Review: Evolved by N.R. Walker

Evolved
by N.R. Walker

Rating: 3 stars
Genre: Science Fiction Romance

Blurb:
In 2068, androids are an integrated part of human life. Big Brother no longer just watches from the shadows. It’s in every household.

Lloyd Salter has OCD issues with noise, mess, and he’s uncomfortable with human interaction. When his ex claimed the only thing perfect enough to live up to his standards was an android, Lloyd dismissed it. But two years later, after much self-assessment, Lloyd thinks he may have been right.

SATinc is the largest manufacturer of androids in Australia, including the Fully Compatible Units known as an A-Class 10. Their latest design is the Synthetic Human Android UNit, otherwise known as SHAUN.

Shaun is compatible with Lloyd’s every need; the perfect fit on an intellectual and physical basis. But Lloyd soon realises Shaun’s not like other A-Class androids. He learns. He adapts. Sure that SATinc is aware Shaun functions outside of his programmed parameters, Lloyd must find a way to keep Shaun safe.

No one can know how special Shaun is. No one can know he’s evolved.

My Review

When I heard of this book I was immediately curious about the story. A romance between a human and an android sounded interesting and unique. It definitely was an unique romance story, with the way things were set-up it progressed differently than most romance stories, but at it’s core it’s still very much a romance book.

Evolved worked for me in a lot of ways, but I also had some difficulties with other things. Which makes this a difficult book to review. Let me start with what worked for me. I really liked the set-up for the story and how the book made me think about how technology would process, how likely such a future was, things like sentience and androids, rules concerning androids, feelings etc. It touches on some pretty deep topics and I thought the author handled the whole android topic very well. It was beautiful to see their love, even tough they were different and how real their feelings were.

While there is a lot of heat, there also some very sweet and touching scenes in this book and I liked how it explored the whole android topic and how humans and androids interact. I also liked the bit of suspense storyline about why Shaun was the way he was and what the company knew about him and what Lloyd and Shaun would do. There is a twist at the end that I had predicted already, but there is a pretty good hint if you pick it up and I didn’t mind as much predicting that part. I didn’t get all the Moby Dick references tough, having never read that book.

The romance is one of the things I struggled with at first, but by the end of the book I was sold on the romance. As Shaun (the android) is custom made for Lloyd (the main character) he is a perfect fit for him. Which means there are no flaws, no difficulties or drama to overcome. Their relationship progressed almost too smoothly. It did make sense given the set-up of the story, but I found it hard to really feel their connection at first. Shaun also seems a bit too perfect at first, but I found he got more personality as the story progressed, which was really well done as he became more human.

The first half was a bit too heavy on the sex scenes in my opinion, there was still enough other things going on, but there is a lot of sex in the first half. I rather would’ve liked a bit more connecting with each other in different ways or having Shaun explore the world a bit more. I think this is also one of the reason why I didn’t feel the romance as much at first. The second half had a much better balance tough in my opinion, when the storyline surrounding Shaun’s evolved abilities got more attention. I did like how Lloyd didn’t jump into bed with Shaun the moment he arrived and wanted to spend some time with him first.

Another thing that bothered me was how Shaun’s sexual satisfaction was tied up so much with Lloyd. It just felt wrong especially as he basically becomes sentient, but he can’t get aroused or orgasm without Lloyd. It does get addressed later in the book, but especially at the start, the whole thing just felt wrong and weird. I also found Shaun a bit creepy in some ways at first, but that might be because my previous read with androids had killer androids. And as I mentioned before he becomes more human as the book progresses.

Another topic I want to touch upon shortly is Lloyd’s OCD. In my opinion it felt like either Lloyd already new very well how to live with his OCD or more like a personalty quirk than enough to get a diagnosis. Yes he liked order and cleanliness, but he never feel anxious or loses time repeating things or obsessed with things like I assume someone with OCD does. Most of the time it felt more like a personality quirk and it didn’t seem to have as much of an impact as I thought it would be judging from the blurb. Yes an android might be the fetcher fit for him, but I think the right human also would’ve been able to adapt to those thing. I did think Lloyd had a very healthy attitude toward his OCD with how he believed he didn’t need to be fixed as he wasn’t broken and just needed someone to understand him.

The main focus of this book is strongly on the romance. There are other things going on as well, but I think it’s important to know that while it’s a sci-fi romance, the sci-fi aspect is pretty mild. And also in the way the story is told the focus is on their romance first and foremost and while I liked that, I also felt that at times other aspects fell a bit too the side. I found it hard to get a feel for Lloyd’s personality at times, the descriptions of places and such were petty limited and even tough it’s set in the future I didn’t get a good grip on what exactly was different.

In terms of world building this book was pretty limited. The sci-fi aspect is there and an important part of the book, but mainly centered around the androids only. Like the laws for and to protect androids, the company that manufactures them, ethics surrounding androids and the different types of androids was thought out. But it did mostly stick to that. I wouldn’t have minded a bit more to see what the world was like now and how everyday life has changed. It still was mostly like things are now, with the exception of the home hub and how integrated that is in everyone’s life and the androids. I liked how there were laws in place to concern the androids and how an organization was notified if humans harmed androids.

To summarize: This is a pretty unique romance novel about a human that falls in a love with an android. It touches upon some topics like what it means to be human, what sentience is like, what love is and how advanced androids could become and ethics surrounding androids. It made me think and the whole android topic was handled well. It also is pretty romantic. I did struggle with some things as well. I didn’t feel the romance at first, partly because of the set-up with how Shaun is a perfect match for Lloyd and they easily fit together. The first half of the book was a bit too heavy on the sex scenes for my taste, but the second half of the book struck a better balance. I liked the plot line surrounding why Shaun was different. In my opinion how Lloyd’s OCD was portrayed felt a bit off, as it didn’t impact his life that much. The world building is a bit limited, but I didn’t mind too much as I knew from the start the focus would be on the romance.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Amazon

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Amazon.

What’s the last book you read with androids? What type of androids were they?