Book Review – ‘Free Space’ (#2 Admiral) by Sean Danker

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A kidnap, an escape, and a botched date.

Genre: Science Fiction

No. of pages: 320

I’d impersonated a prince, temporarily stopped a war, escaped a deadly planet, and survived more assassination attempts than I could conveniently count. After all that, there shouldn’t have been anything simpler than a nice weekend with a charming Evagardian girl.

However, some corners of the galaxy aren’t as genteel as the Empire, and Evagardians aren’t universally loved, which is how I ended up kidnapped to be traded as a commodity.

Their timing couldn’t have been worse. I’m not at my best, but these people have no idea whom they’re dealing with: a highly trained, genetically engineered soldier in the Imperial Service who happens to be my date.

‘Free Space’ hooked me in from the first few pages, as Admiral and Salmagard set off on a date of sorts, end up getting kidnapped and passed on to traffickers; but the abductors don’t quite know who they’ve got on their hands and the Admiral and the others reveal skills that foil best laid plans. This won’t be an easy pay day for the kidnappers… and the most interesting date in the universe.

A great instalment in the Admiral series. Fast paced and action packed!

This presented as more episodic rather than a book in a series. The writing is excellent and I read the entire book in one sitting. Though there could have been a little more character development and a more intricate plot. Sean Danker does expert level reveals, though I have to say I was delighted and surprised with some of his plot twists and reveals.

We follow the Admiral for half of the novel and then the perspective splits as Salmagard and the Admiral are separated and then we get alternating chapters following each character.

The introduction of two new characters (friends?) who were pilots, Sei and Diana, also Imperial citizens out touring in Free Space. The whole novel is a kidnapping plot and how our protagonists will fight insurmountable odds to escape? (No spoilers here – it’s all in the blurb on the back of the book.) That’s literally the whole plot.

I liked the antagonists too – the pair of kidnappers (Willis and Freeber) and then Cyril the mysterious buyer/pastor. They felt like they were fully formed and had their own motivations.

I feel like this was setting up a number of plot points and characters for novels later in the series – there was not enough resolved at the end of ‘Free Space’ to leave me satiated; and it ended very abruptly on a cliff hanger. The pacing and writing style are top notch so I am hooked on this series. The next is an ebook ‘The Glory of the Empress’ which I think is a flashback of sorts… not entirely sure but have purchased it ready in my TBR pile.

It’s the most engrossing sci-fi series I’ve read in a while and with another 6 books yet to go I’m excited for the ride.

Overall feeling: Engrossing!

© Casey Carlisle 2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Book Review – ‘The Awakened’ (#1 The Awakened Duology) by Sara Elizabeth Santana

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Gotta get out of dodge before you get eaten by a zombie horde or blown to smithereens…

Genre: YA, Dystopian, Horror

No. of pages: 432

Zoey Valentine is concerned with two things: surviving the multitude of self-defense classes her dad makes her take and avoiding Ash Matthews.

That is, until the Z virus hits, wiping out a third of the population in a matter of weeks. If that weren’t frightening enough, the bodies of the victims disappear and suddenly reappear, awakened from their dead state. They’re faster, smarter, and they work together to get the one thing they crave, human flesh.

The United States is in a panic and then the government decides the unthinkable: to bomb every major city overrun with the awakened.

Now Zoey is on the run, with her dad and Ash, desperate to find a place of safety amongst the ruined remains of the country.

‘The Awakened’ drew me in with its gorgeous cover art, and a solid recommendation from Ben Alderson (Of Tomes) a book blogger/book tokker I think around 2015. I’m a sucker for a good dystopian and was craving a zombie book, so ‘The Awakened’ felt like just the thing with Zoey and her small group dodging walking corpses while trying to exit the country before the military bombs the heck out of it in hopes to wipe out the spread of the infection.

I had a lot of issues with our protagonist Zoey, and her love interest Ash. We start and Ash is behaving like a sex pest. Zoey keeps saying she doesn’t like him, but doesn’t shut down his behaviour or stand up to Madison (her passive aggressive friend) or her dad. It’s actually frustrating to read. Zoey is not only giving mixed signals, but letting everyone walk all over her.

