Review: The Legacy Human

The Legacy Human by Susan Kaye Quinn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Set in a future world where most of humanity has 'Ascended' and become immortal part human part machines, Elijah Brighton is one of a small number of legacy humans, descendants of those who refused to ascend for religious or other reasons. Treated as second-class citizens, almost pets, by the Ascended, the legacies live in what is left of the old cities, dependant on the Ascended for food and money. Elijah is an artist, supported by his sponsor Lenora, what she doesn't know is that Elijah's best work is created when he is in a fugue state, something he has no control over. His mother has cancer, something that the Ascended can easily cure, but will die unless Elijah can get her the drugs she needs or persuade Lenora to let them ascend, something that is now forbidden to legacies.

Then Elijah is offered the opportunity to compete in the artistic Olympics, the gold medal prize is ascension for the winner and his/her family, by Lenora's second, Marcus. This is where the book started to feel very much like The Hunger Games, young people competing for an audience of sophisticated, superior beings. Just like THG, the competitors and their sponsors are not above trying to nobble the opposition, put them off or kill them and each competitor has a sponsor to guide them and advocate on their behalf.

I liked this but I didn't love it. I felt that the story kind of lost its way a bit in the middle, the focus changed to add in a romantic element and I didn't really understand the twist about Elijah and his fugue state, there were too many strands pulling together and then the introduction of a Resistance group became a bit too much.

However, having said that, this was an interesting take on a future world where humans are the inferior race and I will probably read the second book in the series to see how the Resistance continue with their quest for the answer to The Question.

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