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Cog

Greg Van Eekhout (Goodreads Author)

4.17 · Rating details · 488 ratings · 121 reviews

Five robots. One unforgettable journey. Their programming will never be the same.

Cog looks like a normal twelve-year-old boy. But his name is short for “cognitive development,” and he was built to learn.

But after an accident leaves him damaged, Cog wakes up in an unknown lab—and Gina, the scientist who created and cared for him, is nowhere to be found. Surrounded by scien ...more

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ebook, 224 pages

Published October 1st 2019 by HarperCollins

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Average rating 4.17 ·

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· 488 ratings · 121 reviews

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Mar 04, 2020 The Artisan Geek added it

4/3/20
I read this one, because it's a Nebula award finalist for the MG and YA category, and it was so good! Wow! The characters are so cute and funny, it's hard not to root for them :) We get to experience first-hand how the main character Cog, learns (the at times tough) lessons of life . Van Eekhout managed to so deftly weave those into the narrative, whilst still providing a thoroughly entertaining story centred around artificial intelligence and our future with it. Honestly this would be per ...more

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Mar 16, 2020 David rated it it was amazing

Story of a boy named Cog who also happens to be an advanced robot. When he's damaged after trying to save a dog, he's separated from Gina, the woman who built him and who is helping him learn about the world. He finds himself in the corporate headquarters of the company who funded his development and finds they may not have the best motives for building intelligent automata. Aided by other robots, he goes on a cross country quest for Gina. It's great fun to watch Cog learn about the world and ab ...more

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Mar 18, 2020 Kylie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-i-own, audiobooks-waitsfield

4.5 stars
This book was so cute! I wasn't sure if I would like it at the beginning.
I absolutely loved the characters. They were all so dynamic and fun. I loved the little lessons snuck in there that a robot would want to or feel like it had to explain.
There was a lot of humor in it and I found myself laughing out loud several times.
As an adult, I still really enjoyed this middle grade book, so if you are an adult looking for something quick and fun, this is the book for you! ...more

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May 30, 2020 Adelina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I don’t know even know where to start. I’m cheesing over this book so much!
I bought it for my nephew on a whim one day - hoping that it would be an at least ok book. Well after he finished it, he gave it back and said I HAD to read it.
So I gathered my little ones around, and we read. My kids who don’t enjoy family book night we’re rolling on the floor laughing. They picked up new words and are using them in normal every day sentences. They are letting the characters inspire their artwork.
I lo ...more

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Jul 29, 2020 BookishStitcher rated it really liked it · review of another edition

3.5 stars

This book was a surprise to me because it packed a lot of philosophical ideas into such a small kids book.

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Feb 06, 2020 Jenna (Falling Letters) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: cybils, middle-grade, 2020

Review originally published 12 April 2020 at Falling Letters..

I realize now that I didn’t take enough notes while reading to give Cog the review it deserves. I do recall my initial impression: a surprisingly strong and nuanced read, for such an unassuming little book. I was very glad it wasn’t 400+ pages.

Cog is a lovely story with great pacing. The personalities of each robot is clearly differentiated. They contribute to moving the story forward in a meaningful way. Cog’s unique narrative voice ...more

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Dec 03, 2019 P.M. rated it it was amazing

Simply put - I loved it just as much as I loved "Voyage of the Dogs." Cog is a 7 month old, 12 year old android whose sole purpose is to learn. When he is abducted by uniMind which wants to harvest his X-module, Cog plots an escape to find Gina, his caretaker. Aided by his sister. ADA, Proto, Trashbot, and Car, he sets off across country to find Gina. This reminded me a lot of "The Wild Robot" with a hero who was both more human and humane than the real humans. It was a good way to spend a snow ...more

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Aug 16, 2020 Lydia Liuba rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: library, audiobooks, 2020-reads

I was looking for a cute middle grade audiobook to listen to in bed before falling asleep. I did not expect this to turn as dark as it did, but I did end up being so invested in the plot that I finished listening to it this morning.

