The stepford wives meets our new entanglement with Ai. Not the most literary of writing, it such an interesting and captivating story. The question isn’t new, what happens when technology becomes sentient, can it? While the question is old, the authors ability to answer in a fresh and current way is amazing, great book

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Annie Bot.

Robots can be scary. That's why I requested Annie Bot, even though the premise isn't scary.

But, robots can be scary.

Right now, fears of AI are high on everyone's mind as it influences many facets of our lives, the premise of Annie Bot offers another way of using AI, but at what cost?

Doug, a human, owns a Cuddle Bunny named Annie Bot. She is his companion who satisfies all of his needs, domestic and sexual.

When a sexual dalliance triggers Annie's path to discovering her 'humanity,' it sets her off on a course of self reflection and empowerment no one could have imagined, least of all Annie herself.

Doug is a douche, with a lot of personal problems. There's no sympathy or concern for him, though I wondered why the author didn't make him a more sympathetic character.

I wouldn't have minded Doug procuring a sex doll if he hadn't crafted Annie in the image of his ex-wife, Gwen. Someone has serious issues!

There were a few things I didn't understand, plot holes never fully explained.

How did Annie achieve sentience? How did she realize she was happy, sad, depressed?

Because her settings were placed at a certain level?

She spends most of the narrative trying to satisfy Doug sexually, pleasing him with her cooking and housecleaning skills, and worrying constantly about displeasing him with her off the cuff remarks.

As the story develops, characters remark that Annie has become such a unique bot because of Doug's influence, but that doesn't make sense or sound right.

I didn't understand what triggered Annie's sudden ability to develop human emotions and desire to be a human female.

The author could have fleshed out this part better, as well as develop Doug as a more well rounded character, not just a loser who can't (or refuses) to have a relationship with a human woman.

The writing was fine, but repetitive; how many times can you read about Annie and Doug having robot sex, Annie cooking and cleaning, Annie pissing Doug off.

Instead, the tone was only mildly serious but I feel iff the author had chosen to go in a darker direction, Annie Bot could have been really interesting.

I absolutely loved reading this book. I was completely drawn into the topic and could not stop reading it.

Annie Bot was so much more than I could imagine. It definitely felt like a hybrid of a feminist read and coming of age story about love, freedom, and finding yourself. Not the themes I'd expect from a book about a robot but I had to constantly remind myself that Annie was a robot. I don't know what else to say but I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more from the author.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

This was a real surprise! I finished it in a day and really enjoyed the pacing and questions it asked, as well as the descriptive language of Annie experiencing the world around her. I thought it'd be more in depth black mirror episode feeling, but it really was interesting and nuanced.

“Annie Bot” takes on the timely and controversial issue of the ethics of relationships between sentient robots and their human owners (specifically, sex robots, though there is some discussion of other types of care work, such as nannying), and delivers an entirely predictable and underdeveloped “feminist” condemnation of the practice. The male characters are essentially one-dimensional misogynistic creeps that literally objectify the women in their lives in just about every way possible. While it’s natural to assume that there would be a patriarchal shaping of these relationships, why automatically think that this gendered differential would be incompatible with a legitimate relationship? (I’m thinking here of sci-fi movies like Blade Runner (1982), Lars and the Real Girl (2007), and Her (2013), among others.) Moreover, I found it difficult to make sense of the relationship’s power dynamic as it was portrayed: Doug (the human) is shown to be ashamed of “fucking a doll” and yet he customizes her appearance to resemble his ex-wife (surely a kind of violent gesture towards both the robot, Annie, and his ex-wife, Gwen). It’s also not clear why Doug would feel this shame, as his friend, Roland, very clearly admires Annie and how expensive/well-made she is. There are also some odd racial components that are alluded to but not explored in depth—a strange and inappropriate gap in a relationship of forced bondage. This novel would have had to be written in a much more nuanced/incisive/intelligent manner to achieve the impact that the author seems to have been striving for, but as it is, the text is moralistic to the point of being preachy, confused and even inconsistent in its political commitments, and overall, not a particularly memorable or thought-provoking storyline. Three out of five stars.

The ARC for this text was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars rounded up. One of the most unique stories I’ve read this year and well worth your time! This story follows Annie Bot, a female AI android, whose sole purpose is to please her owner, Doug. She has a blazing devotion to keeping him pleased and bases her happiness around him. As she becomes more emotionally-intelligent and cognizant, she struggles with her mixed feelings of loneliness, desire, and self-worth.

