Bionic by Suzanne Weyn
Released: October 25, 2016 | Genre: Young Adult, Drama, Science Fiction
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Mira has always almost had it all...until it all crashes and burns. She’s hurt in a horrible car accident, and the only way the doctors can help is to try experimental prosthetics and chips that are implanted directly into her brain. It’s a huge risk, but after months of testing and therapy, Mira is back, and better than ever. But soon her friends turn against her as their parents call her on unfair advantages and get her cut from lacrosse and the scholarships she was depending on for college. And with her enhanced hearing, she knows how many people in her school and her town are calling her a robot, a cyborg. Is that true? Is Mira human, or is she somehow something other? How can she overcome the ways people see her and just be herself...especially if she’s not really sure who that is anymore?
Suzanne Weyn is always at the cutting edge when it comes to new tech and the questions it raises about the world we live in.
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Suzanne Weyn got the inspiration for Bionic from a philosophical puzzle called the Ship of Theseus. The ancient thought experiment asks whether an object remains the same thing if every single part of it is gradually replaced. Weyn applied that question to her protagonist, Mira, who receives experimental prosthetic limbs and brain implants after a devastating accident, asking: At what point would replacing someone’s body parts change who they are?
REVIEW
⭐ ⭐ ☆ ☆ ☆
Everything that should’ve happened, didn’t. 🦾🦿
Bionic is written in a way that seems compelling and keeps you interested in where things are going, but then it ultimately doesn’t go anywhere. The story sets up a potentially fascinating premise about a teen who receives experimental bionic limbs after a devastating accident, only to deliver almost none of the expected tension or growth.
There’s no character arc. There’s no real struggle. She’s never ostracized for being different. Instead, she’s eventually praised as a hero and even gets a sponsorship. Mira gains physical enhancements and external advantages yet never faces sustained challenges that test her in a transformative way. She got bionic limbs, then simply continued on with her life, but was now just better at everything. The upgrades make her stronger, faster, more skilled, and more attractive, with little to no lasting cost, effects, or internal conflict that actually reshapes her.
As a result, the book suffers from a serious lack of focus on its core premise. It is far more focused on teen angst and love drama than the social implications of the character having bionic limbs. Questions about identity, humanity, fairness, or the ethics of enhancement stay mostly on the surface while the narrative drifts into familiar teen relationship territory. What could have been a sharp exploration of technology and identity ends up feeling like a missed opportunity that never fully commits to its own ideas.
