ANTI, by Alexandra Atman
16 Jul 2024The Book
![ANTI](https://cdn.jamreads.com/images/7dba9f6d-585f-49ad-bf60-6012da9ff8de.jpg)
Synopsis:
Negara was supposed to be a utopia.
This is where the robots were made. Where machines cater to every whim. It is also where the powerful plunder the streets as their droids build bridges, erect buildings, and bend civilization to their will.
Seventeen-year-old Georgina Madalo is hell-bent on becoming a space pilot and getting the heck away from this mess.Her problems? First, a tyrannical mother who created a sentient artificial superintelligence. It can control the robots, that’s for sure. But it’ll also control everything else, including, you know, Us. The humans on a planet run by giant droids.
Next problem? The infuriating, inconveniently charming Ceriel Droksik. The country’s star robotics engineer, Ceriel stole her mom’s AI and plans to release it—even though that’d pretty much render humankind obsolete.No big deal. Just the robot apocalypse, dear.
Too bad Georgina and Ceriel love to hate each other, and their relationship sits somewhere between “I’ll cut you” and “It’s complicated.”
Tasked to retrieve the dangerous AI, Georgina will discover the truth. Alien war fleets are scouring the galaxy, and Earth has hit their radar. Ceriel believes Negara’s robot defenses and the AI to control them are the population’s only hope for survival. The math: Georgina could let the robots run the show, defeating the aliens and saving everyone—and in doing so, turning humankind into the robots’ prey and losing any hope of leaving Earth. Or she could stop the AI and risk humans fighting the aliens on their own.
My Review
ANTI is the debut novel of Alexandra Atman, a Young Adult Science Fiction proposal that explores interesting themes while weaving together a character driven story with some soft-science elements that makes it a perfect read even if you are not a lover of the genre. A story full of feelings and quite unique.
Georgina Madalo is a brilliant seventeen-year-old girl, whose dream is to become a space pilot to escape from the utopia Negara was supposed to be; things are not easy, especially under the eye of her tyrannical mother, Andrea Madalo, who, apart from that, has created a sentient AI that threatens to take control over everything in the problem. Adding salt to the wound, it has been stolen by her boss, the charming Ceriel Droksik, star of the robotics field; Georgina is tasked with recovering it.
However, from this relatively simply premise, Atman takes the opportunity to paint a full portrait of our three main characters, and the complicated relationships established between them; Georgina will be forced to get closer to Ceriel, but that doesn't mean they will easily get along, starting a sort of enemies-to-lovers-to-enemies that is really sweet, especially in contraposition with the thunderous bond that exists between Gio and Andrea. Eventually, we will get to comprehend that while Andrea and Ceriel might be ambitious people, they are working towards what they consider the good goal, which may vary; not only that, but through Gio's eyes, we will see how behind the utopia of Negara is hidden a threaten to the whole humanity.
Atman has a writing style that creates a really accessible prose, allowing you to devour the book in a few sits; the pacing is fast, despite I feel it drags a bit in the middle part, especially when the book becomes more romance heavy. The science in this book is not too hard/dense, being more a complement to the worldbuilding, a utopia that in reality can be considered as a dystopia, as many of the basic freedoms are restricted.
A really solid debut, a young adult novel that can be enjoyed also by adults, and that will delight you with its strong and angsty female main character, with a world that you would love to explore. After how it ends, I can only ask for when the second book will be released!
The Author/s
![Alexandra Atman](https://cdn.jamreads.com/images/84665f7c-bdd6-4bef-badc-ab96fa9089ae.jpg)
Alexandra Atman
I don’t have poetic/quirky/mysterious descriptors for myself except that I’m occasionally neurotic and mostly type A. But don’t hate me just yet! I suffer the pleasure of my company 24/7, 365.
I mostly write Sci-Fi, fantasy and Contemporary novels, all of them deeply focused on their villains. Why, you ask? Hun, they are way more fun.
My young adult Sci-Fi is coming out on June 2024! I’ll be adding links and more info very soon!
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I’m brewing the sequel of that YA Sci-Fi novel, because it owns my heart. Why do I love it enough to work on a sequel? It’s a peculiar story, always free to say what it wants.
I’m drafting a spooky speculative fiction book that took me ages to start. We’re finally having the best of times.
Aside from that, I’m forcing myself to start editing a (new) adult contemporary book. It’s fun. Lots of parties and booze.
As soon as I complete that, I’ll revise (man, I HAVE TO FINISH SO MANY THINGS) my young adult fantasy book. A monster story I absolutely love but is taking eons to fully cook.
I also outlined a young adult epic dark fantasy, but I don’t talk about it out loud.