Robin Wasserman: "Frozen" ("Skinned")

Title: Frozen (previously: Skinned) [on Amazon* | on Goodreads]
   *Note: the blurb is all wrong - they used the 3rd book recap.
Series: Cold Awakening (1st of 3 books)
Author: Robin Wasserman [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Sci-Fi, Dystopian
Year: 2008
Age: 14+
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Not overly original premise brought to excellence. Strong, imaginative world-building. Well crafted, emotion-conveying prose.
Cons: You have to buy the premise, of course (parents willing to shove their kid's brain into a machine and all that). And you have to like the main character despite her past - which, apparently, proved tough to some readers (but not to me).
Will appeal to: Those who aren't afraid to think and speculate.

Blurb: Lia knows she should be grateful she didn't die in the accident. The Download saved her - but it also changed her, forever. She can deal with being a freak. She can deal with the fear in her parents' eyes and the way her boyfriend flinches at her touch. But she can't deal with what she knows, deep down, every time she forces herself to look in the mirror. She's not the same person she used to be. Maybe she's not even a person at all. (Goodreads excerpt)

Review: Revelation: this series was actually one of the reasons why I decided to blog about books. I read the repackaged version, in late 2011 - then I stared at its Goodreads page asking myself "Why the hell hasn't this series gotten more recognition? Why aren't people screaming from rooftops how darn good it is?". 
Now, after a year of blogging and reviewing, I have a theory at last. A theory articulated in 3 points...
1) Lia isn't the most, um, huggable character you may read about. To be crystal clear: pre-download Lia was a conceited bitch (though she was in good company with that, and a product of her own environment), and post-download Lia mainly changes in what her condition prevents her to be the same person that she was, and has her facing things she's never even considered before.
2) Lia is a mind in a mechanical body - which may not appeal to those who favour a blood-scalding approach to human relationships (especially of the romantic kind). She takes the life-recreation issue at the core of a book like The Adoration of Jenna Fox (which, coincidentally, was out at the same time) to a whole new level. Because Jenna is also a product of her own DNA, not just a brain downloaded into a computer shell. (Though the download part is true about her too).
3) Lia is not bent on saving the world or changing it. She's not a spunky heroine like the one made popular by a certain dystopian series (*cough* The Hunger Games *cough* ...which, again coincidentally, was out at the same time). Though she finds herself fighting the ultimate battle and becoming the ultimate hero, in a peculiar way.
See, this series has friendship, romance, even a hint of a possible love triangle in it. So everyone should be crazy about it, right? Well, apparently, wrong. But really, I found it fascinating, and Lia did for me even more than Jenna and her friends did. And I hope I'll be able to make you fall in love with this series too...
Book 1 of the Cold Awakening trilogy deals with the aftermath of the incident that took Lia's life and turned her into a "mech", as opposed to an "org". The technology has been around for a while, and basically recreates human experiences and sensations in a synthetic body, downloading the dead person's brain into it. This also means the recipient can live forever, because if the new body wears off (despite being extremely durable), a copy of the mind can be downloaded in a new body, again and again. Of course, all the small and big things that define our humanity along with the mind - like physical pain or the five senses - are either nonexistent or artificially (and unsatisfactorily) recreated/processed. Last, but not least, "orgs" - even Lia's family and friends - can't seem to make peace with what Lia has become. While the point of the download was to keep her around for her loved ones, and to reintegrate her into her family and social life, this turns out impossible. Lia clings to a new friend who is more than willing to accept her as she is, but even this illusion of normality will fall under the ax of harsh reality. [...]

Mary E. Pearson: "The Fox Inheritance"

Title: The Fox Inheritance [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: Jenna Fox Chronicles (2nd of 3 books, but there's also a short story - read it for free here - that is chronologically book 1.5 in the series, though it only came out after book 2)
Author: Mary E. Pearson [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Sci-Fi, Dystopian
Year: 2011
Age: 12+
Stars: 4.5/5
Pros: Unique premise. A main character you can relate to. Feelings and action packed together. Creative futuristic speculations. An unforgettable not-human, more-than-human sidekick.
Cons: Some common tropes (evil scientist who would stop at nothing, unexpected ally with secrets of her own, underground network dealing in favours). Some awkward relationships.
Will appeal to: Those who think TAOJF lacked action. Those who need to know Locke and Kara's side of the story.

