PAGE 244....

Things are not looking good for the Mechs, Lia especially. She has two choices given to her by the head of BioMax: be blackmailed with publicized accounts of her "actions" in the corp town massacre, or betray Jude, who BioMax has been searching for, and keep her own record clean. I'm really interested to see what Lia will do because she has disliked Jude from her early days as Mech, but it seems that she has become quite taken with Riley, (just my own assumption!!!) Jude's closest friend. Lia's dilemma is that Riley is blindly loyal to Jude, and to betray him would be to sever any ties she has with Riley, and I do not think she would willingly keep herself from Riley, who understands her more than any other individual due to what they went through together at the corp town. Also, there have been MAJOR character changes with Auden Heller--in the previous book, Auden was a unique individual, concerned with what others had forgotten or simply neglected, including Lia. Now he has renounced his friendship with her completely and is the polar opposite of the boy that Lia once loved. I just thought that was interesting and wonder if he is capable of returning to his former self.

PAGE 207!

So far, I think that CRASHED is better than SKINNED. There is much more going on in the sequel, including the revelation of hidden secrets, war, and deception. Its been focusing more on the adventures of Lia and the other Mechs, such as those who would declare war on the Orgs because of the opinions of the Brotherhood, a Faither group which hates Mechs, and a group that Lia's former best friend Auden is now a part of. And war has been declared, incidentally, by another Mech with Lia's face. Now, because she was in the area of a massive attack on the Orgs, Lia is blamed for the deaths of 42 people. The reader knows that the attack wasn't Lia's doing, but the authorities are content to blame her, possibly because they do not know who the real attacker is. Without their tracking devices (each Mech has a GPS system, allowing BioMax to know their exact location) feeding them the proper information, or to the right people, the authorities are clueless, and for now the attacker remains at large.

Sequel to SKINNED: CRASHED. Just started!

I just started the sequel to SKINNED! Its called CRASHED. I'm only about 30 pages in, but from that, its apparent that Lia has finally subdued to the other Mechs and joined them. She is content with participating in their daily activities and has earned a high status with Jude, one of the first to receive the downloading and currently the leader of Lia's group of Mechs. Apparently, Lia is quite happy with her new life, but it seems that an old and sympathetic friend, Auden Heller, who was ready to stand in the fronts lines in order to defend Lia and other Mechs, has literally joined the "dark side" of society. Out of bitterness and revenge, Auden has condemned his one time friend, and others like her.
UPDATE ON CRASHED: I've read about one hundred pages now! I think that this one is more of a page turner than SKINNED because it starts out with mystery, character change, and tragedy, unlike the first where all that is happening is Lia's "readjustment" in the early chapters.

SKINNED by Robin Wasserman

I just finished SKINNED! My first impression of the book was that it was going to go very slowly. However, once the background was introduced, it went by at a good pace. The first few chapters were all dedicated to teenage Lia Khan's perception of the downloading that will literally give Lia her life back, but at cost that she would never have willingly paid. In the following chapters the reader finds that Lia has been subjected to a fatal car accident, claiming her life in both the literal and social terms. Upon realizing that she was going to die, Lia's parents opted for another option: A computerized downloading of all Lia's memories and a scan of her brain into a new mechanical body. Many would think this process a dream come true. You will never truly get hurt and you can never die. In other words, this downloading process grants the recipient eternal life. Many would rejoice at this knowledge, but it is a nightmare come true for Lia. She has become what those in her society hate and fear, because she is anything but human. She is a Skinner. Although she has been saved from death, Lia has lost her life. Her friends do no except her, her boyfriend is disgusted at the sight of her, and others of her kind are endlessly attempting to get her to sever all bonds to her old life.
I really enjoyed SKINNED. The underlying message of this story of a teenage girl trying to find her way in a society that absolutely rejects her is clear and quite sad. I hope you will read SKINNED and find out for yourself!