Review for 'Origin' by Jessica Khoury
Book summary:
THE JUNGLE HIDES A GIRL WHO CANNOT DIE.
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 engineeered 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 cary on their dangerous work.
For as long as she can remember, Pia's greatest desire has been to fulfill their expectations. But on the night she turns seventeen, she finds a whole in the seemingly 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 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?
My rating: 4.5 stars
Review:
ORIGIN quickly became one of my favorite books, and it remains to be so. I love stories that take place in a jungle of sorts, and ORIGIN is beautifully crafted, and very vivid. Though it's been a while since I first read the book, I sped through it, and have read it three times since then. It will definitely be in my bag this summer, along with
The Lost Island of Tamarind and
The Secrets of Tamarind by Nadia Aguiar. There are certain books I take camping with me, and this will be one of them.
I loved it, and I will remain to love. And that cover is just striking. This is a book my Mom picked up for me
because she thought the cover was beautiful. And it is, and so is the book. I love love love this book!
Review for '
Vitro' by Jessica Khoury
Book Summary:
ON SKIN ISLAND, EVEN THE LAWS OF CREATION CAN BE BROKEN.
On a remote island in the Pacific, scientists privately funded by the mysterious corporation Corpus have taken test tube embryos and given them life. These beings-- the Vitros-- have knowledge and abilities most humans can only dream of. But they also have one enormous flaw.
Seventeen-year-old Sophie Crue is determined to get to Skin Island to find her mother, a scientist who left Sophie behind years ago. With the help of Jim Julien, a young charter pilot, she arrives-- and discovers a terrifying secret she never imgined: She has a Vitro twin, Lux, who is the culmination of Corpus's dangerous research.
Now Sophie is torn between reuniting with the mother who betrayed her and protecting the genetically enhanced twin she never knew existed. But untangling the twisted strands of these relationships will have to wait, for Sophie and Jim are about to find out what happens when science stretches too far beyond its reach.
From the briliant young author of ORIGIN comes a daring new novel that explores the question: When
does science cross the line?
My rating: 3.5 stars
Review:
Not as good as 'ORIGIN', but still good. I liked Pia a lot more than Sophie, and I didn't exactly like Jim. He just wasn't Eio, and I just didn't like him for some reason. The other characters were okay. The plot was okay, but it seemed to be lacking in the beautiful, vivid-ness that was
Origin. It wasn't awful, just not great either. I liked it, but if I had to decide which of the two books were my favorite, it would definitely be
Origin, hence the reason I gave Origin a longer--and better-- review. Still, it was good enough that I didn't dislike it. I just didn't love it. It was in-between for me. I'm still looking forward to whatever Jessica Khoury has in store for us next!!
