Review: Artificial by Jadah McCoy

Artificial

Author: Jadah McCoy

Release Date: April 4, 2016

Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press

The Kepler Chronicles Book #1

ISBN13:  9781620074930

Genre: Science Fiction

Review Copy Source: NetGalley

She struggles to feel human.

In 2256, the only remnants of civilization on Earth’s first colonized planet, Kepler, are the plant-covered buildings and the nocturnal, genetically spliced bug-people nesting within them: the Cull. During the day, Syl leaves her home in the sewers beneath Elite City to scavenge for food, but at night the Cull come looking for a meal of their own. Syl thought gene splicing died with the Android War a century ago. She thought the bugs could be exterminated, Elite city rebuilt, and the population replenished. She’s wrong.

Whoever engineered the Cull isn’t done playing God. Syl is abducted and tortured in horrific experiments which result in her own DNA being spliced, slowly turning her into one of the bugs. Now she must find a cure and stop the person responsible before every remaining man, woman, and child on Kepler is transformed into the abomination they fear.

He struggles not to.

For Bastion, being an android in the sex industry isn’t so bad. Clubbing beneath the streets of New Elite by day and seducing the rich by night isn’t an altogether undesirable occupation. But every day a new android cadaver appears in the slum gutters, and each caved in metal skull and heap of mangled wires whittles away at him.

Glitches—androids with empathy—are being murdered, their models discontinued and strung up as a warning. Show emotion, you die. Good thing Bastion can keep a secret, or he would be the next body lining the street.

He can almost live with hiding his emotions. That is, until a girl shows up in the slums—a human girl, who claims she was an experiment. And in New Elite, being a human is even worse than being a Glitch. Now Bastion must help the girl escape before he becomes victim to his too-human emotions, one way or another.

I was very skeptical of the blurb for ARTIFICIAL and I actually almost passed it up on NetGalley, SO glad I didn't because it was an enjoyable, unique read with plenty of action and a great cast of characters.

One thing I learned quickly about Syl is that she is loyal, but bored with the life she is living. After an unfortunate series of events leads her to run from her home in the sewers she is taken away and soon realizes that her life will never be the same. Bastian is an android who works in the sex industry in New Elite. We learn about some of the hidden things he supports when he happens upon a human girl that looks like she's in need of saving. Little does he know, his life will never be the same.

I liked both of our main characters. Syl had a tough personality with a bit of fire mixed in. She has no trouble expressing what she's feeling or sticking up for what she thinks is right. Bastian was a bit reserved, but cares deeply about things he shouldn't being an android. I thought both characters worked well together and there was a definitely a spark, but the romance wasn't really a typical romance. I would like to see how it develops more in the next book though.

I really enjoyed ARTIFICIAL. The world was very unique and well built. The storyline was full of danger and suspense and the ending really threw me through a loop and made me want to read the next book in the series. I have no clue when book two will be available, but it will be on my wishlist as soon as I do.

I gave it 4/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.