Review: Perfect Lies (Mind Games, #2)

Author: Kiersten White
Series: Mind Games, #2
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release: Feb 18th 2014
Source: Borrowed
Pages: 230 (hardcover)
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Annie and Fia are ready to fight back.

The sisters have been manipulated and controlled by the Keane Foundation for years, trapped in a never ending battle for survival. Now they have found allies who can help them truly escape. After faking her own death, Annie has joined a group that is plotting to destroy the Foundation. And Fia is working with James Keane to bring his father down from the inside.

But Annie's visions of the future can't show her who to trust in the present. And though James is Fia's first love, Fia knows he's hiding something. The sisters can rely only on each other - but that may not be enough to save them.

The first thing you should know is that I absolutely loved MIND GAMES. And then here comes the second thing, I hated PERFECT LIES. Ha.

Never has a sequel disappointed me as much as PERFECT LIES did. When I read MIND GAMES, I was thoroughly intrigued by White's slightly peculiar writing style and the premise of evil organizations controlling teenage girls who have psychic abilities. Most of all, I adored the dual sister protagonists - Fia and Annie. The only issue I had then was that the worldbuilding was rather weak. But hey, that's what a sequel is for right? More in-depth plot/character developments, more dramatic confrontations, and more mind-boggling conspiracies. The answer is NO! 

Not only did PERFECT LIES stumble worse than MIND GAMES on the worldbuilding aspect, it also lost its magic with the characters. Both Fia and Annie felt overwhelmingly mediocre and bland when instead I should be falling head over heels for their sibling bonds, especially now that Fia and Annie are separated from each other. Though, their voices are remarkably easy to tell apart despite the dual narratives, with Fia's narration always confusing and unhinged while Annie's calm and unruffled. But still, they never managed to grab my attention somehow.

Similar to MIND GAMES, White once again used dual timelines on top of dual narratives. However, although this decision was quite ingenious in MIND GAMES, it turned out to be a disaster for me in PERFECT LIES. It was a constant struggle for me to remember which "present" the characters were in because Fia and Annie were narrating from entirely different timelines. It was particularly annoying for me when new characters were introduced in Fia's chapters as of "xxx days ago" and later appeared in Annie's chapters that were noted as "xxx months ago", which means he/she actually met Annie first based on the timeline but was written to interact with Fia first from the chapter orders. Wait, what? Huh? Though, I suppose this can be explained by my struggles with timelines in general.

After the shocking predicament that ended the first book, I was expecting so much more revelations and plot twists that would eventually unravel the mysteries surrounding the Keane Foundation. And then Fia and Annie would destroy it once for all with glory and excitement. But you know what? I did not get to know the Keane Foundation any better than I did by the end of MIND GAMES. Considering the fact that I knew basically nothing about it after finishing book one, you would think that this record isn't that hard to beat, but White managed to skitter around the corners and avoided this issue completely.

With only 230 pages (and line spaces at liberty), PERFECT LIES is such a short book and thus suffers much of its impediments - not able to tell a thorough story, not able to fully develop characters, and above all not able to appear as a book that is not hurried to be finished. I'm utterly torn between how much MIND GAMES impressed me and how much PERFECT LIES failed to do so that I have no idea how to give you all a fair verdict, maybe that you proceed with caution? At least it won't take you too long to finish the series if you do decide to read it.

My Rating: ★★ (2 stars)