Audio Review of The Fox Inheritance by Mary E. Pearson

Title: The Fox Inheritance
Author: Mary E. Pearson
Narrator: Matthew Brown
Published by: Macmillan Young Listeners
Length:  9 hr., 33 min.,
Source: Library
Format: Audio
Rating: 3 stars

Summary from Goodreads:  Once there were three. Three friends who loved each other—Jenna, Locke, and Kara. And after a terrible accident destroyed their bodies, their three minds were kept alive, spinning in a digital netherworld. Even in that disembodied nightmare, they were still together. At least at first. When Jenna disappeared, Locke and Kara had to go on without her. Decades passed, and then centuries.

Two-hundred-and-sixty years later, they have been released at last. Given new, perfect bodies, Locke and Kara awaken to a world they know nothing about, where everyone they once knew and loved is long dead.

Everyone except Jenna Fox.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox is one of my all time favorite books.  Never had I come across something so original and unique.  Also, the fact that it had me debating moral issues long after I put the book down made me know it was a keeper.  When I heard that there was going to be a second Jenna Fox novel I was excited, yet hesitant.  Would it be as good?  How would they continue after an ending like that?  But curiosity won.

The Fox Inheritance follows the afterlives/new lives of two of Jenna's friends with whom she had the original accident with.  I liked the angle that Mary E. Pearson took with this book.  It wasn't a continuation of The Adoration of Jenna Fox, but it built on the original story and took a different direction.  While Jenna had her loving parents to help ease her through her new transition, Locke and Kara had the cold calculation of a scientist looking to show off his new invention.  Their lives were not easy and this has changed not only them, but the entire world around them. 

The story was intriguing as new situations and people kept popping up.  This helped to make the story interesting, but I felt like it was missing the spark of the first novel.  The idea was no longer new and exciting.  Plus, Kara was just plain weird.  We never really got to know her or understand her, so while she came off as a flat character she actually dictated much of the plot and that didn't sit right with me. 

The narration was good, and I liked that the story was told from Locke's point of view.  However, I felt there could have been a little more variation in the tones of each of the characters.  I think this would have made the audio a bit smoother. 

While I did enjoy the story, it fell short of the brilliance of the first novel.