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roadtripreader 's review for:
The Cybernetic Tea Shop
by Meredith Katz
Aaw! I adored this book. I'm starting to realize there is a whole world of coziness out there. Cozy Fantasy, Cozy Mystery, Cozy Scifi and now, pair that with this feeling of maybe Slice of Life and what we have is a slice of cozy scifi set a few hundred years into our future. Sapient vs sentient technology is at the forefront of this world. AI in the uncanny valley of humanoid robots being the sapient, emotive technology and the more Sentient tech are the RAISES. I loved the them of change and growth even through utter devastation and pain.
Our three main characters are loveable for different reasons.
⦁ Joanie the Sentient RAISE is as cute as a button, a tiny colorful bird with a colorful personality and so loyal it hurts.
⦁ Sal, the sentient and sapient robot. She seems innocent, melancholic, emotionally chained to one place, maybe rooted to one place, never venturing out. She is in mourning over having outlived her owner Karinne, whom she loved so dearly. She is also traumatized as much as a robot can be having been threatened with destruction before. She is gentle and aloof and she pulls at the heartstrings.
⦁ Clara Guiterrez is the unchanging wanderlust-driven AI Specialist with a "particular set of skills" and an adventurous way of looking at the world. She never stays in one place for more than 6 months to a year. Her curiosity and reaction to Sal is so wholesome and I teared up a little reading this book ... about robots and AI. Beautiful.
⦁ Detective Hyeon, what can I say - in the words of Gina Linetti..."He's a good dude. A really good dude" (Gina Linetti confetti sphagetti. I'm sorry, I had to say it.)
This part sums it up:
"It must be pretty depressing," Clara added.
"What? Oh..." Sal put the lid carefully to one side, dipped the edge of the stiff brush in. "A little."
"Just a little?"
Sal pressed her lips tightly together for a moment. It was hard to find the words to express these feelings fully. They churned around and were only peripherally focused on the words she was here to paint over.
"It's not... as if I'm unaware that I am a thing," she said slowly. "And that I'll eventually break. It hurts to read because they intended it to hurt. The same thing is less painful when it's just self-awareness. I am already to the stage that I should probably seek out repairs soon, although I don't want to. But the shop is also a thing."
"I think it's a little different..."
"Yes. But what they came in and trashed was the shop. They did it to hurt me, but they hurt it too. Unlike me, it doesn't have any feelings. But I have feelings for it," Sal said.
I found myself not wanting this book to end. It was so sweet and so sad and oh so hopeful - not in the music swelling cue the bawling but in a softer more reserved way.
Book 4: Readathon
Our three main characters are loveable for different reasons.
⦁ Joanie the Sentient RAISE is as cute as a button, a tiny colorful bird with a colorful personality and so loyal it hurts.
⦁ Sal, the sentient and sapient robot. She seems innocent, melancholic, emotionally chained to one place, maybe rooted to one place, never venturing out. She is in mourning over having outlived her owner Karinne, whom she loved so dearly. She is also traumatized as much as a robot can be having been threatened with destruction before. She is gentle and aloof and she pulls at the heartstrings.
⦁ Clara Guiterrez is the unchanging wanderlust-driven AI Specialist with a "particular set of skills" and an adventurous way of looking at the world. She never stays in one place for more than 6 months to a year. Her curiosity and reaction to Sal is so wholesome and I teared up a little reading this book ... about robots and AI. Beautiful.
⦁ Detective Hyeon, what can I say - in the words of Gina Linetti..."He's a good dude. A really good dude" (Gina Linetti confetti sphagetti. I'm sorry, I had to say it.)
This part sums it up:
"It must be pretty depressing," Clara added.
"What? Oh..." Sal put the lid carefully to one side, dipped the edge of the stiff brush in. "A little."
"Just a little?"
Sal pressed her lips tightly together for a moment. It was hard to find the words to express these feelings fully. They churned around and were only peripherally focused on the words she was here to paint over.
"It's not... as if I'm unaware that I am a thing," she said slowly. "And that I'll eventually break. It hurts to read because they intended it to hurt. The same thing is less painful when it's just self-awareness. I am already to the stage that I should probably seek out repairs soon, although I don't want to. But the shop is also a thing."
"I think it's a little different..."
"Yes. But what they came in and trashed was the shop. They did it to hurt me, but they hurt it too. Unlike me, it doesn't have any feelings. But I have feelings for it," Sal said.
I found myself not wanting this book to end. It was so sweet and so sad and oh so hopeful - not in the music swelling cue the bawling but in a softer more reserved way.
Book 4: Readathon