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hyms's review against another edition
4.0
In all my years as a reader, only two books managed to make me cry. The Mad Scientist’s Daughter almost got the third spot! Throughout most of the book I had a huge lump in my throat and several times at had to put the book down to make sure I wouldn’t cry – the melancholy from Cat hit me straight on.
The story unfolds at a very slow pace which was a bit boring at times, but as a hole it worked really well. It gives the reader a change to get to know Cat in a different way. The writing is just beautiful and it pulled me in between the pages every time I turned on my Kindle.
We meet Cat when she is approximately 6 years old and she meets Finn for the very first time. In the beginning, she thinks he is a ghost which I found so endearing. But in general Cat is a cute and innocent as a child. My problem with her only starts when she enters college; she becomes so cold-hearted and indifferent about everything. It eats me up that she cares so little about things and to me it seems like she just uses Finn at first – he is only a robot, he exists to please her needs. She makes some stupid choices but she changes during the story and her spirit from her childhood slowly enlightens again. The slow development of Cats feelings is heartbreaking and makes the book a long and beautiful love story.
The book opens up some really tough questions; when are you human? When do you have rights? What is love? If something looks human, acts human but isn’t human, how do you deal with it? This book is definitely worth a read! It took me through the entire scale of feelings and I loved every step. Cassandra Rose Clarke is an amazing writer!
The story unfolds at a very slow pace which was a bit boring at times, but as a hole it worked really well. It gives the reader a change to get to know Cat in a different way. The writing is just beautiful and it pulled me in between the pages every time I turned on my Kindle.
We meet Cat when she is approximately 6 years old and she meets Finn for the very first time. In the beginning, she thinks he is a ghost which I found so endearing. But in general Cat is a cute and innocent as a child. My problem with her only starts when she enters college; she becomes so cold-hearted and indifferent about everything. It eats me up that she cares so little about things and to me it seems like she just uses Finn at first – he is only a robot, he exists to please her needs. She makes some stupid choices but she changes during the story and her spirit from her childhood slowly enlightens again. The slow development of Cats feelings is heartbreaking and makes the book a long and beautiful love story.
The book opens up some really tough questions; when are you human? When do you have rights? What is love? If something looks human, acts human but isn’t human, how do you deal with it? This book is definitely worth a read! It took me through the entire scale of feelings and I loved every step. Cassandra Rose Clarke is an amazing writer!
literallykalasin's review against another edition
4.0
This book, in tone and feel, reminded me of "The Time Traveler's Wife." Like that book, Cat meets the love of her life, Finn, when she is a very young girl. Her scientist father brings home Finn to live with the family and act as her tutor. There is something not quite right about Finn however, a quality that causes Cat to think he is a ghost. Finn is unchanging, but not because he's a ghost. As Cat grows, she realises that Finn is an android; he cannot feel and yet Finn is her best friend. He cannot feel and yet she falls in love with him.
The book is essentially an extended push and pull against a changing definition of humanity as the robots and androids become more sentient in a dystopian world with a decimated population that utilises them to fill the gaps in the labour market. It is also Cat trying to be normal and fighting her feelings for someone who is incapable of returning them. Cat makes some terrible, compromising decisions in the name of normalcy.
This is a book that sticks with you. Even though it is essentially a story of frustrated love set on the backdrop of a future Earth, it also leaves you thinking about what it means to be human and the nature of settling.
The book is essentially an extended push and pull against a changing definition of humanity as the robots and androids become more sentient in a dystopian world with a decimated population that utilises them to fill the gaps in the labour market. It is also Cat trying to be normal and fighting her feelings for someone who is incapable of returning them. Cat makes some terrible, compromising decisions in the name of normalcy.
This is a book that sticks with you. Even though it is essentially a story of frustrated love set on the backdrop of a future Earth, it also leaves you thinking about what it means to be human and the nature of settling.
samstrong's review against another edition
4.0
A bit rough around the edges, but ultimately a fantastic story. The standard debut author ticks are here, but they're nothing that experience and a more aggressive edit won't fix.
As an aside, I went out of my way to avoid reading the back of the book and I'm really glad I did. The blurb focuses on Finn when this book is really Cat's story and is narrated entirely from her perspective.
As an aside, I went out of my way to avoid reading the back of the book and I'm really glad I did. The blurb focuses on Finn when this book is really Cat's story and is narrated entirely from her perspective.
trisha_thomas's review against another edition
4.0
This was absolutely amazing. It was quiet, the greatness of it, and it wasn't until I was half way and through and holding my breath that I realized just how much I loved it. It's an interesting look into what makes us human and how we might treat the world of AI. Something that doesn't feel too far off....
frogggirl2's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a book about a woman who needs therapy really rather desperately. There's an android in here somewhere, but really, this woman just needs therapy. I liked this a surprising amount.
georgiaand's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
brooke_review's review against another edition
4.0
First, let's just get it out there that this is a beautiful story. Naturally, it's not one you hear every day, if at all, but the idea behind it is touching and at the same time quite unsettling. Lines are being crossed here, which maybe should not be crossed - on the other hand, in a world where humans and A.I. live side-by-side, perhaps the topics discussed in this novel would not seem so renegade. Regardless of how you personally feel about the topics discussed in the novel, it is engaging and a page-turner. I liked the fact that the novel spanned a large portion of Cat's life, and did so fairly quickly - a new chapter may begin with a couple years having passed. It worked in this sense, as the focus of the book was Cat and Finn, not Cat's personal life, although snippets of her life were integral to the plot of the story. I liked that Cat was often unlikable and quite broken, whereas one couldn't help but love Finn. It showed how Cat often got in her own way when it came to relationships. What kept this book from being 5 stars is that it probably could have benefited from a touch more of dystopian elements. The Midwest is unlivable; there is something called the "Disasters;" they experience rather intense storms quite often; and then there is the A.I. element and the political attempt to rescue them - I would have liked to have seen more attention/explanation given to these.
linwearcamenel's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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? Yes
3.75
ssung's review against another edition
3.0
kind of a difficult novel to rate as it places itself in an odd place where it's not quite science fiction or fantasy or romance or, in some ways, even young adult fiction when a lot of the content might resonate only when you're a lot older.
i quite liked it, but also feel that were i ten years younger or more i would not have sympathized with the main character at all and therefore the entire book would've passed me by; she's not designed to be a likable kind of person, self-absorbed and selfish and strangely remote.
i quite liked it, but also feel that were i ten years younger or more i would not have sympathized with the main character at all and therefore the entire book would've passed me by; she's not designed to be a likable kind of person, self-absorbed and selfish and strangely remote.