“Lee Urban is living a lie.
In a society where everyone's DNA determines their destiny, being a Natural means automatic relegation to the gritty and dangerous Outskirts. With the harnessed power of gene-editing, the ability to create a super-human race has transformed the world and offered the opportunity of a genetically enhanced life. But only to those who can afford it.
Born a Natural, Lee Urban was adopted into the Enhanced high society of the Asian Federation and forced to conceal her genetic roots. When her dream of attending Peking University becomes a reality, she is determined to go despite a warning from a mysterious source.
Targeted by a hacker bent on exposing her true DNA, Urban faces off with an Artificial Intelligence Game that puts her—and her lies—to the test. What was supposed to be a dream come true turns into a lethal gamble of hide-and-seek with her genetics. Can Urban continue the act, or will the cracks in her story expose her and endanger her family?”
Series: Book #1 in “The Hybrid” trilogy.
Spiritual Content- No Christian Faith content;
*Note: As an embryo, if their parents pay enough, the fetus can have physical additions (like wings, dinosaur spikes, scales for skin, claws, fangs, horns on the side of their head, flamethrowers for hands, etc.) and mental additions (such as being smarter, being more creative, faster, having a superior immune system, etc.), those that have these abilities are called the “Enhanced” (those who were not Enhanced are called “Naturals” and are looked down on); Animals can also be Enhanced; Urban is a Natural who was adopted by an Enhanced family, if she’s ever revealed that she’s not Enhanced as well, her family would be destroyed and Urban would be casted out of the city; Mentions of those that hate Naturals calling them “primordial soup” or “soup” for short & a dangerous group that will kill Naturals if they attempt to mix with the Enhanced; Mentions of evolving, the evolution of machines, finding the ultimate species, & the ability of man to truly evolve; Mentions of programming being used for good or evil; Mentions of Buddhist temples that are no longer for worshiping the gods or ancestors, but now are a place to house the cremated bodies of the dead (the place creeps Urban out); Mentions of engineering of extinct creatures for the Games (a big competition for the Enhanced, animals include saber-toothed tigers, dragons, pterodactyls, T-rexes, raptors, mammoths, & timber wolves); A few mentions of temple monkeys; A mention of a devilish grin; A mention of a Kung Fu goddess; A mention of feng shui; A mention of someone thanking their lucky stars; A mention of a lucky bracelet.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, a ‘geez’, a ‘shoot’, a ‘suck’, a ‘suck it up’, an unfinished ‘what the—‘, a ‘wimpy’, two ‘confounded’s, two ‘dang’s, two ‘gah!’s, two ‘shut up’s, and eleven forms of ‘stupid’; Different Chinese words are used as exclamations or cussing (a “wakao”, a “wozi”, and “tiana” is said four times); A few mentions of curses (said, not written); Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Almost drowning & almost being killed (up to semi-detailed); Being drugged & Passing out (up to semi-detailed); Explosions, Being attacked, Fighting, Seeing fights, Injuries, Blood/Bleeding, Pain, & Passing out (semi-detailed); Street racing & Crashing (up to semi-detailed); Seeing someone stabbed with a pen & the blood (up to semi-detailed); Recalling almost being mugged (up to semi-detailed); Social drinking at parties (Urban has to put a pill in her drink to dissolve the alcohol as she’s a lightweight and it would be obvious that she’s a Natural since those who are Enhanced don’t get drunk; Later she’s forced to take a sip of a drink); A bit of lying; Urban wonders of she’s going to die in dangerous situations/fights (up to semi-detailed); Urban wonders if someone is trying to kill her; The Games are a competition for the Enhanced where they have to solve puzzles while fighting large animals that are after them (if they’re attacked by the animals, they “die” (disappear) in the competition and can be hurt in real life, up to semi-detailed); *Spoiler* Urban is tricked into partaking in a Game and faces fires, explosions/bombs, and large animals trying to kill her (up to semi-detailed) *End of Spoiler*; Urban’s older brother tried to drown her as a child (recalling it and Urban hates water because of it; He is a jerk to her and belittles her); Urban says she’d rather die than end up in a particular job; Urban feels like she doesn’t belong in her family, doesn’t feel like her parents care about her, that she has nothing to show for her hard work, and that no one accepts her (*Spoiler* towards the end she believes that she’s unique for a reason and learns that her parents care for her *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of a dangerous organization that’s goal is to kill Naturals & brutal murders (described that way, but not above barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a deadly air that causes deaths & hospitals and prisons using it for euthanasia, & Urban wondering what will happen if you’re in it (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of fires, explosion, & a death; Mentions of almost drownings (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of violence; Mentions of crimes, criminals, stealing, thieves, thefts, & almost getting mugged; Mentions of crashes, injuries, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of fights, weapons, injuries, blood/bleeding, & being knocked out (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of alcohol, virgin drinks, drinking, social drinking at parties, bars, & someone being drunk (the legal age is 16); Mentions of parties & partying; Mentions of nightmares; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of hatred; Mentions of rumors & gossip; Mentions of tattoos (as well as everyone having a “tatt” that can be scanned for paying or an their ID); A few mentions of someone being stabbed with a pen (barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of Urban being berated by her parents for her grades and lack of respect; A few mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of cigarettes; A few mentions of urine; A few mentions of graffiti; A couple mentions of kidnappings & ransom; A couple mentions of bullies; A couple mentions of throwing up; A couple mentions of cheating; A mention of a war zone; A mention of someone saying they would rather die than give up; A mention of dung;
*Note: Near panic attacks (Urban tries to calm herself down, barely-above-not-detailed); Prejudice towards others (mostly Enhanced to Naturals, Naturals to the Enhanced), foreigners, & mentions of it (including how Natural servants are treated poorly and one almost being slapped); Mentions of mutant animals, people being killed by them, killing them in the Games, & injuries (to both animals and humans, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of vaccines (& Urban being appreciative for the flu vaccine patch); A few mentions of panic attacks; A mention of a man being disowned by his family for marrying a Natural.
