One could almost call this science fiction. However, it takes place over a millenia in the future, and the only progress we've made is that which directly relates to human cloning, so I marked it as teen because we fans of sf are really bothered by that dissonance. It's otherwise a good story, my teen son and I agree, of what it means to be an individual and what kind of repercussions cloning could have in societies and in families. ( )

Oh, blech.

This is what I get for reading sci-fi written by a non-scientist (hence-to-fore to be tagged "anti-sci-fi") and a self-admitted "science-phobe" (although I didn't find this out until I read the Afterword so perhaps I can be forgiven).

This is a young adult novel set in a somewhat dystopian future. The ruling "class" in society are all Genetically Enhanced (Genhants). Non-genetically enhanced people (Originals) are lower-class citizens. OK, so far, so good.

***Be-Warned: Potential SPOILERS***

Without giving away the details of the plot-line of the book with regards to our protagonist Darci - a subset of the population realizes that the current genetic programs in place are threatening the future of the human race via the "Breaking Up" or the "Great Fracturing" (not rigorously explained so draw your own conclusions) and counter with proscribed genetic procedures to save the human race.

The author does NOT at this point pursue the obvious and interesting (from a sci-fi standpoint at least) concept of the danger of homogenizing the gene pool and not allowing for the diversity needed for a healthy biological variation. No rational cautions about unintended consequences of science-gone-awry. No. Instead we weave off into "insights" of the concept of "Soul" and some sort of historical collective consciousness that contains, of all things, ancient words! (Such as, for instance, "Lord" and "God").

This novel would like to leave you thinking:

Aaah! Cloning, evil geneticists on the loose! (Science is Bad, m'kay?)

Life is not meaningful until you discover you have "soul" (don't worry, the ancient voices in your head will clue you in, unless you are one of those deluded science-y "tricksters".)

Grrrr.

The bits about rock-climbing are okay though.

(PS. The writing is adequate, the characters are engaging enough, the world-creation was fine...it was the pseudo-sci-fi religious crap that stuck in my craw.) ( )