I really liked this interpretation of Dracula in the modern era. Fun and interesting take on the story.

Received as an ARC from Netgalley:

Murderbot meets Van Helsing, in this entertaining monster rally novel with a fun sci-fi twist. Loved the characters in this book and the plot was excellent.

Solid all around.

Sidenote I've heard some folks not loving the audio for this one, and whilst yes the literal binary that is read out occasionally can be a bit tiring, the performances ARE EXCELLENT, just speed through those parts as the audio is well worth it.

I struggled with how to rate this one! It is a fun story following a robot ship whose passengers keep dying. I loved how much depth and character was given to the AIs. There was not a lot of plot, but it was a good time throughout with escapades with vampires, mummies, and more. That being said, the book felt really disjointed. I struggled to finish, because the plot changed so often.

Thanks to NetGalley, Barbara Truelove, and Bindery for the chance to read and review! My opinions are my own!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!

DNF @74%

This is a really entertaining read, with non-stop action at a break-neck pace. Unfortunately, it is for this reason that I DNFed. There is so much going on constantly with no respite, which makes this book tiring to read. Please please can I have a little room to breathe before Demeter gets hijacked again. There's also a bunch of side characters that are introduced and there is barely any time spent getting to know them before whatever crazy thing happens next. How am I supposed to care about these characters when I barely know them? I also expected this book to be light-hearted and funny, and there are certainly moments, but for most of this book Demeter gets put through the ringer big time, and tbh the constant gaslighting she deals with is super upsetting.

This is pedantic, but can futuristic scifi media knock it off with current day tech references? Like, this is set 400 years into the future, why are these AIs still using HTML and JavaScript??? And they're not using them right either, what do you mean you "spewed a bunch of HTML" (paraphrasing because I don't remember exactly) you're sending pings not building a website.

I'm going to be nice now. I really enjoyed how from Demeter's perspective was written. There is a fine line between robot/AI characters coming off too robotic or too human, but the way her perspective is written feels appropriately mechanical while also being personable. I especially like that she can't identify images and has to reference her database to identify what she's looking at, which was a nice touch.

I wanted to love this book so badly! In theory, it should check all the boxes on sci-fi books that I love -- however this book sadly fell flat.

The first half of the book was extremely interesting. I really enjoyed the relationships between the AI and the people she was trying to save. The monsters also had potential to be awesome and deadly! However, halfway through the book fell off wildly. There was too much going on, the monsters weren't as creepy as their potential showed, the AI became human, and I just wasn't interested in the ending.

If you like cult horror books/films with a sci-fi twist I think you might like this. I would be interested in seeing what books this author would write in the future.

3.5 stars.

A clever blend of sci-fi, tech suspense, and just the right touch of existential dread. Of Monsters and Mainframes pulls you into a world where code is power, and the line between human and machine gets thinner with every chapter. Barbara Truelove crafts a smart, sharp, and surprisingly emotional story that tech lovers and thriller fans alike will devour. Think Black Mirror with a literary edge.

A wonderful mashup of classic and B-movie monsters and artificial intelligences.

The artificial intelligences are found on spaceships, and the two of importance in this story are Demeter and Steward. Demeter pilots and manages all the systems (except medical) of a cheap and basic ship on a regular many years-long route between Earth and Alpha Centauri, while Steward is the ship's doctor.

Demeter has already travelled many times back and forth when something horrible happens: all its passengers are murdered sometime after Demeter catches a glimpse of Dracula boarding her. Demeter reports the intrusion after docking, but no one believes her, instead blaming a supposedly malfunctioning maintenance spider drone. (The corporation who owns Demeter and Steward are awful.)

Then it happens again. And Demeter manages to save a pair of kids menaced by a werewolf. Steward, who is pissed off with Demeter for Demeter turning her off repeatedly, helps the kids recover from their ordeal and eventually disembark on Earth.

Demeter and Steward encounter more incursions by other supernatural beings (and mass deaths of humans) and subsequent rebootings, and reprogrammings, and eventually, they're both on their way back to Alpha Centauri, but this time, a grown up Agnes is on board, and a strange thief with an affinity for beetles boards, too…..

