This
is another ARC thanks to NetGalley and Indie Inked. Freak
of Nature came out back in January but I just found it and got approved so
here are my thoughts. This book one in
the IFICS series about Kaitlyn, a girl who checked a box to donate her body to
science, though she never expected things to turn out quite the way they
did.
Freak of Nature, follows the story of
Kaitlyn, a girl who was once human. Now
she isn’t sure what she is. She is part
machine, but she is still there, secretly still alive in a sense that she has
feelings and her own thoughts. She has
human emotions. She is forced to hide
this, sure if the scientists who made her found out they would erase what
remained of her life. Though she finds
and unlikely ally in Lucas, one of the main geniuses of the project, who still
has guilt over knowing what a vibrant and beautiful woman she had been and
taking that away. Though he never
suspected in a million years that the spark of life he saw in her through
research was still hidden within.
Together they work to figure out the best course of action.
The
story was good and easy to follow. I
found myself liking Kaitlyn. She wasn’t
entirely human anymore, she had no memories of anything accept what she was
programmed with and things she had learned during her training. She took everything very literal. She had a wealth of knowledge of everything,
but at the same time nothing they gave her seemed to explain the feelings she
was having, especially for Lucas. Let’s face it they don’t make an app that can
explain how we feel half the time, especially not if we start to fall in
love. It’s an exciting and unnerving
thing for the regular girl, so it was even more so for Kaitlyn who can only
assume something is wrong with her.
She
isn’t the only one though. You also get
to see things from Lucas’ point of view which I enjoyed. I think it could have been lacking in the
chemistry department or even a bit weird if it hadn’t been. His back story was brief but it was quick and
stayed in the moment. I look forward to
learning more about him and his rich employer at IFICS as the series
continues. He starts out thinking he
will be working on a science project, but one has never affected him like
this. Then again Kaitlyn is unique. A strong and capable weapon, but also a
confused girl who is just trying to figure out her place in the world.
As
I was reading, the book did make me think of an older movie, one I couldn’t
remember the name of and after a couple hours of not being able and it driving
me crazy I looked it up. The movie is
you are wondering was, Bicentennial Man
with Robin Williams as the robot with a soul and feelings. Obviously not the same, but I realized how
long it had been since I saw it and I have yet to find it at my local stores or
on Netflix to re-watch it.
I
give this book 4 stars, I really liked it.
I became invested in the characters and I wanted to know what was going
to happen next. Could they find a way to
make this work, for Kaitlyn to be who she is and not fear being erased
completely. Again this book came out
back in January so check it out! Already
read it, want to read it, thoughts on human/robot with feelings, souls, etc,
share below.