The Legacy Human by Susan Kaye Quinn

The Legacy Human (Singularity, #1)

by Susan Kaye Quinn

What would you give to live forever?

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 a philosophical HopePunk sci-fi series that explores the intersection of mind, body, and soul in a post-Singularity world.

Reviewed by Sam@WLABB on

5 of 5 stars

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Rating: 4.5 stars

I received a copy in exchange for an honest review

Eli lives in a world where you are either a legacy, a remnant human, or an ascender, the superior race created from humans using technology. Eli is an aspiring artist, who wants nothing more, than to obtain a cure for his mother's illness. With his mother growing weaker, and his options growing more and more limited, he realizes his only chance to save his mother, is to win the Olympics. This is not your sports based games, though. In these games, legacies compete in the arts. These games may seem tame, but the competition can be deadly, as they are competing for the right for them and their families to ascend.

I couldn't help but immediately connect with Eli and his need to win this competition, because his primary motivation was to save his mother. However, I also connected to his ulterior motivation: to be one of the elite, to have all he could want or need, to be elevated in society. And then, the allegory kicked in and I found myself even more involved in the story.

I am a Susan Kaye Quinn fan. I love her style. She does such an amazing job of revealing her world without the info dump. It always seems to reveal itself organically. It's always a pleasure to read something she writes, because there is a great flow to her stories. She was able to put me right into the action and the mayhem and I loved it.

The ending killed me!!!!! Good job leaving me wanting more answers. Looking forward to book 2.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 25 July, 2015: Finished reading
  • 25 July, 2015: Reviewed