The story follows Cog, a 12 year old boy for all intents and purposes - except for the fact that he is really a 7 month old robot build for learning. He lives with Gina, his creator and caregiver, until one day after an accident, he finds himself in the corporation wh I was looking for a cute middle grade audiobook to listen to in bed before falling asleep. I did not expect this to turn as dark as it did, but I did end up being so invested in the plot that I finished listening to it this morning.

The story follows Cog, a 12 year old boy for all intents and purposes - except for the fact that he is really a 7 month old robot build for learning. He lives with Gina, his creator and caregiver, until one day after an accident, he finds himself in the corporation where he has been built with Gina having been transferred to a different facility far away.
So begins Cog's journey to find Gina and return home with her. Along the way, he finds new friends and an incredible power within himself.

I really enjoyed the road trip portion of the story, it was a fun and action-filled adventure with very likeable characters. The writing style took some getting used to but it really helped to get inside Cog's head and understand his thought processes. Towards the end, it turned a bit more into a sci-fi thriller than a fun adventure and I have to say, I was not prepared for a book like this to deal with themes such as bodily autonomy, the dangers and opportunities of AI, and what it means to be human.
Overall a very interesting read and probably a good way for kids to be introduced to these subjects. Although it might not be suitable for younger children because it does contain some violence and scary scenes.

Now, Cog (and possibly Ada) is pretty clearly coded as being autistic and experiences what seems to be sensory overload and/or anxiety attacks throughout the story and I'm aware that some people weren't happy with how this was handeled. In my opinion, however, this was done rather well because even if Cog is a robot, he is far from the "cold and unfeeling machine" autistic people are unfortunately often portrayed as. That being said, this is just from my limited point of view, so if I were to find out about people with autism who felt uncomfortable with this representation, I'd absolutely lower my rating. ...more

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Nov 19, 2019 Sam (she_who_reads_) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A super fast paced story, full of fun, action, and adventure. I’m sure middle grade readers will have a blast with this one!

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Feb 16, 2020 Nicole M. Hewitt rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book is wonderful because of its incredibly unique middle-grade voice. The MC is a robot boy, and his perspective on the world is humorous and sometimes incredibly insightful. The story focused on friendship and the concept of free will (in a way that middle graders will relate to). It would be perfect for the slightly younger MG crowd since it’s a little lighter fare than the current MG trend (and also shorter), but that didn’t prevent it from having some impactful messages. I found this t ...more

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Apr 28, 2020 Renee Priddis rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Read aloud to the kids. Hilarious and enjoyed reading it nightly to the kids.

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May 14, 2020 Skye Walker rated it did not like it

Cog, a nominee for the Andre Norton Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction (awarded with the Nebula awards), is the story of a robot who was built to learn. Mentally and, by all appearances, the titular character (Cog) is a 12-year-old boy whose function is to be a learning artificial intelligence. When he discovers that the best way to learn is to make mistakes, he resolves to make lots of mistakes — a decision which kicks off the narrative arc of the story.

Cog has an underdog main char Cog, a nominee for the Andre Norton Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction (awarded with the Nebula awards), is the story of a robot who was built to learn. Mentally and, by all appearances, the titular character (Cog) is a 12-year-old boy whose function is to be a learning artificial intelligence. When he discovers that the best way to learn is to make mistakes, he resolves to make lots of mistakes — a decision which kicks off the narrative arc of the story.

Cog has an underdog main character, key themes of friendship and found family, and a quick pace. These middle grade/young adult mainstay themes make the more experimental parts of the narrative stand out, but not in a good way. The first plot point that gave me pause occurred early in the story, when Cog was taken to a grocery store for the first time and he has what is essentially an anxiety or panic attack. As he assesses the situation and his reaction, he calms himself down and expresses his discomfort with the situation to his adult parental figure and creator, Gina. Even though Cog communicates his feelings to Gina, she not only ignores his discomfort, but also sets him on a difficult task and then treats him coldly when he returns and until they leave the grocery store. This interaction told me as a reader that we have a main character who is coded as neurodivergent with a parental figure who dismisses him. This introduction to the world and its characters made me wonder how the author was going to engage with these complex themes with sensitivity in the book, and I was disappointed to find that the author does not do so.