The whole thing of Ash calling Zoey ‘Z’ or ‘baby’ made me want to throw up. He is just so cringe. When did he get so familiar, or is he just trying to wear Zoey down?

I had a WTF moment of page 250 – a mixture of rapey and bipolar whiplash that came out of nowhere. The way things are framed in this story don’t make sense. I feel like Sara Elizabeth Santana hasn’t done proper research into the psychology of it all, or learnt how to write the nuance between the different driving motivations and emotions for each situation properly. The whole forced sex thing has tones of white supremacism. And Zoey is not behaving how a captured person would. No PTSD? It has tones of sex trafficking. It all so creepy. I feel like Zoey was becoming complicit. Where did all her survivor spirit go? Her inner monologue is off. Zoey jumps from uptight virgin to roaring sex fiend at a drop of a hat. What is wrong with her? Does she have no control over her hormones? No integrity? And bonking while someone is just recovering from major surgery, and there’s a stranger in the next room. Not realistic, totally rude and tone deaf.

I feel like the Sara Elizabeth Santana has a difficult time discerning between love and lust… and building a relationship between two characters to get to that point. She tends to flick a switch and shove her characters into an intimate scene without any build up, and then switch it off. It’s quite jarring and make it feel like the intimate scenes do not belong in the story. This may be the reason most of the sex scenes and associated psychological trauma, or genuine affection did not make sense to me – it was such a jumbled mess.

There was a certain character that was written like a bond villain revelling in her importance and explaining her dastardly plan in detail… I couldn’t help laughing out loud. It was such a caricature. The antagonist feels very two dimensional – I was actually a little bored and wishing for more scenes with zombies to get some more tension back into the story.

The pacing was really good, I read ‘The Awakened’ in two sittings. I wasn’t sold on any of the relationships, and therefore not invested in the characters all too much. The last chapter (and the epilogue) suddenly break an established narrative and tell the story from a new characters perspective. The epilogue I get, but the last chapter really added nothing to the story. The ending seemed to drag on. The last half of the book needed to be condensed and simplified. This needed a strong developmental edit in my opinion. Sara Elizabeth Santana has some great potential, but this manuscript felt rushed to publication.

Add to that, the grammatical errors, lots of word repetition. The tone of the narrative feels immature. This novel could have been so much better it taken the time for a proper editing process.

I bought this solely on the recommendation of Benjamin (the owner of the imprint) and like I’ve found with nearly all of his recommendations so far, wasn’t really into it. I like supporting indie authors, but with all the grammatical errors, structural errors, he’s recommending books that aren’t quite ready for readers yet. It feels inexperienced and green. As such I’ve stopped following him on social media because our tastes in reading do not align.

I appreciate Sara Elizabeth Santana’s imagination and the unique take on zombies, loved the action scenes and horror elements, but they went away after the half way point. I’m still struggling to understand what I just read – I think the plot went on way longer than it needed to, or the antagonist needed to be introduced earlier… like I mentioned before a structural/developmental edit was needed to clean this up.

‘The Awakened’ is easily predictable, but the story is a bit messy. I enjoyed that Sara Elizabeth Santana did not shy away from carnage and the blood and guts, she also let the characters freak out, mourn, and go through the unexpected emotions of such a stressful and volatile situation – many YA stories don’t.

I’m on the fence about recommending this – it definitely needs work, but I really enjoyed the concept. If you pushed me, I’d say skip it; there are a lot more better written dystopians out on the market.

Overall feeling: errr…

© Casey Carlisle 2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Book Review – ‘Jaguar Prophecies’ (#2 The Dresden Codex) by Jeff Wheeler

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Evil mystic attempts to take over the world, but one family could stop him…

