Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: Free Thinker
SERIES: Standalone
AUTHOR: Hazel Domain
PUBLISHER: Riptide Publishing
LENGTH: 212 pages
RELEASE DATE: December 6, 2024
BLURB:
Not exactly love at first byte.
Simon Rayner doesn’t have a lot that’s real. His tech job is a hobby to bolster what he gets from Basic. His housing got assigned when he and his roommate lied about their engagement. Even his body talks to him through sensor lace and microchips. So when Simon finds part of an android in a recycling pod, he’s expecting the AI inside to be as artificial as everything else.
David is a head, at the moment. He’s not sure what happened to his body, but he’s very grateful to Simon for building him a new one. Grateful is a relative term, of course. David doesn’t feel emotions, but he’s learning how to pretend he does. And learning which ones are appropriate in context. And learning that they’re a lot more nuanced than he’d predicted.
Simon is one pair of googly eyes away from an emotional connection to the dishwasher, and he knows it. But when it comes to David, his imagination is quickly running away with him. David insists he’s a set of animations driven by code, but Simon can’t square that with the charismatic personality he’s falling for. When David’s emotional emulators start malfunctioning, the two of them will have to decide: What does it mean to be real?
REVIEW:
Simon is a garbage man with extra technical talents, which he uses to supplement his earnings. When he finds a head with a personality, Simon decides to give the AI a body as special as his programming. What began as a money-making project turns into much more.
I picked up the story because it was unusual, and occasionally, nothing beats a bit of sci-fi. However, I discovered that I’m not programmed for this style of alternative reading. The tale is a well-put-together, well-thought-out story. David was sweet, and I loved the concept. However, I discovered that the geek speak, and robotic technical details weren’t my cup of tea. The ending is splendid, but it took me a while to get there.
The story is told in the third person from Simon’s viewpoint. The worldbuilding revolved around building David at Simon’s residence, work, David’s discoveries, and a few outdoor experiences. The android’s technical aspects were both cool and confusing. A vast portion of the tale is spent putting an android body together, and how David is self-aware enough to do his own programming. The depth of research was phenomenal, which is also where I got lost. And when I got lost, I lost my enthusiasm.
David is an amazing AI and is the star of the story. He reminds me of Data from Star Trek. He is intelligent beyond belief and has an adorable side of naivete. David questions everything during the process of self-awareness and learning how to use his body. Some aspects of life are learned, others are experienced, and algorithms don’t always provide the answers.
Ultimately, I appreciated everything put into the story, but elements that allowed me to get invested in the characters were missing. The story highlights how complex humans are and what would be involved in making an android passable as a human. The love story was, rightly, a slow-burn and complicatedly sweet, but most of David and Simon’s journey didn’t evoke many emotions.
I have learned more about what makes a story work for me, because unless you try something, you don’t know. For that, I am grateful. However, for some, I can imagine Free Thinker as the holy grail of a book.
RATING: 
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