I got the opportunity through Netgalley to listen to an audiobook version of The Original. Since Brandon Sanderson is one of these authors I feel I should be reading *eyes her unread copy Mistborn* but somehow never get to, I wanted to give it a try although I don't usually read a lot of audiobooks.

The narration was great. The story was amusing, but it didn't have the wow-effect I was hoping for. One of the cool aspects that were provided is the theming. Basically, people can theme their surroundings, so that people at the same place experience a different reality. I felt it could have been a larger part of the book.

The main character, who wakes up and is told she is clone on a mission to kill her original on a murder charge, never really came to life to me. Of course, she is disoriented and all. All her skills have been uploaded.

The Original is a fast-paced and entertaining sci-fi thriller, best consumed in one sitting. If you like your audiobooks to go the extra mile, with sound effects and tense music at the appropriate moments, then I'm sure you'll very much enjoy this audio production, though for me, as someone who always listens to audiobooks sped up, it mostly just got in the way.

The cyber-punk worldbuilding is fun but not overly complex, which is good for a story of this length, and the plot is self-contained and refrains from becoming overly messy or meta (as is easily possible when dealing with clones), though I would have liked a little bit more out of the ending. There were a few moments I had to suspend my disbelief, but I was willing to do so for a narrative like this that doesn't take itself too series. At the same time, I really enjoyed how some interesting questions were touched on, such as whether humans would ever be satisfied in a mostly risk-less utopia, or if it would just lead to depression and searching for more and more extremes.

The character-focused nature of the story mostly worked for me, with our main character struggling through a sort of identity crises while being forced to solve the mystery of her husband's death and seek revenge. Overall, if you're looking for a quick engrossing listen and don't mind extra sound effects in your audiobooks, I'd recommend giving this one a try!

I love Brandon Sanderson so much! I get so sucked into his worlds and concepts. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever found anything by him I don’t like. The narrator was also really great. Can’t wait for more!

I'll listen to anything these two authors write, and this is such a fun mashup. This is a great sci-fi premise, with a fast-paced story well suited to short form audio novella. Oftentimes these novellas feel like they need more time to develop the story and characters, but this one struck a nice balance of filling in the worldbuilding without overstaying its welcome. I usually like when Mary Robinette narrates her own books, but Julia Whelan had a great delivery here.

Thank you for netgalley and the publishers for earlier access.

The original is technically well written, despite having some confusing moments. And the audiobook narrator does it's best, however it is not a match for any of the previous works by both authors. It's slow at times and hard to follow ocasionally. Moreover I just didn't particularly care for the main character

I really enjoyed this audiobook. I know that some may be distracted by the additional sounds but that was an element I felt added to the storytelling. The concept of scheme-ing drew me in and felt like a perfectly imagined science fiction concept, as it feels realistic, and the social consequences of scheme-ing being explored felt like what would happen if this became real.

The writing style, having not read Mary Robinette Kowal before, felt simple yet more beautiful than Sanderson's style, which I'm attributing to Kowal.

This was a quick, enjoyable read that hit a lot of my own requirements for enjoyment of a science fiction novel. I hope that there is more in this world in the future.

This audiobook/short story was at times really confusing. I think that the pacing was great but maybe i just couldnt wrap my brain around what was happening and found it hard to follow. Great drama, but for me this was only a 3.5 read.

I’m a big fan of Brandon Sanderson, and I’ve also enjoyed the Mary Robinette Kowal’s work in the past, so you can imagine my excitement for their futuristic sci-fi action-thriller collaboration. There’s a couple things you need to know, however. First, this is novella-length story, and second, it is only available as an audiobook, and both these factors have the possibility to influence your enjoyment as it did mine.

The Original starts with protagonist Holly Winseed waking up in a hospital room with no recollection of how she ended up there, surrounded by government agents waiting to interrogate her, and based on their questions, her heart immediately fills with a sense of dread as she realizes what must have happened. She is a Provisional Replica, a clone that is created only in cases where their Original had committed a serious crime. In this case, the real Holly had murdered her husband Jonathan in cold blood and is now on the run, evading all attempts to track her down. The task now falls to replica Holly to find and kill her. If she succeeds, she will be given the opportunity to assume her Original’s place and petition for Jonathan to be revived. But if she fails, her life-sustaining treatments required by replicas will be halted, and she will die.

But the government had underestimated Holly’s persistence for answers. As a clone, she has all her Original’s memories and emotions, and she cannot fathom any scenario in which she would ever want to kill her husband. With her new combat implants and enhanced abilities, replica Holly sets out to find her Original, convinced of her innocence. But as the trail of clues takes her closer to her goal, Holly comes under attack by terrorists and other shadowy enemies, forcing her to confront some uncomfortable truths.