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Science Fiction

No. of pages: 317

The fate of the world is in the hands of two men. One is prophesized to end it. The other must save it in an apocalyptic thriller by Wall Street Journal bestselling author Jeff Wheeler. If the end-of-the-world prophecy is true, a vengeful descendant will reign with blood and fury. The planets are already aligning. For Jonathon Roth and his family, a vacation in Cozumel became a nightmare. Pawns in a deadly ritual, Roth and his children barely escaped with their lives, and with the secrets of mastermind Jacob Calakmul. Calakmul’s endgame: to fulfill the Jaguar Prophecies―the foretelling of an inevitable Armageddon, one that will destroy entire nations. The key to stopping it is to retrieve an ancient codex―if Roth can decipher it. From a museum in Dresden where the mysterious codex is on display to the Roths’ Montana home in the dead of winter, no place is safe from Calakmul’s reach. Obsessed with the legends of the magic of the Maya, Roth knows Calakmul’s powers are real. Roth’s own daughter possesses them too. As Calakmul and his henchmen close in, Roth and his children are running for their lives. In a prepper’s lair in the Montana mountains, Roth must piece together a terrifying puzzle to stop an apocalyptic vision from coming true. If it’s not already too late. Because the countdown to the end-time has already begun.

‘Jaguar Prophecies’ is an ongoing epic supernatural adventure following author Jonathon Roth and his family after the events in the start of this trilogy ‘Doomsday Match,’ ‘Jaguar Prophecies‘ offers up espionage, shootouts, dramatic chases and Maya magic.

A great follow-up to the debut in The Dresden Codex trilogy. Told third-person, the narrative jumps about following different characters in the global conspiracy as antagonist Jacob Calakmul attempts to take over the planet and see the Maya as the dominant ruling power.

Jeff Wheeler had a great writing style, it’s succinct and he excels at crafting action scenes and creating tension. It certainly adds to great pacing in this plot driven tale. 

As ‘Jaguar Prophecies‘ is the middle book in the trilogy, there is a little of the middle book syndrome. You don’t feel like the story necessarily has a start, middle, and end; and have most of the plot points resolved. It definitely has an episodic feel and ends on a note of ‘tune in next time for the thrilling conclusion…’

We get introduced to some new and old characters which was a bonus, and I feel was handled particularly well in ‘Jaguar Prophecies‘ especially with the theme of not knowing who you can trust for Roth, as he does not know who Calakmul has swayed over to his side. That paranoia adds some great tension to the narrative.

We get a little character development from Roth, still dealing with mental issues from the impact of the events that happened in ‘Doomsday Match.’ We also see him obtaining some new skills to manoeuvre against Calakmul. I felt a little let down when we got to Roth’s children – it felt like Wheeler had difficulty in writing younger characters. It was like they switched on and off their emotions to suit the plot… and the dialogue felt cumbersome. Mixing in current slang is all well and good, but if felt out of context with the situation and character motivation. All of that added up to the children feeling more like props in the story rather than active participants.

We get a little more development from our antagonist Jacob Calakmul. In ‘Doomsday Match’ he felt very two-dimensional – a moustache twirling villain intent on world domination. But in ‘Jaguar Prophecies’ we get to see other sides to his personality and different motivations other than ruling the planet. I still wanted more from this character, but it was a step in the right direction.

While the story is pretty chaotic – switching perspectives to follow different characters, and the cat-and-mouse action-packed tone of the narrative, overall I don’t feel like I got many surprises or plot twists. We see a lot of things get set up for the final novel in this trilogy ‘Final Strike’ but not a lot of pay-off other than the family thwarting/surviving the attempts of Calakmul. (That is no spoiler.)

There are elements that are fantastical and skew this away from a fully-fledged thriller. It was interesting to see how Wheeler juxtaposes the supernatural with the spy/thriller genre. I think he achieved it pretty solidly.

While ‘Jaguar Prophecies’ didn’t blow me out of the water, it was a solid instalment in the franchise and I’m definitely wanting to continue with the adventure. This series gets a recommendation from me if you love globe-trotting adventures with a paranormal twist and a touch of ancient history.

Overall feeling: History and adventure abounds!

© Casey Carlisle 2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Book Review – ‘Lost in a Moment and Found’ (#8 Wayward Children) by Seanan McGuire

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A girl runs away from an unsafe home to work in a mystical shop…

Genre: YA, Fantasy, LGBTQIA+

No. of pages: 146

Welcome to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go.

If you ever lost a sock, you’ll find it here.

If you ever wondered about favorite toy from childhood… it’s probably sitting on a shelf in the back.

