paperback, 304 pages
Published Sept. 4, 2018 by Tor Books.
Autonomous features a rakish female pharmaceutical pirate named Jack who traverses the world in her own submarine. A notorious anti-patent scientist who has styled herself as a Robin Hood heroine fighting to bring cheap drugs to the poor, Jack’s latest drug is leaving a trail of lethal overdoses across what used to be North America—a drug that compels people to become addicted to their work.
On Jack’s trail are an unlikely pair: an emotionally shut-down military agent and his partner, Paladin, a young military robot, who fall in love against all expectations. Autonomous alternates between the activities of Jack and her co-conspirators, and Elias and Paladin, as they all race to stop a bizarre drug epidemic that is tearing apart lives, causing trains to crash, and flooding New York City.
Fun action packed story, lots happening, but also a very dark dystopia. The way tech is woven into the story is really interesting, well researched and full of accurate little details. The structure of the story is cool, with the two main focal characters in direct opposition. It creates empathy with the "villains" - who have a very weird plot.
While I enjoyed the story — and don't regret reading this at all — I had an incredibly hard time rooting for the agents. Also, I know the story takes place in a dystopian future, but slavery makes a comeback?! 🤢 Woof.