Sad to say, despite the incredible premise and some of the very cool ideas here, I can’t say I enjoyed this one as much as I wanted to. The good news, however, is that the world-building is fantastic. There was definitely some of that Sanderson magic shining through, especially the points about injectable nanite technology allowing humans to essentially choose eternal life should they want it. Those who decide to live on the edge and “checkout” of this system become the ones that go against the prevailing norm for a variety of reasons, which can range from risk-taking to the preservation of personal privacy. This creates the basis for further exploration—from social, moral, and emotional standpoints and more—quite typical for Sanderson stories, if you’re familiar with his work.

Unfortunately, the world-building is about the only aspect I found to truly stand out. This was a relatively a short novella, so that might a restricting factor, limiting development to the characters and plot. As for Holly, I didn’t feel much sympathy towards her, and felt like there may have been slight overwriting and too much telling-not-showing when it came to her feelings and motivations (which incidentally is a weakness I’ve noted in Kowal’s books in the past). I also could have done with more action and thrills, and less time spent in Holly’s head watching her bemoan her situation and wallow in self-pity.

All in all, The Original was enjoyable enough, but I have to say I’d expected a bit more from a collab project between these two powerhouses of SFF. It’s still a good listen and worth your time, but it didn’t wow me, and on top of that, there were a few things about the audiobook I found irritating. Narrator Julia Whelan delivered a fantastic performance, as she always does, but I had no idea what the production team were thinking when they added in the sound effects, which came in at the most random times. Instead of adding to the atmosphere and immersion, they were just plain annoying, and is definitely not usual for an audiobook.

BY BRANDON SANDERSON & MARY ROBINETTE KOWAL
NARRATED BY JULIA WHELAN

❐ Overall Rating 3½ | Narration 4¼
❐ Novella/Short Story
❐ Futuristic-Techy
❐ Science Fiction/Murder Mystery
❐ Single POV
❐ Received ALC for free in exchange for an honest review

The Original drops you in this futuristic world full of nano-tech...in fact, nano-tech or nanites are everyday words. Nanites are capable of so many things, including provisional replica's of actual people, theming your world view by just thinking it into existence, and keeping yourself from aging...or at least looking like you've aged to name a few.

It was a little mind-blowing to think about...and ultimately for me, the story itself lacked depth. I felt unfulfilled by the shortness of the story and the super abrupt ending. The mystery at work in this was basically left hanging. Overall an interesting concept that felt like it was only scratched at...and left me with an itch for something more.

I have really liked Tavia Gilbert's narration (Partials Sequence Trilogy) and I have loathed her narration (most everything else), more so the latter. In this though, I have to say...she felt...not bad, slightly improved even, and definitely okay.

❐ Netgalley ALC Listen (the app still needs improvement)
❐ Length ➯ 3H 30M
❐ Plot ➯ 3.5/5
❐ Characters ➯ 3.7/5
❐ The Feels ➯ 3/5
❐ World-Building ➯ 4.3/5
❐ Ending ➯ 2.5/5

The Original is a fascinating yet chilling look into a possible future where a person can be cloned into a replicant used to hunt down his or her 'original'. This science-fiction collaboration between Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal thoroughly engages and satisfies with its solid characterisation and worldbuilding in a novella spanning just over 3hrs long of audio narration.

Sanderson and Kowal have been friends and co-hosts of the Writing Excuses podcast for many years. While they have published a book with the rest of the podcast's co-hosts called Shadows Beneath: The Writing Excuses Anthology, a great book which also offers a peek into the creative process), this is the first time where they co-authored a story together.

There isn't much that could be mentioned about the plot that was not already in the synopsis without giving away important story beats. What I could say is that this packed a surprisingly solid amount of worldbuilding through the first person perspective of the Holly, the provisional replicant that was tasked to hunt down her original in four days, failing which she should be permanently erased. Holly came across as sympathetic and relatable character as she struggled with the notion that her original (which essentially means herself) could actually have killed her husband.

The same goes for the worldbuilding which I'll refrain describing as I think one needs to listen to this audiobook to appreciate how well it's incorporated into the character's POV. While I can't say that it's wholly unique, I definitely found that it's both intriguing and chilling in dealing with the concept of cloning and 'theming' to the point where one could hardly tell what is real anymore.

The Original is only available in audio for now and Julia Whelan's narration was excellent. Her portrayal of Holly made the character feel realistic and relatable. I'm not sure what the future plans holds for more collaboration between Sanderson and Kowal under this Mainframe umbrella, but I'm definitely interested for more. Who am I kidding though, I'll always read anything that Sanderson has written. But this does also make me want to read one of Kowal's books sooner rather than later, especially her Hugo-award winning The Calculating Stars.

