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Synthetica (Synthetica #1)

Rachel Pattinson (Goodreads Author)

really liked it 4.00 · Rating details · 12 ratings · 9 reviews

This city is falling.

Seventeen-year-old Anais Finch lives in a world where everyone is born beautiful, where every dream is a possibility - and where their every move and every piece of personal information is recorded by an ID picochip inserted behind their right ear. When technology giant, Civitas, finally announces the launch of their highly anticipated Scholarly Learni ...more

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Published April 1st 2015

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really liked it 4.00 ·

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· 12 ratings · 9 reviews

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Jul 05, 2015 Louisa rated it it was amazing

Fantastic book, really awesome to read, and so entertaining! Loved it!

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Jun 06, 2015 Jennifer Ricketts (Donnie Darko Girl) rated it really liked it

Shelves: blog-tours, young-adult, science-fiction, dystopian

I received a copy of this book for my stop on the blog tour at Donnie Darko Girl.

I can resist a terrific-sounding science fiction story, and one that's YA, too? Yes, yes, and yes! Synthetica is a story that gave me a lot to think about with technology and how it could fit - or not fit - into daily life. There'd be both positives and negatives as with anything. Honestly, I don't think I'd want a chip implanted in my skin with my ID and info all there for just anyone to scan. The thought kind of I received a copy of this book for my stop on the blog tour at Donnie Darko Girl.

I can resist a terrific-sounding science fiction story, and one that's YA, too? Yes, yes, and yes! Synthetica is a story that gave me a lot to think about with technology and how it could fit - or not fit - into daily life. There'd be both positives and negatives as with anything. Honestly, I don't think I'd want a chip implanted in my skin with my ID and info all there for just anyone to scan. The thought kind of freaks me out, but on the other hand, it'd be cool not to have to worry about losing my driver's license or something.

I anticipated seeing what Pattinson's vision of the future would be like. Some aspects of Anais' life made me feel jealous while others made me glad I'm not her. I loved that people had such colorful hair! Anais was born with pink hair - her parents chose it. How cool would that be?? But then again, I wouldn't want to be stuck in a job I had no passion for with little to zero chance of moving on to something better. But I knew Anais was strong and if anyone could move upward, it would be her.

Synthetica is well written with plenty of action and a touch of romance. I wasn't quite sold on Anais and Xander's relationship because they seemed to function better as friends than romantic partners in my opinion. Anais and her friend, Dalla, are total opposites, so it was interesting to see their interactions. Sometimes Dalla seemed to be so immersed in her own world that she didn't notice Anais' pain, but I think we all have at least one friend who can be like that, right?

On the plus side, I was anxious to find out what the Hacker was up to and if he'd be found and stopped. I liked the mystery of what he was doing added to the sci-fi. There were times I was shouting (in my mind) to Dalla and Anais not to do what they were about to do. I wouldn't say I was totally attached to the characters, but I still didn't want them to do something dumb.

What drew me to read Synthetica more than anything was the vision of the future as well as the Hacker. There are dystopian elements to this story, although I think Synthetica leans more toward sci-fi than dystopia. The society isn't completely abysmal for people. Places are kept neat and clean, and the citizens didn't seem to be under the heavy-duty control of a dictator-like ruler.

If you're a fan of YA sci-fi with some mystery woven in and like thinking about what society would be like in the future, Synthetica is a book I'd recommend to you. ...more

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Jun 26, 2015 Samantha Bell rated it really liked it

Excellent debut novel.

Full review at www.samanthawrites.ca

Synthetica by Rachel Pattinson was a great debut novel. At 299 (kindle) pages, Synthetica was a fast-paced read for me. The story was paced well, and had surprises at every turn. Thankfully, it didn’t fall victim to the usual YA tropes and really stands out as an interesting take at the dystopian society. The world of Synthetica isn’t as far-fetched as we’d like to hope.

Anais, our heroine, is an average girl-next-door who grew up in a lo Excellent debut novel.

Full review at www.samanthawrites.ca

Synthetica by Rachel Pattinson was a great debut novel. At 299 (kindle) pages, Synthetica was a fast-paced read for me. The story was paced well, and had surprises at every turn. Thankfully, it didn’t fall victim to the usual YA tropes and really stands out as an interesting take at the dystopian society. The world of Synthetica isn’t as far-fetched as we’d like to hope.