And the headphones that you swore that this time you’d keep safe? You guessed it….

Antoinette has lost her father. Metaphorically. He’s not in the shop, and she’ll never see him again. But when Antsy finds herself lost (literally, this time), she finds that however many doors open for her, leaving the Shop for good might not be as simple as it sounds.

And stepping through those doors exacts a price.

This was a delightful and magical read dealing with some heavy topics… and I loved it!

‘Lost in the Moment and Found’ follows Antsy (Antoinette) as she flees from a dangerous situation at home, finding a door and entering a junk shop. This place becomes her new home, a nexus point in the Wayward Children universe and not only provides a gorgeous character driven story, but also manages to develop the mythology of the universe a bit – something we haven’t gotten for a long time in this franchise. 

Antsy is intuitive and clever, possessing a strong moral compass. I really enjoyed reading Antsy’s story – and where it eventually ends up. She has an understated grace and trust in the wider world, and as the narrative progresses these values get tested and we see her grow and change, lose things, but become the stronger for it.

The antagonist of this story is not so clear cut… and I loved that kind of exploration into those possibilities. It almost teeters on the concept that nothing is truly all good or all bad – but it’s hard to draw any conclusions because we are dealing with a small moment of time in the grand scheme of things, and much of the story is both hidden in the past and yet to unravel in the future.

‘Lost in the Moment and Found’ is paced well, the story moves along at a clip with new plot points and twists coming in nearly every chapter. There were a few brief moments when the narrative dragged with introspection, but besides that I was totally engrossed and loved spending my time reading ‘Lost in the Moment and Found.’ 


This novella has an aspect of predictability, due to the optimistic nature of the series, (but things still come at a cost.) There are still plenty of surprises that kept me engaged and delighted. Seanan McGuire’s writing style is still that same almost melodic tone that compliments the magical universe of the Wayward Children and its fairy-tale-esque delivery.

I’m starting to regain my faith and enjoyment of this series and ‘Lost in the Moment and Found’ is another strong recommendation from me.

Overall feeling: Masterfully magical.

© Casey Carlisle 2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Book Review – ‘Paper Girls’ Volume 1 (#1 Paper Girls) by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson and Jared K. Fletcher

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Crazy time travel shenanigans and a gang of teen girls just wanting to complete their paper run…

Genre: YA, Graphic Novel, Science Fiction, LGBT+

No. of pages: 144

In the early hours after Halloween of 1988, four 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls uncover the most important story of all time. Suburban drama and otherworldly mysteries collide in this smash-hit series about nostalgia, first jobs, and the last days of childhood.

I had ‘Paper Girls’ on my radar, but after hearing it had become a Netflix television series, I quickly snapped them up. ‘Paper Girls’ in a high concepts science fiction tale following a group of four girls who manage a paper run that stumble into warring factions from the future trying to ‘prune’ the timeline to their own ends. At first the girls are just trying to survive, but as they grow closer and find out more about the phenomenon, their priorities change. But what does that mean for their existence, or that of their friends and family?

Fantastic concept. Time travel, or dimensional travel… it’s crazy. There are a lot of elements and characters introduced, but we don’t really get to explore too much before the graphic novel comes to an end with a twist.

The artwork is gorgeous. I love the use of colour and the character expressions convey a great deal of emotion.

The plot is chaotic, and it’s easy to see there is an overarching storyline to this series by the way things are introduced. But I have already become endeared to our four tween girls. Tough and determined and embracing the adventure with rational thinking and intelligence. You can see the bonds of a found family already forming. This reads like an opening chapter, there’s really no character development, but our gang are taking all the weirdness in their stride and concentrating on staying together.

Some great diversity with POC’s and characters starting to realise their sexuality, we find this group having to grow up really quickly in order to deal with reality practically falling apart like a bad acid trip. A pretty psychedelic coming of age story if you ask me. Add to this the nostalgia of the ‘80’s (a time when I was a tween) and it is a smash hit for me! (I’m not going to mention that books set in the 1980’s are now considered historical fiction, it makes me feel like the Crypt Keeper.)

