A group of sentient robots decide to run the restaurant where they work after their owners disappear in Automatic Noodle.
While the characters are interesting, the world building is the best part of the book. California has broken off from the rest of America after a prolonged war. The humans within America are violently opposed to robots, claiming they are poisoning their children. Even in more progressive San Francisco, robots aren’t legally allowed to run a restaurant. They are legislatively placed in a second class status compared to humans. Does that sound similar somehow to current history?
Automatic Noodle is a fun little novella of how the downtrodden take on the system. It is not hard to envision this version of the future arising, which is sad. Yet the ingenious “others” in the story will enchant with their clever skirting of the rules. 4 stars!
Thanks to NetGalley and Tordotcom for providing me with an advanced review copy.