The Legacy Human (Singularity Book 1)
By Susan Kaye Quinn
Publisher: Susan Kaye Quinn
Published: Mar. 2, 2015
ASIN: B00U1VKGSE
Amazon Synopsis:
What would you give to live forever? Seventeen-year-old 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.
When immortality is the prize, winning the Game is all that matters.
The Legacy Human is the first in Susan Kaye Quinn’s new young adult science fiction series that explores the intersection of mind, body, and soul in a post-Singularity world… and how technology will challenge us to remember what it means to be human.
When immortality is the prize, winning the Game is all that matters.
The Legacy Human is the first in Susan Kaye Quinn’s new young adult science fiction series that explores the intersection of mind, body, and soul in a post-Singularity world… and how technology will challenge us to remember what it means to be human.
Book Links
My Thoughts:
Humans who had melded
their minds with nanotechnology and became human/computer hybrids or the
ascended generations ago now ruled over what was left of the human race. Those
humans were kept for their genetic code and were no longer allowed to ascend
except for once a year at the Creative Olympics. Competition in Dance, Art,
Storytelling, and Music rather than in Sports of centuries past, the winners in
each category were given the opportunity to join the ascended and become
human/computer hybrids with perpetual life.
The Legacy Human was a riveting story that left me wanting
more. Each group of people from the Ascended, to the competitors, to the
dissenters seemed to have their own secret agenda, causing dangerous events to
unfold at every turn.
I found the concept
of the ascended and how they were careful to keep the genetic code of the
legacy humans untainted very interesting.
It was painful to see how that affected the legacy humans since they did
not receive the medical care that would have afforded them cures to some of the
ailments that made them ill. This is in fact one of the reasons that Eli was so
determined to enter the Olympics and win – ascending would allow him and his
family – his mother, suffering from end-stage leukemia to leave their human
bodies behind along with all human illness and live perpetually.
There were so many
twists and turns in The Legacy Human and
a rapid pace that the book does an excellent job of holding the reader’s
attention. This book is about much more than what it seems.
I enjoyed the
interaction between Eli and the other competitors in the Olympics. The
characters seemed realistic. I loved Cyrus’ loyalty; helping his best friend
trying to reach his goal, which if Eli did, would leave Cyrus bereft of friend
and mother figure.
Eli’s discovery of
the dissenters and of who was involved in it was a twist in the plot and a surprise
to both Eli and the reader. How that will play out in the second book will be
very interesting. I thought the plan the resistance had set up for the Olympics
if their contestants had made it to the medal platform would have been
fascinating to see.
I also thought that
what the followers in the resistance believed was quite interesting; similar in
one way, yet diverging in a very significant way from the ascended. Those of
the resistance believed in eternal life – but eternal life of the soul, which
the ascended may or may not have. Those of the resistance believed in a God but
I think most of the ascended believed they were gods.
Eli’s growth as a
character was evident in his ability to control his fugue state. Additionally
he discovered something about his past that would affect his future and the
future of so many others – ascended and human.
The Legacy Human is not a book to be missed
if you enjoy science fiction. With action, romance and vividly creative writing
that will make you believe you are there with Eli, this novel will likely be
one of your favourites of the year. I have given this novel 5 stars out of 5. I
would happily reread this book again. I can’t wait for the sequel!
Thank you to the
publishers for providing this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A
positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.
About the Author:
Susan Kaye Quinn is the author of the
Singularity Series, the bestselling Mindjack Trilogy, and the Debt Collector
serial, as well as other speculative fiction novels and short stories. Her work
has appeared in the Synchronic anthology, the Telepath Chronicles, the AI
Chronicles, and has been optioned for Virtual Reality by Immersive
Entertainment. Former rocket scientist, now she invents mind powers, dabbles in
steampunk, and dreams of the Singularity. Mostly she sits around in her PJs in
awe that she gets to write full time.
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