Blurb: Once there were three. Three friends who loved each other - Jenna, Locke, and Kara. And after a terrible accident destroyed their bodies, their three minds were kept alive, spinning in a digital netherworld. When Jenna disappeared, Locke and Kara had to go on without her. Two-hundred-and-sixty years later, they have been released at last. Given new, perfect bodies, Locke and Kara awaken to a world they know nothing about, where everyone they once knew and loved is long dead. Everyone except Jenna Fox. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: To me, TFI doesn't suffer from the typical sequel syndrome so many books seem to be affected of - you know, not being able to live up expectations/match the hype their predecessors generated. I honestly enjoyed it as much as the first installment of the series, though for different reasons. I give Pearson credit for this - it is, indeed, a different book. Not simply because it has a different narrator, and a male one at that. Not simply because it carries us 260 years in the future. Not simply because of the not overbearing, but still significant amount of action.

Locke and Kara shouldn't be alive, because of what happened at the end of TAOJF. And the shocking truth is...that book was meant to be a standalone. The reasons why Pearson decided to publish a sequel (more than three years after) are stated in this interview (point 2). And if you ask me, I think they're believable and honest.

While Jenna's story was almost a contemporary one (at least when it comes to its setting), Locke and Kara's can be labeled as post-apocalyptic, to a certain extent. It's not like the U.S. have collapsed, but they've been tore apart and reshaped. If you need a strong world-building/background, I'm warning you - this won't happen here. Still I wasn't bothered by the lack of it, because frankly, I was more interested in the kids' story and adventures - not to mention, in Locke's stream of consciousness. What I'm going to mention is not a spoiler (see blurb), so I can address this particular point: Locke, along with Kara, has been literally living in a box for the past 260 years. Their minds have been trapped in an endless void for more two centuries and a half. Pearson explores the nightmare and its aftermath with a masterful hand. Same goes for the relationship between Jenna, Kara and Locke. It can be loosely described as a love triangle, but it's both simpler and more complicated than that - and I found it believable from every one of the three perspectives. Also, I usually hate love triangles with a passion...so, if this one passed the test with flying colours, it is really saying something :). [...]

Christopher Pike: "See You Later"

Title: See You Later [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Christopher Pike  [Facebook | Goodreads]
Genres: Sci-Fi
Year: 1990
Age: 12+
Stars: 3.5/5
Pros: Quirky time travel quest and completely tolerable not over-romantic love story/love triangle rolled into one.
Cons: Far-fetched and hugely eclectic (Pike's main trademark): sci-fi and spiritualism, Third World War and first love - don't go there if you don't want too much on your plate. Also, the writing is a bit stiff - but then again, that's Pike, folks.
Will appeal to: Time travel aficionados (but not puristic sci-fi fans). Believers in the power of love.

Blurb: Mark has just fallen in love for the first time. Her name is Becky and unfortunately for Mark, she already has a boyfriend. Mark tries his best, but he is unable to win Becky for himself - until he meets Vincent and Kara and strange things start to happen. (Amazon)

Review: What if you met yourself in the past? No, wait, I saw you yawning. (Been there, read that!). What if you accidentally killed yourself in the past? Has this been done before - or even after - this book was out? I tried googling "time travelers killing themselves in the past" and the likes, but apparently there aren't any references to this singular kind of incident, so I assume no one went there but Mr. Pike. And it's understandable since 1) this would result in dealing with the Grandfather Paradox, only a thousand times huger, and 2) few writers are as insane gutsy as Mr. Pike ;D. Anyway, if you know of any brave one who actually did something like that, please stop below and spill! In the meantime...on with my review.
First off, this novel is written in a blend of first person + past tense + short sentences...a favourite recipe of Pike's. The same blend can be found in Witch World a.k.a. Red Queen (read my review here) 22 years later. Actually, I'd go as far as saying that Mark sounds awfully similar to Jessie from WW, especially in the respective first chapters, which stirs up an odd feeling of course. Also, I'm not a huge fan of the spare writing style, which is the main reason why I haven't rated this book higher - this, and some inconsistencies that will be addressed later. All in all, SYL had the potential to be almost-5-star material, if only it were written in a more impassioned and flowing prose.
This is a difficult book to review if one makes a point of avoiding spoilers. On one hand, you have a doomed love story and a love triangle, albeit they're both thankfully deprived of excessive emphasis. On the other, you have an equally doomed future, and a trio of characters who apparently came back from said time frame with the intention of changing it. (This had to be said...or the book would be impossible to review. Anyway, the big secret is revealed halfway through the narration, and the second - and better - part of SYL deals with the implications of this secret). [...]