(view spoiler). This brings me to my next issue with the story, specifically around the bodily autonomy of the child protagonist and how it is treated in the book.

A recurring device I was surprised to see in a book that lands on both middle grade and YA shelves was body horror. As the main character (and many of the characters in the book) are robots, there is an argument to be made that what happens to them cannot be called body horror because they are not flesh-and-blood beings. However, given that this is a book for children and young people, the robot characters are extremely empathetic and, by and large, act like regular human beings. So, when a character’s fingernails are described in detail as being ‘lifted so that the character can be plugged in for diagnostics’, it’s uncomfortable to read. Unfortunately, it only gets worse as things happen to characters against their wills (like, for instance, having their skulls opened to remove their brains) and their bodily autonomy is violated. Like real children, the robot children in Cog have very little recourse for asserting their body autonomy against their caregivers, and this makes Cog seem like a bizarre horror story aimed at children. It’s a stark, uncomfortable reality being reflected, and it made me wonder how the author would meaningfully communicate to young readers that their bodily autonomy matters, and if someone were to cross a line, they would be in the wrong. The answer was that Van Eekhout didn’t. Neither the body horror nor the control over Cog’s body were confronted: consent is a critical subject for the intended audience, and though this book approaches it from multiple angles, it never adequately treats it with the clarity and gravity it deserves.

There was another crucial aspect that never saw any real development: specifically, Cog is depicted as having panic attacks and generally being an anxious kid. There are multiple scenes in the story where he feels he must act quickly and decisively but is unable to do so because he is afraid. This fear not only affects him in life-or-death situations, like when attack drones are chasing Cog and his friends, but also in the earlier scene at the grocery store. Through the narrative, Cog is depicted as being overwhelmed by certain stimuli and feeling intense trepidation when he thinks someone else is counting on him: in short, he is depicted as having an anxiety disorder. In moments where he has a panic attack and someone else jumps in to take control of the situation, Cog comes away with a kind of ‘friendship-is-magic’ lesson and no one ever checks in on him or acknowledges that he was in distress. While having friends that can help ease stressful situations is a good thing, the takeaway side-steps the core issue here: the main character is coded as having untreated anxiety and no one is talking about it or supporting him through something that can be terrifying to live with on your own.

Very early in the story, I thought that it was going to be revealed that Cog is not actually a robot but a young boy with autism expressing himself through a make-believe that protects him from the world by supposing that he is a near-invincible robot. Because the book is told from a first-person perspective, my experience of Cog was as character who is coded as a normal kid who is autistic. It’s the body horror that made it clear that he is, in fact, a robot. To be blunt, I don’t think the world needs another depiction of autism as if it’s the way robots work and not the lived reality of actual human beings. This cliché narrative around autistic people being robotic is only worsened by depictions like this one, showing a machine, rather than a child, with thought processes and confusions and feelings that align with how many autistic people think and feel.

As expected from a book that lands on the middle grade shelf, Cog has a happy ending: unfortunately, I don’t think it stuck the landing. As I’ve alluded to, the end of the story does little to assuage any of my problems with the story, and it honestly left me more incredulous than satisfied. (view spoiler) I had been holding out hope that some important conversation would happen between Gina and Cog, but no such conversation happens, leaving those troubling threads and themes to stand on their own.

In the end, I can’t recommend this book. It has elements that are really lovely — the found family aspect had a good arc, and the technological aspect goes to some interesting places, especially towards the end. For me, all of that was overshadowed by the important and sometimes fraught conversations that were left hanging, or worse, never commented upon at all. Cog’s narrative arc and tidy ending leave much to be desired.

This review first appeared at Fantasy Literature. ...more

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May 13, 2020 Christina Pilkington rated it really liked it

Until I saw it listed on this year’s Nebula shortlist, I had never heard of this book. But I’m so glad it was on the list because it was so cute!

Cute yet surprisingly deep at the same time. It was an AI, found family, road trip mission, high-stakes escape novel exploring the ideas of free will and choice, individual purpose and corporate greed.

