Comments (18)

What did you think about this title?
1 to 18 of 18 items
Jul 15, 2023longj34 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
My comment is in response to some of the others I've read: I really enjoyed this book for its willingness to sit in the 'grey zone' where decisions aren't easy and morality is not black and white. I think Newitz does a fantastic job…
Jul 08, 2022GremJet rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
One star for numerous Canadian references and one for a killer robot. Unfortunately the plot is lacking. If you like reading about killer robots try the Murder Bot series.
Nov 17, 2021katjespin rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
The writing - especially the "tech" parts - is a little too try-hard, and distracts from the enjoyment of the read. Story is tense, nerve-wracking, and hums along with really compelling characters. However, any premise that AI is (or…
Nov 12, 2020daggry rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
My biggest difficulty with this book was the moral ambiguity of the main characters, which went well beyond, say, a likable hero with interesting moral complexities. Initially, I thought I knew who was the good guy and who was the bad. I…
Nov 11, 2020samcmar17 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Read this in two sittings. This is a fantastic cyberpunk novel that isn't insanely science-heavy, but has the right balance of information to fantastical. This book reads so quickly, it's easy to follow along with, and it's just a great…
Aug 29, 2019GillReese rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
I really wanted to like this book. like, really. But in the end, I got halfway through and quit. Newitz imagines a world where in the year 2144, people are still throwing around homophobic slurs. Gender identity and sexuality are only…
Aug 05, 2019rixonkj rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Fun, punchy, vivid, adventurous. For fans of Cory Doctorow and Margaret Killjoy.
TripodSnowDog
May 23, 2019TripodSnowDog rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
I wanted to love this book so badly, because of its sci-fi premise and the promised LGBTQ+ relationships. However, I found this book genuinely difficult to read. The characterization seemed... weak, and the romantic relationships sudden…
Aug 08, 2018KristiC_0 rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Two huge ideas - open-source drugs and true AI - that don't mesh together well. I would have liked to see the smuggling story and the cop story separated into two books. The cop character arc is simply unrelated to the job they happen to…
Aug 01, 2018yt373 rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
Could've been an interesting story, with premises and characters that have plenty of promise. Unfortunately the characters are implausible and wholly unsympathetic, with the exception of Jack (though even she has her implausible thought…
Jun 05, 2018JLMason rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
This book imagines a plausible future 125 years from now where there are trade zones (no countries), biotech is used to enhance mood and connect one’s brain to the “internet” through microscopic, airborne motes, indentured servitude of…
Apr 02, 2018forbesrachel rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Newitz addresses quite a few modern issues in such a quick-paced, engaging story, including gender identity,the moral obligations of scientists, and whether healthcare is a right or a privilege. The dichotomous concepts of freedom and…
Mar 07, 2018SCL_Justin rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I really liked Autonomous' approach to problem-solving. The story starts off with a pharma-pirate named Jack realizing that she exposed a drug company's shoddy addictive drug that kills people and trying to clean up her mess. We're also…
Dec 14, 2017JessicaGma rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I was going to add a comment here about how I enjoyed the book and such, but I now wish to read the book that PearlyBaker (who commented below) would write. I thought the premise was good with Jack being chased down by the corporation for…
Dec 12, 2017Beatricksy rated this title 1.5 out of 5 stars
I was excited for this: drug pirates stealing formulas, duplicating them, and passing them out to the masses for enrichment. It sounded like the start of a really cool cyberpunky novel...but it went nowhere. It didn't properly explore its…
Sep 28, 2017Michael Colford rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Annalee Newitz's debut novel, Autonomous, is a bit of a bait and switch. Newitz pits two forces against each other, both being fairly morally ambiguous. The year is 2144, and Jack is a pirate, basically a futuristic Robin Hood who fights…
Sep 25, 2017PearlyBaker rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
There was a snitch from the Class of '87 who ruined and ended a 20 year tradition of students drinking on the Latin field trip. It's litcherally why I took Latin for this field trip of In Vinum es Veritas. My punishment during my 10 day…
Aug 15, 2017JohnK_KCMO rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Newitz's debut novel is action-packed, thought-provoking SF at its best! She tackles questions of identity, autonomy, gender, AI, biotechnology, corporate ethics, medical ethics, ecological collapse. But it's never unwieldy, never preachy,…