First, let's take a look at the book blurb:
What would you give to live forever?
The Review My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Seventeen-year-old Eli is a Legacy human, the descendants of people who chose not to have their minds transferred into the vastly superior manufactured bodies of the Ascenders nearly a hundred years ago. While the Ascenders live the good life, Legacies are left to scratch out meager existences. Eli desperately wants to become an Ascender, in part because it will mean his dying mother will be healed of her deadly disease, but the only way he can ascend is if he wins the creative Olympics using his talent of painting.
Unfortunately for Eli, winning the Olympics is the easy part. There are powerful forces at work of which he knows nothing, and he'll need to navigate them correctly if he wants to survive.
I found the book to be a great read. The story moves quickly, with few slow spots. Susan does a great job of keeping us in Eli's head and letting us know exactly what he's feeling at all times.
Author Dave Farland says that one of the most important things a reader needs to see in a story is what he calls "competency," the feeling that the reader is in the hands of a writer who knows what they're doing, and Susan has that quality in spades. I've read quite a few of her books and every time, I'm struck by the feeling she's been writing stories her entire life.
Well done, Susan.
Oh, did I mention I’m already reading the sequel?
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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The Legacy Human by Susan Kay Quinn What would you give to live forever? Seventeen-year-old Elijah Brighton wants to become an ascender—a post-Singularity human/machine hybrid—after all, they’re smarter, more enlightened, more compassionate, and above all, achingly beautiful. But Eli is a legacy human, preserved and cherished for his unaltered genetic code, just like the rainforest he paints. When a fugue state possesses him and creates great art, Eli miraculously lands a sponsor for the creative Olympics. If he could just master the fugue, he could take the gold and win the right to ascend, bringing everything he’s yearned for within reach… including his beautiful ascender patron. But once Eli arrives at the Games, he finds the ascenders are playing games of their own. Everything he knows about the ascenders and the legacies they keep starts to unravel… until he’s running for his life and wondering who he truly is.
The Legacy Human is the first in Susan Kaye Quinn’s new young adult science fiction series that explores the intersection of mind, body, and soul in a post-Singularity world… and how technology will challenge us to remember what it means to be human.
Praise for The Legacy Human “This book is Hunger Games (without the violence or controversy) meets Divergent.” “This story is so intense I felt I couldn’t get a proper breath.” “Science fiction with philosophical depth!”
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The Duality Bridge What does it mean to be human? Elijah Brighton is the face of the Human Resistance Movement. He’s the Olympic-level painter who refused an offer of immortality from the ascenders—the human/machine hybrids who run the world—in solidarity with the legacy humans who will never get a chance to live forever. Too bad it’s all a complicated web of lies. Worse, Eli’s not even entirely human. Few know about the ascenders’ genetic experiments that left him… different. Fewer know about the unearthly fugue state that creates his transcendent art—as well as a bridge that lets him speak to the dead. But the Resistance is the one place he can hide from the ascender who knows everything the fugue can do. Because if Marcus finds him, he’ll either use Eli for his own nefarious purposes… or destroy him once and for all. The Duality Bridge is the second book in the Singularity series and the sequel to The Legacy Human. This thrilling new young adult science fiction series explores the intersection of mind, body, and soul in a post-Singularity world.
Author Susan Kay Quinn
Susan Kaye Quinn is the author of the Singularity Series, the bestselling Mindjack Trilogy, and the Debt Collector serial, as well as other speculative fiction novels and short stories. Her work has appeared in the Synchronic anthology, the Telepath Chronicles, the AI Chronicles, and has been optioned for Virtual Reality by Immersive Entertainment. Former rocket scientist, now she invents mind powers, dabbles in steampunk, and dreams of the Singularity. Mostly she sits around in her PJs in awe that she gets to write full time.
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Great review! Between that and the blurb, you actually made me want to read some YA. LOL
ReplyDeleteI agree with that statement. It's so important to gain *and keep* the reader's trust. Once you lose it... Oy.
Congratulations, Susan!
Congrats to Susan!
ReplyDeleteGreat review, and grats to Susan!
ReplyDeleteLooks pretty good. I'm sorely tempted.
ReplyDeleteWonderful review, YA is all the rage, sounds as though she's got something special!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a really cool book. I'm going to have to look into it.
ReplyDelete