SKINNED by Robin Wasserman-REVIEW

Lia shouldn’t have been in the car in the first place. By doing a favor for her sister, she has changed her life forever. A one in a million chance. The navigation system in her car malfunctioned and she crashed head on with another car. Her body broken – her skin burning, Lia waited for help. Unfortunately, her body didn’t survive the trauma of the accident. However, her brain remained in tact.


Lia wakes up several weeks later to find that she is alive. She has been downloaded into a new body. A body that isn’t flesh and blood, but circuits and wires covered by synthetic “skin.” Lia doesn’t want to be a skinner, a mech-head, a freak. She’d rather be dead. Instead she has to go through the indignity of learning the most basic of activities all over again.

Eventually, Lia returns to school only to find that the people she depended on most aren’t as receptive to her as she’d hoped. Companionship comes from an unexpected person. Lia doesn’t want to admit she isn’t the same as she was before the accident. She refuses to believe she is only doing what the computer is programmed to do.

Lia meets a group of radical mech-heads that force her to confront her situation. Is it dangerous for her to live amongst people acting as if she is exactly like everyone else? Is she causing the people she cares about the most more harm than good?

SKINNED by Robin Wasserman is a spell-binding, futuristic story filled with issues of medical ethics, family dynamics, and loss. If you enjoyed the Uglies trilogy by Scott Westerfeld, you’ll enjoy SKINNED. The story is powerful and keeps you hooked until the end. I was excited to see that SKINNED is the first book in a planned trilogy. I desperately want to see what happens next in Lia’s complicated existence. Robin Wasserman’s website includes cool downloads based on the book like desktop wallpaper, screen savers, and avatars. Go check it out.