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Are You Even Human #1
Are You Even Human: Volume 1: Are You Even Human, Book 1
In 2025, the moon hatched and its child died. Things have since gotten worse.
Some people have superpowers now, but so do the extradimensional invaders slowly wiping humanity out. By Julietta's eighteenth birthday, the war has been loss after loss for far longer than she's been alive, so she can't bring herself to be terribly shocked when the sky splits in half and weeps death. Surviving is the real surprise.
Unexpectedly gaining the powers of a shapeshifter, Julietta can change into any living thing she has touched, mixing and matching parts with flesh as mutable as flowing water... Except when she tries to return to her original form. Trapped behind enemy lines in someone else's skin, Julietta must adapt to new powers, new bodies, and new threats, all just to survive. But when she makes it out, will she still be Julietta?
Some people have superpowers now, but so do the extradimensional invaders slowly wiping humanity out. By Julietta's eighteenth birthday, the war has been loss after loss for far longer than she's been alive, so she can't bring herself to be terribly shocked when the sky splits in half and weeps death. Surviving is the real surprise.
Unexpectedly gaining the powers of a shapeshifter, Julietta can change into any living thing she has touched, mixing and matching parts with flesh as mutable as flowing water... Except when she tries to return to her original form. Trapped behind enemy lines in someone else's skin, Julietta must adapt to new powers, new bodies, and new threats, all just to survive. But when she makes it out, will she still be Julietta?
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First published April 23, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 22, 2025
Absolutely stunning.
tl;dr—just read it already!
AYEH is, first and foremost, about the concept of self. It's disturbing, philosophical, and introspective, and it's absolutely overflowing with existential dread. Our main character, Julietta, isn't sure that she's actually Julietta anymore. She's not sure if she's human. She frankly has no idea what she's become, and neither do I, and what a delectable nightmare that makes for!
But there's a lot more going on in this story than abstract philosophy. The themes are firmly rooted in a gritty world of chaos and brutality, where Julietta and her companions struggle just to live for one more day, for one more hour. The tension is palpable; they're constantly on the brink of disaster, and even when nothing is happening, even when things are miraculously quiet and peaceful, I was sitting there with bated breath, just waiting for the other shoe to drop. And believe me—it always drops.
The propulsive tension is one of my favorite parts of the story, actually. The stress is unrelenting and the situation seems hopeless, but our merry band of misfits keeps pushing through, keeps moving forward, no matter how impossible the odds. It's dark and uncomfortable and hopeful all at once, and I absolutely loved it.
Speaking of our misfits, the main characters are all walking disasters. Julietta's sister is a horrifying enigma. She's their key to survival, but she's dubious as fuck, terrifyingly callous, and refuses to answer even the most reasonable questions about her motivations. She's despicable, and she's one of my favorite parts of the story. Their other companions are a girl with tremendously potent powers who simply can't use them—she hyperventilates and curls into a ball at the first sign of stress, and trying to survive an apocalyptic alien invasion is pretty goddamn stressful—and a nine-year-old child who just watched her family fall apart. Physically. Into little fleshy cubes. She's about as stable as you'd imagine.
And Julietta... well, she thinks she's better than the rest, but she's just as fucked up. She's stuck in someone else's body, pretending to be a girl she despises. Her shapeshifting alters her brain, and that alters the way she thinks, and she can change into an alien—you do the math. The way her mind works is bizarre and frightening, and it's one of the coolest things I've ever read.
We spend a lot of time inside Julietta's head; we're intimately familiar with her thoughts and biases, her jaded worldview, her self-reliance, her arrogance and judgment. If she were anyone else, I would find the amount of internal dialogue to be tedious; but she is an absolute marvel, and I cherish every caustic word that runs through her mind. The contrast between her thoughts and actions is especially intriguing—no matter how cruel and scornful she is on the inside, she treats everyone with care and respect, because she knows that will help her survive.
She treats people like puzzles and social interactions like high-stakes games—what can she say to get what she wants? How can she make people do what they need to do? Julietta, like many of the other characters, is neurodivergent, but she hasn't really figured that out for herself—she mostly just views other people as stupid and useless, pawns that she needs to manage carefully. She's undeniably intelligent and adaptable, but she's far from infallible. I could go on about this for a lot longer, but I think you get point by now! Julietta is unique and flawed, and I love her.
The aliens are really fucking cool.
The military is horrific but necessary.
Superpowers are really neat, until they get really unsettling.
Everything is bleak and gross and utterly fascinating.
There are so many mysteries. I love them all.
This entire book is bloody wonderful, and the sequel is off to an even better start. It's become one of my all-time favorites, so I hope you give it a chance. I will be reading every single one of Thundamoo's stories, and I suggest you do the same.
tl;dr—just read it already!