Anais, our heroine, is an average girl-next-door who grew up in a lower-middle class family. At her career meeting she is placed in the Picochip factory, just like her parents. Anais’ hope is that she could break out of those limits and become an architect by using SLP chips that allow the user to learn everything instantly. (Which would be awesome in the real world, am I right?) Then after witnessing a murder, her and her friends start to put the pieces together and discover a dangerous terrorist plot.

The world building was fantastic! In fact, it was probably my favorite part of Synthetica. The story is set in the “moderately distant” future of earth, where technology is so advanced that children’s traits can be picked at conception. I always found this fascinating, getting to “build” your perfect child so to speak. On the dark side of this idea, however, I could see how this could turn sour for society and we would become fixated on having the perfect child. Luckily in this world, people can easily change their hair and even eye colour to fit the particular fashion.

The story and action really kick it into gear around the 50% mark. I suddenly found it impossible to put down and I read the latter half of the book in one sitting. The ending was such a cliffhanger, hopefully the second installment will be out soon.

Unfortunately, I must comment on the formatting for the e-reader. I use a free reader, UB reader via the Google Play Store, for the ARC copies I receive. I read exclusively on my Samsung Galaxy Tablet. When I opened the file, I was disappointed to see that none of the chapters were linked or spaced properly and paragraphs cut off mid-line. Hopefully this wasn’t the case for everyone else who is reading it. However, it didn’t stop me from enjoying the story.

Ultimately, I would be interested in seeing more from this author… Particularly the one about a sex-crazed girl in a dome world that she mentioned in her bio!

*disclaimer* – I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a honest review. ...more

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Jul 11, 2015 Alex McGilvery rated it really liked it

Anais is a young woman living in the Imperial City on the cusp of her 'Career Advice' which will set the job she will do for the remainder of her life. Unfortunately she isn't as brilliant as her friend Dalla and is assigned to work in the picochip factory instead of as an architect as she'd dreamed. Still, she accompanies Dalla to the Citivas building so her friend can see where she will be working. It doesn't hurt that her boyfriend is a intern with security there. They get a quick tour and al ...more

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Jul 17, 2015 Heather Duff rated it really liked it

First of all that cover really freaked me a little but not in a way that I didn't want to read what was inside, it intrigued me what the hell was the mask for? Who wore it?

Synthetica is set in a world where parents choose their child's hair, in the case of Anais Finch, she has candy floss pink. People can change their looks from the colour of their eyes to the colour of their skin.

Most scariest is the fact that a chip that is installed behind their ear records every single part of their life, it ...more

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Jul 06, 2015 Ren nerdychampagne rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2015-reads, part-of-a-series, sci-fi

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

YOU CAN READ MY FULL REVIEW ON NERDYCHAMPAGNE

Overall, Synthetica is a cute, fun, action-filled with a bonus feeble romance and trivial mystery factor SFD (Sci-Fi Dystopian) read. The characters are their own. I love the life in them. Xander is this untouchable dude we’re attached to and Anais ~~has a really complicated name and~~ is this stupid nosy and jumpy teenage girl. Sounds familiar? Well, there’s something about them that I couldn ...more

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Nov 11, 2015 Em and Rosi (Bibliobibuli YA) rated it liked it

Shelves: blog-tour, 3-stars, love-with-no-corners, sometime-in-the-future-something-aw, totally-fantastic-sf

Synthetica is a weird book for me. I devoured it in several days, it is in a genre I am interested in, and I love me some sassy heroines. However, the inconsistencies in the timing of certain events and more than a few grammatical errors distracted me from fully being absorbed into the book. But those things could be solved with a good round of editing. Also, the villains, I say multiple because there are several from Anais’ point of view, were disappointingly lackluster.

Read the rest of my revi ...more

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Mar 23, 2015 Rachel Pattinson rated it it was amazing · (Review from the author)

Okay, so as the author I'm probably ever-so-slightly biased ;).

But if you like books about ID chips, impossibly high buildings, being able to change your DNA and your looks on a whim, people with pink/purple/sky blue hair and eyes, as well as a pinch of murder and a dash of danger, then this is definitely the book for you ;). Oh, and there's also an explosion. And ice cream. Just sayin'.

Enjoy!

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