Customer Reviews

Skinned (Skinned Trilogy)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Skinned is an exciting new novel from the Seven Deadly Sins author. Make no mistake though, this new novel is nothing like the books. For Scott Westerfield and M T Anderson fans this is a must have for your teen sci-fi collection.

Skinned is about the life, death and re-life of a spoiled rich popular girl Lia Kahn. When Lia gets in a car accident and almost dies she undergoes a life-altering process of downloading her brain into a machine that looks like her old body. The process is an extremely hot topic and many people believe that the skinners, as these `robots machines', are called aren't human and should be destroyed.

Her friends leave her, her boyfriend starts dating her little sister, and a new society of mech-heads want her to join them. This is the first book in the trilogy dealing with what it means to be a human, what it means to be alive, and finding yourself. 5 stars.

Lia Kahn was perfect. She had a perfect life, perfect friends, and a perfect boyfriend. She was popular and beautiful and everyone wanted to be with her and know her -- until the accident changed everything.

When Lia is in a fatal car accident, she finds herself awake in the hospital. She should be dead, but she knows she's alive. She can't feel her body, but she knows it's there. Lia has become the latest patient in the "download process" -- a way to download your memories and brain functions into a computer-based body that is made to look and act human. Lia is angry about the download process. She doesn't want to be a "skinner" -- the awful nickname for download recipients. But she also isn't ready to give up on her life.

Being a skinner isn't easy, though. Groups of people have rallied against the download process, calling it unethical and saying the skinners are without a soul. Lia's friends seem to have turned on her and her boyfriend can't stand to be near her anymore. She's Lia, but she's not the same Lia, and she's not sure how to handle her new life.

Add in the mysterious group of skinners that Lia encounters, plus humans that would do anything to be part of the download process, and Lia isn't sure anymore what exactly it means to be human.

SKINNED presents an interesting look at what really makes us us. Are we human when we have flesh and blood, or is it our memories that make us who we are? Can we ever have the same life again? An interesting and engaging look at medical ethics and humanity, SKINNED is the beginning of a new trilogy.

Reviewed by: Sarah Bean the Green Bean Teen Queen

By sheer coincidence, I had just finished reading The Adoration of Jenna Fox and I was very surprised at the similarities. If I were the author of Jenna Fox, I'd be talking to my attorney about this.

Even stranger, this book comes off as YA with its teen protagonists but the language and sex and far from YA. That's fine with me, but it's disconcerting.

Well, I finished the book so I'm grudgingly giving it 3 stars. However, The Adoration Of Jenna Fox is better, creepier and more interesting.

What I liked first was the set up for the twist in the third novel. I'm still not sure if I'm right, since I've only read the first novel, but I'm betting I am, so I'm not sure if I just caught on really well or if the set up was too obvious. But I like it anyway. This would have been a very good novel ... if not for the language and sexual situations. A little bit is all right, because, while I don't approve, I know that that is "normal" nowadays, and so if this is the lifestyle Lia Kahn was used to, then it belongs in the book. But frankly I was sickened by the cavalier attitude and crass language used in regards to sex. When it was used for a purpose, such as to illustrate how Lia Kahn was not so much Lia Kahn anymore, how her body was different and didn't fit perfectly with Walker's anymore or when it was used to illustrate how helpless she could be as a Mech if she shut down due to neglect, how it was still her body even if it wasn't "her" body. I felt that was used for a purpose. What hit me here, without perhaps it being the author's intention, is how quickly things can change in a teen's life, how she can be so important to Walker one moment and the next be practically nothing to him. An accident, a change in your life, even just a change in attitude can rip your life apart. Lia had given everything to Walker, and he treated it like it was nothing, getting together with her sister while she was still in the hospital. He never came to see her. So did he really love her? Even if he believed the true Lia Kahn to be dead, he would have had more respect for the dead Lia if he'd truly loved or even just cared about her. But instead, Walker is already moving on to the next thing, which happens to be her sister, a true slap and spit in the face. She knew it would happen, at least that he'd be moving on, which shows the importance of not giving your body away. Unfortunately, the teens in this book too closely resemble a good deal of the teens today.

This book haunted me the entire time I was reading it. Some may feel that Lia gets what she deserves by going from queen b--ch to outcast, but to me the story was about a lot more than just that. What really got to me was her descriptions of how wrong and distant everything felt in this new body. One scene that I keep coming back to is when she talks about mashing up a brownie and trying to force it past the grate in her throat. She's so desperate to taste and eat and just feel normal that she does it even though she knows it won't do anything. When she talks about her situation being unfair, she isn't just talking about losing her status at school, but losing a lot of what made her human, and that's what I kept coming back to.

The shock wears off in subsequent books, and though I liked the second and third in the series, I think this is the best one, when everything is freshly bizarre.

This started out interesting, but it was just really too slow for me. The slow periods really had nothing interesting and seemed to be a little repetitive. But, in the end I thought the book was ok. And, if I have a slow period of no books to read I'll probably check out the second book in the series.

Robin Wasserman has masterfully created a futuristic and realistic world, giving clues throughout the book as to the historical events that had happened to reach this point of technological advancement. After a horrific accident, Lia's brain is copied and downloaded into a synthetic body which raises many questions such as if she is human or machine. Lia struggles with these questions, especially when her former friends at school turn against her and even her own family can't stand to look at her. Her character did grow throughout the book and even though she was still self-centered, I really cared for Lia and her story was emotionally charged. While there were many references to casual sex, there was nothing explicit and it did fit with the story, just be warned it is there. I didn't realize this was the first book in a trilogy or I would have waited to read it until all three were out. Book 2 comes out in a few days and I will definitely be downloading it as Lia's story continues.

I would actually give this 3.75. Well-written, original plot and thoughtful arguements on the meaning of life and religion. I found the drug-use, teen sex and language a bit too much for "young adult," but it did fit with the world of privileged teens with no responsibilies that Wasserman has created. I would have liked to see more details of the history of the future that Wasserman has created in the first book--I can only hope that she fills us in more in book two. I also found the playing of the race card at the very end of the story strange--in a world that has left so much of its culture behind, it seems odd that racism would still be an issue; especially since the wealthy appear (at least based on their names) to be fairly multi-cultural. I am curious to see why the future society is still prejudiced agaist African-Americans or if that will even be explored.

Okay, so I didn't really enjoy this book at all. I felt like many of the plot threads have been done to death and almost in an identical way (see Airhead, The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Remember Me?, etc.) Same death/near death, replanting the brain kind of story. Same reactions by the parents, friends, and peers. I have read this book before and while the first time it was pretty neat, after that, it got slightly boring. It picks up a little bit after Lia gets out of the hospital and gets to interact with the world again, but just as it begins getting good, it crashes down again. Auden was the only character I liked (and I have a very strong hatred of others, particularly JUDE), and his role progresses dismally. The ending was completely disappointing, and I really think it would have been much stronger if Lia had just chosen to die. What is written instead is cringe-worthy and kind of sickening. It just really seems like this is a patchwork quilt of all the sci-fi futuristic YA books that are currently out there, and I know Robin Wasserman is capable of better.

Rating: 1.5/5

I have read all the books and the one major drawback I found was the swearing (which wasn't as prominent in the final book). Don't get me wrong I am a high school teacher at an Alternative school and hear the language on a regular basis , but since it is a habit we are trying to help our students curb I sadly won't be adding this trilogy to my classes shelves.

There are some very unique situations in these books though that do make one ponder and it was an interesting read.