NetGalley Review: Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

Hey all, Sam here.

Sometimes you just have to rearrange your reading plans because you get approved for a book that sounds really interesting and you really want to read it. That is what had to happen when a copy of today’s book landed on my Kindle. Honestly, I tried to hold off on reading it until closer to release day, but I read this a few weeks ago, and now I’ve finally made myself sit down and type up this review.

This novella will be released on August 5th, so you can order your copy now, or pick it up (from your local bookstore or ask at your local library).

Let’s dive on in.

A cozy near-future novella about a crew of leftover robots opening their very own noodle shop, from acclaimed sci-fi author Annalee Newitz.

You don’t have to eat food to know the way to a city’s heart is through its stomach. So when a group of deactivated robots come back online in an abandoned ghost kitchen, they decide to make their own way doing what they making food—the tastiest hand-pulled noodles around—for the humans of San Francisco, who are recovering from a devastating war.

But when their robot-run business starts causing a stir, a targeted wave of one-star reviews threatens to boil over into a crisis. To keep their doors open, they’ll have to call on their customers, their community, and each other—and find a way to survive and thrive in a world that wasn’t built for them.

My Thoughts

Rating: 4.5 stars

This novella was honestly just so good. I was so drawn into the lives of these leftover robots and their goal to be free and independent and to make the tastiest hand-pulled noodles around.

It was cute. It was heartwarming. It had emotional stakes. It had drama (darn one-star review bots and robotphobia). There were so many layers to this story and the characters within…and I had to struggle to not devour this book rapidly. While I did want to know how the story would end, I didn’t want the experience to be over too quickly.

Actually, that’s one of the reasons I downgraded the story from 5 stars to 4.5 stars. I think I would have liked another chapter or two to have the story wrap-up a little more. We leave the characters as they are prepping to open up the shop for another day, but while most of the plot was nicely wrapped up, I don’t know, I felt like not everything reached its conclusion, and a few more pages would have let us all settle into the denouement of the story.

But maybe that’s just me and my feelings on the story. Nevertheless, I loved each and every one of the robots, and they all had time to shine, which was fantastic. This story was captivating and had me completely enraptured. I really cannot wait to add this to my collection.

All right, well that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.