The AI Who Loved Me by Alyssa Cole

 

Publication date: 3 June 2020
Published by: Amazon Direct Publishing (Kindle)
Genre: Sci-Fi/Romance

 Synopsis

Set in the not-too-distant-future, my guess is around 2050, Trinity Jordan works for a high-tech government agency, called the Hive.  I got the impression that this is a company that has no regard for the well being of it's workers.  We learn that the only reason Trinity works for them is because she was coerced into doing so. 

Trinity was caught up in a major incident at work that caused an explosion.  She does not remember much about the event, but she believes that she must have been thrown on impact, because her knee was badly damaged and, ever since, she has been experiencing headaches, brain fog and (increasingly), memory loss.  Following a period of hospitalisation in the Hive, she has been discharged and is at home convalescing in her apartment, which is controlled by a central AI system called Penny.  Her employers have given her a low maintenance job that she is able to do at a computerised workstation in her apartment.

One day she goes to see her neighbour and Hive co-worker, Dr Zhang, who lives across from her apartment, and, instead of Dr Zhang answering the door, she is confronted with a young man.  Trinity observes that he is tall, muscular and very good looking, and that he is also staring at her in a strange way.   Dr Zhang appears at the door and introduces him as Li Wei, her nephew...

Caution, this review may contain spoilers

My Review
Anyone who is familiar with my blog will know that I am a massive fan of science-fiction.  When I saw that this novel was a sci-fi/romance hybrid I was curious.   

First impressions:
The book title and cover are quite revealing.  It told me that the female character is most likely human and (based on the red light in his left iris) the male character is some kind of cyborg (that is, a being made up of a combination of organic and mechanical material), leading me to come to a conclusion about the kind of ideas and themes that would be explored in the story.  I was sold!

The upside:
What lies at the heart of this story is a romance.  Trinity and Li Wei are drawn to one another from the moment they meet.  Li Wei is a new AI, and at the beginning he is sort of in his infancy, learning about who he is and the world around him.  Dr Zhang tells him that his purpose is to learn about humans, and to decide for himself what his ultimate purpose in life should be.  Trinity becomes his main subject for learning and in doing so, he discovers that being around her seems to activate all kinds of positive emotions in him.  As such, his desire to be in her company increases with time.  

Trinity can tell that there is something odd about Li Wei, but she does not clock that he is not human.  She too enjoys his company and a friendship develops, as well as an increasing mutual attraction. 

It becomes apparent fairly quickly that something untoward is coming, and whatever it is, it's going to be from Hive HQ.  Events that occur in that regard causes the truth to come out.  Trinity realises Li Wei is something other than human and Li Wei decides to trust her.  He reveals that he is in fact a biosynthetic humanoid, created by Dolores Zhang at Hive HQ.  I thought the scene was rather Twilightesque (the way it plays out reminded me of when Bella discovers Edward is something other than human).

As I suspected, the main idea explored in this story is around what it is to be human.  It reminded me of Blade Runner, in that respect.  Like Blade Runner, there are biosynthetic animaloids (for want of a proper word) and humanoids.  From what I can tell, most people are unaware of their existence, and would probably not be able to tell the difference, if they did.  Also like Blade Runner, the AIs show more humanity than some of the humans, demonstrating that being human isn't about being organic (or is it?).      

The conflict raises the tension in the story and takes us to a more 'Terminator' style story.  When the time comes to do battle against the machines, that thing happens in some stories where the male protagonist is made to 'disappear' so that the female protagonist won't be saved by him; instead she does battle and saves the day (because in the interest of gender equality no one wants a damsel in distress type of situation).  This can be tricky to execute and I have been critical about the clumsy way some authors have handled it.  Alyssa Cole provides a master class on how to do it in such a way that does not cause eyebrows to raise.  Fellow writers, read and learn. 

The downside:
There isn't one.

The Verdict:
I absolutely loved this story and I know it is one I will return to in future. I do believe it is my favourite read for 2021.