!!!!!!!!!! What a book. AIs aren't programmed to want revenge, but the Demeter is different. She used to be a normal space ship, until Dracula massacred all her passengers. After that, there was a werewolf incident that left two little kids, and then an incident with some sort of alien pathogen that turned everyone into fish people and almost launched the ship into a star, and then there was the event with an ancient being of doom...and you get the gist. Demeter may or may not be cursed, and no one believes her, and after every incident, she's one step closer to being scrapped. And then she's stolen(ish) and commandeered by a crew of a werewolf, a patched together AI-art project, a furious vampire, an exhausted medical AI, and an ancient being of doom. Together, they're going to end Dracula, or die trying.
I loved it. It was campy and so so so fun. Demeter and Steward as primary narrators are so interesting, because they really aren't human; they're weird and delightful and unique voices. The monster crew also is so good. I especially loved Frank, the shy engineer/art project. But Mina and Agnus are also wonderful, and who can't love an ancient being of doom named Steve? It's funny and heartfelt and altogether a really fantastic project, the love child of old Gothic lit and pulp sci-fi and it works so well. The start is a little episodic but I promise it's worth it to stay through to the end. It really picks up.

This is an amazingly refreshing sci fi adventure. The concept is brilliant, the characters are loveable, and it’s just so, so much fun. Any fans of sci fi or classic monsters need to read this book.

This book just was not for me. I don’t feel it is fair to share a star rating publicly because there was nothing inherently wrong with the book. I just didn’t vibe with it, but I can see why others would.

As posted on Goodreads:

This book caught me off guard in THE BEST WAY.

Did I know I needed a book about monsters in space complete with sarcastic robots and hilarious dialogue? No I didn’t, and yet was completely obsessed - like, read the whole book in 24 hours obsessed.

I don’t want to give away the cast or the twists too much, but I want to make it clear that I am not a sci-fi fan when it comes to books - however, the premise of vampires in space was just too insane sounding to pass up. And besides, this isn’t just sci-fi, its a space opera that combines sci-fi, horror and surprising comedy (and even throws in a pinch of found family and a few heartwarming moments).

And I know you’re thinking, “Okay, monsters and robots in space sounds fun and all, but it’s all SO unrelatable…” But wait! There’s also humans with… issues. I mean, there’s even a chapter titled “Earth Sucks” - and who hasn’t thought that lately?

And then, we are blessed with Demeter - who has the humour and literalness of C3P0, and the deadpan delivery to match. She was, without a doubt, my favourite character in the book, and I laughed out loud numerous times at her comments.
I. Love. Demeter.

I will admit there were a couple instances where I thought maybe there was just a bit much going on, but the author got me back on board every single time.

Overall, this book is phenomenal, I absolutely recommend, and have already pre-ordered a physical copy for myself.

This one of the best and most unique sci-fi stories I've ever read. Murderbot meets Dracula meets Star Trek. I could not put this book down. Completely original, yet filled with nostalgia and optimism. This book was a literary glass of cold lemonade on a hot day.
This book played on the common trope of an AI-led future, but instead of leading towards the typical dystopian "AI takes over the world," it asks the question: What if the AI loved? What if the AI had feelings and thoughts and desires? What if the AI wanted to protect the people it was in charge of? Demeter and Steward were absolutely charming characters, and the language describing their interactions as AI machines capable of distinct and independent thought was brilliantly crafted.
Normally when authors use multi-POV, there comes a point where one has trouble remembering who is telling the story. I never had that problem with this book. Each voice is clear and distinct, and I found myself thoroughly enchanted by all of them.
I cannot wait for this book to come out- I will be recommending it to everyone I know.

Demeter just wants to shuttle her passengers from one place to the next. And she’s had a perfect track record until Dracula stows aboard and ruins everything.

Ever since then the humans just keep DYING, and all sorts of supernatural monsters seem to be drawn to her.

Steward, the medical AI thinks she’s being melodramatic and somewhat unhinged of course.

With a reputation as the ghost ship, she’s been optimised, and even died, and Demeter now only has one goal : revenge on Dracula.

With a mismatched crew of a werewolf, a medical AI, an engineer built from the dead, a spider drone, a mummy, and a vampire, Demeter sets out to find and destroy her nemesis.

This book had me hooked within two pages. And I could not put it down. I read until 2am. And laughed so much. If you’d tell me I’d get emotional over AI characters, I wouldn’t have believed you, but here we are.

Of Monsters and Mainframes is absolutely brilliant. Is it sci-fi? Supernatural? Space opera? Horror? I don’t know what it is, but it’s my new favourite genre. Bring on more books Barbara Truelove!

Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove

A ships mainframe AI, it’s medical AI, a werewolf, a pharaoh, and a cyborg go in search (for revenge) of Dracula in this awesome Sci-Fi novel by Barbara Truelove.

This is truly the wackiest, craziest, weirdest book I’ve ever read, but in a good way. I loved the relationship and banter between our 2 AI’s it was like a married couple. Also all the other characters were very well fleshed out.

The book is extremely well written. I actually felt like I was on a spaceship with everyone.

Highly recommend this fantastic book.

Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove

Demeter shuttles her passengers silently through the spacious skies. She is the brains of the operation; rather, she is the ship. Her AI-chipped brain flooded with code representing guidelines and structure. This trip to Alpha Centauri is not like the others. Her passengers are dying, or more precisely, they are dead. With as much guilt as her neural networks will permit, she laments onward. What happens when you experience more of the same dread? Another trip, the same outcome of death. Dubiously trying to escape the moniker “the ghost ship,” Demeter deals with bullying from the other vessels around the galaxy. She receives assistance from Steward, an AI doctor with whom Demeter shares her experiences. Together, they examine those fateful trips and search for those responsible. Time is of the essence when faced with uncovering a scandal, with Demeter being the scapegoat.

Refreshing. The sip of an iced cold tea while lounging on a hot beach. Many things come to mind, but I can now include Barbara Truelove's book on the list. Is there such a sub-genre as cozy-horror-SF? It must be said that this book gave me Legends & Latte’s vibes with a science fiction twist. The inner workings and witty, comedic prose immediately time-warped me to what I loved about Travis Baldree’s story. A robotic ship with feelings, romantic and otherwise, fascinated me. As a human reader, I was on the outside looking in. How in the world was this going to work? I can’t possibly feel empathetic for a ship, could I? I was looking for the slip-up. Fortunately, it never materialized. The supporting characters brought the world to life. Although their unique personalities enhanced an already captivating story, Demeter herself was always the focal point, which left the reader more emotionally attached to the main attraction.

Looking back, I was impressed. A comedic yet horrific tale about survival, friendship, and love. A ship that’s indestructible yet on the run from her termination due to human debauchery. A feel-good story filled with werewolf savagery, spiderbots, blinding vampire incisors, and a mummy-like entity with a penchant for money, all within the confines of an AI-driven ship with a romantic side. Sign me up! I am giving this 4.5 stars and rounding up to 5 stars. This deserves your attention; it is highly recommended!

Many thanks to Bindery Books for the ARC through Netgalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion.

an incredible romp through space. this book is somehow completely original but has so much nostalgia infused into its characters and story. i cant think of a single type of reader who wouldn't love this book!

I really enjoyed the concept, and it could have been great, but the world building and writing just wasn't there.
It felt almost pointless to actually read the dialogue because of how repetitive it was and how much it didn't add to the plot.
The world could have been fantastical, anything the author wanted. But even being set 400 some years in the future, it felt exactly the same as present day, just with spaceships and slightly fancier AI. Just based in our real world development, it felt like there was more in our past 10 years than in the books 400.

I really wanted to enjoy it, but I unfortunately just couldn't.

Perfectly fine idea but man was this a slog to read through. The author clearly had a political agenda they wanted to hit and it took away from the book as a whole.

This book is my favorite brand of ridiculous. Demeter is by far a top tier sentient AI in my personal opinion, with Steward as a close second. The way they are written is just a delightful blend of self-aware but limited by their

Also always love a book that leaves surprises out of the blurb. I don’t think I’ve ever been more delighted at allusions that I didn't see coming. Seriously, I can't stress just how much fun this book is.

This is a satisfying climb to into cozy fiction, where it's not emotionally positive at first and it's all about the journey getting there.

How to describe the absolute glee I felt when I started this book? Immediately I was reminded of Murderbot, but more unfiltered and loose. I clicked my heels together, giggling, and settled in for a good time. And then the human characters were introduced.

Well. Nothing stays beautiful forever. This book had a few chapters, at least.

I wondered, at first, what this book *could* have been had it solely focused on the POV of Demeter and other AI characters. What a shame, I thought, because THAT’S the book I want to read. But as I kept reading, I realized that the writing and development simply wasn’t strong enough, that even if it had only been AI POV, the story would still have failed me based on quality.

