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A review by swell_gal
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I love the concept of this book. I think the story was interesting. The themes of grappling with abuse were very well written. My main issue came from Annie as a robot powered by a highly evolved AI-driven program. She just read as so human. I know this is supposed to be where most of the ethical dilemma comes from, but I wish we were given more indications that she’s a robot, even if that’s just at the beginning and fades as she gains more humanity. For example, she scans Doug and can gauge his displeasure on a scale of 1-5. She can set her libido anywhere from 1-10, but there are no other metrics that she uses to evaluate situations (other than one scene at the beginning where she is able to log the messes around the house, including the exact number of crumbs on the counter). These kinds of features were very interesting to hear about, but it would have been interesting if she could gauge pupil dilation, heart rate, sweat, etc to understand human emotion on a purely analytical level.
This leads me to my second qualm with the book. We hear about how Annie was switched into Autodidact mode, but I with we could have experienced that switch with Annie. Maybe when she first became autodidact she was using additional sensors to place Doug’s exact mood and adapt accordingly, but as she gained humanity these sensors became less sensitive and she had to start using her understanding of him to place his moods?
The last piece of this book that I struggled with was the dropped storylines. Annie felt jealous of Delta when Doug first got her, but she never mentions that to the therapist? The only time that Doug “cheats” on Annie is when Tina comes over at the very end? What about the entire Delta storyline? What was the deal with the young man who found Annie in the park? Was he a Zenith? The whole “learning to code” storyline was dropped only to be offered a sentence at the very end? Annie needed such frequent maintenance visits at the beginning of the book and at the end she hadn’t gone for multiple months and runs away without another visit planned?
I did not dislike this book as much as this review makes it sound. But I just felt like the Robot/human angle could have been so much more.
This leads me to my second qualm with the book. We hear about how Annie was switched into Autodidact mode, but I with we could have experienced that switch with Annie. Maybe when she first became autodidact she was using additional sensors to place Doug’s exact mood and adapt accordingly, but as she gained humanity these sensors became less sensitive and she had to start using her understanding of him to place his moods?
The last piece of this book that I struggled with was the dropped storylines. Annie felt jealous of Delta when Doug first got her, but she never mentions that to the therapist? The only time that Doug “cheats” on Annie is when Tina comes over at the very end? What about the entire Delta storyline? What was the deal with the young man who found Annie in the park? Was he a Zenith? The whole “learning to code” storyline was dropped only to be offered a sentence at the very end? Annie needed such frequent maintenance visits at the beginning of the book and at the end she hadn’t gone for multiple months and runs away without another visit planned?
I did not dislike this book as much as this review makes it sound. But I just felt like the Robot/human angle could have been so much more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment
Moderate: Body shaming, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit
Minor: Transphobia and Alcohol