As a constant seeker of young-adult speculative fiction that engages with issues of race and gender and that features queer and genderqueer/trans characters, I recently found Robin Wasserman's young-adult dystopian-future trilogy The Cold Awakening, comprising Skinned, Crashed, and Wired, to be a potent exploration of the significance of medical technology in identity, race, dis/ability, and gender. The first book, Skinned, starts with a slam: “Lia Kahn is dead. I am Lia Kahn. Therefore … I am dead. Except here's the thing: I'm not” (1). Both playing with and challenging Descartes's fundamental tenet, “I think, therefore I am,” Wasserman introduces her trilogy as the stage of a fast-paced science-fiction adventure and insightful dialogue on the nature of existence and the physiological location of identity, as told by the self-identified spokesperson of young, white privilege, Lia Kahn.
Lia Kahn's perfect, privileged life ends abruptly in a car accident...
