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mercurialbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I enjoyed this one. Written as a YA novel although I'd consider it more NA as the main character is (at a guess) 21. Nell lives in a world that has been ravaged by a plague, leaving many people without limbs and requiring prosthetics. Her father is the lead scientist that has created and improved on prosthetics and changed their world for the better.
Nell is lonely, she has one good friend and one male acquaintance who repeatedly makes his unrequited affection known to Nell, under the presumption that one day, she will change her mind. Nell is running out of time to make a significant contribution to the rebuilt society and one day decides to benefit society and herself by trying to build a robot boyfriend.
AI has been made illegal. What we currently know as The Cloud had developed true AI and (according to the survivors) was the cause of societal downfall and the plague. So ... AI totally banned.
Given that information, why this 21 year old decides that an AI robot boyfriend will be greeted with open arms by her city is rather confusing. But, she has a lot of similarities to Dr Frankenstein, making her monster. The modern, modern Prometheus? Creating something from parts of others (prosthetics) despite it being totally against her societal norms and the parallels only start there.
Nell can safely be described as a loner, erratic and inconsiderate. She thinks she is alone because of her ticking robotic heart, I think she is alone because she is a flake who is a terrible friend. But then a modern Dr Frankenstein has to be a loner, to want to create.
Thankfully this monster turns out not to be a monster at all, and is rather likeable. The true twist in the tale here, as with the original Frankenstein is that it is the people that are the monsters.
Reading other reviews I feel many didn't see a Frankenstein comparison and so found this book boring. I did find it a slow reveal and the main character understandably complex. But I cannot say it was boring. My only request if written again would be to provide more world building. There is a whole section of society living in a another area (where Nell's grandmother resides) and we don't get to see that at all. We only ever get Nell's narrow little world of her daily life, but perhaps that is intentional.
When the twist of the tale happens, I was a little surprised, when the second twist happened... I was angry. Angry for Nell. Which showed me just how far this character had come, from being someone that irritated me, to someone I wanted to protect.
Nell is lonely, she has one good friend and one male acquaintance who repeatedly makes his unrequited affection known to Nell, under the presumption that one day, she will change her mind. Nell is running out of time to make a significant contribution to the rebuilt society and one day decides to benefit society and herself by trying to build a robot boyfriend.
AI has been made illegal. What we currently know as The Cloud had developed true AI and (according to the survivors) was the cause of societal downfall and the plague. So ... AI totally banned.
Given that information, why this 21 year old decides that an AI robot boyfriend will be greeted with open arms by her city is rather confusing. But, she has a lot of similarities to Dr Frankenstein, making her monster. The modern, modern Prometheus? Creating something from parts of others (prosthetics) despite it being totally against her societal norms and the parallels only start there.
Nell can safely be described as a loner, erratic and inconsiderate. She thinks she is alone because of her ticking robotic heart, I think she is alone because she is a flake who is a terrible friend. But then a modern Dr Frankenstein has to be a loner, to want to create.
Reading other reviews I feel many didn't see a Frankenstein comparison and so found this book boring. I did find it a slow reveal and the main character understandably complex. But I cannot say it was boring. My only request if written again would be to provide more world building. There is a whole section of society living in a another area (where Nell's grandmother resides) and we don't get to see that at all. We only ever get Nell's narrow little world of her daily life, but perhaps that is intentional.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Alcohol and Cursing
florafauna's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Ableism, Alcohol, Body horror, Blood, Cursing, and Death of parent
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