I did not enjoy this. I feel like everything I love about Brandon's writing style was missing from this, and I didn't connect with the characters at all. The protagonist was pretentious at times, and I didn't feel like the plot was anything special.

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book!

Guys, I loved this book. I am still new to Brandon Sanderson but i am starting to love his work. i haven't jumped into his huge series yet but I am working my way there.

The atmosphere in this book was everything I wanted it to be. I loved the plot and storyline in the book. I loved the characters in this story. It gave me all the feels I was looking for when I started reading this. I highly recommend this author. I loved the writing. I cant wait to move on to his other works. His books are so long in his Epic novels, I am still working my way through YA first.

I predicted the ending about 20% of the way through the book, but who cares. The strength of this story is not the plot, but the questions it asks.

What is real? What makes something real? What makes something real TO YOU?

These are three different questions that are asked but can't be answered here.

Excellent read.

Now this is the one everyone’s waiting for! A Brandon Sanderson cowritten with Mary Robinette Kowal! The premise sounds very interesting as well. A woman wakes up in a world where natural death has been beaten to learn she had murdered her husband. She is a clone designed to kill and replace herself, or she herself will die after only three days. That is a difficult concept to shorten into a sentence! Basically, she needs to find and kill her Original in three days, or her own body will shut down.

This is an audio production and the first one that I have listened to. It’s very short, coming in at only 3.5 hours, so it’s overall plot really felt like a movie. As this is done by two well-respected authors, expectations were high and they were definitely met. I really enjoyed the narrative voice used and the subject matter was thought-provoking, but not overly cerebral.

The world-building of The Original was super interesting, with technology that allows people to not get sick of natural causes, cloning and memory manipulation tech and, my favourite, “themes” which allow you to edit your own perception of the world. Do you want to never be interrupted my your neighbours, just edit them out, does the music of the restaurant not suit your taste, change it! It’s a super “original” (see what I did there) concept that I haven’t seen done anywhere else.

The plot is basically a thriller murder mystery, as the MC is trying to figure out what happened to her husband while trying to evade her Original’s attempts to prevent her capture. The mystery components were interesting, but were not able to hold up the whole book. This had more world-building than a real plot.

Overall this was an interesting listen that I would recommend for any fans of either author. My expectations were met and I am even more excited for get to some of their other works.

4 stars.

I’m a huge Sanderson fan. All of his stories are interesting and have a lot of creativity to them and while I’ve never read anything by Mary Robinette Kowal I’m always willing to read something Sanderson is involved in. The Original follows that pattern as well in a world where you basically have taken all your social media settings and applied them to the world around you.

Nanite technology has taken the human race to the next level. They limit sickness and change your perceptions of everything surrounding you. Don’t like the noise level at your apartment. There is a filter for that. Like muted tones more than bright ones. There is a filter for that. Don’t like the way you look. You can change how you let the world around you see you. It is so engrained into the population no one really realizes how much the world around them is not what it seems.

Holly wakes up and finds out she is a clone of herself and has four days to find her Original and kill her. If she does this then she gets to continue living, if she doesn’t then her nanites will shut down and she dies. But she can’t imagine a world where she would have killed her husband the man she loved for years. As she explores the world without filters, she sees an entirely different side of life that she hasn’t noticed until now. People are trying to get to her before she gets to her Original, she is trying to figure out what could have made her kill her husband. And along the way she gets to decide whose life means more. The Original or the clone.

If she finds her clone will she let her go? Or will she fight to join this world built on filtered out experiences?

Overall, this is good for a short story. I think there is a lot you could do in this world and I wish a few of the details were fleshed out a little more but that definitely would have taken longer than a short story. The twist at the end made me ponder for a little while after the story was over about how I felt about the ending in general but I was surprised for sure.

Solid and interesting short story.

Narration:

Julia Whelan is a seasoned narrator and it shows. Her performance was on point and felt natural for the character in the story.

The Original by Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal was a great short story by these two legendary authours. This was the first book I have read by either of them, even though I have been told to read them for years.

