Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful

***Actual Rating: 4.5/5 Lucky-to-be-Human Stars***

Oh, man, this book makes me feel so good about being a human. To begin with, Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful consists of six stories, demonstrating six different (yet somehow connected) scenarios of what artificial intelligence (A.I.) may be capable of in the near future. Each story showcases how the cyborgs may coexist with human beings and start to blend in our initial world without being noticed at first. Unlike what most of us believe, these robotic creatures may not want to wipe the entire human race out. They’re quite easy to get along with and they’re also social animals, just like us! The only significant difference between these cyborgs and humans is that the former are nearly immortal (well, technically, they are not mortals but still!), and that scares me a little. *You’ll see why when I further elaborate…*

Since there are six short stories in this book, I’ll just break down my thoughts into six parts as well. Here we go…
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[PART ONE // Cyborg Twins]

The first story is about a twin brother trying to live for his dying twin sister because her body’s failing her. However their parents are in disbelief, the doctor insists that the brother should accept his sister’s organs, including her heart, so that at least one of the twins can stay alive. As bizarre as it seems, pumping another person’s heart to live may be the only solution for the twins, and I’m surprised by the invisible yet strong bond cyborgs have. What impresses me more is that A.I. twins do exist! Honestly, before reading this story, the idea of cyborg twins has never ever come across my mind. So color me shock when learning this teeny tiny fact about them!
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[PART TWO // Cyborg Couple]

Milla is a part-human, part-robot creature while Gabriel is a human. They sort of have a crush on each other but after Gabriel takes advantage of Milla catches a glimpse of what Milla’s made of, he may not seem to be as reliable as a boyfriend should be. People talk. Rumors spread. Bullying happens.

In Milla and Gabriel’s story, I find their romance a bit disturbing yet mesmerizing since they prove how forgiveness can become a universal language, an ultimate solution, and the catalyst for the elimination of bullying/rumors with the help of advanced medical technology. The best part about their ending? Problems are solved and the world’s getting back the peace it deserves. In general, I think cyborg couples are worthy of living on Earth after all.
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[PART THREE // Cyborg God]

When it comes to cyborgs, who would’ve thought that they have some religious beliefs just like humans do? Reverend Tad Tadd is the well-known Cyborg God and as sacred as that sounds, there’s something relatively shocking to me: People actually ”reuse” their deceased family member’s eyes and hair just to symbolize the eternity of life. In all honesty, the concept here is all fresh and original to me and I’m utterly fascinated by it.
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[PART FOUR // Advancing Cyborgs]

The fourth story in this book is my least favorite since all I’m aware of is how well these cyborgs are in translating various languages—from human’s communication tools to animals’—and that enhancing their levels of vocabulary is simply a piece of cake. Despite my general lack of interest, I’m fairly intrigued by the usage of anagram in the characters’ conversations. Apparently, the author’s creativity knows no boundaries!
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[PART FIVE // Cyborg Betrayals]

This time, the A.I. sensation expands from the U.S. to Europe and throughout Jake, Kostya, and Yulia’s escape to Siberia, the secrets they keep have put their friendship to the test. This story gives readers insight into the life of a cyborg slave, the betrayal between similar species, and how cancers can be cured by implementing, once again, advance medical. Although there may not be anything in common in the topics above, I can guarantee that this tale proves how multidimensional artificial intelligence can be.
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[PART SIX // Cyborg Civilization]

Last but not least, we’re coming to the end of the story and let me tell you how incredibly well-done this story is. I’m awestruck by the realization that cyborgs are, in fact, a brand-new generation of living creatures. These A.I.-enhanced “people” aren’t here to annihilate the humanity; they’re here to recreate their very own civilization just as the origin of homo sapiens who appeared millions of years ago did.

Interestingly, it never occurs to me that there’s an evolution for cyborgs to transform their half-human, half-robot being into a fully-developed creature. That is, even though they can function pretty well on their own, they still have to undergo some sort of metamorphosis in order to become part of us, which totally broadens my horizons.
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To sum up, Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful is a splendidly written, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED story with unforgettable characters, mind-blowing plot twists, and shocking revelations of cyborgs. Each one of the six stories shows the possibilities and limitless potentials of these A.I.-featured creatures.

As intimidating as A.I. may sound, I’m delighted to say that this book makes me think differently because knowing that as invincible as cyborgs seem, their process of blending in is very likely to bear a resemblance to ours, which provides me with the kind of confidence and strength I need when facing the unknown future. As a matter of fact, this book empowers me so much that I indeed feel much stronger, faster, and more beautiful about being a human. 🙂

***Massive thanks to Penguin Random House International Sales and Random House Children’s Books for providing me with an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.***

A work of unforgettable vision and imagination. This book is everything I love about science fiction.

An alternately charming and horrifying exploration of what it means to be human and how far we’ll go in pursuit of personal and societal ‘perfection.’ I devoured this book.

A deep and suddenly necessary exploration of the beautiful and terrible futures we face. Every story leaves you desperate for more. Somehow, the further from today Dayton travels, the more real it becomes.

This was a really neat look at genetic modification and manipulation, things that are becoming closer and closer to being reality. Especially with the recent news of a scientist in China who supposedly modified the genes of twins before they were born so that they would be immune to AIDS. All of the different stories had their definite importance to the overall story. However a few I liked better than the others. When I first started the book, I was reminded a bit of the Unwind series by Neal Shusterman. As that is one of my favorite series, that is a good thing.

The first story was a good one, kind of gave the beginnings of how this all could start, or has started, and it was twins, one ended up with parts of the other one in order to live. The second story was one I really liked how it went. It was a great story of how teens would deal with a situation like that. The way it would feel to get revenge, and then the way the person you got revenge on, getting it. I really liked that story and how it ended. The third story was about the Reverend who was what you’d call the religious figure fighting the genetic manipulation. But his story, wow, just what a big shocker. And then to have him fit into all the stories afterwards perfectly. However the fourth story, while interesting, and unique, still had a little too much that kept me from quite connecting with the main character. The next story started out a little boring, but then when we got the Russian back story it clicked and got to where it fit and I enjoyed it more.

The final story really wrapped the whole thing up in a perfect way. It had parts that tied in to today’s social issues. As I read, the science teacher in me kept needing some reason for why the people with genetic modifications were having the issues. And the way that the author fit that in, it was just, well, to use the same word I’ve already used, it was perfect! I liked all the different ways the author took each little idea with genetic modifications and how she saw things could maybe go. Some may have seemed a little out there, but who knows what could actually happen? That is what science fiction is for. Not once did the story get preachy about genetic modification being bad, in fact all the stories really brought up the reasons for why it can be a good thing, and I liked that a lot.

I’ve already put this on my list to buy for my school library, hoping that my students will really enjoy it as well, and that it will make them think, just like it did for me.