Thank you to NetGalley and to Saga Press for the ARC of Sunward by William Alexander.

Sunward follows Captain Tova Lir, a galaxy traveling courier who raises baby bots in her ship for the first year of their lives before they gain independence. She and her 7th baby bot, Agatha, are on a routine run when they discover a smashed ship and another dead courier. By investigating the scene they set off alarms and Agatha takes a great risk in her personal safety to keep them both safe. Now hunted by those who were chasing the courier's message, Tova is on the run, Tova must escape assassins, religious zealots of the sun, and others as she tries to collect her other baby bots to help save Agatha and to get to the bottom of the courier's death.

This is a really engaging story with an interesting world-build and fun characters. A bird and an AI only talking through sneezing? A cozy assassin meet-cute? Engagement through reciting the NASA readouts? There is so much heart and found family brimming over in the pages. The story itself is also fast-paced and full of action. Overall, this is a really, really fun read.

God, I wish this was a full-length novel-- another hundred pages I think would have helped with all the layers of story we didn't get to explore or left on a bit of a cliffhanger. Or, maybe there is a sequel in order? I'd be totally down for that. I still have so many questions! I think this is because the novel is short and not for other factors, but I wish we had more information on the variety of religious systems that seem to be based in both Greek/Roman myth, but also the mentions of devils and angels and how it all relates. I wish we knew what was next for Tova's family after that ending! I want to write like 8 more questions I have but they would give away too much of the plot - I just still want more.

I know the marketing team is loving calling this a cozy science fiction novel, but I still felt like it has pretty dark subject material on a deeper surface level. For me, this meant it didn't classify as cozy, but I still really enjoyed it. Some of those darker themes revolve around the lack of autonomy/rights for bots and the ability to erase their lives at a whim, the overreach of the military/government on bot rights/the fears around the expansion of AI. In America in April, these topics do feel a lot heavier and more nuanced than they might if I were reading at a different time.

Sunward is a sweet short novel about a foster mom...of robots. Tova's day job as courier may take her away from her bio family but it led her into the amazing experience of being a bot foster mom and she cares for her bots even after they move on from her charge, connecting and instilling a sibling relationship among all of her fosters. When her current foster develops a problem, like any good parent, she goes to any lengths to save her, first to her bio family and then to her grown foster-bots. The lovely story of found family blends sci-fi with the cozy fantasies that warm your heart. The science geek in me appreciated the chapter titles' allusion to Newton's laws of motion. Philosophically, we can certainly read more into this story and as uses of AI expand in the world around us, with debates of risks and ethical implementation, consider Tova's and her brother's conflict, but I just enjoyed a story of the lengths a mom goes to for her kids.
I received access to this eARC thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, S&S/Saga Press) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.