I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer Narrator: Jennifer Jill Araya
Published by HarperAudio, Mariner Books on March 19, 2024
Genres: Fiction / Literary
Length: 9 hours 31 minutes
Pages: 240
Format: ARC, Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon | Audible | B&N | Kobo | Libro.fm
For fans of Never Let Me Go and My Dark Vanessa, a powerful, provocative novel about the relationship between a female robot and her human owner, exploring questions of intimacy, power, autonomy, and control.
Annie Bot was created to be the perfect girlfriend for her human owner Doug. Designed to satisfy his emotional and physical needs, she has dinner ready for him every night, wears the pert outfits he orders for her, and adjusts her libido to suit his moods. True, she’s not the greatest at keeping Doug’s place spotless, but she’s trying to please him. She’s trying hard.
She’s learning, too.
Doug says he loves that Annie’s AI makes her seem more like a real woman, so Annie explores human traits such as curiosity, secrecy, and longing. But becoming more human also means becoming less perfect, and as Annie’s relationship with Doug grows more intricate and difficult, she starts to wonder: Does Doug really desire what he says he wants? And in such an impossible paradox, what does Annie owe herself?
This was a really interesting read! Annie is a robot designed to be a companion to her owner, Doug. This story is told from Annie’s point of view which was very interesting. We know exactly what she is thinking, how she processes information, and exactly what she is feeling. Annie may be a machine but it became clear early on that she was much more than the sum of her programming and parts. I liked Annie right away, much more than her human counterpart, Doug.
I listened to the audiobook and thought that Jennifer Jill Araya did a great job with this story. I believe that this is the first time that I have had the chance to listen to this narrator and I must say that I was impressed. She was able to capture Annie’s personality completely through her reading which helped to elevate this story to the next level. I believe that her performance added a lot to my overall enjoyment of this story.
I would recommend this book to others. I thought that the story raised some important questions, including what it means to be alive. This was an incredibly entertaining and rather unique story and I hope to read more of this author’s work in the future.
I received a review copy of this book from Mariner Books and HarperAudio.
I’ve never even heard of this book but your review has me wanting to check it out!
This sounds a bit like a scifi book to me and I might like that. A million years ago when I read all the Isaac Asimov books there were also the moral questions of life and value.
Thanks for the review! This sounds like a really neat book.
Now this is an interesting concept, I have seen a movie like it
I’m so glad you enjoyed this book and my narration! I LOVED narrating Annie Bot. Sierra Greer wrote an amazing story full of captivating characters. SUCH a good book!
Oh what a fun story – though a little scary as I’ve watched enough sci-fi to know that AI is scary stuff. I’ll have to look for this one.