This novella was about some robots who open a noodle shop in a future San Francisco. In this future, a war between California and the United States has ended, and robots in California have earned some rights and freedom. Ultimately, this novella is somewhat cozy, but there are definitely dark themes and undertones. The story itself was fine, but would have been more successful as either a short story (cut out a lot of repetition and filler) or a full length novel (more backstory on the robots and better world building). A big problem I had was how the author repeatedly and heavy-handedly hammered in certain themes about freedom and autonomy, racism, xenophobia, etc. A lot of that could have come out naturally in the story and been more impactful; instead it felt like a lecture and was just off-putting.

In this cute, hopepunk novel, San Francisco is recovering from a devestating war when some group of deactivated robots come back online in an abandoned kitchen. Their handlpulled noodles make quite the stir, but when an enemy launches a 1-star review campaign, it causes a whole nother kind of stir for these robot friends. They have to pull together and rely on their community to make it in a world that wasn't designed for them.

This type of book is my jam. Hopepunk. Found family. Worlds that aren't built for the characters, but they carve out paths and figure it out anyway. Simply demightful. I tore through this one in just a couple of days, and now it's back to waiting for whatever Newitz comes up with next. Maybe with a reread thrown in there in the meantime.

🍜Wanna get some noodles?🍜

Genre: Cozy Sci-fi, fantasy & comedy
Page count: 164

This was just what I needed: futuristic, cozy, sci-fi, fantasy & friendships. I didn't even know cozy sci-fi was a genre, but now I will definitely be looking for more books like this.

We follow a gang of outcast robots, discarded and forgotten they're just trying to make ends meet and not be separated from each other. We follow the gang through their misadventures on establishing a restaurant, become their own property, and fighting off an internet troll. The world this was set in was super interesting, and I wish we could explore it more, as well as the other side characters. It was such a delightful read! Short & sweet!

This felt like watching a crossover between Futurama and Friends.

Thank you so much to NetGalley & Tor Publishing for allowing me to read this cozy ebook ARC. It was such a treat!

I am absolutely crazy about Automatic Noodle!

This story takes place in a near future where California has recently fought for and won independence from the United States. One of their first acts of Independence was to issue a Bill of Rights for Robots or HEEI. When a storm threatens to flood a robot operated food stall Staybehind is automatically restarted to deal with the threat. He comes to realize that the human owners of the stall have left their HEEI employees shut down and inoperable for quite a while and skipped town. Once he wakes his coworkers and fends off the impending flood Staybehind and his cohort have to decide how they will survive with no job and months of accumulated debt. The obvious answer? Make food that doesn't actually suck!

This is a cozy sci-fi with a bit of a post apocalyptic/cyberpunk vibes. Although there are some stakes as our HEEI cast of characters have a lot of hurtles blocking their path, but this is a story about hope for the future and also eating really tasty noodles.

I am a huge fan of Annalee Newitz and Automatic Noodle was exactly the kind of read that a lot of us need right now. Automatic Noodle is about building community and lifting up one another. This is the kind of reading that I want more of. Great for fans of Murderbot or Monk and Robot. I will definitely be reading this one again. I hope you read and and enjoy it as much as I did.

I received a digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 stars - When left to their own devices in an abandoned kitchen, four robots decide to tackle restaurant ownership themselves. Set in a San Fransisco that seems almost post-apocalyptic, this tale of friendship, food, and finding your place was a quick and heartwarming read. I think what I loved the most was Hands' insistence on making truly good dishes. Food has the wonderful ability to bring people together and spread joy, something the robots come to realize even if they themselves cannot eat what they make.

This was a fun book set in a wildly interesting world, and I found myself wishing it continued on for just a bit longer. I think this could make a delightful series of novellas - similar to The Murderbot Diaries - and would love to explore more of this world and it's characters. Overall, if you're a fan of found family or unique sci-fi, I would definitely recommend giving this one a try.

Thank you to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Set in post-war ravaged San Francisco, this dystopian book explores individuality, community, and food culture. I loved the dark, gritty, post-apocalyptic feel. And of course I loved the setting—the San Francisco Bay Area will always hold a piece of my soul.

The characters are compelling and relatable, in both their human and non-human ways, and the plot is well paced. But where this book really shines is in its social commentary. It's a powerful exploration of community, asking vital questions about who deserves freedom and civil liberties. And it even serves as a gentle reminder that gender is not defined by our anatomy.

Thought provoking and impressive. This is a worthy read.

