Skinned by Robin Wasserman

Book Synopsis: Lia Kahn was perfect: rich, beautiful, popular -- until the accident that nearly killed her. Now she has been downloaded into a new body that only looks human. Lia will never feel pain again, she will never age, and she can't ever truly die. But she is also rejected by her friends, betrayed by her boyfriend, and alienated from her old life. Forced to the fringes of society, Lia joins others like her. But they are looked at as freaks. They are hated...and feared. They are everything but human, and according to most people, this is the ultimate crime -- for which they must pay the ultimate price. (Goodreads)

Word to the wise on this little dandy…..if you like to munch while you read, Id pass that option with this one…..I never eat while reading, but it was nice and dark outside and I had a hankering for Nilla cookies, so I grabbed my box of treats, snuggled in my blanket and cracked open Skinned, within the first 20 minutes I was reading about un-brushed teeth, frothy salvia, charred body parts, ripped off arms….and about threw up Nilla cookies in my own mouth…….

So Now onto My Review:

Lia Kahn was everything an ugly girl hates….beautiful, perfect, and the apple of her daddy’s eye. She had a perfect life, perfect friends, and a perfect boyfriend. Groan. Moan. Barf.

Throughout the story we learn Lia (the human) seemed shallow, a rich snot who was concerned about the latest fashion, the best parties…… (Ugh I shudder to think of reading in this girl’s perspective for 300 pages) – But everything changes when Lia dies………………..after the car accident Lia wakes in the hospital trapped inside a body no longer hers. She's Lia, but she's not the same Lia, and she's not sure how to handle her new life. When Lia returns home, everything is the same….but everything is different. Everyone has moved on. Family and friends seem distant and even afraid of who Lia is. What is Lia? Well she is a copy of herself, a downloaded brain placed in a synthetic body with Lia Kahn’s memory’s and personality. She can’t eat, sleep, drink or wear out. No one is accepting of Lia; not even her parents who made this choice for her. Groups of people have rallied against her and the process, calling it unethical and against God. Throw in a group of rebel Skinners who have united against the humans, add in a human boy who accepts you as is and a dreadful sister- you’ve got one messed up computer robot!!!

Skinned showcases an interesting look at humanity. Even though Lia is going through some human feelings, for me it was hard to connect with her because I knew what she was. For that matter it was hard to connect to any of the characters due to the fact that even the super genetic humans seemed robotic with their prescreened hair and flawless faces. On the other hand, this is a great Sci-fi story, and that’s what I thought was brilliant about Ms. Wasserman’s writing, not that fact that I didn’t emotionally connect with Lia, but that I felt the same about her as the humans did, making me feel like a smuck…. but I liked Lia and I found myself cheering for the skinner side.

While reading through all of Lia’s lamenting I was on the edge of my seat waiting for her to finally come to that point of exploding emotionally….and waiting for the whole nuts and bolts pop’n out with sparks flying, although I was wanting……… nuts and bolts did not fly. The one thing about being a mech/skinner- even in anger there’s no exploding. Lia makes some ground way near the end and Jude’s character (another skinner with gripping background potential) was placed in brilliantly, a strong character to bring out the strongest emotions in our protagonist.

The one thing I missed with Skinned was the back stories, I felt the war, the post-world of mechs and the nuclear fallout stories would have been fascinating……maybe that’s what I’d love to see in some of these dystopian novels is the back stories leading up to the world as is. Maybe perhaps that’s the book I should be writing!!! My thumbs up to you Ms. Wasserman for creating a suburb futuristic, technology- cyber thrill ride

Language and sexual content score high on this one. Due to graphic content I’d recommend Skinned for 17 and up.