mecha/mechs
includes dragons, AI robots & cyborgs; any age range
created by Jake99
last updated October, 2025
Comments
suggesting the themis files trilogy to be added!
Thank you for the suggestion, I've added it to the list! 🙌
bah I missed the AI component of the list too 😩 i also rec: the illuminae files (prominent ai character throughout the trilogy), autonomous & automatic noodle (both existential about rights of true sentient ai’s integrated into our imaginary future world). love the list!! i’ve struggled to find other series with big mechs and they are some of my favorite books to read!
Aahh thank you 🤗 I've already added the two stories by Annalee Newitz! About The Illuminae Files series, I wanted to ask if the AI resides in a robotic body or similar? So far I wasn't really able to find a detailed description 🙈
not in like a robot body but it jumps from ship to ship or device to device sometimes? is the list specifically for AI in a robot/mech body? like a murderbot type thing?
Ah okay! Yeah, with the AI aspect I was mainly going for AI robots, which I imagine as a consciousness piloting a mechanic body. (I also prefer to primarily include "fully available" series, meaning all books are already possible to add to the list. Is the Murderbot series still ongoing?)
Added context: Initially, my idea was to make a purely mech(a) list, but I quickly realised that the lines are blurry when it comes to the question of human vs. non-human consciousnesses piloting the mech, as I consider an AI a non-human consciousness (in fictional settings!). Since I especially wanted to include the Monk & Robot books by Becky Chambers, I went for the more generous interpretation of what constitutes a mech. This line of reasoning is also why I decided to include cyborgs: I didn't want to make the decision of exactly when there are enough robotic/mechanic parts for a character to also count as a human (or alien) consciousness piloting a mechanic body.
I do see the overlap and I'm wondering if a separate list for AI characters (who may or may not pilot a robotic body/mech) would help, but more general AI characters are not one of my special interests, so I worry that I myself wouldn't be able to tend to such a list in the way it deserves. I noticed you yourself already do have a list for sci-fi with robots/AI featured - would you enjoy doing a little collab of linking each other's list in our own list description, as a way to honour their respective similarities as well as their differences? ☺️
murder bot is not finished yet as far as i know! it is a pretty extensive series already though with 7 books already existing, if that sways you at all on to or to not include.
i have a hard time drawing the line between the tech as well, especially because some characters evolve into having a physical body they control over the course of a series, so then do you include some books and not others? i just basically avoid thinking about that at all for my list lol.
i don’t imagine my list is ever going to gain much traction, i mostly made it for myself to be honest (don’t yell at me page bounders i know this is not the intention of lists). so if you want to do a mutual crediting that works, but also if not that’s okay with me too. i’m just looking forward to reading the books you have on here i haven’t heard of yet!
oh hell yeah
May I suggest Service Model by Tchaikovsky, and Paradise-1 by Wellington.
I added Service Model but I can't really find anything about how Paradise-1 fits, could you tell me a bit about it?
The main cast includes a very sassy robot, and there are several hostile AIs throughout the story. (I should point out that it is the first book in a trilogy, though. The robot is present in book 2, but no Ai.)
Ah yeah, seems like the third one is not even on goodreads yet... Do you follow the series/would you be aware if the third book gets added? I would prefer to only add fully available series (as in: possible to add to the list) to minimise the need for me to keep up with them. If you anyway follow the series you could remind me about adding it then, but if it's inconvenient I'll try to figure out something else!
Of course! I understand. The 3rd book will be released next year. I'm a big fan so I'm definitely keeping an eye out for the release date. I'll get back to you once it's in the pagebound database. 🫶
Thank you so much!! 🤗
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