This book was... alright. Not bad, not great, but was fine. I found the characters all bland and uninteresting, Nell is the only one who really gets any development and even then she was just a pretty generic YA female protagonist. Overall I felt the book had too many moving parts (pun haha) but didn’t spend enough time with any of them. For instance, The robot isn’t built until half way through, and even though the point is about the romance between him and Nell, it’s pretty much forgotten. Also, The other love interest is kinda there and there’s a weird entitlement subplot which didn’t feel that satisfying when resolved. There’s a mention of a coming of age trial and the fact the world is split into the “sick” and the “cured” but both of these feel like important points that aren’t really used or explored in much detail. The world itself was interesting - it has a Fullmetal Alchemist vibe in that most the population used prosthetics, meaning is was normalised and this society had a very different view of disability (which I find super interesting). But again, not much is done with this idea and the whole deal with the robot is the focus, until it isn’t. Really, I feel like it could do with streamlining, with more focus on the small city, Nell and her family and friends. Everything else get kinda forced in.

That all being said, I enjoyed the writing in this a lot, and I was compelled enough to read the whole thing despite my issues. I found all the parts interesting enough, my concern is that they were not developed or explored enough, and this ultimately underserved an otherwise good book.