Paperback, 432 pages
Published March 11, 2024 by Tor Books.
In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees live three robots – fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They’re a family, hidden and safe.
The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled ‘HAP’, he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio – a past spent hunting humans.
When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio’s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic’s assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.
Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and …
In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees live three robots – fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They’re a family, hidden and safe.
The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled ‘HAP’, he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio – a past spent hunting humans.
When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio’s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic’s assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.
Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: can he accept love with strings attached?
Sadly, I didn’t feel as charmed with this one as I did with Klune’s previous books. This was compelling, but it had that air of being through the editor one too many times. I have to wonder what the previous version that he “felt the world wasn’t ready for” was like…
Abandoned, p.65: another it-doesn’t-work-that-way mess and I can’t handle another one so soon after [b:Station Eleven|20170404|Station Eleven|Emily St. John Mandel|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1680459872l/20170404.SX50.jpg|28098716]. It’s obviously YA, and clearly intended as a fable, but even in those there should be some way to figure out the rules. None of the logistics make any sense: not the building complex, its power generation, plumbing, life support; nor the technological marvels built from “scrapped circuit boards,” nor the too-human emotions in all the robots (one of which is a cowardly-lion Roomba named Rambo—get it?—another, a sadistic medical-caretaker named Nurse R.A.T.C.H.E.D.—get it?); and not the fleeing-parents setup nor the child being raised and coming out well-adjusted despite zero human company.
Maybe I could chill, accept magical handwaving as the explanation for it all, not try to ask questions. Or maybe everything is explained satisfactorily on page 66 (if so, someone trustworthy please let me know, and …
Abandoned, p.65: another it-doesn’t-work-that-way mess and I can’t handle another one so soon after [b:Station Eleven|20170404|Station Eleven|Emily St. John Mandel|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1680459872l/20170404.SX50.jpg|28098716]. It’s obviously YA, and clearly intended as a fable, but even in those there should be some way to figure out the rules. None of the logistics make any sense: not the building complex, its power generation, plumbing, life support; nor the technological marvels built from “scrapped circuit boards,” nor the too-human emotions in all the robots (one of which is a cowardly-lion Roomba named Rambo—get it?—another, a sadistic medical-caretaker named Nurse R.A.T.C.H.E.D.—get it?); and not the fleeing-parents setup nor the child being raised and coming out well-adjusted despite zero human company.
Maybe I could chill, accept magical handwaving as the explanation for it all, not try to ask questions. Or maybe everything is explained satisfactorily on page 66 (if so, someone trustworthy please let me know, and I’ll give it another try). But it’s also heavyhanded, another form of sloppiness that irks me. So many glowing reviews, such high hopes, but life is short.
