Skinned by Robin Wasserman

Lia Kahn was perfectly normal, until the accident that almost killed her. The damage to her body was so bad that she was downloaded into a new, mechanical body. She has a computer for a brain, and cannot feel pain, age or even die. Now that she has become what is called a "skinner" she is branded as unhuman by her friends, society, and even her family. Trying the be normal, Lia continually denies her existence and tries to act human. That is, until she meets others like her, who challenge Lia to realize her full potential.

So. This book was okay. Yes, just okay. When I first started the book, I liked it immediately. Lia's voice was just so real, the writing was good, and the plot was interesting. And I as kept reading, I started liking Skinned less and less.

First off, let me just say that this book has uncanny similarities to The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson. Both girls are in terrible car accidents and almost die, both girls' parents decide to "download" their brain into new bodies. They each feel alienated by a certain family member and both girls are deemed "unhuman" by society. These similarities were what attracted me to Skinned, since I really liked Adoration. But there is where the connection ends. Skinned takes place at least a hundred years in the future, as opposed to the fifty years in Adoration. And normally that wouldn't be a bad thing at all. Except I felt that the author took every stereotype (ok that's an exaggeration) of the future and put it into the book. I don't know, it just felt like too much science fiction for my taste. Like, this is hard to explain, but it felt like science fiction as I was reading it. And I don't want that. I want to feel like the story is real, or at least could be real. That's what good fantasy or science fiction does, it makes you feel like you're in the book and experiencing everything with the characters. Anyway, that's the main reason I didn't like Skinned. It just didn't click with me. I might read the sequel, Crashed, but I'm not sure yet.

6 out of 10.