My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: YA Science Fiction
Source: Received to Review
Book Description: When transcending humanity is the prize, winning the Game is all that matters.
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.
My thoughts: Susan Kaye Quinn is a master at writing books that make you think. I have read a few of her books and have yet to be disappointed. She is able to capture my imagination and pull me into her story.
Eli is an artist who works with acrylics. He is talented, but only does his best work when he is in a trance, or fugue. He goes into a fugue in front of his patron and another. This propels him into competing in an art Olympics. If he wins, he will ascend. He will have the opportunity to become an immortal being and save his mother from her illness and imminent death.
This book is set in a futuristic setting. Men have learned to use technology to take their minds and transplant them into bodies. If the body fails they can move to another body. It's a very interesting concept. It questions the basic knowledge of humanity and what it means to be human. Mere mortals are treated basically like pets. They are given the most basic care to survive, nothing to help them thrive.
The games teach him more than how to tap into his art. They teach him about humanity and the one's who have ascended. There are many different agendas, and Eli has to choose which one he wants to support.
The book is written to a YA reader, but does have innuendo.
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About the Author (Taken from Goodreads): Susan Kaye Quinn grew up in California, where she wrote snippets of stories and passed them to her friends during class. Her teachers pretended not to notice and only confiscated her stories a couple times.Susan left writing behind to pursue a bunch of engineering degrees, but she was drawn back to writing by an irresistible urge to share her stories with her niece, her kids, and all the wonderful friends she’s met along the way.
She doesn’t have to sneak her notes anymore, which is too bad.
Susan writes from the Chicago suburbs with her three boys, two cats, and one husband. Which, it turns out, is exactly as a much as she can handle.
CONTACT SUSAN
Susan's Website/Blog | Susan's twitter | Susan's Facebook Page
This sounds so good! I love the cover! Great review Lisa!
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