Science fiction thriller

The Original

by Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal

112 pages · First published 2020

In a near-future society where nanotechnology can prolong life, alter perception, and monitor nearly every aspect of human existence, Holly Winseed awakens in a hospital with fragmented memories and a terrifying revelation: she is not the original Holly, but a government-created replica. Her Original is accused of murdering her husband, Jonathan, and Holly has been given just seven days to find and kill the woman whose identity she shares. Armed with implanted combat skills and monitored by government agents, Holly must navigate a world where people customize their perceptions of reality and surrender their privacy in exchange for continued life. But as her investigation draws her toward a dangerous resistance movement, the truth about her husband and her own creation becomes increasingly uncertain. With time running out and her survival dependent on eliminating another version of herself, Holly must decide whom to trust and what it truly means to be human. This fast-paced science-fiction thriller explores identity, government surveillance, mortality, and the unsettling cost of technological immortality.