Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Autonomous

This is such a complicated review to write.

On the one hand, I loved Jack. Bisexual, anti-corporate, emancipator pirate lady? I'm all in, say less. Her life and experiences were very enjoyable to read and I really enjoyed her interactions with the other characters in her insane life.

But GOD, the stuff with Eliasz just kind of ruined everything for me. I don't like the way his "relationship" with Paladin played out starting from THAT chapter (if you've read it, you know which one I'm talking about). The fact that it was never resolved really made having any sympathy at all for Eliasz' quest to stop Jack next to impossible

Eliasz, at the end of the day, is a deeply homophobic cop who has no issue whatsoever with killing people to get what he wants. And more disgusting than that, he feels all of his actions are justified by him "following the law." He mentions that his time hunting down child traffickers was hell and that now that he was in patent law everything was simple and black and white, but that's such a one-dimensional state for a character to begin in, and never grow from as a person.

I loved the worldbuilding, the concept is fascinating, but I really ultimately did not enjoy this book, and I really really wanted to

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sisdl's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

I have a lot of opinions about this book. Just to sum it up, this book contains homophobia, transphobia, sexual coercion, and manipulation. It is painted as being "just a normal thing", that does not need to be discussed or even seen as toxic or even dangerous behavior.

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m_petranoff's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

While the dystopian world building is grounded and level, I was disappointed by some of the (lack of) character development. Where the narrative does what good speculative fiction should do--exploring current trends played out to their potentially dystopian outcomes--it doesn't always hit the mark with treating each of its subjects fully. If you're only here for the plot, you'll have a good time (with lots of blood and gore), but if you're here for the thoughtful look into a potential future and characters who grapple with that future, look elsewhere.

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tqlikesbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

“Everybody is an outsider, if you go deep enough. The trick is reassuring people that you’re their kind of outsider.”

Autonomous follows Jack, a drug pirate in the year 2144. She reverse engineers and manufactures drugs for those who can't afford to pay the monopolistic pharmaceutical corporations. When her latest pirated drug causes lethal side-effects, she finds herself pursued by military agents.
The IPC agents sent to stop Jack are Eliasz, and his indentured robot partner, Paladin; who start to form an bond neither of them expected.

My favourite aspect of this story is that we follow two rivalling narratives, who are clearly antagonists from each other's perspectives. We have no clear villain or hero in the story, yet we can sympathise with each of their motives to some extent (except that one character who just comes of as a creepy, authoritarian homophobe).

Newitz renders a bleak vision of the future in which indenture laws for both humans and robots has led to a lucrative form of slave labour and corporation patent laws have led to rocketing drug prices that ultimately only the wealthy can afford. The world-building is fascinating and explores lots of political, technological and societal ideas. There was a fair bit of build up throughout the story to what happened to be a fairly anti-climatic ending.

Overall I found I wanted a lot more from the story. I liked much of the story but I really loathed some others parts.

—why parts of this book belong in the bad place (possible spoiler territory below) —

Gender identity and sexuality is explored in some interesting ways, particularly with the character of Paladin, a genderless robot whose human companions project their own expectations (and desires in some cases) onto. This results in Paladin changing pronouns from 'he' to 'she' to appease another character (though Paladin still considers themself to be genderless). At points the relationship between Eliasz and Paladin was very uncomfortable to read, though the author clearly does not attempt to present this as a healthy representation of gender identity and sexual autonomy. However, it still manages manages to be very icky overall and is not addressed by the end of the story. The use of the f slur seemed completely unnecessary.

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