At the beginning of the novel we meet Cog, short for cognitive development- a robot who was designed to learn. He’s happily living with his creator when ...more

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Feb 02, 2020 Tamara Evans rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is engaging, fast paced story about a robot and his mission to return to his human guardian. Cog Isa seven month old robot designed to look like a twelve year old boy. He lives with uniMind engineer Gina and spends his days learning new things.

Cog’s sole mission is learning new things and sharing the things he learns with others. As Cog is increasing his list of life experiences one day, when he attempts to save a dog from being killed by a truck, he is kidnapped by a greedy uniMind execut ...more

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Nov 02, 2019 Bruce rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is a "YA" book. Despite that, as an adult, I really enjoyed reading it.

Gina builds and programs robots. She's good at what she does. She works for uniMIND, one of the premier robotic companies.

ADA was her first robot but uniMIND took her away to weaponize her.

Then she built Cog (short for "cognitive development") a robot (or biomaton) who is designed to learn from good and bad experiences (with Gina at his side).

When uniMIND discovers Cog. They move Gina to another distant lab and they take ...more

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Mar 19, 2020 Beth Cato rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2020, science, middle, nebula

I read this as part of my Norton finalist packet.

Cog is a middle grade science fiction novel packed full of heart. Cog is a robot boy with a love of learning. He can tell you everything you'd ever want to know about cheese and platypuses. He's happy living in a house and learning from his caregiver, Gina. But after he dives into traffic to save a dog, he awakens patched-up in the main facility of his corporate maker. Not only is Gina gone, but the other scientists aren't so nice. The solution: b ...more

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Sep 18, 2020 Abbie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, robots

This novel by Greg Van Eekhout surprised me with its humor and heart. Cog and his robotic friends are endearing characters, and the questions about free will and cruelty to those with less power will stay with readers after the last page. Recommended.

Read more at Bookish Adventures. ...more

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Oct 27, 2019 Manon rated it liked it · review of another edition

This wasn't really for me. The message was a good one, though. ...more

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May 20, 2020 Leah (Jane Speare) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Beautiful middle grade novel about empathy and learning that I will be putting into every possible kid’s hands.

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Dec 03, 2019 Austin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: best-of-2019, best-of-all-time

This is the most heartwarming book I have read in my entire life. Game over. Heart is warmed. Possibly overheating. Just amazing.

Cog is a 7 month old robot that looks like a 12 year old boy and in conjunction with his (kind of) sister, a robot dog, and a smart car he's going on an adventure to make sure the scientist who has been raising him is not sad. Along the way, there's a lot of discussion about free will and choosing to be better people (or droids, or whatever). There are also a lot of Le ...more

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Feb 27, 2020 Katrina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Sooo good! If you like the movie Short Circuit, you’ll love this. Super funny, exciting, heartwarming, and even a lot of deep thoughts about free will and what makes people human, if you like that kind of thing. :)

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Mar 04, 2020 Tiffani Reads rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was so good! I sat down to read a bit of this book and ended up finishing the whole book in one sitting.

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Jun 23, 2020 Tom Priddis rated it really liked it

Charming little book. Read with the kids. Laughed a lot.

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Jul 14, 2019 Ms. Yingling rated it liked it

E ARC from Edelweiss Plus

Cog looks like an ordinary twelve year old boy, but he is an advanced android that the scientists at uniMind use to watch learning (cognitive development) behavior. He lives with Gina, who functions as his mother and sets him to do certain tasks so she can watch how he handles them. Often, he does not calculate the entire impact of his actions (like saving a chihuahua from being hit by a truck by getting in front of the truck), which makes him very much like the average E ARC from Edelweiss Plus