AYEH is, first and foremost, about the concept of self. It's disturbing, philosophical, and introspective, and it's absolutely overflowing with existential dread. Our main character, Julietta, isn't sure that she's actually Julietta anymore. She's not sure if she's human. She frankly has no idea what she's become, and neither do I, and what a delectable nightmare that makes for!
But there's a lot more going on in this story than abstract philosophy. The themes are firmly rooted in a gritty world of chaos and brutality, where Julietta and her companions struggle just to live for one more day, for one more hour. The tension is palpable; they're constantly on the brink of disaster, and even when nothing is happening, even when things are miraculously quiet and peaceful, I was sitting there with bated breath, just waiting for the other shoe to drop. And believe me—it always drops.
The propulsive tension is one of my favorite parts of the story, actually. The stress is unrelenting and the situation seems hopeless, but our merry band of misfits keeps pushing through, keeps moving forward, no matter how impossible the odds. It's dark and uncomfortable and hopeful all at once, and I absolutely loved it.
Speaking of our misfits, the main characters are all walking disasters. Julietta's sister is a horrifying enigma. She's their key to survival, but she's dubious as fuck, terrifyingly callous, and refuses to answer even the most reasonable questions about her motivations. She's despicable, and she's one of my favorite parts of the story. Their other companions are a girl with tremendously potent powers who simply can't use them—she hyperventilates and curls into a ball at the first sign of stress, and trying to survive an apocalyptic alien invasion is pretty goddamn stressful—and a nine-year-old child who just watched her family fall apart. Physically. Into little fleshy cubes. She's about as stable as you'd imagine.
And Julietta... well, she thinks she's better than the rest, but she's just as fucked up. She's stuck in someone else's body, pretending to be a girl she despises. Her shapeshifting alters her brain, and that alters the way she thinks, and she can change into an alien—you do the math. The way her mind works is bizarre and frightening, and it's one of the coolest things I've ever read.
We spend a lot of time inside Julietta's head; we're intimately familiar with her thoughts and biases, her jaded worldview, her self-reliance, her arrogance and judgment. If she were anyone else, I would find the amount of internal dialogue to be tedious; but she is an absolute marvel, and I cherish every caustic word that runs through her mind. The contrast between her thoughts and actions is especially intriguing—no matter how cruel and scornful she is on the inside, she treats everyone with care and respect, because she knows that will help her survive.
She treats people like puzzles and social interactions like high-stakes games—what can she say to get what she wants? How can she make people do what they need to do? Julietta, like many of the other characters, is neurodivergent, but she hasn't really figured that out for herself—she mostly just views other people as stupid and useless, pawns that she needs to manage carefully. She's undeniably intelligent and adaptable, but she's far from infallible. I could go on about this for a lot longer, but I think you get point by now! Julietta is unique and flawed, and I love her.
The aliens are really fucking cool.
The military is horrific but necessary.
Superpowers are really neat, until they get really unsettling.
Everything is bleak and gross and utterly fascinating.
There are so many mysteries. I love them all.
This entire book is bloody wonderful, and the sequel is off to an even better start. It's become one of my all-time favorites, so I hope you give it a chance. I will be reading every single one of Thundamoo's stories, and I suggest you do the same.
August 26, 2024
Everyone's a Jerk and The World Is Ending
Thundamoo continues her streak of incredibly flawed casts. Almost every developed character is concerned mainly about saving their own lives before everyone else's, but they all choose to/are manipulated to care about each other at the same time. This book paints the human condition of hypocrisy at its most desperate, and I could not stop reading until I finished it in one sitting.
Thundamoo continues her streak of incredibly flawed casts. Almost every developed character is concerned mainly about saving their own lives before everyone else's, but they all choose to/are manipulated to care about each other at the same time. This book paints the human condition of hypocrisy at its most desperate, and I could not stop reading until I finished it in one sitting.
August 27, 2024
What does it mean to be a person?
A beautiful character driven story about survival against the odds, found family and self acceptance. It deftly answers the title with a more important question - does it matter?
A beautiful character driven story about survival against the odds, found family and self acceptance. It deftly answers the title with a more important question - does it matter?
May 3, 2025
Amazing read
I very rarely leave reviews, but I find it criminal how hidden this book is. I was skeptical coming in, and was worried it would be too similar to Bioshifter, which I recently finished. However, this book blew my expectations out of the water! Even during finals week, I finished the book in 2 days, I just couldn’t put it down. There are some similarities to Bioshifter, but the premise and characters are unique enough that it wasn’t just a rehash of the same story. The pacing is amazing and unique, with a tense first half combined with a slower back half.
