Many of the science fiction books that I read address serious moral and ethical questions we will face in the future. If I measure the success of a book by the ethical themes it tackles, Autonomous, the debut novel by io9 co-founder Annalee Newitz, is a near future homerun.Set in the middle of the 22nd century, Autonomous takes place in a future that is one possible end game for 21st century capitalism that has been allowed to evolve unchecked for another 126 years. The world is divided into economic zones and Big Pharma has become Mega Pharma. In this vision of capitalism, property ownership includes not only intellectual property, but also slavery returns to the mainstream as both people and robots can be indentured. Ownership is fiercely and violently protected by the IPC, or International Property Coalition, whose agents, both human and military bots, ruthlessly hunt and eliminate those who pirate or infringe on patents, particularly drug patents in this story.

The story is told from two different points of view. It is unique in that there are two different protagonists, and they are adversaries. In a “normal” story one would have to serve as antagonist, but I definitely found myself rooting for both from beginning to end.

The first is Judith “Jack” Chen, a pirate, who reverse engineers drugs to bring them to the masses who cannot afford them in this money driven world. Autonomous begins after she reverse engineers a productivity drug Zacuity, and a wave of people begin to die from the drug. While pirate by profession, Jack has a formidable streak of morality that drives her to put herself on the line as she tries to engineer a cure while running from the IPC.

The second protagonist is Paladin, a military robot indentured to the IPC, who, with her human handler Eliasz, systematically hunts down Jack with the intent of eliminating her. Hard to make a protagonist out of that, right? Early in the story, Paladin is granted an autonomy key for the investigation and during that time period Paladin explores a host of more human feelings, learning from her interactions with people and internet searches. She even has to explore the issues of gender (all military bots are dudes, right?) as she explores her developing relationship with Eliasz.

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A host of rich secondary characters, like Threezed, the indentured human SlaveBoy who Jack frees early in the story, and Med, the already autonomous biobot, provide nice counterpoints to the two lead characters. Even when human Threezed is freed, he has no sense of what freedom actually is, and immediately begins to treat Jack as his next master. In the end, Jack and Paladin of course collide in an exciting ending that leaves all of the characters changed for good.

The book starts with a bang. Jack’s good deed of bringing Zacuity to the masses goes badly and people die. The middle slows the pace a bit. It explores Paladin’s “feelings” as she and Eliasz navigate a growing relationship that cannot be built without defining Paladin’s gender – an interesting story line, in and of itself. As the characters get closer to their inevitable confrontation, the book picks up speed again, as we wonder which of our protagonists will win the game of corporate sponsored hide and seek. I actually thought the ending was brilliantly crafted in a way that was incredibly satisfying.

While I didn’t find it a perfect book, (is there one out there?) I genuinely think it deserved it’s nomination for the 2017 Nebula Award. In her world building, Newitz created a new language, which was just an evolution of our existing language, but sometimes I got caught up trying to figure out what repos, vulns, and fabbers were. In the end I think I got them all, but her futuristic vernacular was a hang up from time to time. The slower pace in the middle, while the characters both dug through Jack’s past, also slowed me down in finishing the book.

The world Newitz built, however, was both frighteningly dystopian and fascinating. Her portrayal of future biotechnology was equally as scary and intriguing. That was the genius of this book. In many cases the themes it piled on addressed the idea that history just keeps repeating itself. In today’s modern economy slavery is all but gone, but will it return? In Newitz’s world, robots are indentured for 10 years to pay for their creation. Once that practice becomes accepted and commonplace, the idea is expanded to humans, with the worst case scenario being parents being able to legally sell their children into indenture in order to make money.

The question of identity and relationships and societal acceptance is also a prominent theme in this book. Along with everything else, Autonomous is a love story, but sadly, history repeats itself.

Read: Order your copy of Autonomous from Amazon today

FINAL SCORE

9.25/10

Despite the weak spots, which are few and far between, this book is worthy of all the praise that has been heaped on it. It is a thought provoking adventure with a brilliant ending, that when I was within the last 30ish pages, I did not think would be possible. It has some great wrap up for the characters, leaving none of them unchanged after the emotional journeys they each just finished.

+ Very realistic moral and ethical questions born from our actual trajectory

+ Thought provoking themes throughout

+ Evolving, flawed, enjoyable characters worth rooting for

+ Exquisite and believable world-building

– Jargon took some getting used to

– Pace slowed in the middle

The book starts with this song by The Arrogant Worms. You’re welcome.

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The Grumpy Geek, Pete Herr is the author of “10 Things We Should Teach You In High School and Usually Don’t”. He is the oldest geek in the Geekiverse by a factor of two. Follow Pete Herr on Facebook, Twitter,and Instagram . If you don’t he gets Grumpy. You don’t want to see him Grumpy.

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