A story co-written by Brandon Sanderson and narrated by Julia Whelan? I couldn't start listening fast enough. I wasn't familiar with Mary Robinette Kowal before but now I'm sure interested.

The Original is wonderfully unique idea. A woman wakes up and finds out she's a clone. Her real self has murdered her husband and the clone has 4 days to find the original and kill her. But it's not that simple.

This is a truly fun and inventive Sci-fi mystery with echoes of Blade Runner and Black Mirror. It harness the essence of these stories but is 100% its own thing.

The writing is superb and its paced quite well for a novella. There's potential for a whole series to be made in this world or it could be left at one story

The Original was a truly enjoyable experience that I'm thankful for Net Galley and Recorded Books for letting me experience this in exchange for an honest review.

The Original follows Holly as she wakes up in the hospital and is told she must hunt down the original Holly since she is a who has been given Holly’s memories. Part science fiction, part thriller, The Original is action packed as Holly investigates her original’s crime and attempts to infiltrate a terrorist group.

The Original takes place in a very futuristic society where nanite technology is commonplace and gives individuals the chance to live their life through their own theme. Themes are something you view the world through that you can customize to your own liking. This is a poor description of the technology, but Sanderson and Kowal’s writing leaves no room for confusion and paints an interesting yet chilling future.

Without going into spoilers, there’s a particular scene that drives home the consequences of this kind of futuristic world. I haven’t been able to get this scene out of my head since it drives home the point of the story. This scene alone is well worth the three and a half hour listening time.

Julia Whelan is an incredible narrator. Her voice is soothing yet forceful when needed. I don’t listen to many audiobooks, but Whelan’s performance elevated the story. Her tone and voice work for different characters fits the scenes perfectly as she navigated readers through the thrilling adventure.

Overall, The Original is worth listening to. I know my review is vague, but it’s one of those stories worth going into blind and experiencing it in all its glory. What else could you expect from a Sanderson and Kowal writing team?

The Original // by Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal // narrated by Julia Whelan

I am not usually into either novellas nor science fiction but I chose this book without even reading the blurb because I was sure to love it since Brandon Sanderson is one of the authors. The world-building is as great as you would expect from a Sanderson story but this world is unlike anything else I have read from him.

The narration starts literally right away. I don’t know if this is because this is an ARC or if that is intentional. There was no intro, dedication, or anything else that you would usually expect. It pushes you straight into the story. While that was a little startling at first, I honestly liked the confused feeling because it matched the way the narrating character felt as well when she woke up in an unfamiliar bed. It set the scene and tone really well.

I really liked the narrator right from the start. Julia Whelan does a great job in this audiobook. She speaks very clearly and her inflections and tone always fit the situations she narrates. She conveys the emotions of the main character so well. But she is not the only reason why this audiobook stands out so much to me. There are also music and sound effects that are used frequently throughout the story that takes this experience to a whole new level as well. They assist in making you feel more nervous, creeped out, expectant, and other emotions, and were so well done. It was especially great during a club scene but I won’t go into detail. You just need to experience this yourself!

As I said above, I did not really pay attention to the book blurb and therefore had no specific expectations going in besides knowing it would be great. And I was not disappointed! I have recently read a futuristic story set in space and while this one is futuristic as well, I liked that it was set on Earth instead. That made it feel just a little bit more tangible, especially since at one point the characters referred to a time before their current nanotechnology. While they did explain some of the technology, this is not one of those stories where you get a whole lot of detail about that. You just get enough to understand what is going on. This definitely has an exciting plot so I cannot just call it a character-focused story but its focus was still a lot on emotions and the reasoning behind certain decisions so I cannot say it’s solely plot-driven either. It was actually a very good mix of both of them, which is impressive for such a short audiobook.

