Exogene
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Exogene (n.): factor or agent (as a disease-producing organism) from outside the organism or system. Also: classified Russian program to merge proto-humanoids with powered armor systems (slang).
Catherine is a soldier. Fast, strong, lethal, she is the ultimate in military technology. She's a monster in the body of an eighteen year old girl. Bred by scientists, grown in vats, indoctrinated by the government, she and her sisters will win this war, no matter the cost.
And the costs are high. Their life span is short; as they age they become unstable and they undergo a process called the spoiling. On their eighteenth birthday they are discharged. Lined up and shot like cattle.
But the truth is, Catherine and her sisters may not be strictly human, but they're not animals. They can twist their genomes and indoctrinate them to follow the principles of Faith and Death, but they can't shut off the part of them that wants more than war. Catherine may have only known death, but she dreams of life and she will get it at any cost.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Former CIA analyst McCarthy delivers a stark and wrenching sequel to Germline. Against the backdrop of a continent-spanning, barely described war in Asia, Catherine, a genetically engineered American super-soldier turned loose on the battlefield at 15, breaks free of her religious conditioning and makes a run for freedom. Standing in her way are half of Asia, starvation, radiation, and the impending breakdown of her body and mind, part of the army's fail-safe on its two-legged biological weapons. As she travels, Catherine and her companion, Margaret, progress from one faction's territory to the next, uncovering lies and learning deeper truths or at least ones that will serve to get Catherine to her hoped-for refuge of Thailand. The conclusion is simultaneously heartbreaking and triumphant, and utterly appropriate for the brutal, bloody, and magnificent story.