Unbound: Android Chronicles, Book 2

In Erlick’s satisfying second Android Chronicles installment (following Reborn), Synthia Cross, a runaway in a world where humaniform androids like her are illegal, wakes from a comprehensive upgrade by her human companion, Luke Marceau, and puts her new hardware to work guarding her creator and observing the various government agencies hunting her. Regular reminders that Synthia is calculating threat factors while making love to Luke make for an awkward first few chapters. However, as Synthia and Luke flee the cabin in southern Wisconsin with the FBI, NSA, and Special Ops on their heels, the novel is redeemed by Synthia’s clever evasive maneuvers and convincing conflict between her robot nature and the human mind that has been uploaded into her. Erlick ramps up the tension and action while simultaneously introducing an enjoyable thematic conundrum on the possibilities of an AI apocalypse. Erlick bounces back from a foundering start to deliver a fast, entertaining continuation that bodes well for the series. Agent: Bob Diforio, D4EO Literary. (Jan.)