I picked these up because I enjoyed the tv show adaptation and really wanted to appreciate the source material. Where the show builds a bit more slowly to the weirdness, the graphic novel dives in head first, not shying away from big science fiction concepts from the get-go.

Really keen to continue on with the series.

The girls do act like bickering children sometimes – but they are bickering children, so that tracks. I think I was expecting a bit more story.

The dialogue is excellent – from the different languages, to intonation, specific of the different eras/places the characters are from. It feels like we’ve stepped into a fully developed world.

Overall feeling: Unhinged… in the best way!

© Casey Carlisle 2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

#bookporn #coverlove

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I haven’t read a contemporary with a magical realism element in it for a minute, so I had to snap up ‘The Seven Year Slip.’ It’s giving me ‘The Lake House‘ vibes, the film with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves… can’t wait to see how it measures up!

What is your favourite novel with magical realism? The only other novel I can think of with a similar premise is ‘Landline‘ by Rainbow Rowell.

Book Review – ‘You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight’ by Kaylynn Bayron

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Working at a summer camp as an actor in a slasher simulation turns out to be a PR nightmare…

Genre: YA, Mystery, Thriller, Horror

No. of pages: 230

At Camp Mirror Lake, terror is the name of the game . . . but can you survive the night?

Charity Curtis has the summer job of her dreams, playing the “final girl” at Camp Mirror Lake. Guests pay to be scared in this full-contact terror game, as Charity and her summer crew recreate scenes from a classic slasher film, Curse of Camp Mirror Lake. The more realistic the fear, the better for business.

But the last weekend of the season, Charity’s co-workers begin disappearing. And when one ends up dead, Charity’s role as the final girl suddenly becomes all too real. If Charity and her girlfriend Bezi hope to survive the night, they’ll need figure out what this killer is after. Is there is more to the story of Mirror Lake and its dangerous past than Charity ever suspected?

‘You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight’ was spectacularly gruesome and spooky. The perfect homage to the ’80’s slasher films that inspired Kalynn Bayron. We follow Charity as she and her girlfriend Bezi work at Camp Mirror Lake with an immersive slasher experience, only what is meant to be play-acing has suddenly become a horrific reality.

The pacing in the first half of the novel did feel a bit slow, the story ambled, taken up by the running of the full-contact horror game. It kind of set up some mythology for the novel, and we got to superficially know the cast. I think this part of the book was more about setting up ambience and jump scares. It’s a short novel, so I was surprised I felt the slow pacing for this first half, especially since it’s a horror/thriller.

‘You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight‘ is told in first person following protagonist Charity as she, and a bunch of other teens, run the murder camp simulation. I love that we get some diversity with the cast members and have a lesbian person of colour in the lead role. Charity is inquisitive, brave and intelligent.

We follow the same rules and tropes of the horror genre throughout the story. It’s all satirical and tongue-in-cheek, but Bayron pulls it off expertly. Expect a certain amount of campness famous in this type of genre, as well as screaming and blood splattering…

I thought I had it all pegged. Had the story all guessed out. But boy was I wrong. There are reveals and plot twists galore in the closing chapters of ‘You’re Not Supposed To Die Tonight‘ that had me cheering. I love surprises. The fact Bayron pulled the rug out from under me a number of times is testament to her writing. The writing style is punchy, eerie and atmospheric… even that spoony ’80’s slasher vibe pokes through.

Overall I really enjoyed ‘You’re Not Supposed To Die Tonight‘ though I had issue with the pacing: slow at the start and then all rushed at the end. I was hoping for it to be a better build to the climax, and uncover more substantial clues earlier in the plot. It was like the ‘real’ inciting incident didn’t happen until around the halfway point. I found myself wanting more tension and spooky atmosphere – it felt like it was more about Charity taking control and organising things, than about a big scary bad. 

I think anyone who loves horror will get a kick out of this. It’s for the YA demographic, but definitely at the older end of the age group. Gore and murder. A solid recommendation from me.

Overall feeling: Don’t get too comfortable…

© Casey Carlisle 2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Book Review – ‘Evolved’ by N. R. Walker

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A messy story of a man and his sentient sex toy.

