Crashed

by Robin Wasserman

Dedication: "For David Mayer, Ruth Wasserman, and Philip Wasserman, whom I never knew, but suspect I would have liked."

First paragraph: "When I was alive, I dreamed of flying. Or maybe I should say: When I was alive, I dreamed. Sometimes it was flying; more often it was falling. Or burning - trying to scream, trying to run, but frozen and silent and consumed by flames. I dreamed of being alone. Of my face melting or my teeth falling out."

Review: This is the sequel to the book Skinned. Lia Kahn was in a car crash and her body died but she woke up - in a different body that wasn't even human. BioMax has found a way to take the brain, copy it, and then transplant it into a computer inside a machine that is then controlled by the new "brain". There is a lot of controversy over this procedure. People who don't believe these machines should exist and are trying to do anything to get rid them. Lia has to figure out what is going on and how to stop it before it's too late.

I enjoyed this book but it was hard to get in to. There was a lot of whining and recapping at the beginning. Even though it's been awhile since I read the first book it hadn't been long enough for me to need all the intro that it gave. Once she quit whining about how life sucks and she wishes she could feel like she used to it got a lot more interesting.

Wasserman created a futuristic setting with great moral questions. This book gets you thinking. Makes you wonder what you would do if you had the same options. If you could keep your child "alive" even a little longer, would you? If you had to choose between food, shelter, and no freedom, or complete freedom and struggling for food, and a safe place to live, what would your option be?

Although the book was slow at times it kept me interested enough to keep reading, which is good enough. Also, I don't know if there will be another sequel to this book but it ended in a way that there could be but you aren't left hanging, if there is. An overall good read!

Click Here for Robin Wasserman's Skinned/Crashed Web site.