Mary E. Pearson: "The Rotten Beast"

Title: The Rotten Beast [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: Jenna Fox Chronicles (Note: This is a short story from Allys' POV - you can read it for free here, thought it is also downloadable for Kindle via Amazon. Chronologically book 1.5 in the series, though it only came out after book 2)
Author: Mary E. Pearson [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Sci-Fi
Year: 2011
Age: 12+
Stars: 2/5
Pros: Provides a bridge between the 1st and 2nd book in the series (though you don't need to read this in order to better understand the sequel).
Cons: The only dissident voice in TAOJF is domesticated - in an outrageously easy manner.
Will appeal to: Those who need a life-affirming statement at any cost.

Blurb: A sixteen-year-old girl named Allys, living in a near future version of the U.S., is vehemently opposed to the way scientists are meddling with human and artificial life. When she awakens one day to find that her parents have gone against her wishes and had an illegal operation performed to save her life and restore her body, she is furious and must come to terms with this new chance at life, which she didn’t ask for and didn’t think she wanted. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: You may ask - what's the point in reviewing a short story that also happens to be a free read? It's not like one has to decide if it's worth one's money or not. But since I'm reviewing the whole series, it just didn't seem right to leave this one out.
First off, Pearson's writing is really good, and this is the main reason why I'm not going under the two-star mark. Let me explain the reason why, although I loved TAOJF (despite some reservations), I weren't able to love this too.
You already know how I feel about Allys...if you read my review for The Adoration of Jenna Fox, that is ;). Her character provides a necessary contrast to the empathy we feel toward Jenna, and a different point of view than the absolutely-life-affirming one. Despite this, in TAOJF Allys got what she was most fiercely opposed to - an engineered new life. Now she has to adjust to it, and of course she feels outraged and violated. Enters Jenna with an equally engineered new fruit - a chocolate peach - and Allys is able to surrender in the space of a few pages. Which makes me sad, really.
In abstract, I endorse a writer's right to take her/his characters where she/he wants. So I shouldn't question Pearson's choice to turn Ally's world upside down. But I can't help thinking it's unfair, not to mention balance-upsetting for the main novel. And the thing that bugs me the most is how easily Allys is won and tamed - it only takes an appetizing new fruit, of the kind she would have despised in her former life.
Of course, there's no coming back now. Allys has to adjust, to surrender - since Pearson chose this path for her. Still, I would have liked to see her fall for something more relevant than a chocolate peach.

For my review of "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" (first installment in the series) click here.
For my review of "The Fox Inheritance" (second installment in the series) click here. 
For my review of "Fox Forever" (third installment in the series) click here.
For more Sci-Fi books click here.

Mary E. Pearson: "The Adoration of Jenna Fox"

Title: The Adoration of Jenna Fox [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: Jenna Fox Chronicles (1st of 3 books, but there's also a short story - read it for free here - that is chronologically book 1.5 in the series, though it only came out after book 2)
Author: Mary E. Pearson [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Sci-Fi
Year: 2008
Age: 12+
Stars: 4.5/5
Pros: Deep, imaginative take on what it means to be human.
Cons: Very quiet book, if you're in for some action. On a deeper level, the ending sounds a tad too assertive (see review).
Will appeal to: Sci-fi lovers who don't need a post-apocalyptic scenario. Fans of ethics speculations.

