The Original

Brandon Sanderson · Mary Robinette Kowal

Sep 2020 · RB Media · Narrated by Julia Whelan

About this audiobook

Hugo Award–winning authors Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal team up in this exclusive audio-first
production of The Original, a sci-fi thriller set in a world where one woman fights to know her true identity and survive
the forces that threaten her very existence.

In the near future, humans choose life—for a price.

Injectable nanite technology is the lifeblood that flows through every individual wishing to experience the world through the
lens of their own theme. While death from mortal wounds is still possible, life is made easier in a socially liberated society where
automation and income equality allow passion pursuits to flourish over traditional work. Renewal stations are provided to every
law-abiding citizen for weekly check-ins, which issue life-sustaining repairs in exchange for personal privacy. But what becomes
of those who check out, of those who dare to resist immortality and risk being edited under the gaze of an identity-extracting
government surveillance system?

When Holly Winseed wakes up in a hospital room, her memory compromised and a new identity imposed on her, a team of
government agents wastes no time stating their objective. With intent to infiltrate and defeat the terrorist group ICON, the agents
tell Holly that she is now a Provisional Replica and has one week to hunt down and kill her Original for the murder of her husband,
Jonathan. If she succeeds, she’ll assume her Original’s place in society. If she fails, her life will end.

Holly’s progress is monitored by an assigned contact that feeds her information as she confronts the blank, robotic world
around her, discovering that others view life through the theme of their own choosing. With her newly implanted combat and
deduction skills, Holly fends off both attacks by terrorists and doubts about her own trustworthiness as clues lead her to her
Original—and to the truth about Jonathan.

In the end, one body remains and one walks away. Although questions persist, one thing is certain: life will never be the same.

Ratings and reviews

My only complaint is that I wish there was more of it.

Short read, but a very enjoyable sci-fi story.

It was awesome, and I wish the story was longer.

About the author

Brandon Sanderson was born on December 19, 1975 in Lincoln, Nebraska. He received a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in creative writing from Brigham Young University. His first book, Elantris, was published in 2005. His other works include the Mistborn series, the Stormlight Archive series, Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians series, and the Reckoners series. In 2007, he was chosen by Harriet Rigney to complete A Memory of Light, book twelve in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. He has continued the series with Towers of Midnight and A Memory of Light. In 2018 his title, White Sand Volume 2, made the Best Seller List.