The Companions by Katie M. Flynn

Jan 18, 2020 Barbara rated it liked it

Sixteen-year-old high school girls Lilac and Nikki are best friends who go to class together, eat lunch together, hang out together, and confide in each other about everything.

The best friends, however, have a fractious relationship with the school's 'in girls', and Lilac especially dislikes the ginger-haired queen bee she calls Red.

During a keg party, Lilac is looking for a quiet spot when she comes upon Red having sex with a tall husky jock. Lilac screams in surprise, people come running, and ...more

flag 40 likes · Like · see review

Sep 24, 2019 Reading_ Tam_ Ishly rated it it was ok

*top 10 worst reads of 2019*
Maybe this book is not meant for me. I got so hyped up regarding the description of this one but I am hugely disappointed.

The first chapter started out good but yes, the chapters are so terribly long and it feels like the read was just dragging on and on. New character introduction and the various events described are somewhat too mundane considering it's a sci-fi dystopian kind of read. Considering the main theme tackled that is regarding quarantine, I couldn't see ...more

flag 37 likes · Like · see review

Oct 07, 2019 Chelsey rated it liked it

Shelves: giveaways-arcs

Set in the future on the west coast of the United States, Companions have been created and leased into the mass market. Companions are machines that are given human consciousness - the human consciousness of a formerly living person. The Companions vary in quality, some being a little more than a tin can and others looking and seeming human to the untrained eye. They are “command driven” and allegedly have safeguards in place to limit their abilities and keep them from rebelling or harming their ...more

flag 18 likes · Like · see review

Oct 04, 2018 Sana marked it as to-read-so-bad-it-hurts · review of another edition

THIS SOUNDS SO GOOD. An uploaded consciousness able to defy commands goes in search of her murderer, damn

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Oct 14, 2019 Elaine rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: good-idea-expected-better, post-apocalyptic-blah-blah-blah, kindle, fresh-meat, netgalley

Thank you to NetGalley for a Kindle ARC of The Companions.

I'm not an avid reader of sci-fi dystopian but I was excited when my request was approved because...hello! Robots! Who doesn't love 'em and who isn't waiting for them to go nuts?

** Minor spoilers ahead **

The premise is a strong but familiar one; after a virus has decimated most of the population, survivors are sequestered in their homes.

The wealthy have one reprieve, the ability to upload their consciousness before death into a ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Nov 03, 2019 Maudaevee rated it it was ok

From the description I thought I would love this but it was a rough read. I think it was a very good idea and that it just needed a lot more working, it read a bit like an outline/rough draft. I will definitely keep an eye out for future works by this author though.

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Dec 30, 2019 Lou Jacobs rated it liked it

Sadly I expected so much more from this novel. The premise of this debut novel of Katie Flynn alone earns a 3 Star rating ... however, the execution leaves me with a hollow feeling. Humanity has always searched for immortality ... although not possible physically the possibility of digital immortality is extremely tantalizing.. The Metis Corporation has developed the technology to upload the brain digitally at the time of death ... not only the memories and data are retained but also ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 25, 2020 Caidyn (SEMI-HIATUS; BW Reviews; he/him/his) rated it did not like it

Shelves: dnf, from-publisher-or-author, arc, sci-fi

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

DNF at 25%

CW: murder, death, and plague

I thought that this would be like that one Black Mirror episode where Hayley Atwell was able to bring her husband back by having his thoughts uploaded into a cloud database. But this book was very different from that. It's told in random perspectives about Lilac's journey to find out what happened the day that she died. Sure, she remembers it, but she doesn't know what else happened besides her ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Nov 16, 2019 Mike rated it it was ok

This book has a good premise, and parts of it are quite good, but it doesn't quite gel into a coherent whole.

