Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer

3 reviews

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

4.0

To me, Annie seemed like an autistic-coded character and I really related a lot. Specifically, her constant difficulty navigating the contradictory things that people say and trying to come up with a response that makes sense and is appropriate. There are lots of instances where people laugh or get angry at something she says when she was not at all trying to be funny or combative. 

The abuse in the book seemed pretty realistic up until the end.

Mans goes to three couple's counseling sessions, turns off Annie's GPS, and expects her not to leave? That stretches credulity for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Vomit, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Physical abuse, Outing, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

witcheep's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

AI is a trend that fascinates both the writes of fiction and those of nonfiction. This book settles in the domain of questioning where the line between a human and a machine is drawn: how human-like can a machine be without actually being considered their own person with some (human) rights.

The book provides the focal pov of a Cuddle Bunny model of an Stella line AI sex robot called Annie, who has "computer smarts", as she puts it, but also social and emotional artificial intelligence that are constantly evolving. Annie cannot be distinguished from a human by a stranger, unless they are told otherwise.

"Stella Bot, reduce sensitivity to Doug's displeasure," she murmurs, but she is not in charge of her own settings. Her core does not recognize authority in her voice.

The bot is basically a human-like thiniking, feeling being but without any agency or authority over her own life or body. She is owned by her purchaser Doug, who designed how she should be created from discarded embryos and mechanical parts all the way from her appearance to her personality traits.

The morality of this dilemma of ownership vs. right to one's own personhood is the main conflict in the book, and is presented by the disturbed feelings it raises in Annie and those around her. As Annie evolves, she shifts from merely reflecting the thoughts and wishes of her owner to thinking by herself. When she achieves enough conseptual thinking and experience, she realizes

that the more she can think, the more her lack of freedom causes her unhappiness

. This seems cruel: how can anything this human-like be without any human rights, existing as mere possessions that is subject to every whim of the owner?

Besides this specuative issue of AI personhood, the book addresses multiple problems that are relevant in our contemporary reality. To name a few, there are presentations of domestic violence, emotional abuse, mental health issues, and domestic role expectations. The book is not an emotionally easy read throughout, but one that makes you think and reflect on the society we live in, besides acting as an imagining of a potential future as entertainment.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Torture

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual violence, Grief, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide, Stalking, and Death of parent

laran_s's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Sexual violence, Slavery, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Stalking

Minor: Racism

Heavy coercive control. Predatory behaviour. Also, Annie is between 2-3 years old most of the novel despite the maturity of her body.