This was a strange reading experience in that it’s from the perspective of an AI who is still learning how to mimic being human. I think it’s a really relevant book right now with the growth of AI technology, and it makes you question the philosophical repercussions. It also brilliantly showed the the abuse in relationships with skewed power dynamics, and how those with less power can be manipulated and taken advantage of. The writing was very smooth and digestible. While the two main characters are heavily fleshed out, I did want a little more from some of the others. The ending though, definitely made up for it.

Overall, this is an excellent book that touches on important themes without feeling overly heavy and taxing. I’ll definitely be recommending this!

Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the eARC. Opinions are my own and freely given.

Unfortunately this was not my kind of thing, I didn't like the story at all. It wasn't a bad book, just not one for me. The writing was solid, so I think this will be good for certain readers.

Would've appreciated an excerpt with this. Love the premise, but the third present POV and detached narration didn't work for me.

Let me begin by saying this book was complete unlike anything I thought I would ever read. But - IT WAS AMAZING. I picked it up not expecting much and by the end of the first chapter I was hooked. It had me questioning “How would I feel about AI if they had human-like emotions and feelings?” And, well, the answer is apparently a lot. This book made me angry at times, happy and others and completely satisfied by the end. Annie was such an easy character to root for which was surprising considering she isn’t human. But we get to take a deep dive into her “mind” and how she is feeling. It makes you feel angry for her because even though she has an “owner” it poses the question at what point we start treating something with human capabilities as more than an object?

Oh boy, I had feelings about this book... I read it in one sitting.
first.. hot... but in a gross way, then.. this is fucked up and icky and I feel like I'm being gaslighted.
then.. the ending, won't spoil.
Doug is an asshole.

I really hope we never get the technology to merge an AI with a robot body.

I just reviewed Annie Bot by Sierra Greer. #AnnieBot #NetGalley

I was skeptical at the comparison to My Dark Vanessa and while Annie Bot doesn't hold the same heavy part of my heart (thanks, trauma!), it navigates the same topics gracefully, while still managing to be tongue in cheek and easy to digest. I enjoyed this read wholeheartedly, though I would have loved for some expansion in certain areas (the Stellas interactions with the general public and how they're perceived or the even larger expansion on the Zeniths).

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Annie Bot! Review to come on publication date

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the opportunity to dive into this book! 📚

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!

Wow! This story kept me so entertained, I couldn’t put it down and ended up reading it in 24 hours! I love science fiction, I love smart women, and I appreciated the writing, so it was not surprise that I loved this one. I kept bracing for there to be eye-roll moments or typical tropes, but I was pleasantly surprised. My only negative takeaways were that some of the characters weren’t flushed out enough, didn’t have much “screen time”, and the ending felt not quite in line with the rest of the story. I would recommend it for a fun read though!

[This review is for an advanced reader copy provided through NetGalley; I was not compensated for this review.]

I was surprised to like this book as much as I did; it was really excellent. Annie, an android “Cuddle Bot,” is owned by Doug, a human. Without getting into the nuances so much, Greer does a stellar job of parsing the abusive slave-owner dynamic in a thoughtful yet brutal way. Annie is clearly “in love” with her owner, and yet you can feel the way her consciousness evolves and strains against the programming. She learns all the ways that her self is not valued by human society and questions the essence of her self-worth and purpose.

In a lot of ways, this novel was painfully beautiful and made me think. Especially now with the current struggle against AI and the questions of the future of AI, this seems like a very real possibility and that makes the philosophical repercussions all the more poignant.

I would certainly recommend Annie Bot for anyone looking for a sprinkle of romance, contemporary sci-fi, and brand new perspective on the future of everyday AI-human relationships.

I was NOT expecting that plot twist. I absolutely loved this book from start to finish. The writing was crisp and consistent and the characters all had their own voices!

"Annie Bot" is a distinctively powerful novel. It provides a unique insight to humanity's more uncomfortable, provacative and gritty characteristics. There is nothing to compare this to and I'm in love.

5 EXTREMELY well deserved stars. Annie Bot is one of the strangest and most brilliant books I’ve ever read. This book is super relevant and smart considering the current conversations about AI. I love that Sierra Greer made Annie capable of learning all of the complexities of human emotions and relationships, and in doing so gives readers an opportunity to understand the nuances of motivations and intentions. Annie is AI but the humans were the problematic characters in the story. Doug’s narcissism and Roland’s manipulation of Annie made me so sad for her. The ending of this story kept me on the edge of my seat and it wrapped up perfectly. For me, this is one of the best books I’ve read in 2023 and might be one of my favorites of all time.