This book had been on my TBR for ages and I decided to rec it for a book club to have folks to read it with. I was still lingering on a book hangover, but finally kicked myself into gear to get it read, and at just under 300 pages, I figured it wouldn't be too tough a read. The book ended up being a lot darker than I was expecting, and left me with a lot of questions I wasn't expecting to want answered at the end.

The format of the book was a bit strange at first. The interview format with the forever nameless interviewer was intriguing, and his complete anonymity was both frustrating and intriguing throughout the entire book. Kara was a hot head and a very relatable character from the very beginning. Rose was so loveable and sweet and I loved how excited she got for all the science. Vincent and Ryan were a bit more of wild cards for me, though I grew to like Vincent a bit more after "The Incident" and we got to see his resolve and effort to getting back into the machine.

What I was NOT expecting was Ryan slipping off the deep end and trying to kill Vincent, or the pulse weapon vaporizing the Denver facility and killing (or so we thought) Rose! Oh my gods I think I actually gasped!! Some things I was aghast at, but not really surprised by: the nameless interviewer forcing a radical surgical procedure to give Vincent reversible knees, given the unique anatomy of the robot; and Papantoniou resorting to forced IVF egg retrieval, given her insistence on having back up pilots. Once she was in control of the program, it was clear that everything was just going to hell in a handbasket. What I hadn't been sure of was whether it would be because of her need for control and success or because she wouldn't have the backbone to stand on her own two feet against The Board, but WOW was that a tough read toward the end. But I think I was the most impressed with Vincent's character development overall. He ended up being a character I enjoyed more than I thought I would.