pdbkwm's Reviews > The Kingdom

VOICE-OVER
Calling all brave girls.
Your castle awaits.

The Kingdom.
The future is Fantasist™.
(Screen fades to black.)

The Kingdom was a book that I was actively looking forward to reading. When it popped up in the EBook catalogue of my library, I immediately placed a hold on the title. I love the idea of a robot going against their programming and ends up being on trial for killing someone she cares for. Also, the cover is gorgeous. It’s really stunning to look at.

I think my hype for this book kind of hurt me in the long run. I enjoyed the first half of the book and the world that Jess Rothenberg created. The chapters that Ana, our robot MC, narrates helps give us a better picture of the world that she and her sisters live in at The Kingdom. She starts as cold and detached, which makes sense since she’s a service robot, but her curiousity slowly gives her life and seeing that change was nice to see. The chapters alternate between Ana’s chapters and the trial/post trial interviews and news articles. This switch happens whenever a chapter ends.

At first, I liked this because it added to the suspense to the story. Ana starts off as a normal service robot, but then we see her on trial for murder. This made me want to see why she did what she did and how this change happened. It’s a great method to leave you on the edge of your seat.

Unfortunately, after about 60-ish% of the story I got bored by this and just wanted to see some action and some stabbing. Instead, the trial scripts and post trial interviews seem like they are rehashing the same point over and over again. It didn’t help that Ana’s chapters moved too slowly for me to continue my excitement for what’s to come. It’s like being on a roller coaster that goes up and up and up and up and you’re anticipating the massive drop that is about to knock your socks off, only there is no drop. You just go up and then the ride ends.

The setting of The Kingdom is one that has tons of promise, but there aren’t enough details to give you a true sense of this theme park. There’s also this plot point involving Ana and her Fantasists sisters being used as sex robots for investors, but I feel like Rothenberg never fully committed to this idea or the idea that hybrids are slowly dying due to diseases and malfunctions.

Despite all this, I felt comfortable giving this a solid three rating. It has a good idea, Ana and her sisters are interesting enough, and the trial scenes were fine. Then the twist happened and I just felt disappointed. Why? WHHYYYY?!@!

(view spoiler)[After everything, it turns out that Owen is actually alive. Ana never killed him; she concocted a plan with him so that she could be free and go outside. Yay! That’s great….but the problem with this is that it hurts the story more than helps it.

Owen being paid to test Ana’s programming made their relationship made sense. They talked a lot and I get why Ana was drawn to him, but I never felt that way from Owen. Why would he risk his life to save Ana? He had to change his name, he’s legally dead right now and his family is in mourning. His family lost one child and he made them lose another for the sake of a robot that he knew on a purely shallow level.

It just doesn’t make sense to me. But even outside of that, having Owen alive shows just how lifeless Ana is. If Ana is meant to be seen as someone who went against her commands and became her own person, then having Owen alive hurts this since it felt like she was going through the motions that Owen set forth. She just traded one command for another.

With Nia and Eve, we saw them fully go against the mold and do something unexpected, but not with Ana and she is rewarded with a happy ending. She is already found not guilty, which makes sense, but giving her Owen as well doesn’t feel well earned. Then again, ‘Happily Ever After’ isn’t just a promise, but a rule. (hide spoiler)]

*sigh*

Overall, I think this would be a 2-2.5 book. I like the idea here, but it felt longer than it was and the twist…ugh. I’d probably read a sequel to this though.