By: Arnulfo Cantarero.
Title: Emotions.
Genre: Science fiction.
Published: May 15, 2013.
Pages: 347.
Rating: 3.5 stars.
Jason Ariaz is not your average 22 years old. He has been genetically and cybernatically enhanced but that’s only the beginning. He is an emotionless extraterrestrial born to human parents and living amongst us. Both him and his implanted thinking computer were damaged on landing and must go through life as less than what they really are. The purpose of their mission: to gain permanent emotions from the more primitive society that is Earth. If he is successful, he will be the first of his species to do so in nearly 200,000 years. Hope lies in the fact that he is capable of emotional episodes and he has been able to forge true friendships. However, he does have the chance of completing his mission if he can truly care for Ariel, the closest human in his life. But he better know his heart soon. Their lives are in danger of ending tonight, unless he can recover what his species has lost.
I can start off by saying that I have been wanting to read this book for some time, it looked interesting and I’m glad I got the chance to do this. It was surprising to me when the author contacted me – it was meant for me to read it.
Okay, so first of all, Emotions is a science fiction book about Jason Ariaz, our protagonist. Now I like that this book is really embracing the science of it all. There are some big scientific words in there and it does make sense as you read along, but I would consider it more as an autobiography (?) like: The Autobiography of Jason Ariaz the Cybernetic Human Robot. (Now that comes to question, is there a genre as that, an autobiographical science fiction, cause that would make a lot more sense.)
At the start of the book I was a little confused as to what’s going on, but as you read along – and I must tell you, you would want to read along – you’d start to catch up, it’ll slowly grow in you. I know it’s fiction, but the way the story develops, the way Jason continues in his life, growing, making friends, and experiencing all of these totally abnormal – yet quite believable – events, it makes you question if that could happen in real life? Yes, the book is as realistic as it is fictional as that.
I like the concept in which Jason was born an alien and reborn again as a human, that’ll make a lot more sense to the whole story as to how come he’s on earth and if there’s a spaceship out there or not. Anyway, so Jason, being born as a human, he does have all the qualities to function as one except he’s emotionless and that what makes him imperfect. He would’ve made a mess if not for his guide, Computer, who is implanted in his head and helps him discover his true self. The only thing that puts me off is his soon adaptation to this knowledge, but then again, he is reborn into this so it’s kind of understandable.
I won’t give much away, but throughout his life, Jason experience a lot of things that’ll trigger emotions, and those only rare and when they happen he gets in an episode. That’s interesting because when Jason gets in an episode it’s like Hulk being angered and you don’t want to get Hulk angry, do you?
There are characters that play a good part in triggering these emotions, for the instant, there’s his father – who I can’t really absorb for some reason – and then there’s Ariel (she’s so badass!) who flips him off and confuses him like hell and…yeah, you get the idea. Even though we’re focused on Jason and Ariel, we still have an insight on the development of other characters (and can I just say that I flippin’ ship Enrique and Nani and was crazed up when I reached the part where it was confirmed? Like heck, they so suit each other). I would say, the major effect on Jason’s development throughout the story is his friends, his interaction with them and everything they went through.
One other thing I like about the book is the diversity. I like that the protagonist, Jason, is Latin American. Ariel is French. Enrique is Chinese. Ahmed is Arabic. I love that there’s no focus on a certain group and that all of his friends spread out of different ethnicities, Jason’s need to knowledge and understanding of other people and cultures help him interact and make friends from different parts of the world.
While reading, though, I got this feeling that I’m reading a manga or watching an anime. I don’t know why, but that made me happy. Jason kind of reminded me of Daisuke Niwa from D.N.Angel just because when he gets any emotional episode he turns into another person. Does that make sense? No? Ok.
Now, coming to the end of this review, I’d like to say that I love how the story is told in this book and it has a lot of potential and even though I don’t read science fiction a lot, this book is the perfect example of the balance between reality and fiction. If you want to try a shot in the genre but still not sure, then this book will give you a go.
This is all for this post, have a nice day and be weird
bye
Wrote by Unknown