THE PRESERVE by Ariel S. Winters is a fun blend of detective mystery and science fiction. The unique storyline is about police chief Laughton who has to investigate a homicide on “the preserve” which is where humans reside after robots have taken over. There isn’t a lot happening throughout the whole book and there isn’t much action at all. I wished to know more backstory about the characters but it’s an easy quick read.

In a dsytopian future, a plague has wiped out most of mankind and robots now run the world. In America, humans are offered preserves in areas the robots don't want where they can group together to preserve their way of life and prevent their species dying out (sound familiar?). The S. Carolina Preserve (SoCar) has been running for none months, has established a school and a fertility centre to encourage humans to have children and prevent in breeding. Ex Baltimore detective Jesse Laughton has taken on the role of Chief of Police and so far his job has mostly been about stopping fights and sending drunks home. But now, a man has been murdered, a hacker who makes sims for robots that mimic the effects of human drugs. Jesse knows he needs to solve the case quickly before the robot Feds take over and is pleased when his old partner, a robot called Kir turns up to help out.

This is an interesting and original take on the robots as master race trope. At around 250 pages, it's a short book and could have been longer with more world building and perhaps a little history of how the change in world order and the Preserves came about. I would have liked to get a good feel of how the robots were running the world and how the humans not in Preserves were living and being treated by the robots. However, the book is an enjoyable short read and you really don't need all those details to follow the plot.

I really liked the character of Kir and his warm relationship with Jesse. Jesse himself is a bit of an enigma. He seems to be horribly stressed all the time with continuous facial pains and headache which was never explained. He either suffers from one continual migraine or he has some undiagnosed illness (such as a tumour). His family life is also odd as he doesn't seem to show much fondness for his wife Betty and she seems to be continually annoyed at their young daughter (perhaps they felt forced to have a child for the survival of humanity when they didn't really like children). So a few puzzling elements, but overall an entertaining and original plot in a world where humans fear the dominance of robots but where there can be friendship and trust between them and a chance to live and work together peacefully.

The premise of this book caught my interest right away. However, the highly interesting premise was merely background to a lackluster story. The plot itself fell flat for me and I found it difficult to stay engaged. This book had so much potential and I was so disappointed that I did not enjoy this book more. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for granting access to this book in exchange for an honest review. I will post this review tomorrow to my Bookstagram and companion Facebook page @thatreadingrealtor.

this was a really suspenseful read, with great characters and a great plot. I enjoyed the way the author writes and look forward to more from the author.

This book was interesting. It takes place after a plague devastates humanity. Humans now live on preserves and a murder takes place. The story progresses from there and I found it to be quite interesting and I found myself wanting to know what was going to happen. The ending of the book was a bit predictable in my opinion but overall, the story was good.

I enjoyed this book despite seeing the ending coming.

Advanced copy received from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

3.5/5 The Preserve depicts the near future, where robots are the majority as a plague has wiped out most of the human population (too soon?) A preserve is set up where humans can live robot free, until there's a murder and the stability of the Preserve is up in the air. Add in robot deaths due to a "drug" and futuristic chaos ensues. Chief of Police Jesse Laughton must work alongside his former robot partner, Kir to crack the case and restore order in the new way of life.

I thought the themes of this book were oddly timely and not as futuristic as we may hope. I enjoyed the glimpses into humanity and the opposing viewpoints on each side of the issue (again very timely in an election season). I liked seeing Laughton and Kir work together and glimpses into both of their faults and humanity. My main struggles with the book were that I felt like some of the more scifi aspects were underexplained for someone new to the genre and technical aspects of it like myself (though this is probably appreciated by those that have a background in it and don't need as much of an overview), In general, the book was easy enough to follow, but I do feel like I missed some key bits along the way just because this isn't my usual read.

I enjoy reading books outside my comfort zone, rounding this one up to a 4 star since it's no fault of the author that I'm not as well-versed in the lingo as his target readers may be. This had solid thriller elements, suspense, fast paced, mysterious themes and I enjoyed the read overall.

So, the robots have taken over and humans are on "wildlife preserves," but there's not be revolution. Cool. Cool, cool, cool. Just wasn't my bag..

Imagine a dystopian world where a plague has wiped out most of the human population. Humankind is now a minority ruled by AI complex robots. Given the chance to live without robot interference, the indigenous population can choose to live on a preserve. Police Chief Jesse Laughton had been the only human in the major crime division of the Baltimore PD. He was "famous for reading lies on people's faces that robotic facial recognition software could never match...". Chief Laughton chose to move with wife, Betty and eight year old daughter, Erica to the SoCar Preserve in a town called Liberty. The Preserve was just outside Charleston, South Carolina.

