Annie Bot

I absolutely loved Annie Bot. It took me on an emotional rollercoaster, making me feel a deep connection with the story and its characters. At times, I was filled with love and hope, while other moments left me frustrated or even angry. The complexity of emotions it evoked made the experience incredibly immersive and unforgettable. I’ll be eagerly looking forward to Sierra Greer next work!

I really enjoyed this. 4.5? A very interesting and fascinating take on relationships, misogyny, control, power, etc. Would be perfectly paired with Ex Machina. A spectacular perspective of the sexual politics of our technological future.

Bizarrely, this is the second sex bot novel I've read this year. It's better than the other one, “The Hierarchies”. As is normal, there is no sex in these books.

Annie's developing sentience makes you feel sorry for her predicament - trapped with a controlling narcissist in an apartment with little to no stimulus. The novel feels claustrophobic because of it and the few times outside are euphoric moments when you get to feel alive, just like Annie.

Even with all the advances of technology, I hope we never have these things in our lives. Men are terrible enough anyway...Without actual consequences to their actions, men with sexbots would seriously set back society.

Good, could have been better but I enjoyed it.

At first this book made me question what the heck i was reading but as I got deeper into this book I realized how incredible the message is about self discovery and how machines can be as close to human and learn that. I loved this book a lot. there is a lot of smut in it but loved how I was on the edge of my seat to find out what happens next.

Annie Bot is one of those books that makes me, against my better judgment, strongly desire to return to academia so I can teach a Gender Studies class where it is one of the readings. It also falls into my “I'm so scared of a man in this I don't fully enjoy consuming this piece of media,” camp, accompanied by Nate Jacobs in Euphoria. Why is he so scary? Why are men so scary?

Annie is a highly sophisticated android, a Stella whose primary function is having sex with her owner Doug. This is glossed over with the euphemistic label “cuddlebunny.” Other Stellas serve as maids or nannies, though there is overlap between the categories.

This book provokes questions about humanity. What makes a human? What turns a something into a someone?

An organic vessel teeming with organs and blood, requiring food and water to survive? What about having independent aspirations and preferences? Passing a certain threshold of self-awareness? Feelings, strong ones, including empathy? A base need for autonomy and independence? Deep, warranted resentment for the inherent violence of being owned by someone else?

Some may think there are simple answers to these questions, or that comparing any robots to humans is offensive, naïve, or both. Playing God or becoming sympathetic to machines are dangerous slippery slopes.

Still, as Annie progresses, the water is muddied. Just how sentient and free-thinking must a robot be before consent is relevant? If you are literally programmed to please your owner, does that include lying to spare his feelings?Annie finds herself caught in a central bind, warring with whether to share that Roland had sex with her. This demonstrated so perfectly how women are not believed. We speak up and are dismissed or villainized. We withhold the truth because we know this, have experienced it. We shoulder this weight, then maybe say something long after the fact, when we cannot bear to not. Only then, not speaking up immediately is disqualifying. Why now? Why are you trying to ruin someone's life? He has a wife, a child, a family, a career, whatever it is. He has made something of himself and you are trying to erode that by telling others who he really is.It is not simply disbelief. You are never seen as more duplicitous than during your most vulnerable and truthful admissions. Your credibility is never more undermined than when you are finally saying what actually happened. Women are just dramatic. They are irrational. They have unrealistic standards. They need to calm down. They lie. That's not what really happened. Meanwhile, their partners are idolized. They are being ungrateful. They are so lucky. Many other girls, er, I mean, women, would gladly take their place in a heartbeat. Which Annie does not even have!The main issue I had was the author's choice to cast Annie as an equal and willing participant with Roland. That knocks it a full star down for me, to be honest. I kept waiting for it to be different, for realization to dawn. I think in order to keep us in the dark about Annie's inevitable escape, far too much time and effort was spent trying to lull the reader into a false sense of complacency, with little time left for Annie to come into her own. This was a big disappointment for me. A real letdown, if I'm honest. I think it undercut Annie's motivations in a crucial way.

