‘Annie Bot’ by Sierra Greer

If you’ve been following my monthly reading reviews or my in-store recommendations, you’ll have picked that my fiction tastes tend toward the prudish end of the spectrum.

So a story about a sentient sex robot would not normally appeal.

But after glowing early reviews from the team at HarperCollins, I decided to loosen the bodice and give Annie Bot a try! And I’m glad I did.

Set in near-present day New York state, we meet a custom-built robot named Annie. She’s been developed to be the perfect girlfriend for her wealthy human owner Doug.

Annie has been finely tuned to perform as a “Cuddle Bunny” - programmed to recognise and attend to Doug’s every desire. Her power-preserving body temperature adjusts anytime she senses Doug is in the mood, which - be warned - is about every other page in the first half of the book! In her downtime she is Doug’s housekeeper and cook. 

But Annie has also had an autodidactic mode enabled, so she is observing and learning emotions as the story moves along. She comes to realise that being with Doug - truly one of the most petty, small and selfish male characters I’ve come across in a while - may not be the future she wants for herself.  

There were moments where the sex scenes and Annie’s constant concern about Doug’s displeasure started to feel a bit repetitive, but there was always a sense that the story was really going somewhere, which kept me turning the pages. 

I think this could be a great book club pick: along with the main theme of non-human companions and our obligations to them, as well as polarising main characters, emotional manipulation, infidelity, robot sex, and some feminist themes. Sure to spark a lot of book club conversation!

And if you’re concerned, there’s little detail about the actual science of artificial intelligence, so I think this book sits more easily among general literary fiction than true science fiction.

Purchase in-store or online.
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer, ISBN 9780008584573