A review by cuddlesome
The Mad Scientist's Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke
2.0
DNF at 30% in. Maybe I'll come back to this at some point, maybe not. As with so many books that I end up giving up on I really wanted to like this, but despite the subject matter (I really love androids/robots/etc and romance) and at times fun writing style I just can't get into it.
The main character, Cat, doesn't appeal to me. Being attached to her as a POV character stopped being bearable once she went from being a rebellious artsy child to a rebellious artsy high schooler. I'm sure some people like this archetype, but it grates on me pretty badly.
The issue of Finn (the android's) sentience and ability to consent were hazy. It's lampshaded that he's basically a really obedient butler. It made me uncomfortable in a way that I think is intentional but still unpleasant to experience. If I remember right, Cat is six at the beginning of the book, and by the time she's graduated from high school she's which would make him around twelve-ish. I know that he's a robot and doesn't necessarily have the same mental age as the amount of time he has spent "alive," so to speak, but still, weird. To ramble about the TMI stuff a bit more--
Maybe the worldbuilding gets more developed as time goes on, but I felt like I had no idea what's going on with robot technology in this world. People seem aware that they exist but it's insisted that Finn is the only one of his kind. But why, though? Why is this apparently super-unique marvel being relegated to being a kid's tutor and a lab assistant? Maybe this gets answered further along in the story, but I'm not really engaged enough to care.
The title felt irrelevant to the plot of the story, at least from what I read. Cat's father is barely a character and the only indication of him being a mad scientist is given by a minor character who Cat promptly beats up and we never hear from him again. Capitalizing on the "The ___'s Daughter" title trend? Probably.
If I can say one good thing about this book, beyond liking the premise, there is some really pretty imagery to be had here, things that will stick with me for a while, I'm sure. "The dresses looked like rows of ice cream" and "...any ghost who could retrieve an extinct species of butterfly, extracting it from the blossoms of graveyard flowers, was the sort of ghost it might be handy to have around" I thought were especially pretty. I'm so bummed out that the characters and strange handling of the sci-fi elements don't measure up to this imagery.
The main character, Cat, doesn't appeal to me. Being attached to her as a POV character stopped being bearable once she went from being a rebellious artsy child to a rebellious artsy high schooler. I'm sure some people like this archetype, but it grates on me pretty badly.
The issue of Finn (the android's) sentience and ability to consent were hazy. It's lampshaded that he's basically a really obedient butler. It made me uncomfortable in a way that I think is intentional but still unpleasant to experience. If I remember right, Cat is six at the beginning of the book, and by the time she's graduated from high school she's
Spoiler
having sex with himSpoiler
it's explained that he "can" have sex but not really well-explained or even implied how beyond penetration being hinted at. Not that I want a super detailed pornographic description of his junk, but it's made clear he doesn't have a heart and therefore probably doesn't have blood. How do you get it up, robot man? It just felt odd to me that this book, which has a lot of sex, by the way, went to the trouble of having scenes like this even take place when they hardly make sense in any capacity.Maybe the worldbuilding gets more developed as time goes on, but I felt like I had no idea what's going on with robot technology in this world. People seem aware that they exist but it's insisted that Finn is the only one of his kind. But why, though? Why is this apparently super-unique marvel being relegated to being a kid's tutor and a lab assistant? Maybe this gets answered further along in the story, but I'm not really engaged enough to care.
The title felt irrelevant to the plot of the story, at least from what I read. Cat's father is barely a character and the only indication of him being a mad scientist is given by a minor character who Cat promptly beats up and we never hear from him again. Capitalizing on the "The ___'s Daughter" title trend? Probably.
If I can say one good thing about this book, beyond liking the premise, there is some really pretty imagery to be had here, things that will stick with me for a while, I'm sure. "The dresses looked like rows of ice cream" and "...any ghost who could retrieve an extinct species of butterfly, extracting it from the blossoms of graveyard flowers, was the sort of ghost it might be handy to have around" I thought were especially pretty. I'm so bummed out that the characters and strange handling of the sci-fi elements don't measure up to this imagery.