Recently I had the chance to read Carol Riggs's cool new YA sci-fi book, The Body Institute, due out September 1st. I'm a big fan of sci-fi whether we're talking about the Across the Universe series by Beth Revis, John Wyndham novels, episodes of Doctor Who or Falling Skies, or flicks like Looper or Her, so I had a ton of fun diving into the near future society Carol has envisioned in The Body Institute. Here instead of encountering body snatchers we have reducers, people others willingly allow to temporarily take over their bodies and lose weight for them. Move over, diet pills and Weight Watchers International! But, as you can imagine, all may not be well with this method of losing weight...
Here's the jacket copy from the book's publisher, Entangled:
Meet Morgan Dey, one of the top teen Reducers at The Body Institute.
Thanks to cutting-edge technology, Morgan can temporarily take over another girl’s body, get her in shape, and then return to her own body—leaving her client slimmer, more toned, and feeling great. Only there are a few catches…
For one, Morgan won’t remember what happens in her “Loaner” body. Once she’s done, she won’t recall walks with her new friend Matt, conversations with the super-cute Reducer she’s been text-flirting with, or the uneasy feeling she has that the director of The Body Institute is hiding something. Still, it’s all worth it in the name of science. Until the glitches start…
Suddenly, residual memories from her Loaner are cropping up in Morgan’s mind. She’s feeling less like herself and more like someone else. And when protests from an anti–Body Institute organization threaten her safety, she’ll have to decide if being a Reducer is worth the cost of her body and soul…
Are we our minds...or our bodies?
Here's the jacket copy from the book's publisher, Entangled:
Meet Morgan Dey, one of the top teen Reducers at The Body Institute.
Thanks to cutting-edge technology, Morgan can temporarily take over another girl’s body, get her in shape, and then return to her own body—leaving her client slimmer, more toned, and feeling great. Only there are a few catches…
For one, Morgan won’t remember what happens in her “Loaner” body. Once she’s done, she won’t recall walks with her new friend Matt, conversations with the super-cute Reducer she’s been text-flirting with, or the uneasy feeling she has that the director of The Body Institute is hiding something. Still, it’s all worth it in the name of science. Until the glitches start…
Suddenly, residual memories from her Loaner are cropping up in Morgan’s mind. She’s feeling less like herself and more like someone else. And when protests from an anti–Body Institute organization threaten her safety, she’ll have to decide if being a Reducer is worth the cost of her body and soul…
Are we our minds...or our bodies?
And here's the blurb I've written for the book:
"The Body Institute is a roller coaster of a book! This fast-paced sci-fi thriller grapples with issues of identity and scientific technology run amok in a society only two steps ahead of our own, while scrutinizing an all-encompassing obsession with being thin which is very much part of the here and now. Readers will love the twists and turns and be prompted to question their own relationship to technology, body image and the ever-growing power of mega-corporations."