The characters feel real and flawed, and I particularly like the main character. She’s pragmatic and socially responsible, which I find rare to see in books. She always considers the impact of her words, but she’s not some paragon of emotional intelligence, she just thinks about it and makes an effort. I find this refreshing and new, as I honestly haven’t seen this type of character depicted before.
Overall 10/10 and I cannot wait for volume 2!
I very rarely leave reviews, but I find it criminal how hidden this book is. I was skeptical coming in, and was worried it would be too similar to Bioshifter, which I recently finished. However, this book blew my expectations out of the water! Even during finals week, I finished the book in 2 days, I just couldn’t put it down. There are some similarities to Bioshifter, but the premise and characters are unique enough that it wasn’t just a rehash of the same story. The pacing is amazing and unique, with a tense first half combined with a slower back half.
The characters feel real and flawed, and I particularly like the main character. She’s pragmatic and socially responsible, which I find rare to see in books. She always considers the impact of her words, but she’s not some paragon of emotional intelligence, she just thinks about it and makes an effort. I find this refreshing and new, as I honestly haven’t seen this type of character depicted before.
Overall 10/10 and I cannot wait for volume 2!
July 26, 2025
I'm of two minds about this book. The premise, world-building, and magic system are all excellent but the protagonist was a chore to listen to. She is extremely self obsessed, to the point where 90% of her mental cycles seem devoted to thinking about herself, and how others are reacting to her. If I'm ever in a war, I hope I'll be a little more focused on the objectives.
Despite this, I enjoyed the read and was surprised to find some quite advanced philosophy regarding souls, free-will, and sapience. If there's ever a volume two, I'll give it a go.
Despite this, I enjoyed the read and was surprised to find some quite advanced philosophy regarding souls, free-will, and sapience. If there's ever a volume two, I'll give it a go.
February 26, 2025
A slow start but that's how Thundamoo rolls. Really love the running thoughts of her protagonists, she always nails that stream of conscious thought.
Natalie also is very descriptive of the body horror, casually putting out ideas of kaleidoscopic eyes or digestive tracts from tentacles to eat old, dead flesh.
I'm really curious to see where the story goes 😊
Natalie also is very descriptive of the body horror, casually putting out ideas of kaleidoscopic eyes or digestive tracts from tentacles to eat old, dead flesh.
I'm really curious to see where the story goes 😊
April 11, 2026
I was reluctant to read this because of the setting, but I really hadn't anticipated how much I'd grow to enjoy it. The characters are amazing, Jullietta is such an interesting narrator, and I'm enjoying the story so much. The second arc really picked up on both fleshing out the characters and shaping the story. It's been really fun.
December 16, 2024
The first half is better than the second half.
I also think we spend a bit too much time living inside the main character's thought processes.
Quick prediction: Juliette will go to the moon to copy and assume the identity of the Grand Queen in order to end the war.
I also think we spend a bit too much time living inside the main character's thought processes.
Quick prediction: Juliette will go to the moon to copy and assume the identity of the Grand Queen in order to end the war.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 26, 2024
They do it again
I blazed through this book. I love the topics that come up and the real feeling that this universe could exist despite its fantasticall nature. I want more. I will read everything this author writes, just because the topics and nature of the discussion is incredibly intriguing.
I blazed through this book. I love the topics that come up and the real feeling that this universe could exist despite its fantasticall nature. I want more. I will read everything this author writes, just because the topics and nature of the discussion is incredibly intriguing.
July 16, 2025
Good start to the series, but it doesn’t have the humor/banter that Vigor Mortis had, that’s a series I love from this author so I went in expecting that which disappointed me a bit. But you still get the fantastic character building and character depth you get in the other series by this author.
October 7, 2025
very similar to vigor mortis, which was good. It took so long to get into the story, too much drawn out in the beginning. By the end of the book, I was sucked in. Annoyed now that the audiobook isn't available yet for volume 2.
September 12, 2024
Turning into a monster to survive.
Or maybe not. Sometimes? It's a Thundamoo thing. For me, this was just a great story that I need more of.
Or maybe not. Sometimes? It's a Thundamoo thing. For me, this was just a great story that I need more of.
November 10, 2024
Another fun body horror adventure! This time with a super hero flavor.
September 2, 2025
Very much enjoyed this book. Looking forward to the next volume to be turned into an audiobook.
January 31, 2026
Amazing
I really enjoyed this book. Natalie Maher writing is so good her different universes and world building and different characters are so well done each time I can't wait to see where you take this one
I really enjoyed this book. Natalie Maher writing is so good her different universes and world building and different characters are so well done each time I can't wait to see where you take this one
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews