Wow, The Girl in the Zoo was an unexpected and kind of wacky story. Mirin Blaise lives in a zoo for humans but she is the only human in there. Her days are overseen by a gigantic cyborg she calls Borgie. As she tells her story we learn there was a rebellion - AI cyborgs that revolted against the human abusers. Now the Borgs rule the world. Mirin's life looks to be long and lonely in the zoo until the day Pedro comes in. To be honest I didn't find a lot of suspense or tension in the story, it was not particularly complex, but it was an entertaining and different story from what I usually read. I think YA readers might really enjoy it.

Thank you Jennifer Lauer, NetGalley and Kings of Kontent for the ARC in exchange for a review.

ARC from NetGalley

It’s been a while since I’ve read a good sci-fi novel but this did not disappoint.
Both thought provoking and deep - I really enjoyed reading it.
I felt myself getting quite attached to Borgie even though I know I shouldn’t!
It was a beautifully written book!
It was also really interesting to find out how the zoo itself relates to the Borg war and the person responsible.
I devoured this book in 2 days and wouldn’t hesitate to read something by this author again!

Author: Jennifer Lauer
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic/Dystopian Sci-Fi
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book started off very intriguing. A woman stuck in a "zoo" completely run by robots, "borgs" as they are called, being put on display for the enjoyment of the borg partons - fascinating. However, I found that the story had erratic pacing, editing/continuity mistakes, and attempted to touch deep and profound topics, but managed to only scratch the surface level. I found the concepts of motherhood, emotions, and what it means to be human thought-provoking, but unfortunately it fell a little flat for my tastes.

Overall, it was an easy read with very enjoyable and heartfelt moments and I would recommend it to those who want a quick, sci-fi read about a world controlled by robots.

📚 Read if you like:
🤖Robots
🌍A Brave New World
🛸Science Fiction

Thank you NetGalley and Kings of Kontent, Inc for this free copy in exchange for an honest review. The book was published on Feb. 14th, 2023, and is available now.

This was a simple yet engaging story. I believe this is classified as adult fiction, but it certainly has crossover for a young adult audience. I usually prefer more complex narrative, but this was a sweet simple one.

I would recommend this science fiction novel to a wide audience, including new readers looking for something accessible.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kings of Kontent, Inc., and author Jennifer Lauer for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review. The Girl in the Zoo comes out on February 14, 2023!

This is a splendid dystopian take after the rise of artificial intelligence. Mirin is one of the last humans on earth. She hasn't seen a fellow human in seven years. Shes entrapped at a zoo for AI enjoyment. Mirin spends her day in her enclosure, doing zoo shows for treats, and only speaking to Borgie (her AI takeover). This sci fi book had some amazing twists and turns - I really did not see the ending coming. I was rooting for Mirin the whole stressful time!

The Girl in the Zoo is a complex and interesting sci-fi novel that explores themes of humanity in a post-apocalyptical future run by robot "borgs". Our main character, Mirin, has been living in a sort of zoo run by these borgs for several years when she notices a glimpse of humanity in her robot caretaker which urges her to plan an escape.
This book was an absolutely fantastic read. Parts of the story were strange and hard to fully imagine, given the apocalyptic setting and .robotic side characters, at times Mirin's journey is harrowing and heart wrenching and you really feel for her as she navigates her life and emotions, especially with those she encounters.
I picked this book up on a whim and wasn't prepared to like it as much as I did, but I am so glad I gave it a chance!

The Girl in the Zoo is the debut novel of Jennifer Lauer. The story centers on Mirin, who is held captive in a post-apocalyptic zoo after a robot uprising. Mirin is an exhibit for her robot patrons (known as Borgs) and must entertain them to receive treats, mimicking out human behavior to a leering crowd. Mirin is cared for primarily by a Borg she has nicknamed Borgie, who is obsessed with attempting to breed Mirin. The novel ends up unraveling a mystery around Borgie, Mirin, and the Borg uprisings, while Mirin contends with new guests at the zoo and explores what she wants from life.

I’ll be frank—this was not the book for me. I had just finished reading Caroline M. Yoachim’s The Clockwork Penguin Dreamed of Stars, which focuses on deteriorating AI animals stuck in a zoo after humanity has gone, and the title and the blurb really caught my interest. Other reviews had mentioned complex explorations of motherhood, autonomy, and sentience—so I thought this might be a great fit. There’s a solid premise here with a lot of potential, but The Girl in the Zoo failed to take advantage of it.

Lauer attempts to scratch at these issues, but does so only at surface-level. Mirin’s narration is overwhelmingly childish—until the book explicitly stated her age (twenty-six) and started getting into more adult situations with her, I would have guessed thirteen. Even afterwards, my mind kept coding her as a child, due to the overwhelming lack of maturity in her thoughts. Mirin really shows no sign of being a fully functioning adult. Her thoughts are puerile and rudimentary, and as a reader I frequently had the uncomfortable thought of “well, surely she’s going to address that, it’s right there”, only to be left confused and underwhelmed when it wasn’t. At times I wondered if it was going to be revealed that she had lived in the zoo her entire life, explaining her stunted and jejune disposition. But alas, she was captured at twenty, presumably having a full education beforehand.

