This review originally posted at More Than Just Magic 
 Archetype starts out with Emma waking up. She doesn't know who she is or where she is but it's ok because her husband, Declan, is there to help her through it. But as she starts to recover something doesn't seem quite right...Archetype is intense and suspenseful right from the get go and once I picked it up I couldn't put it down. 
 I loved the world building, partially because it was reminiscent of The Handmaid's Tale, which is one of my favourite books of all time. It will disturb you but unfortunately will not surprise you. In the future imagined by Waters fertility is way, way down. Which makes fertile women a rare commodity. And the world proceeds to treat them as such - property to be bought and sold. Girls are raised in what are essentially work camps and rich men can bid on them. It's disgusting and disturbing but I have no doubt that if this fertility situation were to arise a similar set-up wouldn't be far behind. Maybe not so extreme but enough for Emma's society to give you the shivers. 
 The way Emma is set in this world was really interesting. We get two different versions of the same character at the same time. Who she is when the story starts - a confused, disoriented, shell who believes everything her husband tells her and who she was before her "accident." Her previous self speaks to her both mentally and through dreams and helps her rebuild her memory bit by bit. In the beginning it is difficult to become attached to her because she is so one dimensional, but you got tiny glimpses of who she could be, which was awesome and made you want to learn more. 
 The only thing I couldn't really get into was the love story element. I liked it and it did add an interesting dimension to the story but ultimately I thought both of her potential love interests were wrong for her. It's hard not to be immediately suspicious of Declan and I'm not impressed with how Noah treated Emma for part of this novel. However, that being said I found both Declan and Noah to be very interesting characters overall. They both had some very complex motivations, which resulted in a number of surprising plot twists. 
 Overall Archetype is a very intense read that is a mixture of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and S J Watson's Before I Go to Sleep. It's an incredibly addictive read that will leave you begging for more - especially after that ending. And the best news? We don't have to wait long for the sequel, Prototype, because it will be out this July!