The writing is painfully repetitive. For example, this is the kind of dialogue you will find in every chapter:

“Did you hear what I just said?”
“No, I was busy ignoring you!”
“So you admit that you didn’t hear what I just said!”
“How could I hear you over all this ignoring I’m doing?”

and so on. (Please note that I made this dialogue up, but honestly it could have been in the book.) It’s not just the AI being repetitive, which at least makes sense, but the humans, too. It made the dialogue feel pointless and more like hitting a targeted word count than trying to tell a story.

I can’t believe I’m complaining about this but, well, there were too many monsters in these mainframes. Because the plot was so rushed, the amount of monsters was more goofy than funny. Nothing was ever really explored or explained, giving the book a super shallow feel. More than once a character will stumble into a plot hole and say, “How is this happening? It’s impossible! Oh well!” It’s almost worse that the plot hole was acknowledged.

For a story that takes place 400 years in the future, there’s a distinct lack of creative world building. It’s an identical society to ours, just with spaceships. Do we really think we’ll still be giving out Oscar awards in 400 years? Come on now.

So, so, so many important events happen off the page, both for plot and character development. There’s decades-long time jumps—these will interrupt a scene and when we come back, what ended up happening is info-dumped in a few sentences. Important character arcs happen off page as well, and then we’re just told that characters are different now because x, y, and z happened in the last ten years. Okay, well, that doesn’t make me feel like I watched this character grow. You just told me this character changed but didn’t actually show me anything.

And I guess if I’m being honest, the worst part for me is how quickly the humor grew stale. This book actually made me laugh out loud in the beginning, something that only a handful of books have ever managed to accomplish. Unfortunately, well before the halfway mark, I was tired of the same jokes.

I was looking for a smart, sharp sci-fi/fantasy. For a few chapters, I thought I’d found it, but I’ll have to move on and keep the search going.

Horror/sci-fi/fantasy/comedy mass-murder mystery quest? Okaaayyyy yes.

From the moment I started reading I was hooked. Nothing about this screams cozy but somehow it is? Bizarre, charming, emotional. In space.

If you're into something that’s a little bit dark, and little bit strange, and a whole lot of fun, Of Monsters and Mainframes needs to be added to your TBR immediately.

Thank you so much to Bindery for yet another amazing read. This book was a delight. I want to read it again. I want everyone to read it. I laughed, I cried, I felt all the feelings.

Thank you to Netgalley and Ezeekat Press for providing me with an e-arc of this book.
I had so much fun reading this book, I loved all the characters and how they developed throughout the novel. The blending of traditional sci-fi elements combined with new ideas was so much fun to explore as someone who doesn't read much sci-fi. I was not expecting to get so attached to these characters especially the AI ones (Steward ily).

Excellent read! I loved the diversity of cast and the relationships between them. I did have some issues with continuity and understanding who was saying what at times, but overall, it was an amazing book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bindery Books for the DRC.

This book combines two things I love reading in fiction which is a retelling of a classic tale and sentient AI/machinery. Truly, this may be the most original take on the Dracula tale and was a great balance of fresh ideas alongside call outs to the classic story. The writing for all the characters was also incredibly strong and I found myself getting so invested rather quickly to everyone's fates. Overall, a great mashup of genres with delightful characters and strong writing.

What a delightfully weird and unique book! I adored this from start to finish and I was instantly hooked from the first page. Following Demeter's story was really emotional and lovely, the dynamic between her and the medical AI, as well as the other characters was so well-written. I absolutely loved all of the characters, especially Frankenstein and Agnus, and I had so much fun with this read!

This was SO MUCH FUN!

This is a fantastic mashup of sci-fi, horror, and quirky humor that seamlessly worked well for this unhinged and energetically chaotic story of fighting the ultimate villain: Dracula.

What I loved most was how alive the characters felt. The friendships between these misfits warmed my heart. And the romance was event sweet, if a little unexpected. I also really enjoyed the pacing of the story as it kept me fully engaged and ready for the next scenes.

If you enjoy genre mashups that don’t take themselves too seriously, this is a must-read. I’m already hoping for a sequel.

When I read the blurb for this book, it was so unhinged I knew immediately that I wanted to read it. Despite it being polar opposite of my normal genres of book, I absolutely devoured it. There were several times when I literally laughed out loud and yelled passages up the stairs to my unsuspecting husband. I like the short, punchy chapters- it gives the feeling of being propelled through the story (and dare I say...space?). The variety of perspectives and the completely bonkers characters are so fun. The monsters have enough dimension to make them interesting without going into too much detail. It's immersive and fast-paced and ridiculous in all the best ways. This will be a really fun summer read when it's published!