Blurb: Seventeen-year-old Jenna Fox has just awoken from a year-long coma - so she’s been told - and she is still recovering from the terrible accident that caused it. But what happened before that? She’s been given home movies chronicling her entire life, which spark memories to surface. But are the memories really hers? And why won’t anyone in her family talk about the accident? Jenna is becoming more curious. But she is also afraid of what she might find out if she ever gets up the courage to ask her questions. What happened to Jenna Fox? And who is she really? (Amazon)

Review:  (As with Anna Dressed in Blood, this is not, technically, an "offbeat" book. More of a mainstream one, actually. What can I say in my defence - once in a while, it happens).
Awaking-from-coma girls (and, very rarely, boys) are a common topic in YA lit. As a rule, they can't remember a single thing from their prior-to-accident life, or just very little. Parents and doctors do their best to convince them that everything's OK, and it's only a matter of time before they remember (...just to realize that no, not a single thing is OK). As a rule, they're not real amnesiac. Whatever the reason, they're simply not themselves anymore.
So, you may ask, why should I read yet another book that follows that pattern? Well, because this one is good ;). Because while fitting in said pattern, Pearson came up with a personal, imaginative, disturbing twist of it. Also, please note this is not a dystopian, or at least it barely fits the definition. The book is set in a future where certain branches of technology have advanced a lot, but this future is obviously not so far from our present. Everyday life is definitely average, and DVDs with vocal commands are pretty much the most state-of-the-art device we encounter - except the Big Thing around which the novel revolves. There aren't any conspiracies or rebel groups or the likes. But under this quiet surface, something huge is boiling nevertheless...
We get acquainted with a 17 year old Jenna, who apparently got out of a coma a couple of weeks before and is slowly being fed facts and memories from her own past by her mother. Jenna's grandma, on the other hand, sounds distant and strangely resentful, for reasons the girl can't understand. Also, they have relocated from Boston to California, and Jenna's father is rarely at home. She has been given DVDs to watch, where her parents seem to have recorded pretty much her whole life (which is creepy, it goes without saying). But little said parents realize that the discs - with the aid of some incidents - will help Jenna uncover not only her memories, but also the truth they were saving for much later. If ever.
The novel alternates chapters of short, keen, insightful sentences with autobiographical pieces of poetry. Though Jenna states she can't remember a thing about her past, and she often muses about words and their meaning - to the point she has to look for them in a dictionary - her narrative is, of course, clear and rich, or there would be no book...Jenna consulting the dictionary is, however, an effective device that allows the reader to 1) explore key-words and rekindle their (multiple) meanings; 2) experience the world on Jenna's own terms. [...]

Christopher Pike: "Witch World" ("Red Queen")

Title: Witch World (edit, June 2013: new title for the 2014 reprint is Red Queen) [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: Witch World (1st of ?? books)
Author: Christopher Pike [Facebook | Goodreads]
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Multiverse, Paranormal, Sci-Fi
Year: 2012
Age: 14+
Stars: 3.5
Pros: Unique approach to witches and alternate universes. Fastish pace (except for the very first chapters and some largely talkative interludes). Incorporates history in a creative way.
Cons: Heroine reads like a slightly different version of Sita (The Last Vampire/Thirst). Prose is mostly dialogue. Writing sounds lazy sometimes (see review).
WARNING! There's the steaming prologue of a would-be sex scene, just so you know...
Will appeal to: Those who like feisty female leads. Those who can tolerate some gore and not memorable prose if a story draws them in.

Blurb: Heading off for a weekend in Las Vegas with her friends, Jessie Ralle has only one worry - how to make it through the road trip in the same car with her ex, Jimmy Kelter. The guy who broke her heart five months ago when he dumped her for no reason. The guy who’s finally ready to tell her why he did it, because he wants her back. But what Jessie doesn’t realize is that Jimmy is the least of her problems. In Las Vegas she meets Russ, a mesmerizing stranger who shows her how to gamble, and who never seems to lose. Curious, Jessie wants to know his secret, and in response, alone in his hotel room, he teaches her a game that opens a door to another reality. To Witch World. Suddenly Jessie discovers that she’s stumbled into a world where some people can do the impossible, and others may not even be human. For a time she fears she’s lost her mind. Are there really witches? Is she one of them? (Amazon)

Review: As a whole blog page dedicated to the man testifies, I'm a long-time Pike fan...but not a biased one. I don't shun criticizing his works if needed. And honestly, while this novel is original as far as alternate universes and witches are concerned, I have quite a few issues with it. So I decided I'd address them first...leaving the positive remarks for last. Weird procedure, I know. But then again, I'm weird ;D.
My main issue with Witch World is Pike's apparent incapability of distancing himself from his most famous heroine. I would have probably liked this novel better had it departed from The Last Vampire/Thirst series more. Most of the time, I felt like I was reading about a slightly different version of Sita - not only because of what Jessie does or says, but also because of some small or not-so-small incidents scattered through the book. Also, Jessie is not your average witch - and I do praise Pike for that - just like Sita is not your average vampire. Anyway, my point is - as much as I love Sita, I don't feel the need to have her shadow lingering over a character from another book.
Next to that, there's the writing...and yes, I know, that's nothing new. Pike's style hasn't changed that much during the years - he's never been big on description, and always more inclined to write pages full of dialogue. Still, this book has a huge amount of conversation/discussion interspersed among the action-driven scenes - which sounds anticlimactic. Also because, when I say "dialogue", I mean almost entire pages of she says he says, without much else in the middle, like asides or inner thoughts/emotions. The novel sports some lazy writing as well, which is unlike anything I've ever experienced in a Pike book before (not that I've read them all...yet). There are awkward repetitions such as "I explained how I owed Alex an explanation" or "She doesn't care as long as I care for her". Also, Jessie's voice suffers from a mild case of schizophrenia. One moment she sounds so much older than her age while recounting her story - and this may be understandable, since she's telling it from a distant future ("I turned eighteen a long time ago"); though, mind you, her voice sounds the same in the past that she's revisiting. Then Pike occasionally seems to remember that Jessie is supposed to be a young girl when her witch-awareness first arises, and makes her utter such squeaky sentences as "Whip had a tail!" or "That's so cool!", whose exclamation marks, for some reason, urge me to laugh every time. Then again, very few YA in this book seem to have a realistic teenage voice.
Also...this is explained in the book, but still I can't buy it entirely, because it's too convenient...most characters have a certain "small" thing in common. Funny how they actually manage to, since it appears to be such a rare condition, as Jessie's new friend Russell states when they meet in Witch World.
My last concern about this book is the amount of disjointed incidents...something major happens, then the characters go off at a tangent, then they're back on route again. A lot of stuff is going on that doesn't seem to be tied-in.
So, you must have started wondering why I rated this book 3.5 stars despite my amount of criticism. And I'm about to explain just that. Care for following me a little further? ;) [...]

Mike Lancaster: "1.4" (or "The Future We Left Behind")

Title: 1.4 (U.S.A.: The Future We Left Behind) [1.4 on Amazon - The Future We Left Behind on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: Point 4 (2nd of 2 books)
Author: Mike Lancaster [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Sci-Fi, Dystopian
Year: 2012
Age: 12+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Unique premise. Thought-provoking take on technology. Some interesting, highly speculative scenes.
Cons: More typical than the first installment - see: romance with the new girl (though it isn't overcharged), fight with parent, big cospiration.
Will appeal to: As with 0.4, those who are in for a different dystopian - not of the usual post-apocalyptic variety, but more of a creepy one. Also, those who are able/willing to see how technology is swallowing us up...And finally, those who need more action than 0.4 provided.

Blurb: Thousands of years in the future the divide between humanity and technology has become nearly unrecognizable. Each thought, each action is logged, coded, backed up. Data is as easily exchanged through the fiber-optic-like cables that extend from fingertips as it might be through ordinary conversation. It's a brave new world: a world that the Straker Tapes say is a result of many human "upgrades." Nearly sixteen-year-old Peter Vincent has been raised to believe that everything that the backward Strakerites cling to is insane. But when Peter meets Alpha, a Strakerite his own age, suddenly the theories about society-upgrades don't sound quite so crazy, especially when she shows him evidence that another upgrade is imminent*. And worse, there may be a conspiracy by the leaders of the establishment to cover it up. A conspiracy spearheaded by Peter's own father. (Amazon excerpt - from the Future We Left Behind version)

*Reviewer's note: actually, Peter is the one figuring it out. Alpha only uncovers the awaiting can of worms by accident.

