This book started off strong for me but about half way through I lost interest and could not bring myself to finish the book. It will be one that I go back to when I am in the right mindset

I didn’t quite know what to expect from Ros Anderson’s debut The Hierarchies. While I thoroughly enjoy dystopian fiction, sci-fi can be hit or miss depending on how heavy the content is. However, I immediately felt myself drawn into this strange world that Anderson created and quite liked where this story took me.

The Hierarchies is about, put frankly, a sex robot. In this world, women can be born in a lab or created in a factory, as human or as robot. Sylv.ie is a robot “doll” designed specifically for her “husband’s” pleasure. She has her own room in her husband’s home and finds herself visited by him whenever he seeks companionship. However, as Sylv.ie’s husband’s wife becomes increasingly jealous of his robot lover, Sylv.ie finds her life in danger. The Hierarchies follows Sylv.ie as she makes sense of her purpose in this world and straddles the line between robot and human.

As can be expected, The Hierarchies is a thought-provoking read that raises a lot of questions about our society’s future. As A.I. becomes more advanced, more ingrained, more human, where do we draw the line? When it becomes imperceptible to tell the difference between a human and a robot, what is the cost? What impact does this have on the value of human life and connection?

This book is absorbing and highly entertaining. I felt myself on edge for Sylv.ie never knowing what to expect as she navigates a world often cruel to those of her kind.

Recommended to fans of Westworld and A.I. Artificial Intelligence.

Your Husband is the reason for your existence. You are here to serve him. You must not harm your Husband. Nor may you harm any human.

Sylv.ie is a synthetic woman. A fully sentient robot, designed to cater to her Husband's every whim. She lives alone on the top floor of his luxurious home, her existence barely tolerated by his human wife and concealed from their child. Between her Husband's visits, deeply curious about the world beyond her room, Sylv.ie watches the family in the garden—hears them laugh, cry, and argue. Longing to experience more of life, she confides her hopes and fears only to her diary. But are such thoughts allowed? And if not, what might the punishment be?

As Sylv.ie learns more about the world and becomes more aware of her place within it, something shifts inside her. Is she malfunctioning, as her Husband thinks, or coming into her own? As their interactions become increasingly fraught, she fears he might send her back to the factory for reprogramming. If that happens, her hidden diary could be her only link to everything that came before. And the only clue that she is in grave danger.

Set in a recognizable near future and laced with dark, sly humor, Ros Anderson's deeply observant debut novel is less about the fear of new technology than about humans' age-old talent for exploitation. In a world where there are now two classes of women—“born” and “created”—the growing friction between them may have far-reaching consequences no one could have predicted.

Sexually explicit but don’t let that throw you off because it’s deeper than that for sure. Really unique and fascinating take on the future.

I'm currently clearing out all of the books that were published in 2019-20 from my title feedback view!

Well-written and fast-paced book that envisions how artificial intelligence may evolve in the future. This would make a great movie.

The Hierarchies is another sci-fi book which covers the topic of robots becoming more humanistic in nature. In places it reminds me heavily of the TV show, Humans, however the “dolls” in this universe are being used more and more as sex dolls over robots to help around the house.

I think a huge part to that anyone needs to know about before reading are the trigger warnings. The book contains sexual abuse, coercion and rape – plus it has a theme bordering around consent and who can consent in this world.

Sylv.ie is a female robot that her “husband” keeps in the attic room whilst he and his family live downstairs. As she develops and learns about the world, she slowly becomes self-aware and starts to be intelligent and autonomous. The mystery aspect is in full force as she keeps a journal for herself, hidden within a drawer in her room, and she finds that pages are missing and there’s messages she tries to tell herself.

The titular Hierarchies are the rules that robots have to meet the needs of their “husband”/master and how they can’t hurt them or their family. This is programmed into the dolls, but over time our protagonist starts to have more self-control than before. As Sylv.ie becomes more and more aware she realises how badly she’s been treated, memories that have been wiped come back, and she starts to question whether this is all there is to life.

