
Member Reviews

This novella is set in San Francisco, in the year 2064. There has been a war, and California is its own country now - a new country with hardly any infrastructure, not enough food, a lot less people, and very few businesses to keep people living the way they did pre-war.
One morning, four robots - Staybehind, Sweetie, Cayenne and Hands - wake up to an alarming sight. The burger restaurant that they work in is flooding, and they are all in danger. It’s not until they get safe and stable that they realize they’ve been “turned off” for months. Apparently the former owners of the restaurant were using the place as a scamming front, and they’ve now crossed the border into the United States.
The four make something of a telepathic group chat, and decide they want to own the restaurant themselves, even though the government could close them down and sell them for parts if they are caught. They are technically an illegal “ghost restaurant” with no human there to run things, but when they launched “Authentic Noodle”, nobody seem to mind. They were serving what they wanted, and the people were loving it until one woman starts leaving online reviews, accusing the robots of poisoning people with their “robot paste”.
This woman is in a group of “robophobes” who don’t want robots in California, and she makes up a new name for the restaurant- “Automatic Noodle”. At first, the robots were discouraged, but then they took the name and made it their own, and began to grow a healthy business without the help of humans.
It’s difficult to put full representations of people (or robots) into a novella, but this did have some moments of sadness, happiness, love, and surprisingly, a lot of humanity. This was perfect for today’s political climate of “who belongs where” and California getting the brunt of hate from those in charge. It was also a very unique little sci-fi story (that made me really want some noodles). 3.5 stars, rounded up.
(Thank you to Tor Publishing Group, Annalee Newitz and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This novella is set to be released on August 5, 2025.)

This cozy sci-fi novella felt like the ultimate love letter to SF. I spent a bit of time in the Bay Area, and it perfectly captures the city’s blend of tech and culture. Newitz was able to do so much in such a short book. The world-building is rich and imaginative, but the focus stays on the crew of lovable robots, who completely stole my heart. Even though it’s centered on bots, the story has a ton of human elements. The restaurant setting made everything feel super cozy, and I was fully into the plot from start to finish.

Annalee Newitz always has interesting ideas and I wanted to give this cozy sci-fi a listen because of the premise of a group of robots who take over their own restaurant, decide to rebrand, and then make noodles. Unfortunately this was a long irritating read despite the book’s 176 page count or 4 hour runtime. I only finished it out of stubbornness and because of Em Grosland’s narration.
There were several problems for me. The first is the world building. In this future, California has won its freedom from the United States. I know it is a novella but the reasons for the war and the reasons for how and why the robots were part of the war effort felt shallow. Other than robots being given freedom for fighting against the U.S.,, there was very little feeling of the war having been a significant event. I didn’t mind not understanding the humans’ reasons but the robots seemed to have very little commentary about their own place in the war effort or any actual ideology.
The second problem was the robots themselves. They didn’t feel robotic to me. They felt human, honestly. For example, some robots chose genders and one was genderfluid. I guess robots could have genders. It just felt odd. Also the robots did not seem to have many hobbies or tasks outside of their jobs. I get that they wanted to fulfill some of their residual programming but, in general, they never really felt free because they were catering to the humans all the time. And one had PTSD from war when they could just move the file to another part of their system. I get that the robot feels survivor’s guilt but the resolution of the trauma response felt simplistic.
Ultimately, I couldn’t really understand what the point was of the novella was. The author couldn’t seem to decide whether it should be cozy or not. The book is promoted as being a cozy read but the author has commentary about complex issues like immigration, xenophobia, trauma, AI taking human jobs, contracts, crypto, and social media. Also none of these issues are dealt with in any real depth though at times the story felt as though it was trying to be preachy. Even the resolution of the novel was extremely simplistic, so much so that I thought I was somehow missing part of the book.
Maybe it would have been better as a novel but based on this, I wouldn’t want to read it. To be fair, I seem to be in the minority with this one. It has high reviews all over the place and a quote from Martha Wells. Your mileage may vary. Arrrr!

Short but sweet with plenty of attention to detail. I really enjoyed the way the world was built up around the characters. With recognizable references to companies and tech and a utilization of real life locations in San Francisco, it's easy to really immerse yourself in the environment. For example, one of the bots uses what is left of the Internet Archive for research, which is something that really does feel like it could continue to exist post-civil war and as tech changes and grows. While the bots themselves still feel far away in terms of what our technology can accomplish, politically the story does not feel far removed. The bots themselves are easy to connect with, mirroring intense moments of connection, the navigation of identity, and the overwhelming weight of difficult memories. I love the level of description surrounding Cayenne, Hands, Sweetie and Staybehind, from Cayenne's fluidly changing expression of colors, to Staybehind's taste in decor in contrast to being a military build. A heartwarming reminder of the importance of building community together, figuring out the balance of care for ourselves and others, and the pure enjoyment of it all.

What a charming novella! I loved getting the stories and personalities of these different robots, and the world they exist within. It was a rich story with lots of plot and character building even for so small a book. My only issue was that the ending felt abrupt and I wanted more.