The basic idea here is that a megacoroporation figures out a way to upload people's minds into computers upon death, and those minds are then put into robot bodies (of varying quality depending on how much one is willing to pay). Consciousness remains. Sounds great, right? Except that the "people" are regarded as the intellectual property of the megacorp, and are leased to living ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Dec 09, 2019 Anne rated it liked it

I was really drawn to this book as I love dystopian fiction, and the idea that in death you can be uploaded as a "companion" robot is intriguing in itself! What I liked about the novel was not only did it force me to think outside the box, but it also forced me to do a complete paradigm shift to understand the storyline. What was difficult was there were so many narrators that I got lost trying to remember who was related to whom and how did they all fit together. Perhaps it's just my pea brain ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 03, 2020 Urszula rated it it was amazing

A futuristic page-turner though that type of future might not be as distant as once can expect. I truly enjoyed the complexity of the characters and appreciated the educated landscape of the story.

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 19, 2020 Finley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: giveaways

I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through a giveaway hosted on GoodReads.

The Companions is a fascinating work of near-future science fiction, in which the technology to upload the consciousness of the recent-dead has become commonplace. For those of means, this means having their family members uploaded so that they may return to them in a new body. For others, however, such as a young organ donor named Lilac who was uploaded when the projects was still in its experimental I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through a giveaway hosted on GoodReads.

The Companions is a fascinating work of near-future science fiction, in which the technology to upload the consciousness of the recent-dead has become commonplace. For those of means, this means having their family members uploaded so that they may return to them in a new body. For others, however, such as a young organ donor named Lilac who was uploaded when the projects was still in its experimental stages, they are placed into robotic bodies of a variety of shapes and qualities and sent off to act as Companions to the humans hiding in their homes under quarantine from a deadly virus. The story kicks off when Lilac realizes she is able to overstep the protocols of absolute obedience that are supposed to be in place within the Companions’ programing, and she travels miles away to a nursing home to confront a person from her human life. This action is the spark that brings together people of a variety of backgrounds, including a caretaker named Cam, a young orphan by the name of Gabe, the recently-uploaded former celebrity Jakob, and two brothers named Rolly and Andy on a failing farm where companions are sent to be disposed of. The repercussions of each one’s actions change their own lives and the lives of those around them, and raises a significant question about what life is, and the morality and fairness of owning and controlling a human’s soul.

I really enjoyed this novel, even more so than I was expecting to. The synopsis was intriguing, but sci-fi can be very hit or miss for me, especially when it contains particularly speculative elements. I either get very drawn into the story and eat up every bit of new technology and world-building, or I get bored and bogged down by too much tech talk or being unable to keep up with the oddities of the imagined future. Obviously, though, I found this to be the former. The characters were all unique and multi-dimensional, each leading their own lives with their own story and motivations while still all contributing to the plot in their own way. Each could have easily been the protagonist of their own perfectly fine novella, but the switching perspectives came together to make the story really shine by providing the freedom to show only what is actually important and giving multiple perspective, rather than falling victim to the boring interludes or narrator bias that can sometimes pop up in single-viewpoint stories. Also, the fact it is set in the near future rather than a distant someday made it easier to settle into as a reader, as it all felt like something that could possible happen tomorrow with the right advancements, or even a today is a slightly parallel timeline. The world was still recognizable enough that no big explanations were needed, and none of the narrators were the sort to go into length explanation of the what and how without necessity, none of them really being knowledgeable enough in the technical side to probably give anything more than a layman’s definition of Companion technology, so you could really focus on the humanity of the Companions and their human counterparts, seeing them as a who instead of a what, and therefore become more attached to them as the novel progressed.

This novel is one novel I highly recommend to anyone who wonders about immortality, or just anyone who thinks variation on the typical AI that show up in most sci-fi novels are pretty cool. There isn’t anything terribly adult in it, save for some brief references to sex, so while it obviously isn’t something I would give to a child, I definitely feel that teens could enjoy it, as well as adults of any age. Everyone has likely wondered about what will happen to their consciousness after they die at least once, and while immortality can be tempting to consider, the questions that are brought up about whether being able to do something means we should do it could easily start up debate among any group of people, young or old, highly intellectual or of average lifestyle. I can’t wait to see it on store shelves a few months from now, and will definitely point it out to anyone I encounter in the store who I happen to strike up a conversation with. Perhaps I’ll even push my friends to read it (although, probably encourage them to buy their own copies, since I’m not sure how lending of old ARCs is looked upon in the lit world). I see bright things for this book’s future, although I hope for everyone’s sake that it doesn’t spark a real-life version of the Companion system. Although living as a robot and getting to entertain new and interesting people after my mortal existence ends does sound fun (it really does, at least to me!) I definitely do not want to have to face any of the moral dilemma surrounding it in the real world, especially since read is my escape from the political debates around me. Happy reading, all! ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jan 28, 2020 Sandy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy, netgalley, src-winter-2019-read, read-in-2020

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me an ARC of this book in return for a fair and honest review.

The Companions offers something a bit different from standard dystopian science fiction - for one thing, although there are certainly dystopian elements, particularly during the earlier parts of the book, this is not a book showing "the world has gone to ruins, how will we manage" type book. There is an epidemic, which creates the basic scenario here - people stay inside, but can lease companions. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Dec 29, 2019 Brittany rated it it was ok

I was intrigued by this book-the cover, the supposed premise. But it only took a few pages to realize I wasn’t going to like it. They jumped right in without much backstory or description. I couldn’t picture the world she had created. There was terminology that wasn’t defined. It was confusing. I found the book’s summary to be deceiving. I thought it would be an adventure, suspense story of a person who was killed and became a droid/companion and sought revenge on the person who killed her and I was intrigued by this book-the cover, the supposed premise. But it only took a few pages to realize I wasn’t going to like it. They jumped right in without much backstory or description. I couldn’t picture the world she had created. There was terminology that wasn’t defined. It was confusing. I found the book’s summary to be deceiving. I thought it would be an adventure, suspense story of a person who was killed and became a droid/companion and sought revenge on the person who killed her and that there would be clues to follow and information we would learn where things didn’t happen the way she remembered them, etc. But really her story wasn’t even the majority of the book. It follows so many other characters that share a link but don’t serve any purpose for Lilac and her mission.

If the author’s main point in writing this story was the explore the perspectives of how people lived in this dystopian world over a long period of time, how their lives were affected, and how relationships worked- then don’t present it as a revenge/redemption story. And even if she had presented it accurately, I wouldn’t say she even excelled in the ‘drama’ genre. I don’t mind reading from a variety of perspectives- i.e. I think Big Little Lies does that well- but this was very jumpy, spanning too much time, a lot of vague inner processing of the characters, and it all seemed pretty meaningless.

I was constantly asking ‘Where is she going with this?’ and tried to speculate how she was going to bring it altogether but it never happened. It had so much potential that went untapped. The moments that she actually decided to resolve, happened in a short, undramatic, and anticlimactic way. Another common thought I had throughout- ‘Wait, that’s it?’ The last sentence of the whole book that was meant to be fulfilling and whole was weak and empty. I was just not impressed with the writing and execution. It was confusing, boring, and disappointing. Additionally, this book had a lot of sexual content I did not care for.

I wish she could start over and attempt this again. I think it could have been a better ‘I,robot meets ghost-in-the-shell’ type of book that I could have enjoyed. This fell far short.

** I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ** ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jan 18, 2020 Devorah Heitner rated it it was amazing

Fascinating, weird and gripping story. The characters themselves and the intersections of the character's stories are very satisfying. Stayed up all night to finish this novel!

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jan 14, 2020 Jen Larsen rated it it was amazing

Beautifully written, so subtle and moving, and unexpected at every turn. The world building is prescient, flawless and seamless, so that it feels like a real near-future dystopia in the background, not requiring explanation, but simply working as the world through which these characters moved. I read it in a sitting and enjoyed it from start to finish.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jan 02, 2020 Meg rated it it was amazing

Won this book through a good reads giveaway and had no expectations. I really enjoyed the futuristic seeds it planted for me to further imagine on my own a life in this society without going overboard. Was a pretty easy read and I couldn’t put it down. Read it in a few days which isn’t typical of me. Read a few other reviews and have to disagree with the character introduction. I liked how each character was presented and there were not too many to confuse the story line. And as I said, the ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Dec 02, 2019 Raychel rated it liked it

Like many others, I was immediately drawn to this book due to the comparisons between it and Station Eleven and Never Let Me Go. Those are two of my all-time favorite novels, and I feel like the bar was set incredibly high because of that.

A lot of the reviews I am seeing for this title are focusing on the number of character narratives we get. I personally disagree that is it too many. For a book of this scope, I feel that the number of character perspectives we get is really refreshing. I felt ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Dec 10, 2019 Lee rated it it was ok

This book started great, but went downhill fast for me. I was intrigued by the premise and the first few chapters were ok. I found myself skimming a lot. I just stopped caring about which conciousnesses were put in their third, fourth, etc. body and even the mystery of how the original character was betrayed which lead to her death was no longer appealing. I read one third of the book and then couldn't convince myself to keep reading. It was too confusing. I would like to thank Netgalley, the ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Dec 08, 2019 Katherine added it

I was very intrigued by the concept - the human consciousness is uploaded into machines, after death, to turn them into companions. The story is engaging but loses its way with too many characters. It’s an interesting, innovative concept, with the story starting off with a companion setting out on a journey to seek answers surrounding her death but it soon unravels as it criss-crosses with different humans and companions.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Sep 30, 2019 Teresa rated it it was ok

Thank you Netgalley for providing me this ARC of The Companions by Katie M. Flynn.

In a world where a virus reeks havoc on society, forcing people inside, boredom and loneliness are combated by what is called "The Companion program." The idea is that people who have passed away can have their personality downloaded and put into whatever machine is afforded to them. The lucky (and wealthy) get to keep loved ones as their companions, but the less fortunate are rented out to homes, often treated ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Nov 16, 2019 Michelle rated it it was ok

This book was not for me. Is it YA or just written that way? Also, the different perspectives didn’t add anything to the story.

Thanks NETGALLEY for the ARC

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Dec 09, 2019 Michelle rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley, arc

This was such an interesting book. I loved the idea of human consciousness being uploading for future companionship--it made me think about The Perfect Wife, which I recently just finished and found compelling as well as thought provoking.

The writing is smooth and the story well-paced, though if you're like me and jump around in with your books, you might find it tricky to navigate back into, given the number of narratives. But overall, a good read, and I'd recommend checking it out if you like ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Nov 04, 2019 Hillary rated it it was amazing

I don't love sci-fi. I'm not wild about poorly drawn, outlandish situations superimposed on reality to force a thin moral conundrum.

This, however, was the opposite - an actual novel with intricate structure, involved characters and, well, yes, a little AI.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jan 24, 2020 Matthew Lloyd rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, netgalley-books, published-2020

Lilac was a teenage girl, until she was murdered and her consciousness was uploaded into the body of a Companion. In the quarantined apartment blocks of California, Companions keep isolated individuals entertained with stories of their lives and, well, companionship. But when Lilac realises that she can disobey her programming and escape, she sets off to find the woman who killed her - and ends up finding much more.

The first chapter of The Companions has a slightly awkward style, and I found Lilac was a teenage girl, until she was murdered and her consciousness was uploaded into the body of a Companion. In the quarantined apartment blocks of California, Companions keep isolated individuals entertained with stories of their lives and, well, companionship. But when Lilac realises that she can disobey her programming and escape, she sets off to find the woman who killed her - and ends up finding much more.

The first chapter of The Companions has a slightly awkward style, and I found myself wondering if certain elements were intentional. The narrator at this point, Lilac, is a sixteen-year-old girl whose memories have been used to give personality to an inhuman-looking machine, the cheapest kind of Companion the Metis corporation has to offer. I noticed a lack of contractions, and as my spouse and I have been watching through the Star Trek movies it made me think about how Data, the android, isn't supposed to use contractions. Certain elements of the novel as I continued seemed to support this interpretation - I realised some 15% from the end that without my noticing I felt like the style had improved immensely, by which I mean I found it more accessible. As the narrators change, as the characters change, the feel of the writing changes. On the one hand, this shows skill; on the other, with eight narrators, there's a good chance that the reader won't like some of them. I wasn't particularly thrilled with two of them.

I'm ambivalent about the shifting perspectives provided by the eight narrators. As I didn't like two of them, it gave the novel an uneven feel - I could be really enjoying it, and then have to slog through a chapter narrated by a character I didn't find interesting. But the multiple narrators give a much wider view of the world in which these Companions exist, their different purposes and the different ways in which people treat them. Certain themes of the novel - the role of Metis, the shady company behind the companions - are revealed through characters that have limited interaction with the other narrators; others require the multiple perspectives of different Companions, different humans. Furthermore, returning to a character after some time with another gives us more of a perspective on how they have changed over time. Essentially: the multi-character perspective is thematically central to the novel, and thus my disinterest of two narrators detracted less from my experience of the novel than the multiple perspectives added to it.

The Companions is a thematically rich novel, with characters I mostly found interesting and a story I found compelling. Certainly a novel I expect to enjoy mulling over for some time. ...more

flag Like · see review

Feb 15, 2020 Kathleen rated it liked it

The premise of The Companions is intriguing: waves of plague isolate and terrify an overgrown population, and science has developed the technology to upload a person’s consciousness into a robotic “shell” allowing a life to continue past death. These shells run from the very basic (a plastic rolling can with hooks for hands and a slow processor) to high-end models that can grow skin and pass for human. These robots are Companions. They are owned by the corporation that created them and leased The premise of The Companions is intriguing: waves of plague isolate and terrify an overgrown population, and science has developed the technology to upload a person’s consciousness into a robotic “shell” allowing a life to continue past death. These shells run from the very basic (a plastic rolling can with hooks for hands and a slow processor) to high-end models that can grow skin and pass for human. These robots are Companions. They are owned by the corporation that created them and leased for use; Companions have no rights and no free will.

As a fan of dystopian fiction, I was eager to read this first novel from short fiction author Katie M. Flynn. For the most part the story follows Lilac, a Companion who was murdered as a teenager, and is told by multiple narrators with time-jumps. The years themselves are not actually identified, so there was no way to gauge when any part of this story takes place, although according to Lilac, the bombing of Hiroshima was already ancient history when she was in school.

I struggled with The Companions. I enjoyed the idea of the plot and I continued to think about it after I finished reading, but the execution just wasn’t what I expected. Too much of the action took place off the page during the time jumps, and a lot of time was spent on characters who had (in my opinion) nothing to do with moving the story along. Toward the end, I began to wonder if this novel was two plots smashed together; the later chapters felt disconnected from the earlier ones and I had a hard time figuring out why I should even care what I was reading about. Lilac’s story resolution was severely unsatisfying, as was the ending of the book. Finally, I was enormously disappointed that there was nearly no discussion on the morality of Companions. Why did no one in this book at any point question whether it was OK to pop a brain in a machine and treat it like it didn’t have feelings? Was it in there and I missed it? It seems this should have been an integral part of several parts of this book and the fact that it was missing really stood out for me.

Overall, I wanted to like this book more than I did. I’m giving three stars instead of my originally-intended two because the writing itself was excellent, and I continue to think about it days later; I look forward to seeing what Ms. Flynn does next.

Thank you to NetGalley, Gallery Books, and the author for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of The Companions in exchange for an honest review. ...more

flag Like · see review

Feb 17, 2020 Annette Jordan rated it liked it

Billed as a blend of Station Eleven and Never Let You Go, The Companions by Katie M Flynn is a dystopian tale set in a believably sketched version of the future where the consciousness and memories of the dying can be uploaded into machines. In theory nobody can own such a consciousness, they cannot be bought or sold, but in practice they become the property of the Metis Corporation which owns the technology, and are often leased out as companions., and depending on the amount of money the Billed as a blend of Station Eleven and Never Let You Go, The Companions by Katie M Flynn is a dystopian tale set in a believably sketched version of the future where the consciousness and memories of the dying can be uploaded into machines. In theory nobody can own such a consciousness, they cannot be bought or sold, but in practice they become the property of the Metis Corporation which owns the technology, and are often leased out as companions., and depending on the amount of money the client is willing to spend, they may end up in a deceptively life like body ,almost impossible to distinguish from a living person, or a basic rolling droid device. Lilac is one of these companions, following her death at the young age of sixteen she becomes the companion of a young girl living in San Francisco, a city under strict quarantine where the living cannot leave their homes. However something about Lilac is a little different , and when she manages to override the restrictions placed on her by the Metis Corporation she begins to remember more about her death and the moments leading up to it, and sets off on a quest for revenge that will take her across the world as she hunts down the woman who killed her.
While the central story is told from Lilac's perspectives, we are also given the perspectives of several other characters, both human and companion and as the book progresses to cover approximately a decade, we see how all these stories link together and become part of Lilac's .
This is a very ambitious debut, and while there were things that worked really well, including the central premise and the main plot, there were definitely some issues. Several of the subplots felt unnecessary, and really did not add to the book as a whole, and while I understood why some of the characters went through several name changes over the course of the book , it felt a little confusing at times. I also found that while the central premise was strong , the world building could have used a little fleshing out, e.g. more about the virus and the Metis Corporation
Overall it was a debut with promise and I would give this author another try
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own. ...more

flag Like · see review

Feb 13, 2020 Mackey rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction-general, sci-fi, dystopic-fiction, my-reviews, favorites, cli-fi-climate-fiction, netgalley-ew, books-read-2020

A dystopian sci-fi novel that is far too close to reality for comfort....

A pandemic sweeps through the US during which quarantines are mandated. Neither the living or the dead are allowed to leave. There are people trapped in towers who are both stir-crazy and lonely. Metis, a tech company, comes to the rescue with “companions.” Download the brain with all of its electrical currents, memories, and emotions, into a robotic body – some with skin for a more human like touch. These creations are A dystopian sci-fi novel that is far too close to reality for comfort....

A pandemic sweeps through the US during which quarantines are mandated. Neither the living or the dead are allowed to leave. There are people trapped in towers who are both stir-crazy and lonely. Metis, a tech company, comes to the rescue with “companions.” Download the brain with all of its electrical currents, memories, and emotions, into a robotic body – some with skin for a more human like touch. These creations are pre-programmed not to harm or do violence and to operate only at the command of their human. One such “companion” – Lilac – goes off track when she learns that she is to be scrapped. Setting out on her own, she is in search of the person who murdered her human form.

Admittedly, this one of the strangest pieces of fiction that I’ve read in a long time. When I began reading I wasn’t sure if I liked it or would finish the book. But then I became invested in Lilac as she hops from body to body. We’re then introduced to more characters, some human and some are companions. Each of the stories seemed to be unrelated – until they weren’t. Going further into the book I realized that each of these “stories” was interconnected and relevant to the others. By the end of the book, I was all in and couldn’t believe how it ended, or possibly I knew how it would end before I even began reading.

What was so startling about The Companions is on this day, as I finished reading and am now writing this review, I’m listening on the news about quarantines being set up all over the world on the brink of what could be the early days of a Pandemic. In tandem, there is tech news about the first fully functioning AI who is frighteningly quite human. In light of those things, The Companions seemed more current events than “sci-fi.”

This is NOT a book for everyone. It is, however, one of the best dystopian tales that I’ve read in ages. It’s also a great sci-fi experience that does not involve other galaxies, fantasy or world building. If you do not like dystopian fiction or science fiction, then you will not enjoy this book. However, if you like new, different, quirky, dark reads then I can recommend The Companions 100%.
...more

flag 16 likes · Like · see review

Dec 23, 2019 Kelly rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed, read-in-2019

A haunting glimpse into one possible future.

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through NetGalley.)

Where I live now is a blank space. I imagine you live somewhere similar. I can fill it with light, with sorrow, drench it in horror, erase it all with an ocean roar. I can fill it with memories, you putting on your sister’s clothes, Lea! I can remember her name—I don’t know why. There are washes of gray nothing where whole years should be, but I remember thinking something bad

...more

flag Like · see review

Dec 26, 2019 Erica rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, sci-fi

I received an ARC of this novel via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

After a contagious virus hits California, humans are quarantined for years unable to go outside. For those that can afford it, Metis Corporation offers the companionship program as an option...a human consciousness that has been uploaded to a synthetic body, rented out to in order to provide interaction free of contagion. The companions are a command driven AI, created to carry out the orders of their handlers. ...more

flag Like · see review