J says read BETA by Rachel Cohn
J says:
Read this one. It’s a really good story about a teenaged android who first realizes she can taste and it escalates to desire not just for food but for freedom and for a soul. She “emerges” on a Utopian island that was created after the “water wars.” The island is surrounded by chemically engineered water and air to make all the rich humans who visit there feel healthy and blissed out. The island is run on clone labor. The clones are soul-less versions of recently deceased humans.
Our teen droid is a ‘beta’ version, meaning her kind is not yet perfected and prone to defects. At least that’s what the chips in her head are programmed to tell her.
There’s lots of cool stuff in this book like the transportation, the explanation of the state of the world after the polar ice caps melted, the way people communicate (basically like texting but on their actual wrists. It’s called “relaying”). Their video games are a lot like the holodecks in Star Trek Next Gen and they play a fun game called Z-Grav.
The plot moves along and you’re not always as smart as you think, once you feel you’ve got it all figured out. But it’s YA, so sometimes you are that smart.
It seems ripe for a movie. I hope it catches on so someone will make it. I had a fun time trying to cast it.That’s my latest rec. Enjoy!
