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A review by renpuspita
The A.I. Who Loved Me by Alyssa Cole
emotional
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
3 stars
First title I read in 2023!
The A.I. Who Loved Me is my first Alyssa Cole, and with a tongue-in-cheek title, I expect a met-cute romcom between human and cyborg that remind me of manga Zettai Kareshi by Yuu Watase (Absolute Boyfriend in English) which have somehow same premise. What I got is...an unclear world building and setting, also how the romance is not that cute and fluffy. So if you guess from the cover that the romance will be fluffy, nope, not fluffy at all. Although, I do enjoy the interaction between Trinity and her A.I. next door, called Li Wei, that introduced himself as biosyntetic humanoid (a fancy term of cyborg. Maybe). If you love your romance slow burn, this one might be right up into your alley.
Honestly, the world building is very hard to guessed. I know that the apartment where Trinity lived with her two close friend is located in USA, but from the advanced technology but decreasing climate and environment quality this feel like a dystopia of sort. I also don't know when or what century the story take place. Maybe Cole just want her reader to guess, but I admit I'm not read 1984, or Fahrenheit 451 or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, yet. This is pretty annoyed me, because for me world building and setting is very important for me to imagine how the story unfold.
Told from first PoV, both from Trinity and Li Wei, I think that's the strength of this novella. Trinity is a grumpy kind of sort, because apparently she just got incident and I praised Cole to wrote about her trauma and claustrophobia. But I liked to read Li Wei's PoV more, because to see how he act so robotic at first but gain his "humanity" bit by bit, by interacting with Trinity. At first, I feel weird to read about his insistence to protect Trinity, that she's his world, so I guess his creator maybe make him as her guardian of sort. And when Trinity feel lust when she see Li Wei, I brushed it off as "ah, this is the case of insta-lust. Pretty much happen in romancelandia". But, turn that it's not what I think. The story come to full circle, although it can be rushed in the end. I did like the slow burn romance, although it's a little bit weird that Trinity don't feel that Li Wei is a little bit off in the beginning before he told who he actually was. If you want to know if despite his status as A.I. (or biosyntethic humanoid), Li Wei can feel arousal, then, yes he can. His dick also can function properly, although how the mechanics behind its to function must be interesting. For science purpose, ofc *cough*.
This novella indeed give me a mixed feeling. I enjoy the romance and how Cole address Trinity's trauma. I too like how Cole write about what is it to be a human, so this novella can be philosophical of sort. Really not as fluffy as the cover show you. This is when I think the cover can be misleading, hahaha. Don't worry, Trinity and Li Wei's romance is a HEA guaranteed, although I wish the world building can be fleshed out more.
First title I read in 2023!
The A.I. Who Loved Me is my first Alyssa Cole, and with a tongue-in-cheek title, I expect a met-cute romcom between human and cyborg that remind me of manga Zettai Kareshi by Yuu Watase (Absolute Boyfriend in English) which have somehow same premise. What I got is...an unclear world building and setting, also how the romance is not that cute and fluffy. So if you guess from the cover that the romance will be fluffy, nope, not fluffy at all. Although, I do enjoy the interaction between Trinity and her A.I. next door, called Li Wei, that introduced himself as biosyntetic humanoid (a fancy term of cyborg. Maybe). If you love your romance slow burn, this one might be right up into your alley.
Honestly, the world building is very hard to guessed. I know that the apartment where Trinity lived with her two close friend is located in USA, but from the advanced technology but decreasing climate and environment quality this feel like a dystopia of sort. I also don't know when or what century the story take place. Maybe Cole just want her reader to guess, but I admit I'm not read 1984, or Fahrenheit 451 or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, yet. This is pretty annoyed me, because for me world building and setting is very important for me to imagine how the story unfold.
Told from first PoV, both from Trinity and Li Wei, I think that's the strength of this novella. Trinity is a grumpy kind of sort, because apparently she just got incident and I praised Cole to wrote about her trauma and claustrophobia. But I liked to read Li Wei's PoV more, because to see how he act so robotic at first but gain his "humanity" bit by bit, by interacting with Trinity. At first, I feel weird to read about his insistence to protect Trinity, that she's his world, so I guess his creator maybe make him as her guardian of sort. And when Trinity feel lust when she see Li Wei, I brushed it off as "ah, this is the case of insta-lust. Pretty much happen in romancelandia". But, turn that it's not what I think. The story come to full circle, although it can be rushed in the end. I did like the slow burn romance, although it's a little bit weird that Trinity don't feel that Li Wei is a little bit off in the beginning before he told who he actually was. If you want to know if despite his status as A.I. (or biosyntethic humanoid), Li Wei can feel arousal, then, yes he can. His dick also can function properly, although how the mechanics behind its to function must be interesting. For science purpose, ofc *cough*.
This novella indeed give me a mixed feeling. I enjoy the romance and how Cole address Trinity's trauma. I too like how Cole write about what is it to be a human, so this novella can be philosophical of sort. Really not as fluffy as the cover show you. This is when I think the cover can be misleading, hahaha. Don't worry, Trinity and Li Wei's romance is a HEA guaranteed, although I wish the world building can be fleshed out more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Sexual content