Origin by Jessica Khoury

Origin

by Jessica Khoury

Pia has always known her destiny. She is meant to start a new race, a line of descendants who will bring an end to death. She has been bred for no other purpose, genetically engineered to be immortal and raised by a team of scientists in a secret compound hidden deep in the Amazon rainforest. Now those scientists have begun to challenge her, with the goal of training her to carry on their dangerous work.
 
For as long as she can remember, Pia’s greatest desire has been to fulfill their expectations. But then one night she finds a hole in the impenetrable fence that surrounds her sterile home. Free in the jungle for the first time in her life, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Unable to resist, she continues sneaking out to see him. As they fall in love, they begin to piece together the truth about Pia’s origin—a truth with nothing less than deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.
 
Origin is a beautifully told, electric new way to look at an age-old desire: to live forever. But is eternal life worth living if you can’t spend it with the one you love?

Reviewed by Briana @ Pages Unbound on

4 of 5 stars

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This review is also posted at Pages Unbound Book Reviews.

Origin is an original debut novel that is on the forefront of the growing fad of genetic engineering but combines the science with a bit of magic. Readers’ reactions to this approach, however, will probably vary until they figure out it is the intended approach.

When the novel opens, the impression is that all will be based on cold scientific fact. So it is jarring when some of the science Khoury carefully explains to add realism to her novel is not quite sound. To start, the scientific community is truly convinced that Pia is immortal. In reality, what they know is that she has impenetrable skin, is very fast, and has lived for seventeen years. She may be immortal, but the use of the word is careless for a scientist. The facility also has immortal rats (i.e. They have rats that have lived a hundred years and who might still die.) Additionally, reactions in rats and humans may vary. Pia could die early or perhaps develop an adverse reaction to her “immortality.”

These details are, in some sense, trivial. Maybe the scientists got excited so they are using words loosely. The rest of their experimental procedures seem sound. The initial explanation of immortality process is, however, downright mystical, seemingly involving a magical flower and a mysterious process no one can properly explain. This is pretty mind-boggling upon first reading—until one continues reading and comes to understand that it is supposed to be mystical, that somehow science and magic are colliding in the book and there are things that can be explained by legend that cannot be explained by reason. Then, everything starts to fall wonderfully into place.

Pia slowly emerges from her cold scientific world into one based as much on the heart as on the head. Her teacher is Eio, an attractive boy from a nearby village, who is in turn loyal, courageous, vulnerable, and profound. No wonder Pia gets all swoony! He acts as companion, guide, and catalyst, and makes Origin as much a romance as it is science fiction.

His purpose is thus divided between winning Pia (and the reader?) over and showing her that there is more to life than can be seen with one’s eyes. He introduces the magic, as he introduces Pia to the villagers—who surprise her by knowing much more about immortality and its causes than her scientists do. Her struggle is to come to terms with the idea that the “ignorant” natives might have a lot of things to teach her, including things about the evil lurking in her own home.

Origin is intensely creative and manages to combine a number of genres with ease. The plot, the characters, and the ideas are strong, making it a fantastic debut.

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  • Started reading
  • 27 October, 2012: Finished reading
  • 27 October, 2012: Reviewed