by Jessica Khoury
Release date: September 4th 2012
Publisher: Razorbill
Edition: Hardcover 394 pages (purchased)
Pia has grown up in a secret laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon rain forest. She was raised by a team of scientists who have created her to be the start of a new immortal race. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile home--and sneaks outside the compound for the first time in her life.
Free in the jungle, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Together, they embark on a race against time to discover the truth about Pia's origin--a truth with deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.
Origin is a beautifully told, shocking new way to look at an age-old desire: to live forever, no matter the cost.
Likes:
What a pleasant surprise this book turned out to be. From a book that I thought would be a lovey book with some sci-fi tossed in, this was the opposite of it. This book is heavy on the sci-fi with some "non-overbearing" love elements to it. If you know me, I'm not much into all that lovey gooey stuff in my books. I don't mind a romance to be present but I do not like books where that is all it is centered around. This book is just that and it does it well. I love the main character. Pia is one of my favorite type of characters. The type of character that discovers the world for the first time at an older age. Kind of like Quorra from Tron Legacy or Rapunzel from Tangled. Stuck in a place locked out from the real world only hearing pieces of what that real world is like. They are fun and I love to watch them discover things that are old to an every day human being but very new to them.
Another favorite part of this book was that the whole story was one big conspiracy. Boy, I love me some conspiracies. Hiding the truth for the so-called "greater good" of life. Making things that certain people want them to be and not how they should be by just leaving well enough alone. It always makes out for a better, more sinister villain. Those are the best kind.
Dislikes:
Okay, so, you could get after me again for this dislike section. I don't really have any dislikes again. There are some names of certain beings in the story that can get confusing at times but that was more certainly my fault and not the story. The names can be tough to pronounce and remember in your head but it's part of the tribe of people that are encountered in the story.
Who would I recommend this to:
If you are like me and believe that sci-fi is on the rise in YA and you are excited about things like that, read this book. If you LOVE conspiracies like any sane human being should, you will love this book. If you like stories with a real plot tossed in with a small bit of romance, this is also for you too. It is a great story than I think deserves plenty of praise in 2012.
P.S
I have to add this on this review as a "Thank you" to my quite epic sister-in-law for getting me this book and having it signed by the wonderful Jessica Khoury at the Austin Teen Book Fair. Oh yeah, I also loved reading this book because it had a wonderful new book smell. Just saiyen. :D
I saw this author at the DBF and I keep thinking I need to pick this up! Great review!
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog and am having so much fun exploring it. I love the husband and wife book blogging thing :)
ReplyDeleteI read ORIGIN and while I didn't love, love, love it, it definitely kept me entertained. It was something different, you know? I'm very cool with sci fi making more of an appearance in YA. Another sci fi-ish series that I'm loving write now is The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer -- have you read CINDER? It's awesome!
My wife has it on the book shelf. She says it's pretty good and that I should probably read it. I just haven't got to it yet.
ReplyDeleteAah, I am so glad to hear this is heavy on the sci-fi! Only thing is, it makes me want to read it even more and I missed out on it on Netgalley =( I'll have to see if the library has it...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review! =)