Cog looks like an ordinary twelve year old boy, but he is an advanced android that the scientists at uniMind use to watch learning (cognitive development) behavior. He lives with Gina, who functions as his mother and sets him to do certain tasks so she can watch how he handles them. Often, he does not calculate the entire impact of his actions (like saving a chihuahua from being hit by a truck by getting in front of the truck), which makes him very much like the average middle school student! When his latest exploit leads to him being returned to corporate headquarters, he is not happy there, especially since Nathan, one of the scientists, wants to alter his "mind". With the help of Trashbot, Proto the robotic dog, a computerized auto named Car, and his sister, ADA, Cog breaks out of uniMind and sets off on a mission to find Gina. Cog seems to have odd powers that can occasionally control other robots, which is why uniMind wants to study him, so they are of course in hot pursuit. The group of gizmos gets into all sorts of scrapes along the way, many involving the unwise use of Car! ADA turns out to be a destructive/offensive unit, so has some untold depth of weaponry and tactics hidden within her system, which helps the group evade capture for a while, but they are eventually brought in by the police. When Nathan arrives to take them back to headquarters, Cog knows that he doesn't have their best interest at heart. Will Cog be able to prevent his brain being probed for the unknown X-Module that gives him extra capabilities?
Strengths: Cog is a fun character, and books with road trips, especially when it's escaping evil scientists, are always in demand. I loved ADA and her latent destructive capabilities! This is a book that had my children read it when they were young, they would have gone around acting like Cog and reenacting scenes from the book! Readers who enjoyed Pattersons House of Robots or Richards' Robots Rule! series will enjoy this one.
Weaknesses: Cog talked like a robot and sometimes doesn't seem to understand the human world. This is used well for humorous effect, but wouldn't a cognitive development model be better used interacting with other children from the beginning and becoming fluent in their language? The target demographic won't get this, but I kept thinking about it, mainly because of the "robots" currently in use in people's homes that are programmed to interact vocally, like Siri and Alexa.
What I really think: Van Eekhout does great middle grade science fiction books, including Voyage of the Dogs, The Boy at the End of the World (2011), and Kid vs. Squid (2010). My readers who like robots tend to want more serious books about them, so I'm debating this one even though I would definitely purchase it for an elementary library. ...more

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Jun 03, 2020 Angela Ang rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: middle-grade

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Synopsis

Five robots. One unforgettable journey. Their programming will never be the same.

Cog looks like a normal twelve-year-old boy. But his name is short for “cognitive development,” and he was built to learn.

But after an accident leaves him damaged, Cog wakes up in an unknown lab—and Gina, the scientist who created and cared for him, is nowhere to be found. Surrounded by scientists who want to study him and remove his brain, Cog recruits four robot accomplices for a mission to find her.

Cog, A ...more

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Mar 01, 2020 Devin rated it really liked it

Oh! This was a very good book! 3rd/4th grade +
Cog by Greg Van Eekhout is the story about five robots trying to run from the sinister and evil uniMIND. It’s accessible, fast-paced, funny, and not too fantastical.
Cog is short for cognitive development. He was a robot built to learn by a kind robotics engineer named Gina. But after an accident, he falls into the hands of uniMIND, finds he has a robot sister named ADA, and realizes Gina was much kinder than the money and power hungry individuals kee ...more

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Aug 13, 2019 Ellen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kid-midgr-8-12yo

Fans of “The Wild Robot” will like this book. It is refreshingly not long-winded (as middle grade books seem to be growing in length beyond the attention span of their target audience). It has everything: cool, timely subject matter of robotics and artificial intelligence; heroism; ethical dilemmas; hot dogs; good decisions and bad decisions; and laugh-out-loud humor. The robot protagonists are not always predictable and their decision-making changes with experiences, which keeps the reader gues ...more

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Dec 23, 2019 Joanna rated it liked it

Shelves: scifi, audio-book, male-protagonist, children-s, bipoc-author

I think 8-9 year olds will be so into this! Plenty of humor and action, along with musings about artificial intelligence.

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Jan 30, 2020 Becky B rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: middle-grade-ficiton, science-fiction, dystopia, adventure

Cog is an android who is working hard to build his cognitive intelligence. But when an attempt to do so ends rather badly, he wakes up to find himself far from his home and Gina who cared for him. He's now in the uniMIND headquarters and when he finds out they want to remove his brain to find something called the X-module. Cog decides he doesn't like the sound of that, and he wants to find Gina so he escapes with four other robots. They set out on a cross-country journey but uniMIND is hot on th Cog is an android who is working hard to build his cognitive intelligence. But when an attempt to do so ends rather badly, he wakes up to find himself far from his home and Gina who cared for him. He's now in the uniMIND headquarters and when he finds out they want to remove his brain to find something called the X-module. Cog decides he doesn't like the sound of that, and he wants to find Gina so he escapes with four other robots. They set out on a cross-country journey but uniMIND is hot on their trail.

