Always Human (Always Human #1) by Ari North

Always Human by Ari North
My Rating: ★★★

In a world where technology allows people to change their appearance, Sunati is used to changing her appearance often. Body modifications allow anything from a natural, realistic human appearance to wings, horns, and any kind of animal or fantasy features. When she first sees Austen, she quickly notices that she’s the rare person to go without mods. Once Sunati works up the courage to speak to Austen, she quickly learns that living without mods isn’t her choice. Instead, her overactive immune prevents her from living with any mods, making her always appear 100% human in a world where people can look any way they want.

I thought this story sounded interesting, so I picked it up and had absolutely no regrets. The artwork is absolutely stunning on top of it being a very cute and heartwarming story about two people falling in love and learning how to navigate relationships. Sunati is used to living with mods, which cover anything from body mods to mods that help with sleep, anxiety, memory, and so on. I’ve always thought this sci-fi concept was an interesting one, so it was neat to see it play out across this story with beautiful artwork that really brought it to life.

We follow the ups and downs of Sunati and Austen’s lives and relationships. While we see them in a variety of settings, we only get to know the two of them. We do meet some supporting characters, but it’s so brief that we hardly get to know any of them. There’s one flashback scene that shows Sunati and her best friend, which allows us to learn a little more about their friendship, but it was so out of place that it seemed like an extra that was randomly inserted at the last minute.

Overall, I think majority of the story is barely touches the surface. It’s mainly about the couple’s insecurities and how they learn to communicate with each other. Outside of that, there’s not a lot of character development. It’s mostly Sunati being a people pleaser and putting other people’s needs over her own and Austen being grumpy for one reason or another and trying to get Sunati to stop thinking she’s brave for living without mods.

That said, I think it’s a really cute story and the artwork is absolutely stunning. I wish there was a little more depth, but I can’t complain and would read this again.