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iam's review
3.0
3.5 stars
The Android and the Thief is a heartbreaking and at times dark book that at the same time manages to be gentle and beautiful.
Trev is the adopted son of a big crime lord (think Italian mafia in space) and feels crushed under his father's tyriannical rule over him and his siblings. Despite his father's power, Trev manages to come up with a plan to escape the man's grasp - by going to prison.
Khim is an android. In this book, "android" doesn't mean robot with an AI, but simply a genetically engineered human that has been vat-grown and who was birthed at age 20 with fake memories. Following that birth comes intense conditioning (aka brainwashing) to either become a the perfect soldier (strong but submissive, following orders but never hurting other humans) or the perfect lover (meaning basically able to endure whatever sexual scenario). As might be obvious from that setup, androids don't really have rights - they are owned by "normal" humans. I suspect that this book plays in the same universe as another of the author's books, [b:Letters to an Android|22798547|Letters to an Android|Wendy Rathbone|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1406512062s/22798547.jpg|42347105], which has an almost entirely similar setup regarding androids.
Khim is a solider, but when he becomes injured the military no longer has use for him and he gets sold to the highest bidder, who wants to use him for what is apparently the only other option for an android aside from war: sex. Khim snaps when he is sexually assaulted while drugged out of his mind, kills one of the rapists and since he's an android with no right to defend himself is thus sent to prison.
Which is where he meets Trev, who has no idea there is more connecting the two of them than just being cellmates.
The book is very heavy in the abuse area. There are graphic scenes of rape and there is emotional manipulation, violence, humiliation, solitary confinement, extreme invasions of privacy, corporal punishment and child abuse. Due to their experiences, both characters experience heavy trauma which they handle in different ways.
Yet somehow the book isn't exactly dark. The mood was never oppressive or got too heavy for me, which was probably because of the beautiful prose. The writing is very good and has truly beautiful phrases, most of which describe the introspective thoughts of the two main characters. Especially Khim's mind is very vivid.
For the most part this book was 4 stars for me, but I ended up giving it 3.5 stars because of there are HUGE plot holes. One in particular is at the very beginning and I waited the entire book for it to get resolved just for it to never be brought up again. The ending, while sweet for various reasons, was anticlimatic compared to the excitement and high stakes before, and didn't particularly make sense to me either.
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
The Android and the Thief is a heartbreaking and at times dark book that at the same time manages to be gentle and beautiful.
Trev is the adopted son of a big crime lord (think Italian mafia in space) and feels crushed under his father's tyriannical rule over him and his siblings. Despite his father's power, Trev manages to come up with a plan to escape the man's grasp - by going to prison.
Khim is an android. In this book, "android" doesn't mean robot with an AI, but simply a genetically engineered human that has been vat-grown and who was birthed at age 20 with fake memories. Following that birth comes intense conditioning (aka brainwashing) to either become a the perfect soldier (strong but submissive, following orders but never hurting other humans) or the perfect lover (meaning basically able to endure whatever sexual scenario). As might be obvious from that setup, androids don't really have rights - they are owned by "normal" humans. I suspect that this book plays in the same universe as another of the author's books, [b:Letters to an Android|22798547|Letters to an Android|Wendy Rathbone|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1406512062s/22798547.jpg|42347105], which has an almost entirely similar setup regarding androids.
Khim is a solider, but when he becomes injured the military no longer has use for him and he gets sold to the highest bidder, who wants to use him for what is apparently the only other option for an android aside from war: sex. Khim snaps when he is sexually assaulted while drugged out of his mind, kills one of the rapists and since he's an android with no right to defend himself is thus sent to prison.
Which is where he meets Trev, who has no idea there is more connecting the two of them than just being cellmates.
The book is very heavy in the abuse area. There are graphic scenes of rape and there is emotional manipulation, violence, humiliation, solitary confinement, extreme invasions of privacy, corporal punishment and child abuse. Due to their experiences, both characters experience heavy trauma which they handle in different ways.
Yet somehow the book isn't exactly dark. The mood was never oppressive or got too heavy for me, which was probably because of the beautiful prose. The writing is very good and has truly beautiful phrases, most of which describe the introspective thoughts of the two main characters. Especially Khim's mind is very vivid.
For the most part this book was 4 stars for me, but I ended up giving it 3.5 stars because of there are HUGE plot holes. One in particular is at the very beginning and I waited the entire book for it to get resolved just for it to never be brought up again. The ending, while sweet for various reasons, was anticlimatic compared to the excitement and high stakes before, and didn't particularly make sense to me either.
