Autonomous

Starred review from July 10, 2017
In a phenomenal debut that’s sure to garner significant awards attention, Newitz, cofounder of io9, sends three fascinating characters on an action-packed race against time through a strange yet familiar futuristic landscape. After pharmaceutical pirate Jack Chen’s latest batch of reverse-engineered performance drugs proves dangerous and sometimes even fatal for the users, she sets out to rectify the damage by finding a cure and exposing the corrupt manufacturer who first developed the drug. As she dodges the authorities and agents of the International Property Coalition, she reconnects with figures from her checkered past and comes to terms with her role as an antipatent scientist-crusader. Meanwhile, the IPC agents on her tail have their own issues: human Eliasz and indentured robot Paladin are developing unexpected feelings for each other, with Paladin prompted to reconsider his gender identity, which may complicate their relentless search for Jack and her allies. Newitz laces her narrative with sincere explorations of free will, social accountability, corporate morality, and scientific responsibility. Jack’s liaisons with lovers of various genders and Paladin’s own gradual evolution contribute to a skillful inspection of attraction and identity that feels right at home in Newitz’s fragmented, frenetic society. Agent: Laurie Fox, Linda Chester Literary.

July 15, 2017
This debut work by the co-founder of sci-fi website io9 explores issues of free will and property in a corporate-run future.In 2144, genetics engineer-turned-drug pirate Judith "Jack" Chen has reverse-engineered and distributed her own version of Zacuity, the latest drug from the Zaxy corporation. Zacuity is supposed to get people feeling good about working; unfortunately, what it actually does is addict people to their jobs to the point of insanity. With agents from the International Property Coalition on her tail, Jack does her best to manufacture an antidote and find a way to alert the public about Zacuity's effects. She also tries to find a future for Threezed, a young man previously indentured to an addict she killed. Meanwhile, those IPC agents, the human Eliasz and his new partner, the indentured military bot Paladin, grow physically and emotionally closer together as they ruthlessly track down Jack. Paladin's feelings for Eliasz, partially programmed, partially personally generated, seem believable, because the bot is new, naive, and hasn't experienced a great deal of kind human contact, but Eliasz's feelings for Paladin, which begin so quickly, seem more like sexual kink than true love; one almost gets the sense that any bot of Paladin's type would've sparked his interest. And Eliasz's insistence that the obviously genderless Paladin is female seems deluded. Newitz does an excellent job of drawing out the disturbing aspects of this power-imbalanced relationship. There's also something very real about the shaky foundation of this unorthodox union and the uncertain future facing all the characters. In life, sometimes all we get is an ending we can accept, in which not all loose ends are tied up and villains never get their comeuppance. Ultimately, the novel is a vehicle for some very interesting questions: is there a difference between owning a human being or a mechanical being if both possess sentience and feelings and both desire agency? What are our rights in a world where the guiding principle is protection for the owner? A strong and cerebral start if perhaps a little too open-ended.

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Starred review from July 1, 2017

Judith "Jack" Chen is a pharmaceutical pirate: by reverse-engineering prohibitively expensive drugs, she can make antivirals and other therapies available to the poor. Unfortunately, one of the drugs she duplicates is resulting in a series of lethal overdoses, and now she has to fix it and expose the truth about the corporation that created the original. Tracking down Jack is Paladin, a military-issue robot from the African Federation, and his human partner, Eliasz. Paladin's first mission starts his countdown clock--ten (or so) years of indentured servitude for his robot body and bio brain, both belonging to the Federation. As Jack and Paladin's paths bring them closer together, the black-and-white truths of the corporate and military worlds begin to bleed into gray. The cofounder of the sf website io9.com takes some of today's key social and technical issues (the nature of artificial intelligence, the notion of property and ownership) and wraps them in a compelling, original story line acted out by memorable characters. VERDICT Lovers of original, thought-provoking sf should not miss this one. [Newitz was a panelist at LJ's Day of Dialog: ow.ly/UNS430cD2o1.--Ed.]--KC

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2017

Anti-patent scientist Jack travels the world in her submarine, bringing affordable medication to the poor, but her mission is running into trouble. One of her drugs has led to lethal overdosing, and she's being pursued by an icy-tempered military agent and his lovesick robot partner. From the founder and one-time editor in chief of the sf website io9; with a five- to seven-city tour.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2017

Judith "Jack" Chen is a pharmaceutical pirate: by reverse-engineering prohibitively expensive drugs, she can make antivirals and other therapies available to the poor. Unfortunately, one of the drugs she duplicates is resulting in a series of lethal overdoses, and now she has to fix it and expose the truth about the corporation that created the original. Tracking down Jack is Paladin, a military-issue robot from the African Federation, and his human partner, Eliasz. Paladin's first mission starts his countdown clock--ten (or so) years of indentured servitude for his robot body and bio brain, both belonging to the Federation. As Jack and Paladin's paths bring them closer together, the black-and-white truths of the corporate and military worlds begin to bleed into gray. The cofounder of the sf website io9.com takes some of today's key social and technical issues (the nature of artificial intelligence, the notion of property and ownership) and wraps them in a compelling, original story line acted out by memorable characters. VERDICT Lovers of original, thought-provoking sf should not miss this one. [Newitz was a panelist at LJ's Day of Dialog: ow.ly/UNS430cD2o1.--Ed.]--KC

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.