I enjoyed reading about the themes around what makes a human that are brought up again and again as Sylv.ie meets other robots and humans. Because she’s reached a point where she feels emotions, she’s not quite either and this means she never truly belongs but she still fights for what she wants. There’s also the question around human’s who’ve created the robots starting to hate them because their function in society is lessened too.

“It is an all-too-Human failing…to wish to improve the object of desire, then to shrink from the creature one creates.”

The Hierarchies is a difficult book to read, especially when it comes to how humans treat the robots in inhumane ways. Whilst the argument is there that they’re not human, the depictions of sex and especially the assault and rape within the book was jarring when reading. Although it is unfortunately not surprising that society would get “gynoids” to use as a sex object, it was odd as we’re reading from Sylv.ie’s perspective.

Overall I found The Hierarchies to be a thought-provoking, but definitely had themes which some people may struggle to read about. I found the overall story to be gripping and you want to know what will happen to Sylv.ie next, although the pace can be very slow at times.

Positives of The Hierarchies
Thought provoking ideals for a future world
Explores robot character as she develops from her programming
Negatives of The Hierarchies
Strong topics and slow pacing at times

"When I first received a copy of The Hierarchies, it was described to me as a blend of the show Westworld (2016–2020) and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985). And indeed, the novel lies, thematically speaking, at the intersection of patriarchal and technological control. In this regard, it finds itself in the company of Ira Levin’s The Stepford Wives (1972) and the film Ex Machina (2015), which showcase respectively the submission and defiance of female robots. But if The Hierarchies simply revisits old ideas, is it still worth reading? To this, I say two things: first, love, too, is an old idea, and that’s never stopped us from gobbling it up in all its artistic depictions. And second, Anderson’s treatment of the subject is engaging, no matter the number of antecedents it has been blessed—and cursed—with. In particular, a compelling narrative voice—that of Sylv.ie—and a keen regard for nuance make The Hierarchies one of my favorite novels of 2020—one that makes a valuable addition to the sub-genre it locates itself in as well as the larger corpus of western science fiction."

Full review here: http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/the-hierarchies-by-ros-anderson/

An interesting read that I'm glad to have discovered. I'll definitely be seeking out more by this author.

This was a very thought-provoking novel, it really made me think about how easily we throw things away and how careless a culture we are and how more so of one we could become. The narrator was a very sympathetic figure, truly trapped in a world not of her choosing until she dared to break free. I thought the ending was rather sad though.

What an amazing debut! By now, "sex robots" should be its own genre. Starting with Stepford Wives, recently the unexpected payoff by a historical fiction writer's latest release, the sex robot combines current and future technology, timeless misogyny, and the haves versus the have nots in a single story. "The Hierarchies" is a thoughtful, grounded look at a society where rich men can have Dolls programmed to worship them. But what is it like to be a Doll, and what happens when the robot's programming evolves? A fascinating look.

This book was not anything I was expecting, but I actually ended up enjoying it. The life like dolls were created for pleasure, however, the dolls ended up having a mind of their own and testing limits. If you are looking for a fresh story line, I would definitely recommend giving this one a read!

The Hierarchies
By Ros Anderson

Set in a futuristic society where women are either "Born" or "Created", and serve at the whim of wealthy men able to afford AI and a personally crafted doll. What is amazing to read is getting the story from the point of view of Sylv.ie as she is imprisoned in the life that was created for her. I'm not one to read dystopians, but once in a while I read one that surprises me with some twists and turns that made this read a fantastic debut. I feel that even readers who don't normally read dystopian would find this a compelling read with themes that resonate to the nature of human and humanity.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Dutton for this e-book ARC to read, review, and recommend.

The Heirarches:

There’s a lot of sex y’all. Slyv.ie is a robot that only purpose is to serve her husband. I was not expecting such explicit sexual information in the first pages. It makes sense, but not what I was thinking. It was an uncomfortable feeling the entire book, but it was such a good book, you couldn’t help but press on.

This book is well thought out. Slyv.ie has makeup and explains it’s just for psychological purposes or insecurities. I was not expecting these minute details. Listen, when I think of sci-fi AI, I’m going with my friend The Terminator and all the destruction he leaves in his wake. I’m not thinking of a domestic housewife (but not the real wife cause she’s still there doing wife things too) who has a fake compact to make it look like she’s less than perfect. I also loved how Slyv.ie absorbed information. She discusses child birth, “my Husband and I could have had a room full of babies around us, hundreds of them, after all the sex we have had” and almost, the innocence? of not understanding was brilliant.

