Monday 10 August 2009

Skinned - Robin Wasserman

Skinned - Robin Wasserman

Pages: 361
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Release Date: 3rd August 2009

Other Titles in this Series: Crashed (US 8/9/09, UK 1/4/10)

Lia Kahn is beautiful, popular and destined for success…until a horrific accident nearly kills her.

Lia wakes up in a body that is not a body. It’s a machine, designed to look and feel human. She need never feel pain again. She will never age. And, as long as she is vigilant about backing up her memories, she need never die. For Lia is now a “mechanical” or “mech” - a living experiment.

Lia tries to return to her old life, but is shunned by her friends and boyfriend. Even her own family can’t seem to understand that underneath she’s still the same person. But is she? Can be a human without a body? And is it technically murder to “kill” a machine…?

Skinned took me by surprise. It wasn’t what I expected at all, but I really enjoyed it.

This book strongly reminded me of Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series. There was lots of similar technology, such as the network that everybody was connected to and lived through, in a way. The playing around with their genes and appearance also played a part in the way that they chose how the children looked and constant up-keep operations. But unlike Uglies there was no equality and control over society, in other words, a lot more similar to our world.

Even though most dystopian novels have a cataclysmic event that sets a new world in motion; the events in Skinned surprised me. All of the nuclear wars, Water Wars and lots of other types of wars made a scarily clear picture of all the plausible ways that we could destroy the world. Because they are all such real possibilities, they jumped out and scared me a little. Especially when it came up that the pollution caused by our life and wars blocked out the moon and the stars. I was kind of horrified at that.

Although I enjoyed the plot, I found the characters quite difficult to connect with. All of the girls, including Lia, were shallow and a little heartless and her sister, Zoey, was just plain horrible. It wasn’t until we were introduced to the mechs that I began to warm to Lia and the other characters. The mechs were different and, ironically, real.

I really enjoyed Skinned and I’m looking forward to reading Crashed when it’s released in the UK next April.

Sophie

9 comments:

  1. Great review! I really should get this - it sounds brilliant!

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  2. Nice review- looks like a great book(:

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  3. I love the UK cover. I read this a while back and really enjoyed it as well. I have yet to read Westerfeld's Uglies series, so I don't have anything to compare.

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  4. I am not sure whether I should read this or not.

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  5. Great review! Sounds good.

    BTW, you won an award. Check out my Awards :o) post for rules.

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  6. Good review. :) I tried reading this once, but I couldn't get into it.

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  7. Im not usually into the whole techy teen books, but this looks promising!


    http://perfectionishuman.blogspot.com/

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  8. Hello. I am a first time author of a paranormal thriller for teens called Hybrid. Would you consider reviewing my work? I have an author's webpage. It is www.angielreed.com. Thanks! Angie L. Reed.

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  9. im reading this book at the momment and i think its AMAZING its such a painful book and really makes you feel what she has to endure

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