Lia is rich, spoiled, and beautiful. A terrible automobile accident changes everything. Her father, desperate to save her, has Lia's mind downloaded into a body that's not quite human, not quite robot. In her new incarnation, she not only faces rejection from religious zealots, who consider her an abomination, but from her boyfriends, friends, and nasty younger sister. She struggles between insisting she is still the same Lia she was before and trying to shape a new identity for herself.

Lia is a very credible teen, but this book goes beyond most YA literature. It is a vivid and engrossing story that touches on such complex issues as bioethics, prejudice, identity, social order, economics and religion. In this sense, it resonates with the profound and disturbing movie AI. Skinned could certainly generate interesting discussions, but many schools would shy away from the book because it uses strong language and the characters are sexually active. I was even somewhat surprised to find it in the YA section of my local library.

Skinned is the first part of a trilogy, and has been followed by Crash. ( )

Reviewed by Sarah Bean the Green Bean Teen Queen for TeensReadToo.com

Lia Kahn was perfect. She had a perfect life, perfect friends, and a perfect boyfriend. She was popular and beautiful and everyone wanted to be with her and know her -- until the accident changed everything.

When Lia is in a fatal car accident, she finds herself awake in the hospital. She should be dead, but she knows she's alive. She can't feel her body, but she knows it's there. Lia has become the latest patient in the "download process" -- a way to download your memories and brain functions into a computer-based body that is made to look and act human. Lia is angry about the download process. She doesn't want to be a "skinner" -- the awful nickname for download recipients. But she also isn't ready to give up on her life.

Being a skinner isn't easy, though. Groups of people have rallied against the download process, calling it unethical and saying the skinners are without a soul. Lia's friends seem to have turned on her and her boyfriend can't stand to be near her anymore. She's Lia, but she's not the same Lia, and she's not sure how to handle her new life.

Add in the mysterious group of skinners that Lia encounters, plus humans that would do anything to be part of the download process, and Lia isn't sure anymore what exactly it means to be human.

SKINNED presents an interesting look at what really makes us us. Are we human when we have flesh and blood, or is it our memories that make us who we are? Can we ever have the same life again? An interesting and engaging look at medical ethics and humanity, SKINNED is the beginning of a new trilogy. ( )

Can't wait for the second book!

Think 'Terminator' meets modern health care. Poses needed questions. Absolutely loved this book. ( )

First in a trilogy about becoming a "skinner" when she is in a terrible accident. Set in the future, Lia's real body is dying so they transfer her brain into a machine body. Living this life is not much fun. All her friends have betrayed her, as has her boyfriend. Her father wishes he had let her die and her sister feels so guilty she feels she must take over the life that Lia was living -- including her friends, boyfriend, and activities.

Very powerful read. Not sure it really fits the boundaries of theme but enjoyable.

Pretty good book on transplanting the brain of dead people into mechanical people who then remember their previous lives. They function as people as best they can, with some sensory experience. Part of a trilogy. ( )