Jemppu’s Reviews > Autonomous > Status Update

Really? That's your ending note?

Rather meh. Especially after lingering on the TBR for so long.

"Two men cannot lie together."

2144 problems.

Yeah... This operates on such unappealingly lazy principles; throwing bots at its contemporary sphere to play-act a 'future'. I can hardly feel invested.

I keep thinking this would, with its tired gender politics and gimmicks, indeed work best as a manga script with the included 'yaoi elements' to entice its most befitting target audience.

Can this be over already? My attention has been depleted. 2x speed ahead.

"We don’t have gender, and therefore we can’t have same-sex desire... It’s just humans projecting their own biological categories onto my body."

Where gender and sex used interchangeably creates a mess.

"She took the box from his hand and shook a few pills out into her desk. The gleaming, onyx gelcaps were etched with the words “EAT ME” in a pink Comic Sans font."

The year is 2144 and Comic Sans reigns supreme. This is how you imply a dystopia.

(Can you tell I'm having hard time taking this book seriously?)

“Keep shooting.” In his discomfort, Eliasz forgot to subvocalize. “Just shoot the roof off like I told you.”

Influences: yaoi. You implanted it, book, and it fits. I'm almost disappointed we didn't hear a climaxing line of "Here comes my data."

"She held out her hand, tiny and calloused with an age her face didn’t show."

Something for the collection, at least.

"Med’s features had a generic “pretty white girl” look that most humans recognized as a bot tell."

Because 'pretty' like a 'white girl' is of course the timeless universal ideal?

Like a proper waifu.

Nothing like pulling your reader out of the world (which is already barely perceptible), or putting your work's creative credibility/influences in question, than describing your character looking 'like a yaoi character'.

And what exactly are the implications of 'looking like a yaoi character' in an imagined future? (I keep imagining mangled body proportions and absurd facial features).

"Most would respond to whatever pronoun their human admins hailed them with, though some autonomous bots preferred to pick their own pronouns. Regardless, no human would think twice about calling a bot named Xiu “he.” Especially a bot built like Paladin."

Why gender bots? Do bots care? Regardless, shows how humanity has moved absolutely nowhere with gendering - gendering appearances no less.