The entire story is told from Holly’s point of view so we get to hear all of her thoughts along the way. As many people do when they are nervous, their thoughts get the better of them and they start to ramble on. This made her seem like such a real character and while I do not want to give away an important (albeit very quickly revealed) detail of this story, this is a testament to the technology of the society to be able to imitate thought processes so well. She also internally discusses a lot of topics, such as religious groups, conspiracies (her paranoia is conveyed SO well by Julia Whelan!), checked in vs. checked out, transferring themes (what an awesome clubbing experience it must be there!), that directly affect her mission as well as ethical things, such as life after death, souls, and other such things, that give us a huge insight into this world without becoming overbearing in a way that distracts from the story.

This audiobook really is such a well put together production and I highly recommend it. The ending blew me away and I personally never saw it coming. It reminded me of my love for Sanderson’s works and introduced me to Mary Robinette Kowal who I had not known before so I am exciting to look into her other books as well. This audiobook is less than 3.5 hours long so perfect if you’re looking for something quick but don’t let the length fool you. It is packed full with exciting content!

Thank you to the authors, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review. I really hope we will get to hear or read more about this world!

The Original is a sci-fi novella written by Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal. It is probably the best book I've read so far this year - partly due to the great writing (I've been interested in Kowal's work ever since I watched her guest lecture on short stories in Sanderson's writing class), partly due to the other talents involved in the production of the audiobook (Julia Whelan was so good at portraying the protagonist's internal monologue, and the music and sound design made the experience prefect)
The story has a great sense of suspence and tension and opens a lot of questions on what reality is. It has amazing worldbuilding, and the sci-fi elements are woven into every aspect of the story. Scifi elements aren't added just to make clever commentary on technology, though. For instance themes - sensory manipulations shared by touch, which most citizens use to construct their own reality - are used both to talk about artifice and consummerism, but are also cleverly incorporated in some of the action scenes and the investigation Holly had to make.
The novella is short and punchy - it is unlike anything I've read by Sanderson (save for maybe Legion, though Legion is less sci-fi and in my opinion less good). I'm pretty sure it can't have become the amazing work it is without Kowal's skill in short-form fiction, so I'll probably check some of her other books.

I was incredibly excited to see that my favorite fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson, was teaming up with Mary Robinette Kowal on a sci-fi thriller. This book follows Holly, a Provisional Replica (basically a clone with enhancements), as she hunts down her Original who is accused of killing her husband. Holly loves her husband very much and doesn’t believe that the Original would have killed Jonathon. The book takes place over four days as Holly tries to find out what really happened. It was a fun story that kept me guessing and had a very satisfying ending.

This novella is being released as an audio first exclusive. I thought the narrator, Julia Whelan, did an excellent job. I also enjoyed the sound effects and music that were added throughout. I thought the amount of effects and the timing were all well done. It was just enough to enhance the book without overpowering the story/narration.

This came at a great time. I had just finished an audiobook, and was looking for another. I'd also have always wondered about both Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal. For some reason, never read either. So I was glad of the timing of receiving this audiobook galley. Great adventure, mystery, science fiction, all mixed together perfectly. Will definitely track down more from both authors. As for the audio portion of this, Julia Whelan was a very good reader. Easy to follow, and definitely kept my interest. Highly recommend this.

This short novella packs a punch of adventure, thrill, and social commentary bound to have any avid reader (or audiobook listener) hooked from the first word.

I appreciated how much this book had to say about identity, and the way it handled the topic.

Do you like science fiction set in worlds we recognize or worlds similar to ours now? Worlds not in space, yet very technologically advanced? Then this is the world for you. This audiobook only novella creates that futuristic world yet still has elements of things we know today. Cloning has been controversial for awhile and yet in this story we are met with clones aka Provisional Replicas created only under certain circumstances.

I was happy to go into this story without knowing very much about the storyline so I could experience the true impact of finding out why Holly wakes up with some memory loss as well as why a new identity had been imposed upon her. and what happened to her husband. There's an element of mystery in this story as well which held my attention to find out exactly what was going on.

The audiobook itself was excellent!! I loved the ominous background music and the narration by Julia Whelon was SUPERB as usual! She's one of my favorite audiobook narrators.

