A review by howings
Autonomous by Annalee Newitz

1.0

Overall, this book has an interesting plot & compelling themes but completely falls apart upon execution. Looking at autonomy in a world where all aspects of life are commodified starts out as interesting and then everything goes... weird? Between the author’s fetishization of master/servant relationships and the not-so-subtle orientalist views of Asian bodies (Threezed), this book left me feeling sick.
Paladin “falls in love” (it’s a program) with his master and they live happily ever after. Threezed (a person who has been enslaved his whole life and is implied to have at some point been abused sexually) has sex with Jack (who he relies upon). This situation reads a lot like Jack not having actually freed him, but just taken over as his new master/abuser or, at best, sexually taken advantage of a traumatized and much younger person. At first, I thought that maybe the author depicts these abusive relationships to show how, even when one thinks they are operating outside of abject slavery, they can still lack autonomy in other ways. The “happy” ending for Paladin is what leads me to believe the author isn’t actually self-aware enough to pull that off.
I regret reading this book.
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