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A review by grayjay
Autonomous by Annalee Newitz
4.0
Autonomous takes place in about 100 years when the countries of the world have dissolved into a mere few trade zones. A former anti-patent activist named Jack races to put a stop to swath of overdoses caused by a drug she has reverse-engineered, and a young military robot and its human partner Eli are trying to track her down.
It's an imaginative novel--a sci-fi thriller crossed with shoujo romance. I like that Northern Canada has become highly developed: Iqaluit a centre for pharmaceutical research and Yellowknife full of high-class resorts. Newitz is also trying interesting things with gender. The robot Palladin, having been made genderless, must navigate and reconcile being constantly mis-gendered by the humans around them and struggles to decide what gender means for them.
It's an imaginative novel--a sci-fi thriller crossed with shoujo romance. I like that Northern Canada has become highly developed: Iqaluit a centre for pharmaceutical research and Yellowknife full of high-class resorts. Newitz is also trying interesting things with gender. The robot Palladin, having been made genderless, must navigate and reconcile being constantly mis-gendered by the humans around them and struggles to decide what gender means for them.