Betty Laughton had high hopes that the Preserve would renew human society. She pioneered the Liberty Young Primary School, intended to educate children and provide the children with socialization among their peers while the Fertility Clinic was part of a repopulation initiative aimed at creating genetic diversity.

The Preserve was an experiment. "Most humans had no way of earning money, relying on government subsidies. The occupants were meant to run subsistence farms...to just survive as a
segregated population. Many towns were ghost towns with no electric lights. "Porch furniture waited loyally for sitters that would never come". The SoCar Preserve was on shaky ground. Anti-preserve groups looked for excuses to declare this nine month old experiment a failure. A dead body discovered near a dumpster behind the market was the first murder to occur on the Preserve. The victim was found to have "wounds revealing metal bones encased in simul-skin..."...a cyborg. The victim, Carl Smythe, was a hacker who wrote sims. [Sims were plug and play memory sticks distributed on the black market]. The plot thickens, five robocides...same red memory stick, apparent victims of a killer app that fried their operating systems.

Chief Laughton along with former Baltimore robot partner, Kir, reunite, teaming up to solve the seemingly related crimes. Human and robot were close friends who had worked in tandem for almost two decades. Questioning Smythe's associates proved to be challenging. Discomfort at seeing Kir, a robot, on Preserve territory was palpable. The top brass were antsy. If the murders were not solved ASAP, "... this [would be] as an excuse to post robots on the preserve as peacekeepers...[the Preserve] will be an open-air prison...".

In view of the world-wide pandemic and the resultant lockdowns, this futuristic, machine-ruled dystopic mystery seems timely. The friendship between Jesse Laughton and Kir was refreshing, mutually respectful and caring. Despite being a robot, Kir, having spent years working with Laughton, had developed understanding and compassion.

"The Preserve" by Ariel S. Winter was an enjoyable read, however, Laughton's character was void of exuberance, always sleepless and dispirited. Kir, on the other hand, was awesome. I highly recommend this work of science fiction.

Thank you Atria/Emily Bestler Books and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Preserve has an interesting premise but it never gets off the ground. I felt like I was reading a draft of a novel; characters are sketches and the plot felt as if it had been pulled from a smudged piece of paper; clear in spots, muddled as if you'd hit the smudges in others. Overall, feels like the bones of a good book, maybe even a great one, but there's nothing pushing the premise into a full story.

This book was hard to get in to. The main character is very stereotypical. The premise is good but still it was just hard to get through.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview The Preserve by Ariel S. Winter. This book is different and takes the reader to the future where robots are running the world and humans are put on a "preserve" so they can live and continue to live.
This is a SyFi book that takes you out of your comfort zone and creates a world that today is unimaginable - but is it.
Good story - different - 3 stars.

Pretty cool concept that doesn't get explored enough and unfortunately a deeply boring story. Regretably I only made it about 20% of the way through before giving up. I could not keep the characters straight and worse, I didn't care enough about any of theme to even try.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Preserve.

I don't read a lot of sci-fi but when the premise intrigues me, I'm game so I was excited when my request was approved.

In the aftermath of a plaque, A.I. (robots) now rule the planet and what remains of humanity now live on 'preserves' aka. reservations.

Humans are encouraged to breed and repopulate their species as hate festers between humans, robots and cyborgs, humans with prosthetics.

The story opens when Chief Laughton is called in to investigate the death of a hacker with a hidden agenda. At the same time, a series of violent robot deaths may be linked to the death of this man and Laughton and his former robot partner from another lifetime, Kir, is brought in to consult on the case.

There's a lot of political wrangling and tension (which I'm never a fan of, not in books and not in real life), and though the author provides some world building it wasn't enough. Most of the techno-speak went over my head, perhaps because I don't read books like these often.

The not so subtle reference to how Americans treated Native Americans and our current political climate is blatantly obvious and I did enjoy the irony of how humans are treated in this dystopian world.

I didn't like Laughton. He's a typical trope in books like this; a tough guy, stoic, shows no emotion and is brusque to his own family. Kir is more attuned and interesting than the Chief.

The author depicts Laughton as a man with frequent migraines, which are never explained. I wondered, as I was reading, if he was ill. Is he plagued with headaches because he's stressed? Because of the state of humanity? Or just because his job sucks?

Maybe that's why the author paired Laughton up with Kir, to show that some humans lack an emotional connection and A.I. may, in some ways, be more intelligent than humanity will ever be.

Or maybe Laughton just lacks emotional intelligence.

