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oddpilot97's review
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
HOLYYYYY COW, this was good. And I’m not someone who says that lightly (I don’t hesitate to DNF and haven’t had a 5 star book in ages)
Lately I’ve been on a streak of reading books with amazing concepts, that I end up giving up on because it doesn’t deliver on that. This was almost the opposite. The plot line caught my eye, but I wondered if it was going to get either too one-note or too triggering. I don’t know where your mind goes when you think about someone who owns a sex robot, but mine automatically goes to a mega creep. Instead, the owner character had layers, and was more than just purely detestable.
The author added SO much nuance and complexity. I was eagerly wondering what the end result would be with every twist and turn. I was screaming for the protagonist to make the right choice the whole time, even as things got more and more complicated on which decision was truly best for her.
when I described some of the plot to my mom, she said “this isn’t just about robots is it?” she hit the nail right on the head. the story aptly draws a parallel to oppressive gender roles.
Annie’s owner treats her better than almost any other. even the techs at the company Who made her tell her she is lucky that he is her owner. But are you truly lucky if you are the most well treated slave?
Doug does horrible things —without a doubt. he modeled Annie after his ex girlfriend, a blatant crossing of boundaries. he is at times cruel, particularly when he locked her in the closet with her libido set at a 10. I hated him at so many points of the book. And at other times, I wondered if Annie did truly desire to be with him or if it was just programming. I was curious if there was any redemption possible for Doug.
P.S. what happened to Delta??? Justice for her.
There’s so much more I could say, and perhaps I will reflect on more of the themes and how they impacted me and return to update this at a later time.
TLDR: read it. It’s worth it.
Lately I’ve been on a streak of reading books with amazing concepts, that I end up giving up on because it doesn’t deliver on that. This was almost the opposite. The plot line caught my eye, but I wondered if it was going to get either too one-note or too triggering. I don’t know where your mind goes when you think about someone who owns a sex robot, but mine automatically goes to a mega creep. Instead, the owner character had layers, and was more than just purely detestable.
The author added SO much nuance and complexity. I was eagerly wondering what the end result would be with every twist and turn. I was screaming for the protagonist to make the right choice the whole time, even as things got more and more complicated on which decision was truly best for her.
when I described some of the plot to my mom, she said “this isn’t just about robots is it?” she hit the nail right on the head. the story aptly draws a parallel to oppressive gender roles.
Doug does horrible things —without a doubt. he modeled Annie after his ex girlfriend, a blatant crossing of boundaries. he is at times cruel, particularly when he locked her in the closet with her libido set at a 10. I hated him at so many points of the book. And at other times, I wondered if Annie did truly desire to be with him or if it was just programming. I was curious if there was any redemption possible for Doug.
P.S. what happened to Delta??? Justice for her.
There’s so much more I could say, and perhaps I will reflect on more of the themes and how they impacted me and return to update this at a later time.
TLDR: read it. It’s worth it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Sexual content, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Infidelity, Misogyny, Fatphobia, and Sexual assault
Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, and Body horror
mandi_lea's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Infidelity, Fatphobia, Cancer, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Body shaming, Confinement, and Death of parent
cturn's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-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
4.0
Characters - 6
Atmosphere - 7
Writing - 7
Plot - 8
Intrigue - 9
Logic - 6
Enjoyment - 7
CAWPILE score - 7.1
Atmosphere - 7
Writing - 7
Plot - 8
Intrigue - 9
Logic - 6
Enjoyment - 7
CAWPILE score - 7.1
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Sexual content and Alcohol
Minor: Death and Death of parent
vaekay's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, Torture, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Abandonment, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Body shaming
Minor: Death of parent, Death, Pregnancy, and Transphobia
gabs_parr's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Annie is an autodidactic robot who was created to be the perfect girlfriend for Doug, her human owner. She’s always learning and getting smarter and more “human”. Doug initially loves that she’s not perfect and wants her to be like a real woman and to challenge him, but the smarter she gets, the more complicated their relationship grows.
It’s kind of like Stepford Wives in the sense of perfect robot wives, but with more emphasis on power dynamics/control, autonomy, intimacy and what we actually want from relationships, romantic and platonic. This book is less a critique on the patriarchy, which was pretty much the main theme of SW, and instead it dives more into observations of what it means to be human and live the human experience.
I’ve only just finished and I already know that I’m going to be thinking about this book for months to come. The relationships were just so dynamic and complex. Every character was various shades of morally gray depending on the scene we were in. No one was ever purely “good” or “evil”. There is no true good or bad guy. There are just complex emotions and relationships and deep rooted questions about autonomy, love, sex, and power.
Annie’s inner relationship with herself is just as compelling as her relationship with Doug and both relationships will keep you guessing as to what her next move will be. I know I will certainly be thinking about her final choices for months to come (and Doug’s too, they both grew enormously and changed into almost unrecognizable characters by the end of this book).
