Few things make me as happy as sitting down to write a review of a queer book I genuinely enjoyed and want the whole world to know about. Today, that book is Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz.
Automatic Noodle is a pretty simple premise: a handful of abandoned robots start a noodle shop, get review bombed by bigots, and overcome via the power of friendship and community. It’s well-suited to the novella format, doing just enough world building and character work to draw you in, and providing a plot that is high stakes for the characters, but not epic in proportion. Just the right amount of story for the page count, enough to leave you wanting more without leaving you feeling short-changed.
I haven’t had the best luck with sci-fi the last couple of years, so it was nice to be reminded that oh yeah, there are works in this genre that I not only like but love.
Honestly, this should probably have gone into my mini reviews because there’s only so many words I can spend on saying “This book is great and you should read it” but I love it so much that I wanted to highlight it.
This is a book that is fun. A book that is hopeful. But it’s not fluff — it’s anticapitalist, queer, and has things to say about personhood. It will probably make you hungry for noodles. It might also make you hungry for a better world.
Source and Format: I borrowed the ebook from Timberland Regional Library.
CWs and TWs: Bigotry, traumatic death, late-stage capitalism, war.
Reading Challenge Prompts
Nook & Cranny (Card 2): For Punks of All Kinds. This book is so cyberpunk it actually has cryptocurrency in it in a way that makes sense for the setting. But it’s also very hopepunk, and that’s something I think we all need as we live through our own cyberpunk dystopia.
SAL/SPL/KCLS: Hope. As mentioned above, I found this to be a very hopeful book about the power of community.
Reading Challenge Progress
Nook & Cranny (Card 1): 13 of 25, no bingos.
Nook & Cranny (Card 2): 20 of 25, 2 bingos.
Book Riot: 15 of 25.
Physical TBR: 8 of 12.
World of Whimm: 20 of 24, 5 bingos.
SAL/SPL/KCLS: 20 of 23, 5 bingos.