Sexual Content- Urban’s boyfriend stares at her lips (twice), a blown kiss, an almost (semi-detailed) kiss, and a semi-detailed kiss; Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Warmth, Tingles, Butterflies, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (up to semi-detailed); Blushes & Winks; Noticing (including muscles, barely-above-not-detailed); A painful break-up (up to semi-detailed); Urban sits on her boyfriend’s lap in on the subway; Urban catches herself blushing over another guy when she already has a boyfriend; Mentions of boyfriends, dates, dating, & a break-up; Mentions of flirting, winks, & blushes; A few mentions of kisses & kissing; A few mentions of being hit on; A couple mentions of a girl squealing over a guy; A mention of an affair (& that when the man was caught, he wasn’t allowed to use public transportation again); A mention of seeing a couple kissing; A mention of (teasingly) telling someone to back off a guy’s girl; A mention of a crush; Love, being in love, & the emotions;
*Note: Urban wishes she was a beautiful redhead with bright-blue eyes; Mentions of being skinny & prejudice towards those who are skinny; A few mentions of Urban kicking a guy in the groin (self-defense); A few mentions of revealing clothes; A few mentions of curves (Urban commenting on her lack of curves and noticing other’s girls’ outfits highlighting their curves); A mention of someone saying another sounds like he had a “hormone overdose or something”; A mention of puberty; A mention of rock-hard abs; A mention of a diet.
-Lee Urban, age 17-18
P.O.V. switches between them
Dystopian/Set in 2120
368 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
{Please note the lack of Christian content & Mentions of evolution and take that in account of
the ratings.}
Ever since I saw the details of this cover and heard it was a dystopian story, I instantly added to it my TBR.
Before I get into the details of things I liked and didn’t, let’s first note that there’s no Christian content in this book. It’s possible that a later book could introduce that element, but for this book: There was no faith content. I only review Christian Fiction on BFCG, so this puts me into a slightly awkward position because Enclave publishing is very popular in the Christian Sci-Fi/Fantasy industry and that Goodreads has this book listed as Christian Fiction. I ran into a similar dilemma with “Swift” a couple months ago that was also published by this publishing house. “Do I review it on BFCG or not?” I went back and forth on that book and now this one as well. Only because Enclaved Publishing is well-known by those in the Christian book community will their books be reviewed on here. So far, of the books I’ve read by them, some have no faith content and some have an allegory thread. It’s hard to rate this book because there’s no faith content and mentions of evolution-based ideas.
When I first started this book, I felt very thrown into the world and lost. Rather than a telling about the technology or the world, it’s more of a learning as you go, so it took a bit to be able to figure what everything was. Once I was able to get answers and figure things out, I found the world interesting. I just wasn’t the biggest fan of evolution-based comments or Urban herself. I think I did also find a plot hole (an important event being said to be a couple weeks away but then a few chapters and a few weeks later, it’s in two days).
Urban was super aware of her secret, and always wondering if others could figure out her secret or find out who she really was, which honestly did get on my nerves. I’m not sure whether she had major character development by the end or I just got used to her, but Urban bothered me less by the end of the book. I think the world and setting of was really different and interesting in this book, but there were different parts that pulled me out of the story and it just didn’t fully click with me.
Those who are Enhanced kind of feel like superheroes, but they don’t have the expectations to have to help people. Most are selfish, vain, and rude to others instead.
I did have to pause reading halfway through and make some fried dumplings because of all the food descriptions! Most books have mentions of sweets or desserts and since those don’t interest me at all, it was really funny for me to get a craving for a food because of a book! I did really like the Asia setting and found those parts to be the most interesting.
I found the big competition parts (called The Games) to be boring and kind of cheesy. I was lost on a lot of the action scenes…I’m honestly not sure if it was me or the writing style.
Would I read the second book? Hmm. Maybe. While this book didn’t end on a major cliffhanger, there’s still a lot to be explained and happen, but I know I would have to reread this first book before picking up the sequel. Which I don’t think I enjoyed this book enough to do, but perhaps, if the second book really interested me.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
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