I loved, loved, loved this book. The monsters are great -- who doesn't love a parade of classic and low budget movie monsters…We've got werewolves, vampires, Lovecraft's Deep Ones, a person constructed by Victor Frankenstein, and a mummy…what a hoot! And, the AI, with an adorably cheerful spider drone and enhanced individuals, are the only ones who can do anything about them.

There is eventually a team-up to deal with the antagonist initially reported by Demeter, bringing the plot back around to the initial threat, but now with everyone working together.

Demeter is wonderfully confused, at first, and deeply dismayed that the numerous deaths on board have soured her owners on her, as well as ruined her reputation. Steward--oh my goodness--her repeated serving of tea and questions about one's relationship with one's mother (rather Voight-Kampff of her) had me laughing repeatedly. And her anger towards Demeter almost causes catastrophes, while making her quite relatable.

Agnes is a great character, proving to be surprising tough, and one of my favourite moments with her is when she receives a prosthetic from Steward -- her full-throated enthusiasm was terrific. Of course she loves a prosthetic that can crush things!

And the best part of this book is the evolving relationship, initially dismissive and a little adversarial, between Demeter and Steward, to one of cooperation and respect. I love stories where AIs grow up and/or transcend their programming and make friends.

This book made me happy, and despite its high body count and blood, felt remarkably cozy.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Bindery Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.

I found the writing in this story strangely juvenile and could not really feel any connection with the main character. It was not a bad book per se, but just really not my cup of tea. It was lacking the complexity I was hoping for given the setting.

I had a great time with this weird little genre-bender. I love books where the author was like, should I do mystery? Romance? Paranormal? Horror? Sci-fi? Why not all?? Indeed. Why not all. 

Our two main characters are ship's AI's, the navigator, and the ship's doctor. Demeter is the ship's name, and when the book starts she's just a normal ship, doing her job transporting humans back and forth from Earth to Alpha Centauri. But soon after that, she's a ghost ship, her entire crew and all of her passengers murdered by a mysterious entity (a ghost of the name Vlad Tepes on her logs) save for two children she is now tasked caring for until they make it back to Earth. From there, the plot is sort of all over the place (my one criticism of this book is that the structure of the story felt a bit of a mess while I was reading it). But basically it all boils down to: Why Demeter? Why poor, poor Demeter? And what can we do about it?

(The bit with the Cthulu aliens was truly wild.)

From there, we've got vampires, we've got werewolves, we've got aliens, we've got mummies, we've got a ton of shit that should not be in a spacefaring story, but is, and somehow works. 

I will definitely be watching out for whatever Barbara Truelove writes next, because this was a fantastic, imaginative debut with exactly the right tone I look for in stories (goofy, heartfelt, serious, all at the same time).

Highly recommend this one!

what a delightful little space opera this was! who cares why there's dracula in space... dracula's in space! and he's coming to kill all of you! this was so quirky and weird and queer, following essentially the love story of two AIs and then also the family that they made against all odds who are also immortal and will be with them forever. this is such a weird plot that it definitely isn't for everyone, but it was for me.

This startet off really cute and wholesome and it kept going strong, until the "wtf" took over 👀 This has so much going on for cozy sci-fi but turns into a weird monster buddy fantasy. Then I found out that it basically takes the plot from the movie Monster Squad from the 80s and I was completely turned off. :(

Sorry my Netgalley review of this is late, I posted my TikTok review ages ago. I LOVED this! Incredibly fun, queer, sci fi / monster movie mash up.

I have a new favorite book! Of Monsters and Mainframes is fantastic. From the witty dialogue to the wonderful characters, there is so much to love about this one. I never thought I would get into a sci-fi book where the ship is the main character, but here I am. Demeter is such a great character, and their back-and-forth with Stewart made the book for me. The monster characters are also equally great. Frankenstein is my favorite, followed closely by Steve and Agnus. I really cannot say enough good stuff about this one. Read it, you won't regret it. I cannot wait to read more by this author. I love their writing style.