Spoiler
So Dante, Trev's father, can figure out a super elaborate plan and ruin Trev's life that way, but he can't find Trev later when he hides just half an hour away in a house that belongs to the same person who tried to help Trev earlier but got found out??? Especially when this time one of Trev's siblings knows about it?I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
yaredimpp's review
4.0
We find Trev who has always lived through the orders of his father, making him the best thief and with Khim an android that is programmed for war but that when losing his hand is sold to a brothel. certain events mean that both end up in jail and sharing a cell, which leads them to form an alliance to survive that later becomes something deeper.
I really liked the way in which the relationship develops, as little by little the trust that leads them to friendship and then to fall in love is built. The way in which Khim reacts to physical contact reflects well what victims of rape suffer, as they have a constant struggle of what they want but still do not feel physically or emotionally prepared to do so. The characters know how to handle their strengths and weaknesses well. Each one is strong in their own way and they know how to make a good team to face the difficulties that are presented to them.What I needed was to know the reaction of Dante at the end and what happened with Breq, and to develop more the end. I feel that the end was very fast I leave several loose ends. I really recommend it.
I really liked the way in which the relationship develops, as little by little the trust that leads them to friendship and then to fall in love is built. The way in which Khim reacts to physical contact reflects well what victims of rape suffer, as they have a constant struggle of what they want but still do not feel physically or emotionally prepared to do so. The characters know how to handle their strengths and weaknesses well. Each one is strong in their own way and they know how to make a good team to face the difficulties that are presented to them.What I needed was to know the reaction of Dante at the end and what happened with Breq, and to develop more the end. I feel that the end was very fast I leave several loose ends. I really recommend it.
see_sadie_read's review
3.0
I liked but didn't love this. Mostly because I really think it wanted to be a light fluffy read (and mostly was), but starting with a fairly detailed gang rape killed any real chance of succeeding with this. And I don't even think showing the rape was necessary. The reader could have known it happened without all the details.
Setting the need for the rape scene aside, I liked both characters. They were each cute and cute as a couple. I can't say I really felt any real chemistry between them, but I liked them. Beyond liking the characters though, I was iffy on a lot of the book. So many things pulled me out of it.
○ Being set in the far distant future or a galaxy far, far away but people still ordering pizza, dressing just like we do today and reading Bradbury.
○ The operas and such with names just a little off recognizable contemporary songs. I think it was meant to be cute, but it felt lazy.
○ The questionable idea that anyone could plan and break out of a maximum security space prison, let alone do so easily.
○ The coincidence of so many security setups had the exact same loophole for Trev to exploit.
○ How easily Trev could do anything and everything, bypassing any system in seconds. Somehow even accessing things that shouldn't be online at all.
○ The ending, where everyone is presumed to live happily ever after, but there is nothing to suggest the bad guy (phrased that way to avoid spoilers) couldn't find them just as easily as he did the first time.
○ The painful lack of women. Even situations that easily could have women in them were declared "all-male."
○ The question of how and why Trev was apparenlty the only one in the universe who easily saw androids as human, if he was raised the same way as everyone else. What made him different?
Similarly, why was he the only one in his family not to be criminally inlined if he was raised just like the rest of them.
○ The term android, the reader is told repeatedly that android isn't the correct term for androids, it's an insult, but we're never told what the correct term should be.
○ How much of it was written in tell, instead of show.
○ How little happened, considered it's 294 pages long.
All in all, I'll say this was a book I don't regret reading, but I wasn't blown away by it either. It was ok.
Setting the need for the rape scene aside, I liked both characters. They were each cute and cute as a couple. I can't say I really felt any real chemistry between them, but I liked them. Beyond liking the characters though, I was iffy on a lot of the book. So many things pulled me out of it.
○ Being set in the far distant future or a galaxy far, far away but people still ordering pizza, dressing just like we do today and reading Bradbury.
○ The operas and such with names just a little off recognizable contemporary songs. I think it was meant to be cute, but it felt lazy.
○ The questionable idea that anyone could plan and break out of a maximum security space prison, let alone do so easily.
○ The coincidence of so many security setups had the exact same loophole for Trev to exploit.
○ How easily Trev could do anything and everything, bypassing any system in seconds. Somehow even accessing things that shouldn't be online at all.
○ The ending, where everyone is presumed to live happily ever after, but there is nothing to suggest the bad guy (phrased that way to avoid spoilers) couldn't find them just as easily as he did the first time.
