Review: Restore by Susan Kaye Quinn

Posted May 25, 2015 by Lola in Review, Sci-Fi / 10 Comments

LolaReview

RestoreRestore (Stories of Singularity #1)
by Susan Kaye Quinn

Blurb:
A short story of artificial intelligence and love (6000 words, 25 pages).

What if the three laws of robotics were replaced by a single emotion: unconditional love. Restorative Human Medical Care Unit 7435, sentience level fifty, wants to heal the human master it loves, but Unit 7435 finds there is a price to be paid for love… and for failing in its primary mission.

Restore is the first in a collection of short SF novellas (Stories of Singularity) that will accompany Susan Kaye Quinn’s Singularity novel series. There are six planned novels (young adult SF) in the series, plus a prequel novel Day Zero (adult SF).

The first novel, The Legacy Human (Singularity #1), is now available.

**originally published in the A.I. Chronicles anthology – check it out for more great AI stories!**

My Review:
I received a copy in exchange for an honest review

Restore is a short story set into the world of Susan Kaye Quinn her Singularity series, but these stories fall outside the main plot line. In restore we get the point of view from a medical unit, she restores people and provides medical care. One of the masters takes her to a patient in his house which she has to cure. I call her a she, but actually she has no gender and choices a voice based on what works best for the individual patient.

It was really interesting to get the point of view of a robot. The way it was written really emphasized she wasn’t a human, the things she observed or paid attention to, the way she communicated, lots of little details that really helped shape the story and feel like you were in her point of view. Combined with the first persons perspective it worked really well. And I even became to like this medical unit, even though she is a robot and does everything in a robotic way. Like recording her happiness level as a number and observing how it went up and down due to what went on around. It still felt like she had emotions and was real even while it was also obvious she was a robot, if that makes sense? I just felt sorry for this robot and also liked seeing her perspective on things.

This story was an enjoyable read and I like how we get another piece of this world and see another perspective. The medical unit mentions legacy Humans and Ascenders and I liked seeing things from her point of view, without judgement just dragging up the fact from the knowledge base. It was very well written and there was even a plot twist that surprised me. While it can be read as standalone I think it gives a different experience if you have already read the Legacy Human first as you have more of an idea of the world and can better place this novella and event in that world. I think that adds something to the experience.

To conclude: I really enjoyed this short story, it was well written and I am in awe how Susan managed to convey the robotic perspective. Seeing things from a robot their point of view was really interesting and it was well done, little touches that made it clear this was a robot. I liked getting an extra piece of the Singularity world and it makes me looking forward to more of these short stories.

4-star

You can add Restore to your to-read list on Goodreads

You can buy Restore here:
Amazon

Other books I read and reviewed by this author:
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Delirium (Debt Collector #1) – 4 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Agony (Debt Collector #2) – 4 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Ecstasy (Debt Collector #3) – 4 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Broken (Debt Collector #4) – 4 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Driven (Debt Collector #5) – 4 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Fallen (Debt Collector #6) – 4 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Promise (Debt Collector #7) – 4 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Ruthless (Debt Collector #8) – 4 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Passion (Debt Collector #9) – 4 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Debt Collector Season One (Debt Collector #1-9) – 5 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Wraith (Debt Collector #10) – 4 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Specter (Debt Collector #11) – 4 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Menace (Debt Colector #12) – 4 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Temptation (Debt Colector #13) – 4 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Shattered (Debt Colector #14) – 4 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Penance (Debt Colector #15) – 4 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Judgment (Debt Colector #16) – 4 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Corruption (Debt Colector #17) – 4 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Atonement (Debt Colector #18) – 4 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Debt Collector Season Two (Debt Collector #10-18) – 5 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Faery Swap – 4 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Free Souls (Mindjack Trilogy #3) – 5 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – The Locksmith (MIndjack Trilogy #3.5)- 4 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – Third Daughter (The Dharian Affairs Trilogy #1) – 5 stars
– Susan Kaye Quinn – The Legacy Human (Singularity #1) – 5 stars

What do you think of Artificial Intelligence and what part it will play in the future society? Which jobs and tasks do you think will be taken over by robots first?

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10 responses to “Review: Restore by Susan Kaye Quinn

  1. I’ve read a cyborg stories or even one where a human donated her body to science and ended up with a robotic like brain, but I haven’t read one from the perspective of a robot acquiring human emotions. I actually haven’t read anything by this author, but this sci-fi world of hers intrigues me along with this little short story. I’ll have to put it on my list.
    Sophia Rose recently posted…Some Kind of Normal by Juliana Stone #YoursAffectionately #YARomanceReviewMy Profile

    • It was really interesting to read a book from the robot point of view and it was really well done. I liked how it felt and you where constantly reminded this was a robot, through the way she observed things and how she thought. I would definitely recommend this author her books. I read her Open Minds series when I still thought I hated sci-fi and even now that I love sci-fi, she’s still one of my favourite authors in the genre.

    • The robot pov was really well done and very original point of view for this story. I also liked how it added some world building to the singularity world.

    • I think that was my favourite part of this novella, the robot point of view was so interesting and well done! I also find robots interesting and it’s interesting to read books about them.

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