Automatic Noodle starts with an intriguing premise, but for me, the execution didn’t quite land. The story touches on serious themes like war, trauma, citizenship insecurity, and bigotry, yet the light, cozy setting of a noodle shop undercuts their weight. It felt like there was a real opportunity to explore those topics with depth and grit, but instead, they were softened to the point of losing impact.

The tone and setting just didn’t match the message. The book had a sci-fi Legends & Lattes vibe; pleasant enough, but not what I would have liked given the themes at play. Without a strong plot to carry things forward, it ended up feeling more like a concept sketch than a fully developed story.

This may work better for readers who enjoy lighter speculative fiction with a slice-of-life approach, but I personally would have preferred a darker, more grounded take that fully leaned into the difficult issues it raised.

This was such a treat.

Four robots find themselves in danger, both immediate and bigger. They're employees in a ghost kitchen, with shitty owners who have to change their restaurant name on delivery apps nearly weekly because of the continuous low reviews they get. When the former military bot amongst them wakes however, he realizes that they've been offline too long.

In an attempt to avoid being sold off to America, the bots start managing the restaurant as their own.

Equal parts poignant and sweet, I recommend this book for just about anyone.

This is Psalm for the Wild Built meets The Bear but set in a post-Civil War movie California. But make it cozy. Confused yet?

A lot is going on here in such a short span. Maybe too much? The ending felt abrupt, and I know it’s a novella, but I could have used more of a conclusion.

Set in a post-civil-war San Francisco (now its own country, no big deal), Automatic Noodle follows four ex-service robots who wake up in a flooded ghost kitchen and decide to do the most rebellious thing possible in a capitalist dystopia: make really good noodles.

They don’t eat, they don’t sleep, they don’t even technically have rights—but they do know how to pull a damn good bowl of biang biang.

Robots with trauma, sass, and surprisingly good business acumen

Quick read, big heart.

Cozy sci-fi with a surprising amount of heart, and a read that left me hankering for a hot bowl of noodles? Yes please!

A quick read about a ragtag group of robots in a San Francisco of the near-ish future, who decide to open a noodle shop together in order to avoid being shut down and sold off. A warm hug of a read, with a surprising amount of heart packed into its pages. I particularly enjoyed learning the backstories of all of our characters, and reading it caused some unexpected thinking on my end, about what a future with highly intelligent robots could mean. All of the robots survived trauma, prejudice and pain, and it was extra sweet to see them succeed.

The found family energy is mighty, and the noodle descriptions are so delicious that I wish I could be a paying customer of Automatic Noodle. Overall, this book is a lovely one to jump into for a few hours.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for review!

This cozy novella follows a group of robots in San Francisco who have been unceremoniously turned off and and manage to secretly reboot in an abandoned restaurant. Instead of chucking out whatever is cheapest, they go all-in on making the best noodles in town. The characters were lovable and watching the shop come together was exactly the kind of satisfaction cozy SFF needs to deliver - I just wish it were a bit longer, to delve a bit deeper into the world and story. Perfect for fans of Becky Chambers and/or Travis Baldree. So glad to see cozy science-fiction expanding!
Thank you to Tor publishing for providing an ARC of this book via NetGalley and the Libro.FM ALC program in exchange for an unbiased review.

Fun novella. It has cozy writing but deals with heavy topics. I would recommend reading trigger warnings before actually reading the book.
I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator did a great job!

Rounded up from 3.5. It makes sense to call "Automatic Noodle" a cozy book, but it's definitely not quite as cozy as I expected. At various times throughout this novella, I was reminded of the following authors/books/series: Becky Chambers (Wayfarers and Monk & Robot), Service Model (by Adrian Tchaikovsky), MurderBot, and In the Lives of Puppets (by T.J. Klune); it's likely that fans of any/all of those would enjoy "Automatic Noodle".

What a fun little treat! This novella is about AI robots who, upon being reawakened after the closure of a "restaurant" they had had to work at, decide to do things their OWN way and have an actually good restaurant, even in the midst of anti-robot prejudice. I liked the futuristic San Francisco setting, and each robot's character development, as they learn about themselves, each other, and even experience friendship and romance as they try to make their own way. I had actually failed to finish a book by this author before, although this is not necessarily their fault, but I enjoyed this one and will be getting it for our library.

i did not realize there was such a thing as cozy sci-fi, but i am obsessed. this book is great for those who love Becky Chambers, it has very similar coziness vibes. Very queer normative world with robots, and I think it has some great, timely political commentary as well!

