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Beta | November 7, 2012

by Rachel Cohn (Disney Hyperion, Oct. 2012)

Rachel Cohn’s Beta walks the subtle young adult line between the 2005 movie thriller The Island and Ishiguro’s brilliant story, Never Let Me Go. In Beta, the first in this YA sci-fi series, Elysia is a Beta, an experimental model of a teenage clone. She was created to serve in the island of Demesne, a paradise for the wealthiest people in the world. The air of the isolated island is superior to the rest of the world’s, and can only be resisted by clones. These clones are created in a laboratory to serve after their “first” human dies and their soul is removed. Clones are expected to have no human feelings, and any found “defect” means brutal consequences. In the ultimate utopia, where Elysia is being bought as a companion clone in a rich home, what could possible go wrong? As Elysia quickly learns, perhaps she is not as soulless as the her adopted family may think—she yearns for chocolate, knowledge, and when she meets the beautiful, recently-returned-to-Demesne teen, Tahir, love. While the book focuses heavily on of the extreme beauty of the clones, occasionally to the detriment of the emotional depth of the inhabitants and other genetically engineered humans on the island, its strong themes cannot be ignored. What does it mean to have a soul? And how far will Elysia go assert her independence and that of every seemingly subservient clone on the island? This book ends with quite a reveal for the future installments!

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