Genre: Science Fiction, Romance, LGBTQIA+

No. of pages: 242

In 2068, androids are an integrated part of human life. Big Brother no longer just watches from the shadows. It’s in every household.

Lloyd Salter has OCD issues with noise, mess, and he’s uncomfortable with human interaction. When his ex claimed the only thing perfect enough to live up to his standards was an android, Lloyd dismissed it. But two years later, after much self-assessment, Lloyd thinks he may have been right.

SATinc is the largest manufacturer of androids in Australia, including the Fully Compatible Units known as an A-Class 10. Their latest design is the Synthetic Human Android UNit, otherwise known as SHAUN.

Shaun is compatible with Lloyd’s every need; the perfect fit on an intellectual and physical basis. But Lloyd soon realises Shaun’s not like other A-Class androids. He learns. He adapts. Sure that SATinc is aware Shaun functions outside of his programmed parameters, Lloyd must find a way to keep Shaun safe.

No one can know how special Shaun is. No one can know he’s evolved.

I picked up ‘Evolved’ because I’ve been recommended N. R. Walkers books a lot, and I’ve read a few years ago which were great. With a mix of science fiction, AI and sentience in an Australian setting, I anticipated this to be a slam dunk… ‘Evolved’ brings up a lot of difficult topics, so what I thought was a light-hearted cyber romance turned into something else.

Already in chapter one, the author has mixed sexual desire, lust, love, and loneliness/depression in one bag. Like they are interchangeable. Our protagonist Lloyd is basically buying a sex toy, but under the guise of companionship. It will be interesting to see how N. R. Walker continues to approach these topics.

I had BIG issues about using mental illness like OCD as a justification for purchasing a sexbot. ‎Like having OCD is so debilitating Lloyd can’t have a normal relationship with a real human. It feels like a tenuous premise, and as someone who has OCD, it’s a little insulting… but I’m not gatekeeping the diagnosis, it just doesn’t sound like anything I’ve ever heard of in professional circles. Furthermore, talking about bullying and OCD as something that needs to be fixed in this futuristic version of Australia feels very archaic. Therapists do not try to fix you, they target behaviours and reactions that you identify as isolating yourself from interacting with the public, and then help you to develop coping mechanisms to minimise their impact. This book feels so poorly researched and tends to make so many unfounded assumptions about mental illness.

Delving into more about my first impression of our protagonist: Lloyd, he objectifies everyone. It feels smarmy.

Lloyd is incapable of living with defect or ugliness. Um can we say controlling and perfectionist much? This says a lot about his character. I instantly did not like or relate to Lloyd in any fashion. The concept of creating the perfect mate. Programmed loyalty. Lloyd is excited – not for the android but for the sexual anticipation. This made me uncomfortable and felt weird, because he is diminishing both an object or a person (or intelligence) to its relevance of sexual desire, or not. 

I think a lot of my discomfort around Lloyd’s attitude comes from the fact that robot Shaun is owned. Property. Effectively a sex slave if we are going down the road of a sentient AI. Plus Shaun has the social development of a child. So it’s like having sexual attraction to a child.  

Shaun is programmed with philosophy and other topics to have intellectual conversations – this still leads to no free will. Again control and ownership. How can you be free if the literal words that come out of your mouth are programed? Shaun is a build-a-bear person. Lloyd is treating and reacting like these are surprising human attributes, not pre-programmed AI. Having the illusion of choice is not real choice.

Lloyd also has an elitist attitude the way he judges those around him and only values certain (expensive, brand name) items.

Lloyd’s behaviour is like grooming behaviour with an object that does not need to be groomed. Wining and dining an object before he is comfortable bonking it… there is such a mix of treating Shaun as a physical thing – a robot, and treating him as an intelligent sentient being – human. But Shaun is not human and will never be. Artificial intelligence operates under a different set of rules. This feels like it is poorly executed. And poorly researched all for the sake for some titillation. Maybe I could accept that if the blurb of the book did not set this up as more of a philosophical book, a tone of first contact with a sentient robot, rather than erotic fiction with a robot.

