What better person to meet emotionally attach to than an asexual tech woman like Clara? Very well done! The Cons How could such a potential relationship work? Sal could still feel emotions, could express herself, she was just incapable of and sort of sexual reception. In it you see Clara’s fascination with Sal, and not completely realistic robot that passes for human in the vaguest sense. I love most things robot-oriented and tech centered.
I wasn’t left feeling that the book was incomplete or bloated. We’re introduced to each character, are made to see their motivations, they meet each other, then events unfold that bring them to the book’s ending. Perhaps it was because she didn’t bog the reader down with superfluous details, or unnecessary encounters. Being a novella, there isn’t a lot of time and space to tell the story but she does so masterfully. Meredith Katz does an excellent job with pacing. I found Clara sweet as much as I empathized with Sal, and both were characters I’d like to see more of. And despite her non-organic status, she feels fear and heartbreak like any other. But of course, Clara programmed her to be a nearly opposite personality.Īnd with Sal, we see someone who is deeply affected by loss, a real person without being human. I enjoyed Joanie’s foil to Clara’s more somber and less snarky self. Even Clara’s AI hummingbird, Joanie had an interesting and distinct personality. All this was done without any sort of massive data dump. Katz did a wonderful job showing the personalities of Clara and Sal, as well as their histories and the reasons for their current state of mind.
The Charactersĭespite the short nature of this book I felt the characters were really well done. Both their lives are changed when Clara’s love of tea and a recommendation draws her into Sal’s shop. Throw in the occasional threats of violence and shop vandalism because of what she is, Sal finds herself sinking into a depression. With her owner long dead, she has life of sorts taking care of the aging tea shop, but she isn’t really living. Though not flesh and blood, Sal is one of the rare fully autonomous robots left in the world, since they’d been outlawed for ethical reasons long before. Sal tests Clara’s resolve to never settle down. And she never really regrets leaving people and places behind. Luckily her skills are in high demand and she never has to worry about finding a job in whatever new city she lands in. (Think of them as pets of a sort) Because of her childhood, Clara has adopted a drifter kind of lifestyle, never staying in one town too long. Clara is a skilled in tech, especially in working with and repairing the small AI companions that many people prefer.
The premise of the novel is fairly simple. The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz is a contemporary science fiction novella.
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