A review by nuevecuervos
Cog by Greg Van Eekhout

5.0

Okay first, Greg Van Eekhout is an amazing human and I adore him. Mainly because you may recall that Kid Younger and I read his Voyage of the Dogs together, and that it made such an impact on my child that she insisted on cosplaying as Champion (the lead dog in the story) for Halloween that year. We sent some fanmail to him about it, and he was so excited in his response, that my kid was over the MOON for weeks about it. In his recent virtual signing at my local friendly indie bookstore, Mysterious Galaxy, I requested that my books be signed to my kid, and he DREW A CHAMPION UNDER HIS SIGNATURE FOR HER COPY OF COG. Needless to say, she quite literally screamed and fell over when she saw it. What a guy, my dudes. This child is SO STOKED. Anyway. Thank you, Greg, and we'll be loyal fans for pretty much ever at this point.

Then I stole it and read it first, HA. *cough* I mean, I read it while she was busy with her grandparents, and it wasn't nefarious at all. But! Now I kinda wish we'd read it together. It's less gut-wrenching than Voyage of the Dogs, so I'm not worried :D but it's just so sweetly put together, and such a fantastic little story about robots and roboticists (and a primer on robot autonomy and the rights of sentient beings), and I'm glad to have it. Recommended for your own little robots, but make sure to read over their shoulders, as you too will find it extremely charming.