It’s kind of like Stepford Wives in the sense of perfect robot wives, but with more emphasis on power dynamics/control, autonomy, intimacy and what we actually want from relationships, romantic and platonic. This book is less a critique on the patriarchy, which was pretty much the main theme of SW, and instead it dives more into observations of what it means to be human and live the human experience.
I’ve only just finished and I already know that I’m going to be thinking about this book for months to come. The relationships were just so dynamic and complex. Every character was various shades of morally gray depending on the scene we were in. No one was ever purely “good” or “evil”. There is no true good or bad guy. There are just complex emotions and relationships and deep rooted questions about autonomy, love, sex, and power.
Annie’s inner relationship with herself is just as compelling as her relationship with Doug and both relationships will keep you guessing as to what her next move will be. I know I will certainly be thinking about her final choices for months to come (and Doug’s too, they both grew enormously and changed into almost unrecognizable characters by the end of this book).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity
Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Misogyny
Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, and Death of parent
thatswhatshanread's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
It’s hard to describe how I feel about this novel. It was truly fascinating reading from the POV of a sentient, humanoid robot. It was absolutely maddening to read about said robot’s human owner, Doug, a trashcan of a man, but totally someone you know irl. Which is what made it so infuriating!! How men like Doug reduce women to serving their needs and desires. How women are all but taught (programmed, as it were) to please their male counterparts. It certainly sparked a lot of great contemplation, however theoretical, about ownership in the age of AI and increasing technological advances. I guess the point can be made that this book exists to possibly skew the path that the future holds for certain AI developments, but it may also exist to show how inevitable the future will be as it is in the book.
Was this story original? Yes. Was it empowering, hopeful feminist literature? Not really. While the ending did offer some payoff, a lot of the book frustrated me. Which, again, is maybe the point! So many thoughts about this book. Sierra Greer definitely debuted with an interesting one, that’s for sure.
Was this story original? Yes. Was it empowering, hopeful feminist literature? Not really. While the ending did offer some payoff, a lot of the book frustrated me. Which, again, is maybe the point! So many thoughts about this book. Sierra Greer definitely debuted with an interesting one, that’s for sure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Infidelity, Misogyny, Cursing, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Alcohol, Torture, Abandonment, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Physical abuse and Grief
juanat77's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Abandonment, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, Rape, Bullying, Confinement, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexism, Alcohol, Body shaming, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and Cancer
swell_gal's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I love the concept of this book. I think the story was interesting. The themes of grappling with abuse were very well written. My main issue came from Annie as a robot powered by a highly evolved AI-driven program. She just read as so human. I know this is supposed to be where most of the ethical dilemma comes from, but I wish we were given more indications that she’s a robot, even if that’s just at the beginning and fades as she gains more humanity. For example, she scans Doug and can gauge his displeasure on a scale of 1-5. She can set her libido anywhere from 1-10, but there are no other metrics that she uses to evaluate situations (other than one scene at the beginning where she is able to log the messes around the house, including the exact number of crumbs on the counter). These kinds of features were very interesting to hear about, but it would have been interesting if she could gauge pupil dilation, heart rate, sweat, etc to understand human emotion on a purely analytical level.
This leads me to my second qualm with the book. We hear about how Annie was switched into Autodidact mode, but I with we could have experienced that switch with Annie. Maybe when she first became autodidact she was using additional sensors to place Doug’s exact mood and adapt accordingly, but as she gained humanity these sensors became less sensitive and she had to start using her understanding of him to place his moods?
The last piece of this book that I struggled with was the dropped storylines. Annie felt jealous of Delta when Doug first got her, but she never mentions that to the therapist? The only time that Doug “cheats” on Annie is when Tina comes over at the very end? What about the entire Delta storyline? What was the deal with the young man who found Annie in the park? Was he a Zenith? The whole “learning to code” storyline was dropped only to be offered a sentence at the very end? Annie needed such frequent maintenance visits at the beginning of the book and at the end she hadn’t gone for multiple months and runs away without another visit planned?
I did not dislike this book as much as this review makes it sound. But I just felt like the Robot/human angle could have been so much more.
This leads me to my second qualm with the book. We hear about how Annie was switched into Autodidact mode, but I with we could have experienced that switch with Annie. Maybe when she first became autodidact she was using additional sensors to place Doug’s exact mood and adapt accordingly, but as she gained humanity these sensors became less sensitive and she had to start using her understanding of him to place his moods?
The last piece of this book that I struggled with was the dropped storylines. Annie felt jealous of Delta when Doug first got her, but she never mentions that to the therapist? The only time that Doug “cheats” on Annie is when Tina comes over at the very end? What about the entire Delta storyline? What was the deal with the young man who found Annie in the park? Was he a Zenith? The whole “learning to code” storyline was dropped only to be offered a sentence at the very end? Annie needed such frequent maintenance visits at the beginning of the book and at the end she hadn’t gone for multiple months and runs away without another visit planned?
I did not dislike this book as much as this review makes it sound. But I just felt like the Robot/human angle could have been so much more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, and Body shaming
Minor: Alcohol and Transphobia
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