“I must treat Shaun as a person” Dude, the whole reason you got a sexbot is because your mental illness supposedly stops you from being with a person – and what part of you having literally picked out of a menu every part of his physical body, personality, and interests make you think he has choice? This book is so full of conflicting ideologies it’s frustrating.

Why does Lloyd need wallet and keys in a technologically advanced society? Just saying.

Lloyd is in a position of complete power and control – deigning to give Shaun little gifts and ‘allowing’ him moments of independence – again it’s tantamount to grooming behaviour and domestic slavery. It amused me that the only way Lloyd realises that Shaun has autonomy is from discovering he initiates sex against his programming… like it couldn’t have been any other type of behavioural pattern. I think my brain is melting.

The tone of the narrative has Shaun’s only motivations as Lloyds sexual gratification and comfort. Icky! Surely a newly minted sentience would want more than just getting their owner too climax? SHAUNS SEXUAL RELEASE CAN’T HAPPEN WITHOUT LLOYDS!! What kind of controlling ish is this? What kind of bullshit is it that if Shaun can’t climax he’ll shut down have a catastrophic error. Are all his functions tied to sex? That sounds implausible to me, no-one would build an android that way. I just about gave up completely reading this book at this point.

Even though we have a shallow, controlling protagonist, and a sex slave robot love interest, we really only get one other cast member. I was hoping for something dynamic or developed since they are meant to be Lloyd’s only human friend. But Korean Jae Jin the IT guy fell flat, and having an Asian person as the computer specialist felt stereotyped. I literally facepalmed.

‘Evolved’ talks a lot about Artificial Intelligence and its implications, but what is never brought up is that AI is inheritably genderless. And Shaun is never given the option to express his gender identity. It’s just assumed because of the parts for his physical body which are chosen for him.

It’s brought up that Shaun is a prototype, and I liked that angle, it opened up the discussion about isn’t Shaun intellectual property or something? When Shaun achieves sentience, what does that mean? What are his legal rights?

Spyware, security breaches. This is an interesting angle to explore and I wish there was more we could have delved into in relation to autonomy and personage for Shaun. But we seem to touch on a topic with relatively little information, assume and incorrect interpretation, and move on… it got very frustrating.

Many of the intimate scenes felt gratuitous and not relevant to the plot. Again, it feels very selfish and one sided with Lloyd repeating that everything is made just for him. Possessive. The author is also mixing love and lust. And intellectual conversation as building a relationship does not quite cut it for me in trying to show the growing relationship and feelings between the two – remember, Shaun is programmed to say most of that. It feels like the story is playacting building a relationship. Like it’s not real but just going through the motions of what is expected. It feels hollow. Fake.

For all my criticisms of the characters and themes, there were some tender moments and I was starting to get invested, but then ruined it all with some other 404 Error with conflicting themes and ideologies.

Near the end N. R. Walker actually got me. I was a little sad and anxious for the plot twist and felt for Lloyd. Walker‘s writing is able to force emotion out of my cold dead hear and draw me into the narrative. I like her writing, it’s just the jumble of themes and concepts in ‘Evolved’ that rubs me the wrong way.

One last aspect of ‘Evolved’ that kept grating my nerves is the repeated affectation ‘God‘ or ‘My God’ used 23 times and ‘Oh boy’ used 36 times. With that much repetition surely a simple read-through would have picked it up for the editing phase

The structure of the story is bang on – it was more the conflicting ethics and philosophical elements throughout the story. I felt like she needed to pick a lane – make it more erotica and have sapient robots that live autonomously, or stick to the narrative of the first android becoming self-aware and leave the sexual/romantic stuff out of it.

I’d read something else from Walker, because I believe that she can craft an angsty, spicy queer love story – it was just that she hadn’t worked out the narrative of this properly so the plot points weren’t making sense. Honestly, I don’t think I could recommend this one in good conscious.

Overall feeling: WFT did I just read?

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Another guilty pleasure series from Greig Beck. The Primordia trilogy follows a group of adventurers as they discover a plateau in the Amazon populated by creatures from the distant past. Only all of these monsters see you as a delicious snack. Will anyone survive and make it back home?

The way Beck writes about dinosaurs and long-forgotten landscapes has me hooked!