I received this audiobook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

In this novella we follow Holly, who is a Provisional Replica or clone of her original self. Holly was created by government decree after her original was convicted of murdering her husband and is now on the run. It is Holly’s responsibility to hunt down The Original.

I really enjoyed the concept of chasing after yourself but also trying to avoid your obvious decisions. I also liked the idea of theming. Basically everything in the world is generic and people theme places and people to what they want. For example, a nightclub is silent with white walls, but some people have make it look like a jazz club while others make it appear as a techno party.

This novella discusses what is real. Real clothes vs theming. Real oranges vs printed ones. And real people vs clones.

The audiobook also has a lot of additional soundtrack, along with the amazing narration from Julia Whelan. For example, during action sequences, music will begin slowly in the background, but get louder as the fight goes on. I found that this helped keep my attention and made my heart race, similar to fight scenes with soundtrack in movies. I really enjoyed that aspect.

Without spoilers, the ending is satisfying, but also leaves you thinking. I will definitely be picking up these authors’ other works.

Mystery meets Science Fiction in this compelling novella by Brandon Sanderson.

In this world, technology is well advanced to the point that a person can have their consciousnesses downloaded into a new body, becoming an AI, but their original "self" ends where the AI begins. The AI effectively becomes a new version of a person, which is a very interesting concept. What if the government used this technology for effectively assassinating target individuals? What if a "copy" and an "original" are indistinguishable? What if you woke up in a hospital thinking you were an original, to find out you are a copy convicted of murdering your husband with no memory of doing it or why?

Interesting SF story, what would you do if you find out you are an enhanced copy that was made because the original has killer her husband. And you have to kill the original within four days...
Some interesting ideas for the future, but a lot of them I hope that won’t be true...


Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The Original by Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal, a good book. Some parts felt a tad off, but as always an enjoyable listen/read. These novelettes usually make you go Hmmmmm.

Many might be excited that Sanderson has a new novella coming out. I was -way more- excited that Mary Robinette Kowal had a new novella. And that Julia Whelan was narrating it and she is as always a delight to listen to.

I mean, I read a handful of Sanderson's novels but won't say that I'm as big as a fan as it seems that all the other Sanderson readers are.
Robinette Kowal, I have only read two novels of and yet I would probably say that she is a favorite. The way she draws me into a story is just amazing.
I first saw Whelan's name on this and got excited, then Robinette Kowal and at last Sanderson.

This is such a short novella that I would suggest not knowing anything about this before listing. But let me say this, it's a wild ride that takes unexpected turns and full of interesting thought about how the future could look.
I listened to this in one go and after the first chapter I was totally hooked. I wish there was more but at the same time, I salute Sanderson's and Robinette Kowal's way to keep it short. A whole and very developed story in about four hours of listing.

I would say give it a go, if you like sci-fi. Even if you haven't read anything by the authors. It really is great.

Well that was... interesting. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it. It was just okay. I liked the concept and the ending was an AHA of course moment but til that point it was pretty okay. I wish there had been more world building or building on the concept of the characters. I know that there is this air of confusion and secrecy that drives the story but it was just not enough to get me that interested.

When Holly WInseed wakes up in a hospital, she realizes that something must be terribly wrong. It is soon made clear that the Original Holly has killed her scientist husband, Jonathan, and fled.

In this new society focused on beauty and convenience, laws have been created to deal with such horrible circumstances. In cases such as these, the government orders a Provisional Replica, a clone, be made of the offender.

The PR Holly is told what Original Holly has done and is given 4 days to find Original Holly and killer her. If she succeeds, she will get to resume Original Holly's life and even petition to have her husband revived, despite his wishes. If she fails, Jonathan will remain dead and PR Holly will also die.

This was a great sci-fi look at person utopia contrived and sustained through government action. Personal themes to remove all the negativity from our sight and hearing and experience, nanite technologies to keep us healthy and young and vibrant.

Until... something happens and the veil is lifted, even if only slightly.

Now PR Holly is torn between fulfilling her mission and killing Original Holly or going with what she KNOWS to be true and proving that Original Holly is innocent.

