Book Review: Program 13 by Nicole Sobon

Program 13
The Emile Reed Chronicles #1
Author: Nicole Sobon
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Released: August 12, 2012
Review Source: Author

Recommended for fans of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse!

Two identities. One Body.

17-year-old Emile Reed, may have died, but she isn't dead. Her body now belongs to Program Thirteen, where her every thought, every movement, is controlled. Until Emile begins to find her way back inside of Thirteen's core, where she manages to fend off Thirteen’s programming to reclaim the life that she lost. But Charles McVeigh, the owner of Vesta Corp, isn’t willing to let Thirteen go. And he will stop at nothing to reclaim control of Thirteen's programming. Because without her, McVeigh has nothing.

What makes you human?

Like I've said before, I'm not much of a Sci-Fi person, but I thought the premise was pretty cool, so I gave it a try. I love the cover and the colors go really well together. With self-published books it can be a hit or miss, but I really liked this one. You can tell that a lot of time and consideration was taken into putting it together.

As for as the story goes, I liked it, but I feel that I've read this storyline a few times. The character dies, but then becomes a robot. Her soul is still there inside the robot, but she isn't in control. There's a scientist who doesn't want her to take control and wants her killed. I've seen this plot before in a few books that I've read recently, so it wasn't anything new or inventive about it. I wish there had been something a little more to make it stand out, but in the end, I felt it was a little flat. The writing wasn't all there for me either. I found a few things that I would have liked a little more, but felt like some scenes were cut a little short.

I did like the characters Emile and Colton. I could see myself being friends with Emile and have a crush on Colton. The author did a really good job of making sure the characters weren't flat and had a back story. It did feel a little weird to see the two of them have feelings for one another because she was a robot, but the point of the book was that she had a human soul inside and that's what is important. McVeigh was the "bad guy" and I felt that she did a good job of making him someone you really didn't like.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but felt that I've read it before. I will read the rest in the series to see what happens to Colton and Emile because the ending was the best part of the book. I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good robot, Science Fiction book.