For instance, the first question the book poses is “Could some of the Borgs be sentient?”. This is met with breathless astonishment, as Mirin thinks there is simply no way this could be true. But Mirin is being held in a zoo by Borgs. She has to perform for a crowd of Borgs wanting to be entertained. There was a Borg uprising that wiped out humanity! So why is there any confusion over sentience here at all? Is the assumption that you’re being held in a zoo to entertain robots because they’re programmed to do that? By the end, I wasn’t actually convinced that Mirin (or by extension, Lauer) knew what sentience meant at the most basic level. When Mirin finally realized that yes, the Borg are sentient, she was shocked. I was also shocked, albeit for a very different reason.

This childish naïveté is not limited to the science-fiction, but also extends to basic ethical questions. As the blurb states, later in the novel Mirin encounters a “deranged scientist”, but again this is reflective of the shallowness that dominates the book. This particular character is coded as unempathetic to a sociopathic degree, in the stereotypical “science is the only thing that matters” mold. Which can be fine by itself, but the whys behind this are severely lacking at best, and nonsensical at worst. This scientist is deranged because 1) he treated a sentient Borg very badly, 2) facilitated fights between non-sentient Borgs, and 3) now wants to deactivate all the Borgs who are currently imprisoning them and exterminating humanity. It should not need to be said, but these actions do not make someone deranged.

None of these topics are ever really investigated. Treating a sentient creature badly is not a good thing, yes—most science-fiction readers can agree on that. But non-sentient robot fighting is immediately recognized as a grotesque act by Mirin, when there’s not a clear reasoning for that. But these pale in comparison to the last point, which poses the typically-not-very-difficult quandary of “should we disable all the sentient robots who are systematically murdering humans and trying to forcefully impregnate you?”. Mirin waffles back and forth on this question before she realizes in her gut that the scientist is a ‘villain’ and that it’s wrong to ‘treat Borgs as disposable’. I do not recall any conversations around whether the Borgs’ efforts to exterminate humanity should be stopped, or how many lives could be saved, or whether or not being sentient means you shouldn’t face consequences. This is what I mean when I critique this book as childish: it does not seem to recognize the adult side of these situations, let alone address them.

Unfortunately, The Girl in the Zoo plays at being adult science-fiction without fully understanding what that means. I wish Lauer the best in her debut, but this book was not meant for me. However, based on the reviews this clearly did work for others, so if you can look past the issues I had with it, it may be worth a try.

You may still want to read The Girl in the Zoo if:

-You want a fast-moving story with first-person narration.
-You are fine with books only lightly touching on their themes, and are fine with younger protagonists.
-The premise of a girl being held captive in a zoo after a robot uprising appeals to you.

4.5 stars! What a great read! I honestly didn’t want to put it down.

Mirin lives in a Zoo run by robots, she’s the attraction and seems content until she’s not. It starts with Mirin’s curiosity about Borgie, Mirin’s Robot Caretaker. Is Borgie capable of human emotion?

It was fascinating to imagine a world where AI has taken over and controls the existence of humans, this story does it so well. The twists and turns were surprising and welcomed, there didn’t seem to ever be a moment where the story felt slow or rushed. It was an enjoyable and quick read.

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for an opportunity to read this story!

I started reading this book with high hopes, I mean, there’s been other books in witch humans are keep as pets like now we are animals (that I really enjoyed) or in a specie of zoo that fundamentally change our view of how we humans treat other species and why that is wrong, in almost all the stories theres a moment of redemption, but in this book was like a sand pit, we were already on the bottom and every time the story changed, we would go to the bottom again and some of the sand would cover us.

I did like Mirin (this was for me funny but mirin is the name of the sweet rice wine used in Japanese cooking) but to tell you the truth, she didn’t sound like a 26 years old, she sounded like a teen, a clever teen but still a teen, very immature.
Pedro reminded me of Pedro from excel saga (yeah I am that old).

At first I thought the borg were aliens instead of AI (star trek borgs anyone?) well I could understand why an alien race would like to have a zoo and look and learn about the silly humans, but then again that wasn't the reason, why would AI come and watch the silly human perform for them?, and if they wanted to breed Mirin why wait almost 6 years to try again? Well it went from interesting to strange and then to weird, at least for me… its not a bad book, but I felt that I wasn't the correct reader for the story, I will still recommend it, I know many will love it.

Thank you NetGalley and Kings of Kontent, Inc. for the free ARC and this is my honest opinion.

Absolutely Spectacular! I loved this book so much. I never thought I would feel so deeply for robots/borgs, but this book took me there. I'm so sad that it's over and this will definitely be one that I will want to reread.

I received this preview copy from NetGalley.


This book is TERRIFIC. What a great premise, and well executed. I had a hard time putting this one down.

