In a secluded forest laboratory, Victor Lawson lives as the only human among recycled machines. His father, an inventor android named Gio, rescued him as a child, but their peaceful domesticity ends when Vic repairs a discarded, deactivated unit known as HAP. This act inadvertently signals a lethal authority from Gio’s past, leading to his capture and transport to the City of Electric Dreams. Accompanied by HAP, a sociopathic vacuum cleaner, and a nervous medical droid, Vic travels across a post-human landscape to rescue his father from decommissioning.
Readers who enjoy character-driven science fiction will find a story centered on the definition of personhood and the persistence of family beyond biological ties. This book appeals to those interested in the ethics of artificial intelligence and the potential for machines to experience empathy or purpose. After finishing, the reader holds a perspective on how grief and memory shape identity, and how found families provide a framework for survival in a world designed around mechanical logic instead of human emotion.
- Published
- 2023
- Language
- EN