Van Eekhout did an amazing job of creating Cog's voice. He really manages to sound like a robot that is just figuring out the human world. The escape and journey to find Gina had moments where it reminded me a bit of The Wizard of Oz (Cog is focused on finding his way "home" which is more being with Gina than a place). The other robots have various other agendas. And the climax had moments that reminded me of Tron but I won't say more than that to avoid spoilers. Cog's companions are quite the group. There's a trash robot that is just obsessed with cleaning up and getting trash, and usually only speaks to inquire if someone has trash they wish to dispose of. There's a little dog robot that can only say "Rarf." There's another android that is Cog's predecessor and is programmed "to be offensive" as she says. (Built to battle, but she comes off as a bit brusque at times...mostly for humorous effect.) And then there's a robotic Car that is quite quirky and full of secrets. Beyond being a fun adventure story with a group of very entertaining robots the book actually explores the issues of free will vs mind control/slavery in such a way it never feels like that's an agenda but the book will definitely leave readers with things to think about. I thought it was well done, and surprised me with unexpected depths to the story. Hand this to readers who like robots, scifi stories, adventurous quests, quick reads, and stories that give you something to think about.

Notes on content: No language issues. No sexual content. There's a car accident that results in injuries to a robot. Violence is threatened against both humans and robots, mostly only robots are injured (there's one point where it is hinted that some humans were knocked out) and a minor surgery is performed on a human with very minimal details. If turned into a movie I think they'd be able to keep it PG. ...more

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Jan 29, 2021 Chris rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: humor, adventure, j, not-graphic, sci-fi

Cog, short for "cognitive development," is a young robot whose primary purpose is to learn. He lives in a home with his caring creator and is still largely naive of life and the ways of the world. Then he is badly damaged in an accident and awakens to learn he has been moved to a new life in a research facility, his creator reassigned somewhere far away. He also learns that his new owner is much more nefarious, so he decides to escape to hunt for his old one. He does so, accompanied by a team of Cog, short for "cognitive development," is a young robot whose primary purpose is to learn. He lives in a home with his caring creator and is still largely naive of life and the ways of the world. Then he is badly damaged in an accident and awakens to learn he has been moved to a new life in a research facility, his creator reassigned somewhere far away. He also learns that his new owner is much more nefarious, so he decides to escape to hunt for his old one. He does so, accompanied by a team of robot companions,* and they set off on a road trip pursued by their corporate overlords.

Cog is fast-paced and fun, with plenty of humor and madcap adventure. It also manages to delve into serious issues about free will, judgment, and purpose. It nicely blends the silly with the serious, delivering a most entertaining and satisfying read. Recommended. 4.5 stars.

*"Trashbot," I whisper, "would you like to join Proto and me for bad experiences? There will likely be much waste along the way."

More extensively:

Gina parks the van and shows me where to get a shopping cart. It takes three tries before we find one that doesn't have a stuck or wobbly wheel.

"These carts have bugs," I report.

Gina laughs and says, "Yes, Cog. It seems most shopping carts do."

Bugs are mistakes. I have quite a few, but Gina tells me not to worry about them, because most things are buggy.

. . .

"Is my judgment the result of a bug?" I ask her. "Can you fix it?"

"No," she says, hanging seven bags of shredded cheese back on their hooks. "It's just something you have to learn. It's like my old professor used to tell me: 'Good judgment comes from experience, but experience comes from bad judgment.' That means we learn by making mistakes."

I process this for a while.

"How long did it take you to learn good judgment?"

"Oh, I'm still learning it, buddy. I'm learning it all the time."

. . .

I think about what Gina told me.

We learn by making mistakes.

I am Cog. Short for "cognitive development." I am built to learn. Which must mean I am built to make mistakes.

I form a decision: To increase my learning, tomorrow I shall make some big mistakes.

. . .

I have gained more experience than I had anticipated.

I wish the learning would stop now.