The strong disparities between the humans and “non-humans, ” and even the dynamics between the different classes of humans, hit you in the face from the first page. No, it wasn’t terribly written or even as dark as many books I read, but I didn’t expect the intensity of the prejudices presented in this book, especially in regards to hair/skin/eye color. This was a bit of a hard story for me to read. This review, and the review for Awakening, should’ve been finished sooner, but life happens. I like to have context, so I bought the first book and went to work. I don’t like jumping to a later book in a series if it can be helped. It’d been on my “to-be-read” pile, but I pushed it to the top of the queue because I’d been approved to review the second book in the series titled Awakening. This is the first book in the Tankborn series. After turning sixteen and receiving her assignment, Kayla is thrust into a world where she learns that not all things are as they seem, and she soon finds herself involved in something much bigger that herself. They have few rights and tolerate aggression and violence from humans, making them live in a constant state of fear. GENs are treated worse than animals and subject to the whims of the trueborns (high status humans) and the brigade that serves as law enforcement. They have no parents and are placed in homes with “nurture mothers/fathers” who are GENs who have been programmed to have parental instincts. While in the tank, their DNA is sliced with DNA from animals granting a skill set (known as sket) that will prove useful once they hit sixteen and are given their permanent work assignment. Kayla is a GEN, a tankborn person whose purpose is to serve others. Genre: Science Fiction, Biopunk, Young Adult

Tiger lily jodi lynn anderson summary