Narrated by Julia Whelan, this audio novella developed the plot an premise in a believable way with the listener learning as PR Holly put the pieces of her past and her mission together with the help of her handler.
I could see this as an opener for a series set in this world, with the differing factions, the government involvement, the check-outs, the PRs that were successful in their missions all having a role.

Very well done. 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publishers for this audio-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Original follows the Provisional Replica of Holly Winseed, as she wakes up to the news of her murdered husband. She has four days to hunt down the original and ultimately make a life-altering decision.

I enjoyed listening to this! Although the novella was short, it packed a punch and every single minute of the audiobook wasn’t wasted.
The plot was fast-paced and we are thrust straight into the action from the start. This kept my attention and I was glued on every single word. Morality and identity were central themes within the story and I enjoyed how the authors discussed it. What makes you you and how do you define yourself? Is it right to sacrifice your privacy for aging? These were the questions that kept swirling around in my brain.

I really liked Holly as the protagonist. She was strong-willed and always questioning the things around her. Her inner conflict was so fascinating to read about and I loved following along with her on her journey to self-discovery. Julia Whelan did a stunning job of bringing Holly to life.

In terms of the audio production, I found the music to be a nice addition. It enhanced my reading experience and I felt like I was watching a movie. However, during one scene the electronic music was a bit too loud and it drowned out the narration. I found it difficult to concentrate on the words. Hopefully, this will be fixed in the final copy. Other than that, the audio was top tier and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Overall, this was such an enjoyable read. I definitely recommend if you’re looking for a fast-paced sci-fi with interesting concepts.

Lo cierto es que cuando vi que existía un trabajo conjunto de Brandon Sanderson y Mary Robinette Kowal en audiolibro exclusivamente, me faltó tiempo para ponerme con él.


The Original tiene a su favor su brevedad y su ritmo trepidante. Se trata de un thriller de ciencia ficción con todas las características habituales de este tipo de obras. Aunque resulte contraintuitivo, no esperéis mucha originalidad.

En un futuro no muy lejano, los humanos están inmersos en una realidad virtual con la que conviven cada día. Gracias a una especie de salario mínimo vital, no es necesario desarrollar un trabajo real para ganarse el sustento, lo que ha reactivado las artes pero que no deja de ser una justificación un poco vacía para llenar las horas. La presencia de nanobots en los cuerpos hace que los humanos sean prácticamente inmortales a no ser que les sobrevenga una muerte violenta. Incluso se puede realizar copias de los humanos. Lo que parece un futuro idílico, sin embargo, oculta otros problemas en su interior.

La protagonista de la obra despierta confundida y tiene que responder a una serie de preguntas para situarse, lo que le hace comprender que ha sido «revivida» como una copia de su yo anterior. La realidad es aún más terrible, ya que acusan a su original de haber asesinado a su marido. A partir de aquí, con solo cuatro días para resolver el misterio, deberá llevar a cabo su misión.

La réplica se divide entonces entre el dolor por la pérdida y la aceptación de la situación y de sus nuevas capacidades imbuidas por el Gobierno para facilitarle la tarea. Estas nuevas habilidades serán clave en las escenas de acción, bastante entretenidas y cinemáticas.

La narración del audiolibro, a cargo de Julia Whelan, es muy correcta. Como novedad, o al menos como algo a lo que yo no estoy acostumbrada, la inclusión de ciertos sonidos y melodías acordes con la situación que se va narrando en cada momento. Aunque en cierto modo acompañan la escena, no estoy segura de que sean un añadido interesante para el lector habitual de audiolibros. Al menos a mí me impedía leer con algo más de velocidad, que es lo que acostumbro a hacer.

En resumen, The Original es una obra entretenida y breve, que puede servir para pasar un buen rato. No pasará a la historia, pero no creo que ese fuera su objetivo.

Do you like clones? Do you like murder mysteries? Political intrigue? This story has it all.

