Book Review: Machinehood by S. B. Divya

by Chris T. Armstrong

Action-Packed and Thought-Provoking to Boot…

Wow, the deeper I got into Machinehood, the more I enjoyed it. It became a serious can’t-put-it-down situation for me. The last 100 pages was my favorite part, when it got into more philosophical details and debates about rights for all intelligent/sentient beings, whether biological or machine.

Loved the pacing…the ups and downs all the way to the climax and resolution. There were so many pieces to be discovered by Welga, the protagonist, and I loved how they all began fitting together, but not always in the ways I expected.

From a writer’s perspective, I am so impressed with the whole world Divya created…the Machinehood manifesto, Josephine Lee’s backstory, all the technologies and how they affect individuals’ lives, economics, culture, etc. I don’t remember another book that gave me this feeling of such a masterful unfolding of the details of the plot and how those interacted so well with the unfolding of the characters’ histories and motivations…and this is her first novel. Highly recommended. I’m eagerly looking forward to her next novel.