Who Are The Real Humans Here?? -- Review of Rachel Cohn's Beta

NEW SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY REVIEWS

Reviews Of Recently Published Science Fiction And Fantasy Books

Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

Blog Address: http://newsciencefictionandfantasyreviews.blogspot.com

December 2, 2013

Who Are The Real Humans Here ??

A Review of

Rachel Cohn Beta (Hyperion, 2012)

331 pp ISBN: 9781423157199

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

In the dystopian future society in this novel scientists produce (what are alleged to be) human clones to be used as slaves. Although, with the little information provided, the correct scientific term for them is uncertain, the story makes it clear that they definitely are human -- in fact, more human than the people in this society. As these "clones" overcome their slave conditioning and attain self-consciousness and realize that they are persons, they mount an insurrection, which begins near the close of this book, which is the first of a planned quadrilogy. The second book, Emergent, is scheduled for realease on September 2014.

The focus of the story is the clone Elysia, who is the "beta" referred to in the title. She is an experimental model -- the first teenage clone ever produced. Because the story is told from her point of view, the book is catalogued as "young adult", which today's librarians use to indicate teenager. Even though she is a new clone and just released into this society, it does not take her very long to attain self-consciousness and to be ready to participate in the Insurrection, which she does at the very end of the book. To see what will happen in this battle, we will need to read the next book, which I intend to do as soon as it is published.

Information on the author is available at www.rachelcohn.com