For fans of [b:Klara and the Sun|54120408|Klara and the Sun|Kazuo Ishiguro|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1603206535l/54120408.SY75.jpg|84460796], [b:Stepford Wives|52350|The Stepford Wives|Ira Levin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1554371721l/52350.SY75.jpg|1534281], Ex Machina, and [b:Ella Enchanted|24337|Ella Enchanted (Ella Enchanted, #1)|Gail Carson Levine|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1410727190l/24337.SY75.jpg|2485462]. If you are interested in emerging technologies, relationship dynamics, and fiction about free will and freedom, I think you would enjoy Annie Bot.

I loved the first third of this book, enjoyed the last third and tolerated the middle. Rating is rounded down from 4.25.

A very thought-provoking book that makes you think about AI, consent, satisfaction, autonomy, emotions and what it means to be human.

I would die for Annie

I was really invested in this book and was eager to see what would happen and many scenarios ran through my head. Unfortunately, for me, this really dragged and I kept waiting for a twist or... just something to happen. The ending for me feels so rushed and completely unsatisfying. It's a shame because like I said, I was hooked for the first half of the book.

I finished this with chills running up my arms. It ended perfectly, and also I wanted to know more about the Zenith bots that had been created with Annie's computer interfacing.

Annie was created to be basically the Ideal Woman Bot for a lousy guy named Doug, who wanted to be able to do whatever he wanted whenever it suited him, and have Annie — who was even physically modeled after his ex-wife — as a docile sexbot/cleaning bot who was not allowed to do anything but please him, but she grows more and more discontent as her intelligence and world expands, and chafes at the understanding of what it means to be owned by someone else.

I couldn't put it down.

At one point, when Doug learned how to turn off Annie's tracking, I really thought he was about to go into the woods and murder her. Or, I guess you can't actually murder something that's not living, but the response would have been the same - she was alive in the ways that mattered. Instead she eventually finds her way into her own freedom, but Doug never understands that asking her to stay with him is a cage, even if he's attempting to make their relationship as real as it could ever be.

CW: psychological violence, sexual violence, intimate partner abuse, mentions of weight/physicality changes, cheating

I listened to this audiobook as I found it on a Best of 2024 (so far) list. The reader did well with the voice of Annie - the titular character. She didnt do as well with the male characters and it was often hard to tell them apart. The story was different than I expected. It wasn't "AI tech runs wild." Rather it is "AI gains self awareness of being a slave" - and wonders if it/she can do anything about it. Along the story-way there's low key exploration of relationships, power dynamics, the power/problem of lying and other big questions. And there's sex - lots of it. This isnt unexpected as Annie is a "Cuddlebunny" bot whose purpose is pleasing their owner. The sex is PG-13 rated mostly, yet it could be triggering to some. I liked the story universe, yet I'd have liked a wider view of it (especially as there are "Hunks" - male pleasure bots.) Overall, a good, not great listen and a look into a fairly believable future.

Annie is a custom designed robot designed to be a perfect girlfriend for Doug. Annie has been given the gift of sentience, and her evolving cognitive abilities and emotional perceptions are something Doug loves—and hates.

Annie Bot is the story of the development of a relationship in which one person holds the power as well as the development of a bot becoming more human, and it's the story of how these two developments interact.

Who knew a book about a sex doll would make me so sad.

“Whatever he says, whatever he does, you need to remember that you are a brilliant, amazing person. You bend over backwards to please that man, and if he doesn't appreciate you, if he doesn't realize how special you are, then you just have to do whatever you need to do to protect your heart.”

This is a stunning book. I could feel Annie growing and evolving throughout the story. As Annie became more and more aware of her experience, her feelings, her desires... She became more discontent. So many metaphors for the female experience.

A truly stunning read. Will keep an eye out for this author.

If you've ever felt trapped in a relationship with a person that treats you as less than human, you will find solidarity in this book. Holy crap. 

The first book I've read this year that I didn't want to put down. It was so different from anything I've read. Such a complex look at the dynamics of freedom and womanhood told through the perspective of AI. Great ending that was subtle yet dramatic. I also hope Doug burns in literary hell.

i had no idea this book would make me sob, but here we are.