Ensnared

Alainn's father is a genius when it comes to robotics, he has created some of the most useful AI units around.  He promises a unit to Lorccan, but needs more time to complete the project, time Lorccan declines.    The AI Unit Rose devises a plan of her own to send Alainn in her place and then try to rescue her when another unit is created.  When presented with this idea at the last minute Alainn goes through with it, against her better judgment.  She then spends the next few weeks having dinner with a scarred man, pretending to be a self-actualized AI unit.  Things begin to get cloudy when they begin to fall for each other and Alainn discovers Rose's true plans.  Will Lorccan still love Alainn once he discovers she is not a robot?  Will she be able to put a stop to Rose's plans before it's too late, and save her father from imprisonment.




**This is another book I have received through Netgalley for an honest review.  Seriously if you haven't tried it yet..do so soon.**




I have really gotten back into fairy-tale retellings lately and this one is fantastic!  I could not put my kindle down until I finished it.  I wasn't sure how I would feel about it when I began because I am not really one for stories with AI units, but I loved this one.  I loved the Lor has little monkey AI's and that they could communicate or that the tower itself was an AI unit.  Very interesting and different from others.  What I was a little confused on was what did her father do to get himself into this predicament, there were different things mentioned like fraud, gambling, booze.  Were those what got him into such trouble that he could have gone to prison for it?


I have seen shows and things about people falling in love with AI units, such as Ex-Machina movie or the anime Chobits, so this didn't faze me too much.  What I did question a few times was how did Lor not question a lot of things including romantic things.  Regardless, this was a great retelling.  It still had the feel of Beauty and the Beast, but it was it's own story.  It almost had the same feel as Melissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles, but different as well.  Aliann is an interesting character, its a little uncertain of what she wants in life or even what she expects.  We get little snippets of her past that play a small role in the story, but it isn't heavy like we don't have whole chapters devoted to flashbacks and memories, which I liked.  The novel kept to the story and didn't deviate into something else. 


The descriptions were interesting, I could picture the scar on Lor's face or the feel of the computerized windows.  Something I found very interesting and plausible was the use of 3d printing, it seems this is something that is making headway now and I enjoyed seeing the ideas that Rita took with this concept.  She used a lot of things in her book that I have not seen used before.  The novel is well written, it didn't feel slow or forced, everything flowed well together.


For those who enjoy fairy tales, retellings, Beauty and the Beast, then I highly suggest this novel.  I also suggest it if you like sci-fi, and romance because those elements play a large role in this story.  As for a rating I would give this a 4 because there were still some questions left unanswered.  I look forward to reading more from Rita, maybe a retelling of Aladdin or even Thumbelina *hint hint Rita!**