I cannot read the word “robot” without pronouncing it like Zoidberg — should I seek help for this?

This was, if nothing else, very entertaining. In a book full of robots and evil computers, the relationship between the two main characters seemed the most ridiculous to me. Maybe I should stop reading so much YA — the youths are starting to make me angry. Nevertheless, I still liked this one.

So, sometime in the future, a group of scientists create an artificial intelligence named Charlotte, which (of course) eventually goes mad and kills people. Specifically, Lee Fisher’s mother. Now, Lee’s father is the president, and Lee attends a fancy prep school where he, too, works on robots, under the tutelage of one of his mother’s colleges. Charlotte’s consciousness has been roaming the internet, threatening people and performing various terrorist attacks. Lee, however, remains mostly preoccupied with keeping people from finding out that he’s gay, and crushing on a new boy in school.

The tech in this book is fun. Lee has all these little robots and gadgets that he’s created, and I liked that he kept pulling them out at random times to solve problems — like Batman. The romance is goopy, but sweet, and while you can see the ending a mile away, I still enjoyed it. Feels like a book primed for a sequel, though none appear to be coming at this time.