The story starts with a twist and stays exciting the whole way through. The world building is extremely organic and unique. The story was a blend of science fiction and mystery.

This book is narrated by Julie Whelan and she never disappoints. She is always so emotional in her performances, and her voice is so easy to listen to. If you needed yet another reason to give this audiobook a try, let Whelan be that reason. She is one of my favourite narrators of all time and I know she will become a favourite of yours as well!

Whether you are looking for a short story by a favourite authour of yours or wanting a short introduction to these authours, The Original is a great place to start. Julie Whelan is a huge bonus!

I received an advanced audiobook copy from RB Media through NetGalley. All opinions are 100% my own.

The narrator was fantastic and the sound effects were just enough to enrich the listening experience without becoming obnoxious. The story itself was engaging with developed characters. The resolution was mildly predictable, but given the quality of everything else, I certainly didn't mind going along for the ride. My only qualm is that although there are some hallmarks of Brandon Sanderson's writing, this does not really feel like his work. That said, it certainly is a quality scifi story!

🌟⭐ 8.5 stars out of 10 ⭐🌟
Entertaining and very Sanderson-ish, but also with flaws. It's really a struggle to choose to round this rating up as 5 or 4 in goodreads, it's a close tie.

Keywords: science fiction, audiobook, novella, futuristic, nanotechnology, clone, utopian, murder mystery, biopunk(?); trigger warning: mental health issues and offscreen gore

I got an audio-arc of this book in an exchange of honest review. Thank you Netgalley and Recorded Books publishing.

REVIEW
The Original tells about futuristic world where nanotechnology flourish, people can 3-d print food and free to pursue whatever their dreams or interests are. Reality is easy to bend and everyone basically almost immortal. In this utopian society, our main lead, Holly, is a replica tasked to catch her original on the guilty of murdering her husband. What at first seemed a murder case soon evolved into questions about reality and what it is to be human.

What I really like:
- Julia Whelan
First and foremost I want to appreciate the Julia Whelan for her excellent narration of this book. Her voice is clear and really bring suspense and immersion to the story. I was hooked by her voice even from the first paragraph.

- The worldbuilding is a wow
The worldbuilding is really interesting. I've never read utopian scifi previously so the concept in this book baffled me. In the future where technologies really shaping people's life, it is used to grant them ideal society albeit through illusion. Nanites (nanorobots) would be injected to our bodies and have access to alter many things, like preventing sickness or even warping our perception of reality. It's eerie because if it's explored further this tech could even remove human's free will. I like how Mary Robinette and Sanderson make real, hard consequences about using this nanotech. I also like how the story dealt with clones and how it related with what's real and not, what makes a human is human. It reminds me to Altered Carbon's transhumanism but not explored that much.

- Unpredictable storyline
The early part of the story is easy to get into but the middle really dragging. I almost gave up on the book, already predicted how the story will ends. The premise is simple and for the most part the story is also too simple. Then I finished the book and was in shock. It ended in a very Sanderson-ish way. Didn't see it coming.

What I don't like:
- Main lead that's a bit mary sue?? or perhaps too overpowered??
The main lead, Holly, is sassy and her bodies was altered with skills that almost made her superhuman, like speedy reflect, multiplied strength, professional soldier level of perception, etc. At times it feels too perfect and she had it too easy. I know the skills are there for a reason but it made everything too easy. She was also dramatic and hysterical (to be expected based on the circumstance though). I tried hard but can't really connect with her at all.

- At time the plot or the scenes make zero sense, at times too convenient
At some parts the plot was too convenient. It's weird how easily the main lead tackled a supposedly organized group of villains. The villains' motivation also not really clear. Many scenes not making sense at all (I don't mean the scifi aspect but the plot aspect).

FINAL VERDICT
Storywise it's moderately good. Not special or fantastic like the authors' other works, still good nonetheless. I might be biased but I like it. The scifi aspect is refreshing. To those interested in utopian concept or nanotech, I recommend reading this.