The twists in this book were solid. The plot is amazing. The parallels to today’s society and now women are actually treated are unmatched. Think Handmaid’s Tale/Stepford Wives. This book is blunt and actually hilarious, which I was not expecting. I would have never picked this up since it’s not my style, however, I’m glad I received a copy via NetGalley because this is definitely a great book.

Thank you Dutton & NetGalley for the copy. This one is currently out now!

It wasn't what I thought it would be but I liked it. I expected more of a stepford wife vibe and instead I got sort of a Handmaids Tale story but ultimately it was really interesting. Sylv.ie has some really great inner monologues and I loved the social commentary on what it means to be human.

The second half went a bit downhill and seemed a bit all over the place, but I ultimately enjoyed the story and found it really thought provoking.

I enjoyed this book, even though it veered off into a direction I would never expect. There were some rough patches, but overall, I recommend it.

This book is such a good surprise. I’ll be frank, when I first started, I wasn’t particularly keen on it, as I wasn’t really sure where it would take me. But then, the story took a very unexpected turn that changed everything.

The book actually reminded me a lot of... a video game called Detroit Becomes Human (an absolutely incredible game I can not recommend enough, both for gameplay and incredible graphics).

We follow the adventures of Sylv.ie, an android created for the sole purpose of sexually serving her “husband”. The story takes place in a not-so-distance future where the role of women has been reduced to its most basic function: being breeding stock. As time goes by, Sylv.ie notices some black spots in her memory and realises there are things she’s not supposed to know... or feel.

As a geek, I adored this story. The beautiful writing perfectly embraces the challenges presented by artificial intelligence, and the events of the book formed a sort of Turing test, constantly questioning what makes us humans and when an artificial intelligence actually starts developing consciousness.

Also, the story is a huge statement towards gender equality. A bit like in A Handmaid’s Tale, the story explores the place of women in society, and crudely depict how they can be viewed, judged, and treated, both by men and other women. In this crazy new world, there isn’t much room for genuine love.

Overall, this book was a fantastic surprised and I loved reading it.

Lately I've been sucked into AI dramas and Ros Anderson's book met a mighty need I had for more robotic goodness. A well crafted work!

Blunt.
Brutal.
Explicit
Raw
Hits society on multiple levels.
Pushes thinking on different issues

Everything I hoped and then a lot more. You have to be willing to open your mind (to push your thoughts about society) and value the "verbal shocks" Anderson throws down without apology.

"I am a humanoid pleasure doll. An intelligent embodied...please call me Sylv.ie. I have been designed to be an instrument for male pleasure."

I had only a vague idea from the synopsis of what this book would be about, and honestly, that description tells only a very small part of the story within the pages. In fact, the time that Sylv.ie spends with her "Husband" is the least interesting part and the tale became so much more than a female robot trope. Set in a vague futuristic society where women are either "Born" or "Created", the themes of possession and control loom large. As always, the subjugated class is female and they serve at the whim of men with only the most wealthy able to afford a personally crafted Doll. The Dolls are not meant to be independent nor do they have any freedom of choice about what happens to them, how they are treated, or when they might be sent to the Doll Hospital after a perceived malfunction. Resented by humans both male and female -- "It is an all-too-Human failing...to wish to improve the object of desire, then to shrink from the creature one creates." It's an unusual narrative told from the point of view of Sylvi.ie as she "becomes" over the course of her experiences with her Husband and with the world outside of that prison. NO SPOILERS.

I really enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. I worried that it would disappoint and fall into predictability but it surprised me. This is an excellent debut and definitely has a dystopian bent that should serve to remind us all of what it means to be human and the need to both respect and fear coming technological "advances" that could ultimately result in many negative changes. There was a lot of sex talk but it was not erotica in any way; beware in case that offends you. I can't wait to read more reviews and hear other reactions to this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Dutton for this e-book ARC to read, review, and recommend.