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Automatic Noodle, by Annalee Newitz, is a short 200-page novella about a near-future American dystopia where a collection of abandoned service robots open a noodle restaurant.

While San Francisco rebuilds from the fallout of the second civil war, a group of food service bots in an abandoned ghost kitchen are hoping to remain undetected. Abandoned by tech startup douchebag humans, none of them are looking to rejoin the ranks of mindless automatons working for a shitty dude with a new get rich quick scheme. They devise a plan to remain undetected and independent. They rebrand as a neighborhood lunch spot and start producing some of the city’s tastiest hand-pulled noodles. Can this ragtag group of bots remain hidden, learn to cook, and run a successful culinary business in the wake of a war?

Automatic Noodle is succinct and has no filler, which I greatly appreciate in a novella. The reviewer blurbs paint the story as a cozy future science fiction, which initially turned me off. I get the sense that this description was just marketing tactics because, despite having some warm and fuzzy tropes (like found family and power through friendship), the subtext of this novella is dark (and smart). I read this novella back in March, and every day the current US administration inches us closer to the reality described in the background of this story. While the robots and their noodle spot were cute and fun, the backdrop to their struggles is absolutely not, and Newitz struck an incredible balance of juxtaposing the pains of society with the journey of the bots.

Each of the bots was extremely lovable and brimming with personality. I appreciated that each had its own distinct appearance, design, original purpose, and journey. It gives the reader a nice canvas to imagine all the different forms robotics might take in the future, and how that work might influence a budding AI coming to terms with its consciousness and independence. Their chemistry felt both distinctly human and other, depending on the context, and it put in a lot of legwork to help me imagine a different form of existence, something I always look for in these stories.

The cornerstone themes of the novella revolve around the concept of identity and the meaning of freedom in a country that has a very turbulent history with both. It is very easy to imagine that some of the arcane laws and situations put forth by Newitz in Automic Noodle could be just around the corner for the current America, and her reflections on the situation were thoughtful and illuminating.

The bots become a little family as they support and encourage each other through this intimidating venture, and I was rooting so hard for them! There were many heartwarming moments throughout, such as Hands the robot discovering packets of Ramen noodles for the first time and realizing a love for the culinary arts.

The ending to Automic Noodle felt a little abrupt, but I also think it made the smart move of telling its story and wrapping up. Overall, the novella showcased what I want from all self-described “cozy” stories, which is friendship, love, and hope, juxtaposed with thematically heavy context. I think the novella was excellent, and most importantly, it made me extremely hungry for the food on display in the story. If your reader isn’t googling where to find hand-pulled noodles after your novella, can you even call it a success?

Rating: Automic Noodle – 8.5/10

I'm always a sucker for a robot story, and this didn't disappoint! A lot of world and character building is packed into a short page count, but I didn't feel like either were lacking. I would have liked a touch more information about the war, but given the plot I didn't feel like I was at a disadvantage not having the full picture.
This is was a great cozy sci-fi. If you're looking for a quick, fun read with a lotta heart, this is a perfect pick!

I’ve not read as many of Newitz’s works as I would like, but I got the DRC of this one just after finishing a longer read. I dove right in, drawn to the premise, and found myself hooked very early on.

The robots at the heart of this novella had been deactivated, but find themselves reawakened and in a strange limbo state: Who owns them? What is their purpose? What can they do now? One of their number has a fascination with food — the fragrances, the textures, the flavours, all of it. In a San Francisco devastated by a war, the robots decide to open a noodle shop, which brings a much-needed ray of light into a community that is only slowly recovering.

It turns out, too, that they are very good at making noodles. However, while this comes as a pleasant surprise for the robots, it is not a welcome fact amongst everyone; the shop finds itself the target of a review-bombing campaign, one tinged with anti-robot vitriol. Pulling together, and with the help of many within the community, they work to keep their shop going and keep sharing their food. As they are doing this, they must also navigate a world (and economy) that doesn’t really have space for autonomous robots. Through some clever and amusingly-written machinations and legal maneuvering, though, they work to keep their agency and remain free.

Automatic Noodle is a quick, enjoyable read. A must read for fans of the author’s work already, but also highly recommended to anyone looking for something a little different, a little more hopeful, in these darker times. (It should certainly appeal to fans of Becky Chambers’s Monk & Robot novellas, also published by Tordotcom.)

Automatic Noodle is ideal for readers seeking a fast-paced, hopeful sci-fi story where unexpected heroes use warmth and community to carve out joy within a dystopian world.