Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful

Just wow. This is a chilling, haunting portrayal of what might be the long-term consequences of tampering with our bodies. By this I mean when individuals modify their bodies to the extreme.

What worked: There are six tales of different characters starting in the near future to way in the future. Each one has had their body modified in some way. The first story has a twin receiving body parts from his other twin. The doctors use the heart of the one to make a 'super heart'. Another story has a survivor of a devastating crash stalk the boy who lied about what happened on their first date. What happens is beyond chilling.

Another story introduces readers to Reverent Tad Tadd and his horrific twist after a personal tragedy. I thought this one was interesting as it shows how this Reverent 'finds' maybe he might have been wrong on being so against modifying individuals. But what he does is very twisted.

One of the characters that really stayed with me had to be Jake. He's a typical Californian teenager who loves the beach, girls, and partying. In the near future, Jake's parents decide to have his body frozen in hopes that in the future scientists can cure his cancer. The facility where this takes place is Estonia. Only problem is in the future Russia takes over Estonia and Jake and others in the facility are used as slaves on an asteroid. His story is a cautionary tale on what could very well happen in the near future.

The end story is how the consequences of adding modifications to our bodies backfires in a terrible way. Readers are shown two individuals who are segregated in a compound outside of where humans reside. In the end, the story shows how they will bring hope to what remains of humanity.

Each story is haunting in it's tale of our future. Our fascination with making ourselves better and more beautiful has lead scientists to think outside of the box. I love how the author has shown that even though scientists are leading with new technology and are always on the search to eradicate things like deadly diseases, that there is a cost.

Cautionary Sci-Fi futuristic tale that in the end leaves readers with a glimmer of hope.