This audiobook is only four hours long. I don't know how they made such an entertaining, concise listen in only four hours.

Holly has killer her husband. In order to bring her to justice, the government creates a clone of her that remembers almost everything except why she would kill the man she loved. The clone has only four days to find Holly or the clone will die.

My review might just consist begging for more of this world. It's a world where people are very shallow and view the world through their own created lens. I want more of a dive into it. I want to see more of clones hunting their originals. I want Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal to wrote more stories together.

Great production for the audiobook with a great reader and sound effects.

This review is based on an advanced audiobook copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Originals is a great sci-fi mystery where a woman is essentially cloned to hunt down herself(her original) after she has been found guilty of killing her husband. The catch? She has four days to find her, kill her, and take over her life; or her own existence will be snuffed out.

This was a neat little nugget. It was nice and compact, while having a rich world to be immersed in. The plot is well constructed and the twists are unveiled at a nice pace with the story. My one gripe is that the ending was just a bit too break-neck speed for my liking. The authors built up to this insane climax and it just felt like it fell off a cliff. While I understand the ending and what it means, I wish the author would have given it to me in their own words rather than illusive hinting.

I highly recommend this story for anyone looking for a great quick read. There is nothing really triggering so I would even set the age range for 12+. This is a thought provoking prose that will leave you questioning, if you came face to face with yourself, could you pull the trigger?

4.5 stars

I received a free arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is an audio only release that is about 3.5 hours and is about a woman who wakes up and finds out that she is actually a clone and her original self killed her husband. She is tasked with finding her original self and killing her so she can take her place.

This book has such an interesting concept that I absolutely loved. Mary Robinette Kowal has a very subtle way of writing characters and weaving in contemporary themes, and of course Brandon Sanderson is a master world builder. It has some of the best world building that I have seen in a sci-fi book! It also has a really action packed plot.

My only real complaint here is that I didn’t love the audiobook. The narrator was great, but I’m a huge fan of more simplistic audiobooks. I tend not to like full cast audiobooks or audiobooks that have a lot of sound effect. This audiobook had a ton of sound effect, that honestly just took me out of the story. There were a few points during the audiobook that I could barely hear the narrator due to the sound effect. I probably wouldn’t have been as annoyed by this if I had a copy of the words that I could follow along as I listened, but as this was an audio-only release it was very frustrating.

However, I did absolutely love the story and gave it 4.5 stars.

Instead of giving the books a standalone review video, I featured it in my September mid-month wrap up as those get significantly more views.

Timestamp: 15:56

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wNtWDsOuC0Y?start=956" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Book - Firstly I would like to say that I was not the right person to read this book. I requested it on Netgalley when I saw that it was co-written by Brandon Sanderson. The reasons I am not the right person is because it is sci-fi and a short story. I generally read only fantasy, but I can say that I think many people would enjoy this. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy this read, it was a short little story to get through in an afternoon, but I don't think it will stick with me for a long time. I am a huge fan of the tv show Black Mirror and I COULD see this being an episode that they showed, but there were a few things that could not bring me into the story like I wanted.

I felt a disconnect from the main character. The world was interesting, but didn't hook me like other sci-fi books I have read. The logic of the world seemed flawed in some places. But overall, for being a short story, it was quick and not too bad. There were parts I liked, but also parts I didn't feel much towards. It is very fast paced, and that is what mostly kept me interested (besides the amazing audiobook experience).

Audiobook experience - Amazing. This was a fully produced audiobook with only one narrator. That meant that only one person spoke the entire time but there were sound effects and music throughout. It really added to the story and helped bring you more into the world. I think that without this addition to the book it would have been much more dull, but with it I could truly see myself in this futuristic world.

Thanks to Netgalley and Recorded Books for giving me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

As with all of Sanderson's work... I love it. This is a cool little sci-fi mystery novella based in a futuristic world where human's cant die because all of their memories and personalities are uploaded into a government system. What could possibly be wrong when the government has access to peoples memories and personalities.

