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linwearcamenel's review
challenging
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
vortacist's review
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
katalynbc13's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
abception's review
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
ruthsic's review
4.0
Warnings: physical violence (including partner abuse), gun violence, torture, mutilation, mentions of human sex trafficking, sexual assault (groping), mention of suicide
Rep: The setting is medieval Japanese, with Japanese characters
Automatic Eve kind of confused me when I first started the book, because according to the index, it was separate stories and from different characters; but as I went through each story, the connection between them made sense: it was Eve, the automaton that is a mystery who is the thread between the stories and the catalyst for a couple. It starts with a samurai who has a mistress in the capital of the shogunate, and wants to free her from the Thirteen Floors, a brothel that caters to the almost every clientele, high or low. He comes to know of an automata engineer, Kyuzo through the cricket-fighting tournaments, and approaches him to build an automata replica of her. Creepy, I know – but the story has a twist, and then another twist. And the next story goes on about a sumo wrestler, who gets caught up in a gangster’s schemes and pays for it. But from the third story, the connections start making sense – Eve, and Kyuzo, have had their hand in several of the stories surrounding the capital and there’s a larger secret being concealed by the imperial household which the shogunate wants to get their hands on. The push and pull of power between these two organizations ties into the history of the imperial bloodline, as well as the rebellion that took place 30 years ago, and the characters of the story are caught up in the flow. Along for the ride in this crazy journey is a shogunate spy, who finds himself in the middle of the storm when he starts a little investigation. He crosses paths with the important characters enough times to become one himself.
A theme of the story is how do you distinguish between what is real, what is human, and what has a soul (if you got Ghost in the Shell vibes, same) and what is the identity of a thing. No one encapsulates this question as much as Eve, who is not-human and yet so much like one that she has gravity around her. Kyuzo himself questions the possibility of how to totally replicate a human experience into a machine, and even with Eve’s human-like quirks, he is not entirely convinced of an ensouled automata. It is an interesting bunch of stories, for sure, as they explore the meaning of love and caring beyond the human experience, but also have kind of a creepy vibe and a healthy dose of fear about the technology. I must mention, though, the overt and subtle variations of violence against women, or even the creepy way of waking the female automata made me deeply uncomfortable; the first story, especially is heavy with themes of female disempowerment and sexualized violence. As for the story arcs, they are unpredictable a lot of times, and is an entertaining read which kept me on my toes; I pretty much read this straight in one go. The ending is, well, satisfactory for character arcs, because they are mostly concluded with each story or by the end; if you are concerned about the politics that drive the story arc, well, they had sort of an open ending?
Overall, it is an engaging set of sci-fi stories set in a historical setting.
Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from Haikasoru, via Edelweiss.
Rep: The setting is medieval Japanese, with Japanese characters
Automatic Eve kind of confused me when I first started the book, because according to the index, it was separate stories and from different characters; but as I went through each story, the connection between them made sense: it was Eve, the automaton that is a mystery who is the thread between the stories and the catalyst for a couple. It starts with a samurai who has a mistress in the capital of the shogunate, and wants to free her from the Thirteen Floors, a brothel that caters to the almost every clientele, high or low. He comes to know of an automata engineer, Kyuzo through the cricket-fighting tournaments, and approaches him to build an automata replica of her. Creepy, I know – but the story has a twist, and then another twist. And the next story goes on about a sumo wrestler, who gets caught up in a gangster’s schemes and pays for it. But from the third story, the connections start making sense – Eve, and Kyuzo, have had their hand in several of the stories surrounding the capital and there’s a larger secret being concealed by the imperial household which the shogunate wants to get their hands on. The push and pull of power between these two organizations ties into the history of the imperial bloodline, as well as the rebellion that took place 30 years ago, and the characters of the story are caught up in the flow. Along for the ride in this crazy journey is a shogunate spy, who finds himself in the middle of the storm when he starts a little investigation. He crosses paths with the important characters enough times to become one himself.
A theme of the story is how do you distinguish between what is real, what is human, and what has a soul (if you got Ghost in the Shell vibes, same) and what is the identity of a thing. No one encapsulates this question as much as Eve, who is not-human and yet so much like one that she has gravity around her. Kyuzo himself questions the possibility of how to totally replicate a human experience into a machine, and even with Eve’s human-like quirks, he is not entirely convinced of an ensouled automata. It is an interesting bunch of stories, for sure, as they explore the meaning of love and caring beyond the human experience, but also have kind of a creepy vibe and a healthy dose of fear about the technology. I must mention, though, the overt and subtle variations of violence against women, or even the creepy way of waking the female automata made me deeply uncomfortable; the first story, especially is heavy with themes of female disempowerment and sexualized violence. As for the story arcs, they are unpredictable a lot of times, and is an entertaining read which kept me on my toes; I pretty much read this straight in one go. The ending is, well, satisfactory for character arcs, because they are mostly concluded with each story or by the end; if you are concerned about the politics that drive the story arc, well, they had sort of an open ending?
Overall, it is an engaging set of sci-fi stories set in a historical setting.
Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from Haikasoru, via Edelweiss.
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