Review: Note: as with 0.4/Human.4, despite being published with two different titles, it is the same book. I linked to the respective Amazon pages for the two versions because of the blurbs and reviews being different; but as for Goodreads, apart from the blurbs (taken from the Amazon pages I mentioned), the reviews are of course identical - so I didn't bothered :).
So, I've been pondering for a while if I was going to rate this 3.5 or 4 stars. On one hand, it didn't make as strong an impression on me as 0.4 did. On the other, it is definitely more articulated, and has its share of engrossing scenes - not to mention that it takes the tech issues much further. Which is logical of course, since this book is set a thousand years after Kyle Straker's story (that is, 0.4) took place. Later on, Lucas Whybrow, Professor of WorldBrain studies, discovers the Peter Vincent files, and decodes them. In other words, he kind of succeeds to Lancaster himself, who posed as the editor for 0.4. Also, like with Kyle's narrative, we're never told how much time has passed between Peter recording his files and Whybrow discovering them.
Don't be mistaken: like 0.4 - which was even awarded a "2012 YALSA quick pick for reluctant young adult readers" - this is a book that can be enjoyed from 12 to 90. It's easy to read and understand, but not simplistic. I'm far from being a teen anymore, but I found it satisfying.
Peter, the main character, is exactly the same age as Kyle was in the first book. We come to know him much better though - and his partner-in-crime Amalfi (Alpha) as well. [On a side note: I love unusual names, but sometimes they're a bit...extreme? Amalfi - really? Well, anyway, the author pays homage to an Italian town at least LOL]. Unsurprisingly, she's the new girl at school - that useful, old device. Luckily, their interaction is not described as instalove, though love is mentioned in the very end, before they meet their fate. For the most part, they are two outsiders (though of different kinds) who happen to meet and bond over a huge crisis.
I found the tech described in this book both scary and amusing - amusing in what it mirrors some of nowadays trends and obsessions, though obviously taking them much further. Everyone is literally, mentally linked together and to the world all the time; there are FaceSpace and MyBook and Linkypedia (well, MySpace is actually old story already as a social network, but I suppose Twitter or Pinterest wouldn't have worked well with the word game LOL); virtual games are state-of-the-art; and the most visionary aspect is, one can download a whole wardrobe from the Link (that is, the highly evolved net) under a template form. Also, memories can be revisited...and even hacked...and physically entered. The way it is done reminds me a lot of Johnny Smith's visions in "The Dead Zone" (I mean the TV show, since I haven't read the book yet), only it deals with one's past instead of future (though Johnny occasionally happened to visit the past himself. [...]

Mike Lancaster: "0.4" (or "Human.4")

Title: 0.4 (U.S.A.: Human.4) [0.4 on Amazon - Human.4 on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: Point 4 (1st of 2 books)
Author: Mike Lancaster [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Sci-Fi, Dystopian
Year: 2011
Age: 12+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Unique premise. Gripping, thought-provoking story that sucks you in. Told in a peculiar way (via audiotapes; reason is explained at the end).
Cons: Rather short novel that doesn't leave much space for character development - though I guess it isn't supposed to, given the nature of the story itself. Laconic writing, with very short sentences.
Will appeal to: Those who are in for a different dystopian - not of the usual post-apocalyptic variety, but more of a creepy, wondering-where-we-are-heading-for type.

Blurb: Kyle Straker volunteered to be hypnotized at the annual community talent show, expecting the same old lame amateur acts. But when he wakes up, his world will never be the same. Televisions and computers no longer work, but a strange language streams across their screens*. Everyone’s behaving oddly. It’s as if Kyle doesn’t exist. Is this nightmare a result of the hypnosis? Will Kyle wake up with a snap of fingers to roars of laughter? Or is this something much more sinister? Narrated on a set of found cassette tapes at an unspecified point in the future, Human.4 is an absolutely chilling look at technology gone too far. (Amazon - from the Human.4 version)

*Reviewer's note: actually, the strange language only affects computers, while TV screens remain blank...