Mary Robinette Kowal adds some really cool shout outs to no-cis lifestyles that Sanderson typically avoids. Which I HIGHLY enjoyed and approved of.

Right now this only comes in audiobook format. So I read it as an audiobook. There is music in the audiobook, I assume to build up the scene like a movie. This wasn't my favorite but it wasn't the worst thing ever. It was also an open ended ending and that could potentially annoy the hell out of people.

Thank you to Net Galley for an advance copy of this audio book in exchange for my honest review. It runs for 3 hours, 25 minutes.

This book is from the point of view of a "replica" of Holly, who was created with the intent of finding and killing her "original", who has killed her husband. Replicas of this type are sometime mandated by a judge as a form of justice, and are outfitted with the combat and subterfuge skills required to accomplish their task. This of course makes for very interesting quandaries for the traumatized replica, who feels like she is still herself, if enhanced, and who sets out to prove she was framed, and find her original.

I would consider this a cyberpunk mystery thriller, and despite it being very action focused, I feel I got a good sense of Holly's personality and her decision making process. It seemed that she got over her shock and sadness of finding out her husband was dead extremely quickly and easily, but that in itself informed her very rational character and may have been intentional. The narrator had a very cynical tone throughout that matched Holly's personality.

The sound tracks overpowered the narration at times, and this would be a recommended tweak because it was immersion breaking on a number of occasions.

Overall I recommend this audio book for its interesting, futuristic world and fast pace. It did the trick of keeping me entertained while cooking over the past week :)

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Original was a blast to dive into. I was so excited when I received this audiobook because Brandon's writing is just amazing! After diving into this book, I can definitely tell you that the ending left me second guessing and questioning every thing. I have no idea who ended up surviving and I'm a-okay with all of that. Of course my buddy and I have deemed a random winner out of the clone and the original and we are going to stick with it.

This audio was very short, like 3 hours maybe, but it jam packed with so many things. The entire plot of having a replica find and kill the original made me think of Gemini Man. Not sure if that's the correct movie title or not but that's what I'm going with right now. Haven't seen the movie but I'm pretty sure the plot is the younger version going after the older version of Will Smith.

Really interesting book. I came looking for another Brandon Sanderson work, and it is different than his usual works. But I really enjoyed it. Definitely worth your time!

An excellent novella, with great characters and excellent world building.
I love the mix of mystery and sci-fi, the well thought and interesting characters, the plot that flows.
The narrator did a great job and everything worked fine.
It's strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I had sent this to my Netgalley shelf but it disappeared as soon as it was archived apparently. I don’t know if this is a glitch or standard for audiobooks.

4.5 stars : so short but so good!

Brandon Sanderson and Mary Kowal gives us an engaging story that hooked me from the very beginning. The narration was great and kept me on the edge of my seat. The sounds of heartbeats in the background when the main character was stressed or during fights was a nice addition and I appreciated the efforts put into The Original.

In this book, you follow a "PR" (Provisional Replica) of a woman who apparently, murdered her own husband and then carved him like an orange. The PR is tasked to find her Original and kill her. All that in only four days.

After listening to a 30+ hours long audiobook, I was so excited to dive into this one. Especially knowing Brandon Sanderson co-wrote it. It's less than four hours and even though it's short, I loved every single moment. The world-building was also interesting and original (not making a pun here). The ending made me think and I almost wish I wasn't done with the book already.

If you like sci-fi and action-packed books, definitely check this out!

(Thank you so much for letting me listen and review an ARC via Netgalley)

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media recorded books for an early edition audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! This was one juicy tidbit! This audiobook had me pulled in right from the start. I wanted answers but I also wanted to keep listening at the same time. The audiobook moved along smoothly and feed me bite sizes of information. So well developed and exciting! The narrator Julia Whelan , was excellent as always. She makes you feel like you are right there , living the story.
The story was perfect in length, action and mystery. Fantastic!