What would you do if you couldn’t die? I suppose a lot of things. But what if you’re held in a secret facility and were told you were the result of 5 generations of selected breeding. 36 people led to you. Genetic mutations with a flower as rare as the Wakandan Black Panther one. Elysium.
Pia has always known her destiny. She is meant to start a new race, a line of descendants who will bring an end to death. She has been bred for no other purpose, genetically engineered to be immortal and raised by a team of scientists in a secret compound hidden deep in the Amazon rainforest. Now those scientists have begun to challenge her, with the goal of training her to carry on their dangerous work.
For as long as she can remember, Pia’s greatest desire has been to fulfill their expectations. But then one night she finds a hole in the impenetrable fence that surrounds her sterile home. Free in the jungle for the first time in her life, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Unable to resist, she continues sneaking out to see him. As they fall in love, they begin to piece together the truth about Pia’s origin—a truth with nothing less than deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.
Origin is a beautifully told, electric new way to look at an age-old desire: to live forever. But is eternal life worth living if you can’t spend it with the one you love?
I really liked this book and I finished it off in a lazy afternoon. Pia is a brilliant girl, though a bit naive in terms of what she knows of the outside world. She’s been fed heavily moderated content, devoid of any mentions of people, geography, literature and ethics. The only thing she knows is the human genome and plants and animals.
They have bred her specifically to be a new top scientist in a hidden program researching a life-long dream of humankind of being immortal. She’s in the Amazon forest and she falls for a tribal boy-next-door who happens to speak English. He’s a cousin (or unrelated if you think that the people who were deciding to make a male and female heir did not inter-breed).
“No one should live forever,” I whisper. “Isn’t that how it goes? There must be a balance. No birth without death. No life without tears. What is taken from the world must be given back. No one should live forever, but should give his blood to the river when the time comes so that tomorrow another may live. And so it goes.”
Things I liked about the book: The pace was nice. Some good descriptions of the jungle, scenery, moonlight. Nice romance where a kiss only happens on the last page.
“I want someone who will look into my eyes and understand everything behind them.
The male romantic interest Eio – is so cool. He has abbbs (said with epic trailer guy voice) which he flexes on several occasions and is well versed in seduction techniques way beyond his years:
“That your eyes are like bits of sky seen through the leaves. And that, like the rain washes the mud from the leaves, you… how did he say it? Oh yes. That you wash the darkness from the world.”
Things I didn’t like about the book: So many questions! Why didn’t they produce backups? Have two kids or three? Why lie about the lab fire when it was so easily debunked? It has been known that total isolation of the world is not good for personal development – nor is it OK to only have a kid with loads of adults. They grow up too fast and forget how to play. What the hell was wrong with Owen the technician – a 30-odd something – asking Pia to dance at the dance party? Creepy dudes much? Why wasn’t he mentioned again and only had that scene in there? 😀 gratuitous hitting on main character.
One Book a Week (Julia Reads Books) 
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