Book Review: “The Body Electric” by Beth Revis

Want to travel into the future and watch a rebellion that puts others to shame? Just pick up The Body Electric by Beth Revis and get started! In this captivating story, we follow Ella, the daughter of two brilliant scientists, as she fights for her survival. Her amazing parents created new inventions that started off as innocent scientific discoveries but escalated into something more dangerous when they got into the hands of politicians. Her father’s research helped advance androids, which are used within many households to do miscellaneous work. Unfortunately, some of her father’s latest research about androids and their capacity to feel and think sent him to his grave in a horrific accident.

Her mother, on the other hand, developed a more relaxing scientific invention called the Reverie, which helps one go back to the happiest moment in their life and relive that moment. It gives people the ability to view the happy days of their life through the lenses of their own perception rather than a camera’s. Many people use this device to simply relax. Others use it to focus on one major concern or problem that needs to be solved without distractions. Either way, this is an amazing relaxation tool that also helps Ella and her mother overcome the emptiness that has surrounded their lives due to their sudden loss. It isn’t until Ella taps into her mother’s dream world to help her focus on a happy memory that trouble starts to infringe upon Ella’s life. The Reverie that is supposed to be about helping people relax and heighten their overall health quickly becomes a weapon in a war that hasn’t even started.

The Prime Administer, PA Young, forces Ella to start using the Reverie to hack into the minds of well-known political figures. She tells Ella the only way to keep the city safe from war-like attacks is to hack into the brains of individuals whom she deems to be plotting a war behind her back. Ella blindly cooperates to PA Young’s orders and doesn’t hesitate when the requests go against her own personal morals. Sadly, while listening to PA Young and hacking into the dreams of politicians, Ella starts to slowly lose control of her own mind. This is when Ella starts to second guess the “fear of another war” story that PA Young has convinced her of to begin with.

Everything Ella has done for PA Young is in order to help keep peace in her city. She doesn’t have any other option but to listen to PA young. That is, until she bumps into an old friend, a friend who she has no recollection of but feels a connection to nonetheless. Ella’s mysterious friend Jack fills her in on a different perspective of PA Young’s story, a perspective that Ella felt to be missing from the very beginning. Unfortunately, this new knowledge doesn’t help Ella regain confidence in making a decision of who to support. Ella needs to make a choice, but with her mind slowly becoming more corrupt, her ability to rationalize who is fighting for the good of many and who is purely fighting for their own self-worth becomes harder to decipher.

Could somebody have hacked into Ella’s brain? If so, what can she do to figure out how to fight the urge of falling off the deep end of sanity and keeping the people she loves alive? Pick up The Body Electric by Beth Revis to fully see the inspiring story come to life.
Rating: 10/10
Source: NetGalley
Pub: Oct. 6, 2014