Review: Note: despite being published with two different titles, it is the same book. I linked to the respective Amazon pages for the two versions because of the blurbs and reviews being different; but as for Goodreads, apart from the blurbs (taken from the Amazon pages I mentioned), the reviews are of course identical - so I didn't bothered :).
Before getting onto the actual review, a short note on the titles. Without giving too much of the plot away, I can say that 0.4 works better than Human.4 to me for that very reason - it is less spoilery. At a certain point of the book, someone comes up with a theory about what the mentioned 0.4 stands for, and only later do we get the right explanation. Human.4 is probably more suggestive in terms of attracting potential readers, but on the other hand, when I came across the title 0.4 for the first time, I had to know what the book was about - so I guess that one works too.
I actually devoured this novel - couldn't wait to know what would happen next. And on closing the book, I was seriously giving it 5 stars. Then some apparent inconsistencies popped up in my mind, and my rating dropped to 4 stars. Then I read it again and realised that everything made perfect sense, but the writing started to bother me a little, mainly because of the predominant use of very short sentences. I also realised I wasn't particularly invested in the characters, thought this is understandable, since the book is quite short, which doesn't leave much space for character development. (And I assume Lancaster wasn't really going for it in the first place - this isn't a character-driven story). Finally, the novelty (and subsequently, the excitement) had worn off, because all the big secrets were out by then. But the fact is, this book was able to excite me enough to make me overlook all those aspects at first. Ultimately, the story is so creepy and thought-provoking, I couldn't exempt myself from giving it 4 stars. It is, indeed, a great take on technology and its connection with humanity.
The blurb above doesn't do justice to this novel. Of course, it couldn't be otherwise, or the story would be royally spoiled. The fact is, what happens immediately after the talent show is far more creepy than everything you can imagine after reading the blurb - and still it's only the prologue for a much creepier occurrence. Also, 0.4 isn't set in a distant future, but in the present age - and though what happens has, let's say, a transcendental premise, still the story sounds so rooted in reality, because of our increasing dependence from technology, up to the point where we get virtually fused with it. [...]

Peter Dickinson: "Eva"

Title: Eva [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Peter Dickinson [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Sci-Fi, Dystopian
Year: 1988
Age: 12+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Makes you think, and care for the main character. Raises awareness about our exploitation of the world and animal species.
Cons: Some tech-naiveness (that will be addressed in the review). Parts of the story feel a bit rushed.
Will appeal to: Anyone who cares for environment and animal population. Anyone who thinks that science can't make progress regardless of ethics.

Blurb: Thirteen year old Eva wakes up in the hospital unable to remember anything since the picnic on the beach. Her mother leans over the bed and begins to explain. A traffic accident, a long coma...But there is something, Eva senses, that she’s not being told. There is a price she must pay to be alive at all. What have they done, with their amazing medical techniques, to save her? (Amazon)

Review: Sort-of-disclaimer: I read the Italian translation of this book, so I can't really judge the writing style. Also, I don't know if any parts of this novel have been cut off in my version.
Talk about mixed reviews. Some people seem to hate this book with a passion, or at least are unimpressed. On the other hand, this story has captivated an equal number of readers. Though it was of course aimed at a younger audience, adults often seem to have more empathy with it. I read the book at an adult age myself, so I'm not really sure about the impact it could have on a teen. Anyway, I'd recommend this novel to both age groups.
I don't think that the injured-girl-(or-boy-sometimes)-waking-up-after-a-coma-with-no-memory was routine back in 1988 (it sure is now)...but anyway, that's not really the case. Eva (whose surname is Adamson, by the way...not very subtle LOL) wakes up in an hospital with her memory almost intact - the only thing she doesn't seem to remember is the actual accident that put her there. But even before her awareness resurfaces, her mind is floating in a strange, inexplicable dream, full with a mysterious forest that doesn't even exist anymore. Anyway, Eva does remember who she is - only, while she was sleeping, the "is" turned into a "was" without her knowing. She went from a thirteen year old girl to a six year old chimpanzee (once named Kelly), her human brain virtually replicated into the ape's one. Her parents approved on the experimental procedure because it was the only chance Eva had to survive (we'll have to suspend our disbelief on that of course...I'm not really buying that a parent could ever make such a choice, even if - like Eva's father - said parent had been working with chimps all his/her life). Problem is, Eva turns out to be not just a girl in a chimp's body; Kelly's memories - even the ancestral ones - are embedded in her replicated human mind. While Eva thinks she'll "only" have to adjust to her new body at first, it won't be long till she finds out that Kelly isn't letting go. [...]