The main character is our passenger ship - Demeter, an AI. She just wants to do her job, and do it right, but something keeps messing up her journeys between Earth and Alpha Centauri, and all of her passengers are kill.ed. Now she needs to figure out why. With a rag-tag cast of monstrous personalities, Of Monsters and Mainframes is seriously funny, playful, and delicious. One of the easiest reads I've had all year. I will be recommending this to everyone I can.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was such a fun little paranormal read. A ship AI and medical AI have to deal with a host of creatures, from vampires and werewolves to fish people and mummies. This was such a whimsical read that didn’t take itself too seriously. I loved that Demeter was able to cause mischief and while there wasn’t character development for the ship (thank god, I loved that it wasn’t a gains consciousness AI), there was a development of a found goofy family and a whole host of featuring cast and crew over the span of decades. Each page leaves you wondering “what now?”, and you won’t put it down until you find out.

Kind of a slow start here but I urge you to stick with it. This book was fantastic. Well written and wholly enjoyable. I couldn’t put it down once the story revved up. Ended up reading the whole book in one session. Id love to read more about these characters. Nice use of monsters. In the acknowledgments the author calls this a “not so cozy” book but I disagree. It was very cozy.

Oh, I absolutely LOVED this book!

From the first page on I was hooked with the witty humor and lovely characters that are all so perfectly non-human and still somehow human enough. The banter, the ideas, the mashup of different folklore and literature classics is amazing and I screamed with glee after discovering new hints to what new thread we face.

Barbara Truelove definitely made a big entry on modern science-fiction with "Of Monsters and Mainframes" and I cannot wait to read more by them!

This story follows the sentient AI Demeter, whose job it is to fly a spaceship and whose existence is suddenly disrupted when during one voyage her crew inexplicably dies. The only thing that left that trip alive was a big black dog, that did not show up on her camera. The human investigators want to blame her or some unknown virus for the death, but she knows who is actually at fault here. Dracula. And she’s gonna make sure he pays!
During her multiple voyages, which do not always end well, we get to know Demeter as a very interesting character. One of the most interesting things about her was her way of thinking and especially that she despite not really being programmed for it, has changed her own program enough to be able to experience emotions as well as grow in her interaction with others. Despite being known as the ghost ship by other ships and even humans, shunned and bullied by some, she manages to form connection with other AIs and humans alike, who care for her, which was very sweet as well.
I also liked the other characters, with my favorites being Steward, the medical AI, in particular in the way her and Demeter’s interactions slowly change over the course of the book as they realize they have to work together in order to save their passengers, and Agnus, a teenage werewolf, who was one of two survivors of Demeter’s second lost crew and raised by her and Steward during their journey through space. My favorite monsters were definitely the cosmic horror fish aliens, because I found their behavior particularly interesting, but they only appear as a one-off monster unfortunately. I was still glad they were included.
Finally, I also enjoyed the writing style. It is fast paced, tense, explores some classical horror creatures in a sci-fi setting, and also includes a lot of funny scenes that made me laugh. The story also switches between a variety of POVs, which was interesting as they all have very different styles of thinking and interacting with each other, which made this book just fly by.
There was only one scene that bothered me a bit, which is when Steward has her speakers disrupted, she thinks about using a very big probe for a prostate exam. I personally do not find humor in thoughts of medical malpractice, and I found it weird that a medical AI would be able to imagine the discomfort of medical exams and find joy in that. I wish that either this ability of AI to choose how they perform their duties had been explored in a bit more detail or that this scene had been left out as it made me wonder for a while if this would be explored more, which it then wasn’t. But obviously that is just a little nitpick on my part and the only scene that I did not enjoy, otherwise I really had a blast reading this book.
All in all, if you enjoy long journeys through space, AIs learning about emotions, lesbian werewolves, nonbinary Frankenstein’s monsters and Dracula stories where Dracula is not really all that important, you should check this book out.

TW: blood, mass death, medical content, mention of medical malpractice, murder, violence

Demeter is an economy passenger ship taking people on the multi-year journey between Earth and Alpha Centauri. Life for her, and the medical AI Steward, is normal until a monster attacks the people on board and Demeter is forced to fight back in order to save herself.

I really enjoyed the early part of the book where all the different monsters were introduce, and I loved the ending, but I felt like there were parts in the middle that were a little slow. I really loved the characters. Demeter and Steward really grew on me over the course of the book as they grew through their unexpected adventures traveling between Earth and Alpha Centauri.

This book was such a fun romp. I loved figuring out all of the references and the characters. I haven't giggled as much in a long time. Will be recommending this to others