After a war that separated California from the United States, society begins to rebuild itself--a society that includes robots that were designed to fight the war. In an attempt to stay together after the sub-par restaurant where they were working goes dark, this band of robots devises a way to open a shop serving delicious hand pulled noodles for their human clientele. Unfortunately, anti-robot bias leads to a campaign to destroy the restaurant through a series of one-star reviews. "Automatic Noodles" by Annalee Newitz combines sci-fi, humor, and amazing descriptions of food in this charming novella that explores the bonds of friendship and survival.

My first 5-star review of 2025! This book hit many of my niche interests: food, robots, queerness, vague dystopia. I loved it! And usually novellas always seem too short or paced incorrectly, but this one was perfect!

2.5 stars. Meh, this didn't fulfill on the promising premise. The pacing was off, so when the eBook ended I was surprised. The worldbuilding introduced more questions than it answered-- and not in an existential, thought-experiment-y way. The characters also had a lot of potential, but they came off as shallow to me, with the writing taking the easy, more obvious, or quickest option over developing depth. Frustratingly, this work is salvageable with a not-horrendous rewrite. It may be worth checking anything new from the author in a few years, but probably not sooner.

eARC from NetGalley.

This is a lovely slice of life story that I really enjoyed. Annalee Newitz, like a lot of authors currently, has a lot to say over how we define personhood and has many ideas over how people will interact with artificial intelligence as we continue to develop it. I really liked the story and it was a great and short read.

I haven't read a lot of cozy sci-fi, but I need to read more. This was delightful. Survivors of a war running a restaurant together? Oh yes, this was lovely.

Newitz gives every character a point of view and it adds layers to the story because they each gain something from the restaurant: some fall in love, some learn to trust others, and they all build community together. The characters support each other through these struggles and try to fill any gaps. This book is all about community building and creating a space where beings are comfortable spending time together.

Newitz addresses serious issues like discrimination and homelessness amd PTSD with such care. Newitz also raises issues about artificial intelligence. What does it mean? Who should be granted personhood? Who gets to decide?

This is a fascinating book worthy of any library's science fiction collection and any sci-fi reader's bookshelf.

5 out of 5 stars

This novella might be short, but it packs in so much heart. Imagine if your favorite cozy found-family story starred four quirky, lovable robots trying to reopen their beloved noodle shop in post-secession California, all while dealing with systemic prejudice, existential uncertainty, and the occasional bureaucratic nightmare. And somehow, it’s still warm, hopeful, and deeply funny in the most unexpected ways.

I fell hard for Staybehind, Cayenne, Sweetie, and Hands—each of them felt like real people with fears, dreams, and memories that stuck with me. The way they cared for each other and found meaning in community (and good food!) was just… tender. I want to hang out in their noodle shop. I want to eat biang biang noodles with them. I want to hug the octopus-shaped bot who can renegotiate a contract by talking directly to it.

There’s some thoughtful, sharp commentary under the cozy surface—on capitalism, racism, identity—but it’s never heavy-handed. It’s just smart, compassionate sci-fi with a ton of heart and a side of chili oil.

Highly recommend this if you love robots, comfort reads, or stories about underdogs (or underbots?) standing up for each other and carving out a space where they belong.

This novella was cozy, thought-provoking, and timely. Set in a near-future California that has seceded from the United States, a gaggle of robots works to open and operate their own noodle shop. I enjoyed this quick read.

A cute and cozy little novella!

In post-war Independent California, four bots find themselves in risk of being shutdown and sold off after the restaurant they work at went out of business. Determined to stay where they are, they decide to open the restaurant back up and run the business themselves.

Automatic Noodle weaves a beautiful story of self-discovery and resilience, changing perspective between the four bots; Staybehind, Cayenne, Sweetie, and Hands, we see how each navigates the trauma, insecurity, fear, and doubt they hold within them.

I absolutely loved this novella, even though it's short, it managed to pull me in, and make me excited for where this journey is taking me. The struggle the robots went through, trying to survive, and fighting the Robophobes made me angry and feel very protective of them.

I highly recommend this book if you want a low stake, cozy, found family, and short read.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

What an unexpectedly charming read! I devoured it over the course of one evening and the next morning. Being a novella, it had snappy pacing, but the four main robot characters were well developed and had me cheering for them as they tried to get their restaurant going. Set in a postwar version of San Francisco, this book takes a very dim view of our current political climate (some hateful characters are criticized for acting like they wished it was still the 2020s), but offers a hopeful vision for avenues by which society may survive and even thrive after years of political tumult and climate change.

For fans of character-driven, robot-centered novellas, this one has more teeth than the Monk and Robot series and less action than Murderbot. It occupies a unique and (dare I say it?) authentic place in the subgenre, as Newitz is clearly writing from their heart and from their deep but open-eyed love of San Francisco.

Edited to add: Newitz had me at "Nortons" as a local San Francisco currency. They could have just invented something-- it is sci-fi, after all-- but instead, they clearly had done their historical research. Props!

Thank you so much to Tor and Netgalley for the invitation to review this eARC! I don't know that I would have picked it up without the suggestion, but am so glad I did!