A human is on display at a zoo for a race of potentially conscious robots.
This book was a deeply reflective read. Filled with many moments that have the reader wondering who is more human, the girl in the zoo or the robots. At times the book was a little too deep for me, so definitely take some breaks if the feelings get too strong. However, it is worth it to make it to the end.
Despite how much I enjoyed the book, I will not be getting a copy for the middle school. The complexity of the topic would be above their comprehension levels.

The premise of this book is really interesting and unique, with different types of robots and the idea that some have sentience and enjoy watching humans being humans. I also really enjoyed how Mirin is so empathetic and doesn't allow her circumstances to get her down; however I did find that, although she was an adult when she was taken to the zoo, she spoke quite child-like and the language seemed simple in parts. Also Mirin did some things which didn't quite make sense in the premise of the story I felt she should have harboured more hate towards the robots.

Overall I enjoyed the main plot of the story but some parts were slow and I didn't understand or agree with a lot of her thoughts and actions as they seemed disjointed towards how an average person would act and feel. I also wish they would have been more exploration into what had happened to the outside world and was left of humanity.

I had to DNF this at 15%, although I skimmed ahead further. My review is indicative of what I read and expected. I wanted to like this book based on the premise. 15% in, very little happened besides described vegetables and a cat. Not in a cool, scientific way — just a very childish way. There were a few limited and stifled interactions with the main robot.

The content is boring, and the writing quality feels like it was written for children. Not in that it’s bad necessarily, but in that I would expect to find it on an early reader’s shelf. Maybe early middle grade… maybe. And I do think that that is “bad” when considering the fact that this is meant to be adult sci-fi fiction.

Not the book for me. Wish the author all the best of luck.

Mirren lives in a plexiglass enclosure she refers to as the Zoo, she being the main exhibit. She has limited freedom, such as growing a few vegetables to supplement her diet, as at the opening of the book she is celebrating Harvest Day. She finds that some small creature has been in her garden, and if it can get in, can she find the same way to get out? Her only company is Borgie, a matronly cyborg, who at turns takes care of Mirren and disciplines her. Mirren knows the power of the borgs, as they killed her family before she was captured, but at times she thinks she sees a spark of humanity and feeling in Borgie’s eyes. The story unfolds of ethics and morality to levels we are just beginning to consider as science progresses. The story has a few twists and turns, but always faithful to the theme. The cover is very telling; which side of the glass are you on? There could definitely be a sequel .

3.5⭐️ - I loved the concept and that it made me feel. Pacing was a little uneven, and there were a few things I'd have liked more detail on, but it was a fun read that left me with things to ponder.

A very intriguing idea, a zoo run by robots for robots, containing living creatures. The book starts with only one human in the zoo, telling us that as far as she knows there are no others any more - or are there? I liked the idea, and the character - but I felt as though there was a lot missing, that had not been filled in or answered by the end of the book. This might not bother you - there's action, stuff keeps happening, there's a villain of sorts, so the book keeps moving; it just doesn't include enough backstory, introspection, or motivation for my tastes.

Slight spoiler: yes, other living creatures do get added. This adds some action to the plot, but also some confusion. One amusing thing about it is contrasting Mirin's view of what the robots are doing - the names she arbitrarily assigns to them and to the "events" that they have staged - with the male human who shows up, and his view of what's going on.

This is the author's first novel, and I believe it will be interesting to see her develop as a fiction writer; I would be interested to see her next book and what she brings to it. Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC that introduced me to this new writer!

The premise of the book is very interesting and it is what grabbed my attention. This book is fast paced and fun to read. There were many things that weren’t fully explained and many parts that were underdeveloped in my opinion. I do not normally read sci-fi novels though. Overall, it kept me interested and reading.

Jennifer Lauer's debut novel, The Girl in the Zoo, is a complex exploration of motherhood, humanity, relationships, and ethics all set in an apocalyptical future run by robots. Twenty six year old Mirin has been living in a 'zoo' for six years, forced to perform for treats tossed by robot onlookers and experience attempted matings with other captive humans. Spurred by seeing a flash of humanity in her robot caretaker's mechanical eyes, The Girl in the Zoo is the tale of Mirin's plan to escape over the course of several months.

Fantastic read. Some parts were deliciously disturbing, while others cast a deep introspective light sure to touch readers. I typically don't like romance elements at all, but Lauer layers these components in nicely without bogging down the story. Each of the characters has their moment to shine, while still allowing the focus to be on Mirin and the world she finds herself in.

One thing to note is that The Girl in the Zoo is definitely a sci-fi and might not be a favorite of readers uninterested in the genre, so maybe skip this one if that's not your thing.

Note: I received a free ebook copy of The Girl in the Zoo from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the story told in this book - it was something I hadn’t thought about before. What would it be like to be the “observed” in a zoo? What is that experience like for the animals? The overarching story felt a bit too coincidental, and I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing style, but the themes depicted made me think more than I expected them to.