Reviewed by bettyehollands on
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 30 October, 2020: Finished reading
- 30 October, 2020: Reviewed
The Original
by Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal
In the near future, humans choose life—for a price. Injectable nanite technology is the lifeblood that flows through every individual wishing to experience the world through the lens of their own theme. While death from mortal wounds is still possible, life is made easier in a socially liberated society where automation and income equality allow passion pursuits to flourish over traditional work. Renewal stations are provided to every law-abiding citizen for weekly check-ins, which issue life-sustaining repairs in exchange for personal privacy. But what becomes of those who check out, of those who dare to resist immortality and risk being edited under the gaze of an identity-extracting government surveillance system?
When Holly Winseed wakes up in a hospital room, her first thoughts are of her husband Jonathan. But he isn’t there. And her near-term memory seems… disjointed. A team of government agents wastes no time with pleasantries telling Holly that she is a Provisional Replica, created in the aftermath of her Original’s conviction for murdering their husband Jonathan. Now she has one week to hunt down and kill her Original. If she succeeds, she’ll assume her Original’s life. If she fails, her nanites deplete and she will die. Holly’s progress is monitored by an assigned contact that feeds her information as she confronts the blank, robotic world around her, discovering that others view life through the theme of their own choosing.
With her newly implanted combat and deduction skills, Holly fends off both attacks by terrorists and doubts about her own trustworthiness as clues lead her to her Original – and to the truth about Jonathan. In the end, one body remains and one walks away. Although questions persist, one thing is certain: Life will never be the same.