○ The painful lack of women. Even situations that easily could have women in them were declared "all-male."
○ The question of how and why Trev was apparenlty the only one in the universe who easily saw androids as human, if he was raised the same way as everyone else. What made him different?
Similarly, why was he the only one in his family not to be criminally inlined if he was raised just like the rest of them.
○ The term android, the reader is told repeatedly that android isn't the correct term for androids, it's an insult, but we're never told what the correct term should be.
○ How much of it was written in tell, instead of show.
○ How little happened, considered it's 294 pages long.
All in all, I'll say this was a book I don't regret reading, but I wasn't blown away by it either. It was ok.
iguana_mama's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
see_sadie_read's review against another edition
3.0
I liked but didn't love this. Mostly because I really think it wanted to be a light fluffy read (and mostly was), but starting with a fairly detailed gang rape killed any real chance of succeeding with this. And I don't even think showing the rape was necessary. The reader could have known it happened without all the details.
Setting the need for the rape scene aside, I liked both characters. They were each cute and cute as a couple. I can't say I really felt any real chemistry between them, but I liked them. Beyond liking the characters though, I was iffy on a lot of the book. So many things pulled me out of it.
○ Being set in the far distant future or a galaxy far, far away but people still ordering pizza, dressing just like we do today and reading Bradbury.
○ The operas and such with names just a little off recognizable contemporary songs. I think it was meant to be cute, but it felt lazy.
○ The questionable idea that anyone could plan and break out of a maximum security space prison, let alone do so easily.
○ The coincidence of so many security setups had the exact same loophole for Trev to exploit.
○ How easily Trev could do anything and everything, bypassing any system in seconds. Somehow even accessing things that shouldn't be online at all.
○ The ending, where everyone is presumed to live happily ever after, but there is nothing to suggest the bad guy (phrased that way to avoid spoilers) couldn't find them just as easily as he did the first time.
○ The painful lack of women. Even situations that easily could have women in them were declared "all-male."
○ The question of how and why Trev was apparenlty the only one in the universe who easily saw androids as human, if he was raised the same way as everyone else. What made him different?
Similarly, why was he the only one in his family not to be criminally inlined if he was raised just like the rest of them.
○ The term android, the reader is told repeatedly that android isn't the correct term for androids, it's an insult, but we're never told what the correct term should be.
○ How much of it was written in tell, instead of show.
○ How little happened, considered it's 294 pages long.
All in all, I'll say this was a book I don't regret reading, but I wasn't blown away by it either. It was ok.
Setting the need for the rape scene aside, I liked both characters. They were each cute and cute as a couple. I can't say I really felt any real chemistry between them, but I liked them. Beyond liking the characters though, I was iffy on a lot of the book. So many things pulled me out of it.
○ Being set in the far distant future or a galaxy far, far away but people still ordering pizza, dressing just like we do today and reading Bradbury.
○ The operas and such with names just a little off recognizable contemporary songs. I think it was meant to be cute, but it felt lazy.
○ The questionable idea that anyone could plan and break out of a maximum security space prison, let alone do so easily.
○ The coincidence of so many security setups had the exact same loophole for Trev to exploit.
○ How easily Trev could do anything and everything, bypassing any system in seconds. Somehow even accessing things that shouldn't be online at all.
○ The ending, where everyone is presumed to live happily ever after, but there is nothing to suggest the bad guy (phrased that way to avoid spoilers) couldn't find them just as easily as he did the first time.
○ The painful lack of women. Even situations that easily could have women in them were declared "all-male."
○ The question of how and why Trev was apparenlty the only one in the universe who easily saw androids as human, if he was raised the same way as everyone else. What made him different?
Similarly, why was he the only one in his family not to be criminally inlined if he was raised just like the rest of them.
○ The term android, the reader is told repeatedly that android isn't the correct term for androids, it's an insult, but we're never told what the correct term should be.
○ How much of it was written in tell, instead of show.
○ How little happened, considered it's 294 pages long.
All in all, I'll say this was a book I don't regret reading, but I wasn't blown away by it either. It was ok.
atheresa's review
3.0
2.7 stars. The ending felt unfinished because the conflict with Trev's father was unresolved.
Khim was all human and not an android. His emotional maturation was wonderful.
Trev came across ineffective. He was naive plus not very cunning in evading his family.
The world building was spotty.
Khim was all human and not an android. His emotional maturation was wonderful.
Trev came across ineffective. He was naive plus not very cunning in evading his family.
The world building was spotty.
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