Sweet and imaginative--I loved it. Now I really want to eat biang biang noodles.

This is a great one for robot fans and foodies. The robot characters are fantastic--I loved their friendships and the way they viewed the human world. It was such an original futuristic setting, where a human can be friends with a car, and a delightful octopus-shaped robot can renegotiate a contract by having a word with the contract itself. The restaurant was wonderful. I want it to be real.
It wasn't without tension, but it was mostly just really heartwarming.

What if the found family and robots-as-metaphor-for-extractive-capitalism of Murderbot, but also a love letter to San Francisco and biang biang noodles? Absolutely charming, and a perfect commute or lunchtime read. It's not subtle, but it's not trying to be.

A charming, slightly dystopian San Francisco where a group of robots decide they want to break out of their norms and do what they want: feed people GOOD food!

All of the characters are interesting and receive space for background and some development, which can be tough to do in such a tight novella. I especially loved Hands and Sweetie, and I liked how they all bring something different to the table to create a well-rounded crew. The author clearly has a deep love of noodles and San Francisco, as we get rich description of both and a re-imagined post-war San Fran, with certain landmarks noted. As someone who hasn't visited San Francisco, I found it difficult to picture some of these places to really note the changes, for but those who are familiar this will be interesting.

There are many aspects of social issues and commentary converging here also, with flashbacks to a civil war and the futuristic political climate discussed. I think this added a nice aspect of worldbuilding, but for me definitely took out some of the 'coziness' I expected. However, all aspects of the robots journey towards building their business felt very cozy, including sourcing, bad reviews, figuring out recipes, and finding customers- I loved these parts and really enjoyed the ending. For those who enjoy sci-fi and are looking for something a little different and more laid-back, this will absolutely be a hit!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor/Forge for the ARC!

I received and eARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded to 4.

Move over cozy fantasy, cozy sci-fi is coming for you!
This little novella was a lot of fun to read. It’s the perfect mix of relatable-to-today’s-world issues, found family, food, and some complex emotions and trauma.

While I did like the characters and found them all to be delightful in their own way, I didn’t really gel with them. I felt like something was missing? Everything felt so serious with them and I truly think there could have been more humor involved in what is unapologetically a silly book (I mean come on, despite the serious topics, it’s robots making noodles. That’s silly!)

This was a cute, cozy novel about found family and community, and a quick read! Despite the short length, I felt like the characters had time to develop and confront some of their own issues and biases as they grappled with the problems in the world around them. Overall, a fun read with bonus points for being LGBTQ+ friendly.

Refreshingly sweet, this short tale of a group of AI machine people band together in friendship to support each other and along the way they make a wonderful little restaurant. It is the hopeful kind of science fiction we need right now.

Whoa, this was a cute novella that just touched on a found story element on surface level but also made a lot of allegories and good references to the current climate. Seeing California vs. America made me laugh a bunch but was an interesting take that worked well. I really enjoyed the build up and how we watched them go through the whole ordeal of restarting something that isn't necessarily "authentic" but making something better than what they were made to make before. It made me wonder if cooks can still cook when they dislike something on the menu. Although the robots can't taste the food, they still know it's crap and feel bad for serving it that way. Also, the restaurant serves as a community staple, which we say many times with how often people show up and show out for the food (pre and post review bombing).

One of the funnier scenes was poor Cayenne, having to constantly remember the taste of a sewer. I think, I too, would not be able to get that taste out of my mind...forever and would probably wake up at night hunted by it.

The review bombing was something I've seen happen a lot and it felt nice to see a perspective of beings who actively want to solve the problem versus everyone shutting down and giving up. A majority of them had their livelihoods and freedoms at stake. Since this was a novella, I enjoyed the pace of it and seeing them get into things fast.

Overall, I really enjoyed this read and (per usual with many of my reviews) would love to see this either animated or made into a film.

Thanks to Tor and NetGalley for the DRC~

Did not expect this to be in the running for my favorite read of the month! Not sure how anything will top it though...

Quick question: Can I stop looking at videos of biang biang noodles long enough to write a review of the sweet, cozy, heartwarming novella that is Automatic Noodle? Maybe, maybe.

Do you want a quick read that shows off the best of humanity in a post-Californian Independence setting using robots as the stand-ins for queerness and civil rights? You should!

Every character jumps off the page and right into your heart.

I LOVED THIS SO MUCH!! Hoping with all of my heart that this is not the only story we get about the beautiful found family of Staybehind, Sweetie, Hands, Cayenne, and Robles.

This wasn’t exactly what I’d hoped for. I am sure this is one of those deep allegory sort of stories about America’s political and social climate and the prejudices against immigrants but I don’t like to read those. The real world sucks enough on its own. The world building and characters were ok but there is no humor whatsoever in what could have easily had some. Overall, it was just really dry for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this.

I devoured this novella almost as fast as you can eat a bowl of noodles. It was bright and warm, and all of the characters had such vivid and delightful personalities. It's a fast read, but a heartwarming one, that felt very real.