4 stars, only because it was much too short

The Original is a novella that takes place in the near future, where we've figured out how to replicate just about everything, including people. We meet Replicated Holly, who is a Provisional Replica of her original self, created to find and haul in her (surprisingly) criminal original self. We follow PR Holly as she reluctantly but diligently hunts OG Holly for crimes committed.

As you can imagine, such a hunt comes with a fair amount of disbelief and disengagement, as PR Holly struggles to understand OG Holly's intentions and felonious actions. Toward the end, the distinction between the two Hollys gets a bit dicey and confusing, but overall it's exciting to ride along and see where this adventure takes us.

I was gifted a copy of the audiobook, narrated by Julia Whelan. Whelan was fantastic, as usual, but I must admit, I found the audio production to be a little odd. There were huge pauses between chapters, and ill-fitting/unexpected background music was added sporadically throughout, which each time had me clamoring for my phone to see "which app is making that stupid noise?" Hopefully these issues will be cleaned up before the audiobook is fully released.

The real question: Will I continue if this becomes a series? Likely yes. The world-building was unique and interesting. More adventures in this Replication is King world are surely welcome.

A big thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for the opportunity to listen to and review this audio novella.

This was a rollercoaster! There was so many twists and turns, action, and I was always guessing, even at the end.

First, I really liked the world. This was short so there wasn’t much world-building, but I still got a good idea how the world operated.

I also liked the characters. They were lovable and I sympathized with them the whole time.

The writing is vivid and I could understand everything perfectly.

I’d recommend this for fans of sci-fi and short stories!

This is a novella on audio. It was an intriguing concept, but I never felt connected to the characters. I've listened to some books narrated by Julia Wheelan and I know she is outstanding. However, the narration felt flat here. I think that was somewhat on purpose, but it was more pronounced for me because I didn't like the sound effects.

If you like sci-fi, give this a chance. It's short and interesting overall. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an audio copy.

Brings audiobooks to another level! The narration is absolutely incredible, and the sound effects really excel at their job of immersing the reader. The premise captured me immediately - the protagonist is a clone, tasked with hunting down her original, who murdered her husband. I loved how this story discusses the question of identity - who are "you"? Your memories and experiences? Your physical being? All in all an engrossing and solid sci-fi story!

This is a fantastic novella.

Set in the relatively close future, Holly Winseed awakes to discover she's a provisional replica that was produced for a single task: to kill her original.

Regardless of how much Holly is interacting with the world, it's an incredibly internal story; she's working to find out how much of her is her and how much is programming/editing. There's a lot of introspection and themes of what and who a person really is.

Julia Whelan is one of my favourite audiobook narrators; I love her work, and her voice and characterisations here are note-perfect as usual.

I very highly recommend this for anyone who likes futuristic semi-speculative explorations of the human condition.

I received a copy of this audiobook for free from NetGalley and RB Media in exchange for an honest, voluntary review.

This is a story about the future.

My only complaint is that this was too short- this easily could have been a full novel. The world created is fascinating, beautiful, terrifying and expertly shared in a way that doesn't feel like an info-dump. The protagonist is strong and the story is constantly moving- it was a brief but great ride.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 💫

Thank you so much Netgalley and RB Media for this audio ARC!

This was a delightful audio book, with creative ideas and a compelling mystery. I liked that it was short—matches my attention span for audio books. 😊 I could imagine many compelling stories in this world, one where nanites keep people healthy and “theme” the environment around them to be beautiful and personalized. Chilling, fascinating, and fun. And if you read it, come talk to me about that ending.


<i>Review copy provided by NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review<i>

I was very excited for this unexpected release. Fantastic sci-fi thriller; innovative concept very original just as the title suggests. Great world building and so exciting. You won't be disappointed! Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to review.

Imagine a quick-paced, science fiction ride the likes of a love child of Isaac Asimov meets Richard Morgan. I’m slightly biased because I’ve read everything Sanderson has produced since I first encountered him in his Wheel of Time hand-off. After this, I will be checking out Kowal. A bonus is that Whelan is just right for the narration.

This is all you need to know – A reborn clone of a murderer is set in motion to kill her “original.” Kick back and enjoy your walk or ride as you get lost in the tale.

**This was a review copy provided by NetGalley for an honest review.**

The Original is an action-packed sci-fi thriller with some amazing world building… throughout I kept thinking that this would make a great tv show or film as it was so dynamic and the world well-realised! The story and setting are both captivating and the themes are thought provoking. I wish the book were longer as I was utterly fascinated with this world and I hope that in the future we get more stories set in the same universe. I highly recommend this; it’s a great sci-fi adventure with some creative ideas.