Review: A Great Spinoff!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 23, 2013
"The Fractured:Elena" is the first of two spinoff novellas set in a fractured Britain where the Genetic Enhancement Ministry(GEM) has taken control and parents can buy genetically superior babies while those unwilling to be improved are labelled Blemished and shunned from society.In this story Elena Darcey, the clone who befriended and freed a celebrated Blemished criminal fears reprisal from her teacher the terrifying Margaret Murgatroyd. In an effort to escape Area 14 Elena enters a beauty contest and is confronted once again by her rival Clarissa. What she doesn`t expect to find in the pageant is a cut-throat business that supports sabotage and violence, as well as an unexpected reconciliation. What she doesn`t expect after her win and a trip to London is to be kidnapped and to fall in love with the devastatingly handsome Jake Bloom.This is a slight deviation from the Blemished series, and takes closer look at a minor character, Elena who tries to find her identity, and a purpose in a world that considers her a brainless commodity to be sold in marriage to the highest bidder. Feeling a growing animosity to her cold-hearted parents and a culture that values perfection above moral integrity Elena struggles with her growing sympathy for the Blemished and an unwanted affection for the enigmatic Jake Bloom. Like all of Sarah Dalton's novels I enjoyed this novella and recommend it