Maybe more of a 3.5.
It’s been a while since I’ve read a cozy sci-fi book, so this felt like a breath of fresh air. In these kind of dark and desperate times, it’s a short, sweet, cozy read full of hope and optimism and the drive to achieve one’s dreams, even if one happens to be a robot. It also feels like a lovely found family - just with various kinds of robots as well as one human, and how even these non human species might need community and purpose to be able to live with satisfaction.
I also listened to the audiobook and it was well narrated. The story went into some flashbacks but the narrator kept my interest going and I finished it pretty quickly. It probably ended on too much of a hopeful note (very much not like how it happens in real life) but maybe that’s why it’s cozy sci-fi and a neat little escape from reality.

This novella was an absolute joy to read. I was entranced by this futuristic post-war California and I loved all of the characters. I loved their growth and their relationship with one another.
I am in awe of how much world building and heart the author put into this novella. This is the first time I've read anything by this author, but I am now a fan! I will definitely be checking out their other work!

This was a powerful novella featuring robots who team up to create delicious noodles in post-war San Francisco. The world was dark, but also contained hope, humor, and perseverance. I adored the found family and delightful descriptions of food. While it was a short and had cozy vibes, it also carried powerful messaging and metaphors.
Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for the advance copy!

This novella from Newitz follows a group of deactivated robots who power back up and band together to create a hand pulled noodle shop for the remaining humans in San Franciso—exploring the concepts of thriving as the other, found family and building community. It’s at times heartbreaking and often funny.

A delicious morsel of a novella—painting a picture of a delightful community of robots opening the restaurant of their dreams. A joy to read, ideally over a bowl of the best takeout noodles you can find.

*Thank you to Tordotcom and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*
What a cute and kitschy novella with the fun side effect of making me want ramen. It's almost like if you took The Bear, made most of the staff robots, and then gave it a wholesome twist (as opposed to being incredibly depressing). It was an absolute delight on audio and such a quick read. I'd recommend this to fans of TJ Klune and Becky Chambers or anyone who loves a cozy sci-fi story.

Four robots in the near future open a biang biang noodle shop and weather the highs and lows of the business together. This was a fun concept and I love a found family story but, given that it is being marketed as cozy sci-fi with a playful cover, I didn’t expect some of the dark themes that dominated the book. Not that cozy books should exclude dark/challenging themes—the best have them—but the cozy here was limited to cute embroidered curtains and the rest was pretty bleak. I was just getting interested in the characters and the success of their shop when the book ended very abruptly, as in, I thought my eARC copy was incomplete. It could have used another couple hundred pages and resolutions to the major storylines. As it is, the novella is underdeveloped and a bit of a letdown.

Both solemn and quirky, sad and hopeful. This is one of those great ones that takes a silly concept and makes a really beautiful, profound story out of it!

You don't often see a cozy sci-fi for adults but that's exactly what this is. Similar to movies like Robots and The Wild Robot this books follows robots who are falling apart in a world where everyone is in constant pursuit of new new new. This book also has a heartwarming and beautiful found family element. I was amused a lot throughout this book. The plot is so funny and the execution is even better. This was just a great feel good little book.

Found family stories are the best stories.
There's nothing like the feeling of being found and Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz embodies this feeling like a warm sunbeam on a lazy summer's day in this cozy sci-fi read. Some spoilers ahead.
Set in the near future, abandoned service food robots open their own restaurant in an abandoned ghost kitchen. After rebranding, they strive to make the place the best hand-pulled noodle lunch spot in the city. However, their ratings on their feedback page are review bombed with fake reports of bad service. They attempt to keep their dream alive as they seek to find out who is behind the bad reviews.
It is such a lovely book about rebuilding and healing after trauma. There's so many layers to this book but what I was especially drawn to was how it dealt with the main character Staybehind's trauma and the struggle to hope despite circumstances. This book is beautifully written. I love a book that can place you right in the setting with little to no effort., especially when that book is under 169 pages. I finished this back in April, but I still think about it from time to time because the messages resonated. Highly recommend.
Thank you to @tordotcompub for a gifted e-galley! This book publishes August 5, 2025.

This book felt like a bowl of warm soup: comforting and refreshing. An excellent cozy story full of hope and found family. My library will be purchasing this title.

I love a short cozy book focused around found families and this was no exception. Automatic Noodle centers around a group of robots that are determined to take on the restaurant world in order to not be sold into slavery. I loved all of the characters and the world that Newitz built for her creations to live. By far one of my favorite reads of the year!

Abandoned bots figure out a way to reopen the Noodle restaurant they were working in; and persevere in the face of cutthroat competition & scarce resources. So much fun (and a lot of sub/text about how minorities are treated when they start to become successful.)

A cute quick little cozy story about robots starting an illegal noodle business. Each of the main robots had their own backstory and goals with the restaurant, which made for an interesting cast. The book was a fun read and I would definitely recommend it to the cozy spec-fic crowd, even if I personally wished the conflict took more of a front seat.
Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"A cozy near-future novella about a crew of leftover robots opening their very own noodle shop, from acclaimed sci-fi author Annalee Newitz.
You don't have to eat food to know the way to a city's heart is through its stomach. So when a group of deactivated robots come back online in an abandoned ghost kitchen, they decide to make their own way doing what they know: making food - the tastiest hand-pulled noodles around - for the humans of San Francisco, who are recovering from a devastating war.
But when their robot-run business starts causing a stir, a targeted wave of one-star reviews threatens to boil over into a crisis. To keep their doors open, they'll have to call on their customers, their community, and each other - and find a way to survive and thrive in a world that wasn't built for them."
Because cozy means something different to everyone.