Halfskin

De: Tony Bertauski

Narrado por: David W. Dietz III

Biomites are artificial stem cells that can replace any cell in your body. No more kidney failure, no severed spines or blood disease. No cancer. Pharmaceuticals become obsolete. With each dose of biomites, we become stronger, we become smarter and prettier.

We become better. At what point are we no longer human?

Nix Richards nearly died in a car accident when he was young. Biomites saved his life. Ten years later, he's not so lucky. The Halfskin Laws decree a human composed of 50% biomites is no longer human. Halfskins have no legal rights and will have their biomites shutdown. It's not called murder, merely deactivation.

Cali Richards has been Nix's legal guardian since their parents died. She has lost far too many people in her life to let the government take Nix. She is a nanobiometric engineer and will discover how to hide him. But even brilliance can succumb to the pressure of suffering. And technology can't cure insanity.

Cali and Nix keep a slippery grip on reality as they elude a maniacal federal agent dedicated to saving humanity from what he calls "The Biomite Plague"?

©2013 Tony Bertauski (P)2013 Tony Bertauski

Halfskin, All Heart

If you could sum up Halfskin in three words, what would they be?

Great sci-fi choice.

Any additional comments?

Disclaimer: I received this audio book through the narrator's call via GoodReads for listeners in exchange for an honest review of the narration. This review will remain spoiler-free -- please read the book blurb and other well-written reviews here at GoodReads if you would like plot summary information.

Honestly, I tend to shy away from sci-fi -- in terms of fantasy/futuristic fiction, I gravitate to dystopian societies, focusing more on future societies and the proverbial "Big Brother" and less on science and technology.

With that understanding, one should never say "never".

In terms of the audio book version of this story, the book is about seven and a half hours long and the narrator, David W Dietz III, performed well. His different voices were clear and identifiable, there was no errant background noise to distract, the pauses and pace was good.

In terms of the story itself... Wow! An interesting proposition for philosophical discussions. A seemingly plausible imaginary (hope it remains that way) scheme for human "evolution". As I listened to the story, I cannot comment on editing needs, but the story line, the three alternating POVs, the pace of reveals, the character development, the passage from reality to illusion and back and from present to past/memory and back again all flowed well.

The only drawback I found was the last 5 minutes, confusing and not seeming necessary for the story. For the most part, opened questions are resolved, the reader knows how and why the "bad" guy won't pursue our brother & sister heros, but the purpose of the final couple pages - relating to real world vs imaginary -- eludes me. Quite possibly, this is the hook for a next book (Clay), though not a cliff hanger, just info that clearly states that this is not truly where the story ends.

Thought-provoking sci-fi adventure

A very good science-fiction adventure tale that makes the listener confront the question: what is humanity? Can one be human and machine at the same time?
The narrator does a good job although the audio quality varies in places.

Science Fiction mixed with real Life!

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The climax or twist is a little tough, although it feels real, just heart breaking!

Would you recommend Halfskin to your friends? Why or why not?

For Science Fiction readers who like a story that might be real, this is the story for you!

Intriguing concept

Clever bio-tech thriller with some obvious parallels to current medical ethics dilemmas. With the exception of the villain, the characters were all nicely complex. The villain was rather one-dimensional/stereotypical which was disappointing considering the deftness of the other character portrayals.

The narrator did a really good job. Loved the way he personalized each character. The reason I gave 3 stars instead of 4 is because when a character shouted (which happened fairly often especially in the last half of the book), the narrator shouted - and that was too loud, hurt my ears (I was listening through my car speakers - not earbud/earphones), and was generally unpleasant. Once or twice and I wouldn't have mentioned it but it was more than that.

The book was a little slow to get my attention but about 1/4 the way through I was hooked and the last 1/2 was great.

I received this audiobook as a prize in a random drawing.

I want me some biomites!

Nix and Cali Richards (brother & sister) have suffered losses. Nix nearly died in a car accident that took his parents. He had to have an infusion of biomites to live as these tiny man-made stem cells could repair him from the inside out. Cali, the eldest sibling, has been his guardian since then, making it her life mission to keep him safe. However, the government has the Halfskin Laws: once a human becomes 50% biomites, he/she is no longer considered human and they are turned off. Luckily, Cali is a nanobiometric engineer.

This was a fascinating tale of what could be a near future. I truly enjoyed all the biomite talk and the societal implications. Plenty of thoughtful questions are brought up in this story. At what point is a human more machine than human? Does that negate their rights, including their right to life? I can see this book taking it’s place among science fiction classics.

Nix is an interesting character, struggling internally with the knowledge of what his future holds. He can’t live without the biomites and there is no real way to remove them. They are self replicating, so the longer one has them, the more the biomites take over the body. Yet he also knows his sister, Cali, will do whatever she can to try to save him. Incarcerated with other red-lining folks (those at 49% or higher biomites), he lives the life of a condemned criminal.

Now Cali is an even more interesting character because she has taken so much on her shoulders. Ever since their parents died, she has been the legal guardian of Nix. She also has a young daughter (the father having passed away). As you can see, she has a lot of stresses in her life, and that has been so for years. With her nanobiometric engineering background, she races against the clock to find a way to save Nix.

Another interesting aspect to this story is that there is a overarching cyber entity called Mother who is tied in to all biomites. The government created her to keep track of, and disable when necessary, the biomites. So Cali not only has to outwit the human law enforcers, but she also has to fool Mother.

All in all a very entertaining tale that I didn’t want to put down. Looking forward to Book 2!

The Narration: David Dietz did a fantastic job with the voices. He had distinct, believable voices for males and females, kids and adults. He was also very good at imbuing emotion into the character voices especially Cali.