Locke hits over and over again. The plot was really easy to figure out. I kept guessing with Jenna Fox, and it had an air of mystery around it. With The Fox Inheritance, I pretty much knew from the beginning: Kara is now crazy, Locke is in love with Jenna, and Kara will end up killing herself. Whilst speaking of the death scene, I can't begin to tell you how painfully shallow it was. It was basically Kara saying the same things we had already figured out, and then pulling Dr. Gatsbro off a cliff. I mean, it was sad, but Locke barely reacted, and they all went on with their lives like nothing happened.

I found myself almost skipping through pages in the "epic traveling adventure" part of the book, where Locke is trying to get from Boston to California. It's just not epic, action or emotion packed enough to be added in as an "epic traveling adventure" sequence.

The characters felt so transparent to what they were in the first book. Jenna barely responded to Locke returning, and when she did, it was only one huge blast of crying then it was over. Wouldn't she have more questions? Even if she is extremely old now, and has experience with loss, she would still try to defend herself, wouldn't she?

Overall, it was an okay book, not living up to the first book however. I'll still read the second book, just so I finish off the story line. Speaking of finishing series, I have to get to reading all the "Time Quintet's" spin-offs... Arm of the Starfish, House of Lotus, Meet the Austins... etc.