Summary:

Holly wakes up and she is no longer fully herself. Something very bad has happened. In this world it is common for people to periodically store backups of their memories and personalities as a sort of video game-style save point, so they can be revived in a cloned body if they die. However, not all clones are intended to be permanent. Holly is now a provisional replica of herself, a clone that has most of her original memories, some new personality modifications, and four days to find and kill her original self and take over (take back?) her life before the technology powering her replicated body stops working.

Characters:

Holly - A provisional replica, a type of temporary clone created by the government to deal with serious criminals.

The Original - Holly, originally. She is an artist whose preferred medium is carving designs into orange peels. She’s on the run.

Jonathan – Holly’s murdered husband. He worked for the government as an engineer, in a “real” job, which is unusual in a world where technology has advanced to the point where few few people really need to work and most choose to focus on passion projects and hobbies (like Holly’s orange peel carving)

Opinion:

This novella offers an interesting look into the basis of identity in a world where your entire personality can be stored, replicated, and even edited by request, necessity, or at the whims of the government. The clones in this story don’t just share dna with their originals; they share memories, emotions, and personalities—what makes a person uniquely themself if so much of who they are can be artificially replicated? Holly and her original are both alive at the same time. Is the original more real? The book does a good job of delving into the concept of identity without stagnating in overly philosophical musings.

Interestingly for a sci-fi dystopia, there actually seems to be the implication that capitalism may in fact be a good thing. Part of the problem with this fictional society is a universal basic income which allows them the security to become willfully blind to socio-political issues. I’m not sure how I feel about this low-key moral—I tend to prefer stories that try to resolve and improve the many many problems caused by capitalism, which by and large seems to be the bulk of dystopian fiction. It’s not often that you find a speculative fiction of this sort going around implying that capitalism acts as a restraining force on corrupt governments.


I have been meaning to read Brandon Sanderson for ages. He has been recommended to me countless times over the years, and as such a prolific writer there are so many places to start. Well, this collaborative novella worked well as an entry point into his writing, and I will be sure look for more.

Mary Robinette Kowal was also an unfamiliar author for me, but based on this story appears well deserving of the many accolades she has received from various sci-fi and short fiction awards.

Julia Whelan is the narrator for this audiobook and she does a very good job. Although this story does not feature an overly large character list, she is good at making them sound distinct and recognizable.

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for approving my request for a review copy of this book!

"The Original takes place over the course of four days and revolves around the murder of a man named Jonathan Winseed by his wife Holly, who then goes on the run. It questions things like identity, what drives a person to be a killer, and what one is willing to do in order to stay alive."

I was excited for this because:
1) This sounded like such a different type of novel from all I had previously read by Brandon Sanderson.
2) It was co-authored and so combined my love for one author, Brandon Sanderson, with one I have yet to read from, Mary Robinette Kowal, but was already intrigued to.
3) The audio narrator, Julia Whelan, is one I had previous success with and was also impressed by the sheer amount of great titles she had relayed.
4) It was only available as an audiobook and I was curious as to just why that was.

My initial intrigue carried me throughout this short audiobook and I loved navigating the way to the truth, alongside protagonist Holly. This futuristic world was only painted in the broadest strokes and yet I managed to garner an evocative depiction of each setting. The audio narration was also the perfect way to consume this book, as Whelan's voice combined with the odd sound effect allowed me to fully immerse myself inside of this story. In all, I spent a morning dog walk largely blind to the world around me, whilst my thoughts were fully consumed by this future one and the bloody mystery featured there.

Review in exchange for an honest review. I went into this book with high expectations. I have read several books by Brandon Sanderson and have never been disappointed. This short novella was excellent. I was impressed with the amount of world building this length of the story allowed. This future world felt fully realized. I hate it but also this is the kinda of sci-fi that scares me. That is a good thing though. I felt for the main character and really enjoyed the ending. I also really enjoyed the audiobook. The narrators were great and I really enjoyed the added sound effects. Sanderson continues to be an autobuy author for me and now I am interested in looking into Mary Robinette Kowal works I enjoyed this one so much.