His wife is another odd bird. She is constantly irritated by her own child, often scowling or frowning at her five year old, Erica. When Erica is excited to see her father after a long day, her mother scolds her for bothering him. Why does she even have a child? Just to repopulate the world? That's the vibe I'm getting.

I didn't connect with any of the characters (I did like Kir, no surprise there) and I wasn't invested in the story. The political machinations (about who had jurisdiction over investigating the crime and bringing in the military bored me) and I read to the end just to find out whodunit.

The Preserve had an interesting premise and the writing was good, but the narrative lacked exposition and characters I could connect with.

This wasn't for me but fans of sci-fi would probably enjoy this.

This was a different kind of book! While I enjoyed it I also liked that the story started off right off the bat. The main issues or themes i noticed were prejudiceness like with the whole social hierarchy. I loved the realism and rawness of that! I liked how the book was set into the future where the machines and technology were running a lot of different aspects of life and the world basically.
Then when deaths of people were happening and the machines were over running the people the people moved onto the preserve. In the preserve there are no robots or machines allowed at all, this is to help preserve the people that are left.
Now, Chief Jessie Laughton must solve the murder that puts everything that they have built at the preserve at risk. In order to solve this murder he must team up with his old partner who happens to be a robot.
I liked how in this book the robots were treated as equals in a manner also I enjoyed how they teamed up to solve the issue which ended up being sooo much more than just a murder it went soo deeper.
I enjoyed this book, i liked the scifi aspects and i loved the thrill of the story. If you like Sci-Fi books and thrillers this is one you definitely wouldnt want to miss!

Not my typical genre, but it sounded interesting so I figured I"d give it the old college try. I'm glad it was relatively short or I would have marked it as a DNF. Not a fan at all. I didn't find the story or the characters relatively interesting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Ariel Winter is an author to watch! The Preserve is a superb book that will keep you turning pages until the end!

What a wonderful reading experience should be! The original story line will make you think about the future of "humans" and wonder about the advances we continue to push in technology. When a plague causes the decimation of the human population, they find themselves in the minority, governed by AI robots who now keep the government and essential services operating. The survivors pull together to build a exclusive community....that's right...THE PERSERVE. Ariel S Winter has done an excellent job of building the cities of this dystopian world and populating it with characters that could be modeled after some of the current politicians and their followers/ supporters. A murder is committed on The Preserve, bringing the unwanted attention of the AI community to bear on the human police. At the same time, many robots are being destroyed by a virus driven program. As both communities search for answers, the cast of characters is really one of the best parts of the book. Lets hope this is not the last time we meet them. This book will raise questions....to get the answers, you'll have to read it all the way to the last page....and beyond.

I very much enjoyed this unique story! It's hard to not see parallels between how the country is divided now among political and racial lines, on some level, with the AI and humans. The mystery element also worked very well here...it was a perfect marriage of storytelling. Thumbs up!

Unfortunately I was unable to finish the book. This isn't really my type of book but I did give it to about 75 pages in so I would be able to give a proper review.

Sci-fi meets detective story in this new novel by Ariel S. Winter. The story opens on a reservation, aka The Preserve, for humans, who after a plague find themselves drastically outnumbered by their own technological creations, that is, robots. The Preserve is intended as a place, where humans can live their lives free from robot interference and perhaps overcome the decimation of the race through a managed fertility program. But a murder on The Preserve places the continued existence of this experimental community in jeopardy. Chief Laughton (human), along with his former robot partner Kir must navigate the political morass that pits human supremacists against robot supremacists if they are to solve the murder and save the fledgling human community.

The parallels to current racial politics are immediately apparent, and thus some readers may be tempted to write off this dystopian novel as too obvious or too simplistic. But this would be a mistake, as the above description fails to capture the multiple layers of prejudice that inform the plot and the characters’ actions. One of the most interesting of these layers for me was the colonizer/colonized relationship between humans and robots. Laughton sees humans as the indigenous people, who have been displaced by robots. Yet, as Kir points out, although robots now rule the world, they rule a world that is still organized around their former colonizers’ (i.e. humans) needs: “We’re still running your government. Your government in which we were considered things, not individuals. We’re still speaking English, out loud. We’re like colonials after the empire recedes, still living under empire’s rules.”

Smartly the author provides no easy answer to this complicated relationship, nor does the author shy away from showing the mutual suspicions that taint the relationship between humans and robots, including between Kir and Laughton who view each other as friends. For even as many humans want to segregate themselves in a system of preserves, they soon realize that the preserves can become a prison, whether of their own making or of that of the robots. A thought-provoking read.