Annie Bot in SciFi and Fantasy Book Club

Mar 06, 2024 Vanessa rated it liked it

Shelves: ladies-night, goodreads-rec, scifi, computers-r-evil, miscellaneous-sources

A spike of alarm hits her. This is what a secret means. Everything Doug says will have two sides because he doesn't know what she did, and everything she says will have to hide what she knows. She has to be smarter than she was. She has to be careful, and it can't show.

In a future so close to our own it might as well be now, the Stella/Handy company manufactures lifelike robot companions. Do you want a nanny, or a manny? A 50's housewife who cleans and bakes? Or perhaps you'd like a Cuddle Bunny A spike of alarm hits her. This is what a secret means. Everything Doug says will have two sides because he doesn't know what she did, and everything she says will have to hide what she knows. She has to be smarter than she was. She has to be careful, and it can't show.

In a future so close to our own it might as well be now, the Stella/Handy company manufactures lifelike robot companions. Do you want a nanny, or a manny? A 50's housewife who cleans and bakes? Or perhaps you'd like a Cuddle Bunny? You can probably guess what that is for. Annie Bot, or just Annie, is #3 and she's owned by a manchild named Doug, who you will almost certainly want to punch on sight. Annie is in autodidact mode, so she's smart, very smart, and getting smarter.

Doug naturally thinks Annie's advanced perceptiveness is a reflection on him but when a duplicitous friend of his pays a surprise visit, that will set events in motion that will have profound impacts on Annie (And Doug too, but seriously, fuck that guy.)

This was very good, I would say not great because the ending was a bit unsatisfying. More specifically, (view spoiler)

There was a lot to think about here about the lives of women and AI (and the last bit is something we'll have to worry about all too soon and humanity will almost definitely do a shit job of managing it I'm sure. )This was a short book and I felt like maybe because of that some threads didn't get a chance to breathe and be explored (view spoiler) and the ending felt rushed.

I do think Sierra Greer did a good job of writing Annie's POV and subtly shifting it as Annie grew into her own. I did like this, I just didn't fall in love with it. (I might be in love with Delta Bot though...) But if you are interested, I definitely do recommend reading it. ...more

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Aug 21, 2024 Christine H rated it it was ok

Unfortunately this has all the troubling discomfort of Octavia Butler with about 5% the depth and payoff.

I feel like this could have been an amazing short story. The whole time I was reading, I was hoping desperately for an appropriate (view spoiler), and in a way, that was eventually delivered. However, it was literally in the last five minutes of reading, after the author spent SO MUCH TIME lingering on the details of what is basically slavery and rape. It ...more

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May 15, 2025 Michelle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: feminism, sci-fi, horror, book_club, audiobook, lit_fic

Does the book blurb sound interesting? Well it certainly did to me, too, and I dove eagerly into this near-future sci-fi riff on Stepford. The narrator for the audiobook version is fantastic, agilely expressing the naivete, innocence, puppy-dog desperation to please, and confusion of a baby AI learning to walk through this world. Told from Annie's POV, we viscerally feel her reactions to her owner/boyfriend's moods, and sigh in relief with each small victory she earns. (view spoiler) ...more

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