Review: The Body Electric by Beth Revis

Posted November 15, 2014 by Lisa Mandina in / 44 Comments

First, thanks to Netgalley and Scripturient Books for allowing  me to read an e-galley of this.  It actually got it after the book had been released, but I was very excited to see it.  I am a huge fan of the author, Beth Revis, as I loved her Across the Universe series.  And this one sounded right up my alley as well.  Another science fiction story.

The main character is Ella.  She and her mom work at a Spa type place that offers something only to the extremely rich called Reveries.  Reveries are something where they can hook into your brain and make you experience a really good memory.  It is something Ella’s mom came up with, but hasn’t wanted to turn it over to the government to make money. She wants to keep it as something nice to help people.  Ella’s mother is also dying from a disease that is incurable.  When her mom first got sick, Ella’s dad who was working on artificial intelligence, figured out a way to add nanobots that would help her stay healthy longer.  In fact, in this day and age, in part thanks to Ella’s father, every person has nanobots that help to keep them from getting sick among other things like that.  Ella’s father was killed in a terrorist attack though, and now it is just her and her mom, as well as the main owner of the Spa, Ms. White.  Ella is doing her internship at the spa so that she can be close to her mother. As the nanobots aren’t going to keep her mom alive forever.

One day when her mom takes a bit of a turn for the worse, Ella goes for a walk.  To where her father’s grave is. Although in this day and age, no one is buried anymore.  Instead they are cremated. But if you are someone rich, or important, like Ella’s father, they will do something like plant a tree for them with a monument/gravestone.  And when Ella gets to her father’s, she sees a young man standing there, as if he too is talking to her dad the way she plans to.  She doesn’t recognized the boy, who says his name is Jack Tyler, but he seems to think they once had a past.  And he leaves her a cryptic message, that when other things besides her mother’s sickness start to go wrong, she turns to that message for help.  She has been enlisted by the ruler of their country to use the reverie to try to see inside a Representative’s brain.  One who they hear has been approached by a terrorist group.  And they hope Ella can get the information out of his head.

But as I said, things will go wrong.  There are androids/robots in this world, but no one has been able to figure out how to make them think for themselves yet.  Ella’s father had been working on that before he died, but all his notes and work were lost in the explosion.  And as more and more goes wrong, Ella begins to wonder just who is really on her side.  Her friend who is on the moon at the military base for her internship seems to be not who she once was. This Jack Tyler may have worked with her father, and she even wonders if her father might not have been the man she thought he was.  She will have to determine if she really wants to help the government, or if the terrorists are really terrorists.

Such a great story.  The love story was okay because she didn’t remember him even if he remembered her, so she was able to develop real feelings.  And there was at least one twist at the end that I wasn’t expecting, so it was a great ending.  No cliffhanger, or love triangle, I highly recommend this for a great sci-fi read.  Very Isaac Asimov is what I thought as I read it.

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44 responses to “Review: The Body Electric by Beth Revis

  1. Wow, that sounds like some interesting reading. I like the nano boots are helping people stay well, but don't understand why her mom is still sick. I think the government would sees the memory thing as something they can control and use for other purposes. thanks for the review I will have to look into this story.

    • The nanobots aren't able to do something in the brain I guess. And you can't have too many nanobots or it will turn your brain to mush I guess. Thanks for stopping by!

  2. Anonymous

    Great review! I have heard great things about this book but haven't had a chance to read it yet. Jack Taylor sounds very intriguing.

  3. I loved this review. I like how you say they were able to develop real feelings and fall in love with each other. I loved the description of the story and how it features the love of her mom and dad. Her dad loving her mom so much that he tries to let her live longer by his invention of nanobots. I love this and cant wait to read this book

  4. oooh I love Asimov! I saw this on Netgalley, but I was afraid of the sadness from losing her Dad and almost her mom. Sounds like it's really good though! I love scifi and robot things. I thought of Genesis Lee when the guy remembers her but she doesn't remember him, but seems this is completely different. Nice review!

    • The sadness is okay because it really helps to give her a reason for doing the things she does, the way she does them. And I definitely got the Asimov feel as I was reading it. Thanks for visiting!

  5. I agree that the ending had a hell of a twist, I'm not too sure I'm 100% I was satisfied with it though. I still have to write my review for it, got lots to think about!

    I really need to read her other book, I own it, I just get distracted!

    Amber Elise @ Du Livre

    • Yeah, I can agree that the ending wasn't the perfect one, and there were one or two things I wish would have been different, but over all I enjoyed it. Can't wait to read your review as well!

  6. This sounds really different than anything I have read before. I have no doubt I would sucked into it very quickly! Not to mention I know my daughter would absolutely LOVE it. She adores Beth Revis!

  7. Suz

    I haven't read any of this author yet but this book sounds great! I love sci-fi and liked that you said it had twists and no love triangles! This is such an original story idea and I can't wait to read this book! Thanks for the great comments 🙂

  8. Sooooooo, I haven't read her Across the Universe trilogy because I got into reading and blogging late and all the excuses. I'm pretty pumped for this because like your review, I've been reading lots of raves. I love sci-fi too so yay! I just have to find the time…

  9. I haven't read anything by this author so far, but I think I would start with this because it sounds great. I like science fiction that's injected with some humanity 🙂

    -Amber Terry-

  10. great review I this is not my type of book but I picked one of your reviews to read and this was it! if I was going to read sci fi I would so pick this book from your review told me enough about the book to get me interested but didnt tell me all the little details that I would want to read for myself! seems like a great story! 🙂 thanks much!

    • It's got the science fiction in it, but I think it is not too much for someone who isn't really into that. I think it could be read without really spending a lot of time on that part. Thanks for stopping by!

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