Origin
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Pia has always known her destiny. She is meant to start a new race, a line of descendants who will bring an end to death. She has been bred for no other purpose, genetically engineered to be immortal and raised by a team of scientists in a secret compound hidden deep in the Amazon rainforest. Now those scientists have begun to challenge her, with the goal of training her to carry on their dangerous work.
For as long as she can remember, Pia’s greatest desire has been to fulfill their expectations. But then one night she finds a hole in the impenetrable fence that surrounds her sterile home. Free in the jungle for the first time in her life, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Unable to resist, she continues sneaking out to see him. As they fall in love, they begin to piece together the truth about Pia’s origin—a truth with nothing less than deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.
Origin is a beautifully told, electric new way to look at an age-old desire: to live forever. But is eternal life worth living if you can’t spend it with the one you love?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in a secret scientific compound in the depths of the Amazon, this well-written first novel concerns 17-year-old Pia, who, as the result of advanced genetic engineering, is invulnerable and immortal. The scientists who created her are fanatics, morally compromised by their work; they've raised her to be what they see as the ideal scientist rational, objective, and heartless repeatedly telling her, "You are immortal, Pia, and you are perfect." Her sole purpose, they say, is to eventually create more immortals. Pia, who has never been outside the compound and knows nothing about the world beyond, is content with this role until, sneaking through a hole in the fence one night, she meets Eio, an indigenous boy her age, who shows her that there is significantly more to life than she knows. Khoury's scientists are mostly one-dimensional monsters, and their scientific protocols (keeping knowledge of geography and culture from Pia) make little sense. Her descriptions of the rainforest and the native people contrast beautifully with the laboratory setting, however, and Pia is a fascinating protagonist. Ages 12 up.
