Big thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this DRC.

TW: domestic violence, substance use, animal abuse and murder, eating disorder, self harm, xenophobia, racism, gun violence

Eke is a humanoid AI owned by an oblivious wealthy family in Massachusetts. The absent father and substance addicted mother have raised a toxic and neglected son, Carson, who finds joy in hurting others. Eke, who is programmed to obey without question is a frequent and easy target for his misdirected rage. Things begin to change a little bit with the arrival of Kyp, a brand new luxury AI who can do all kinds of things Eke would love to do. When Carson’s rage accelerates Eke and Kyp find themselves running for their lives.
I liked the idea of this story and I found the characters of Eke and Kyp to be decent. Carson’s unchecked rage was uncomfortable and I had to put the book down for a while before I could continue. I found the relationship between Eke and Kyp to be a bit under-developed. It worked on a level of ‘we are both going through this trauma together’ but it could have used a bit more of them communicating and less doing chores and experiencing violence in the house.
One thing of interest, I keep going back and forth as to whether I think this book is queernorm/queer. Kyp and Eke both use he/him pronouns and they kiss. So on that level they could be identified as queer. But there isn’t any mention of anyone else being queer at all. There are no other queer characters and we don’t get any commentary on the state of queerness in this world.
Not my favorite, but an interesting attempt!