Goddess in the Machine

Goddess in the Machine follows a flawed-but-powerful, realistic young woman in her journey to find herself and (hopefully) save humanity. It is the perfect mix of female empowerment, dystopian future, realistic internal struggle, and even a little romance. I am super picky when it comes to young adult fantasy/scifi, and this book was amazing. It manages to be accessible yet technical, and written at a level that is challenging for teens but engaging for adults. Highly recommend!

I really enjoyed this one. I love good sci-fi world building, and this one makes me want to make all sorts of props. I\’ve read a lot of YA sci-fi (it\’s my one true love) and while I like them, they can get pretty cookie cutter after a while. This planet and the inhabitants were a cool new take, and there was plenty of intrigue to move the plot along. Johnson is really good at throwing you for a curve with her reveals and I read this all in one sitting. As someone who loves both sci-fi and fantasy, this book had a really cool take on it. In Goddess in the Machine, one character sees tech as we do, code and math and logic. But the other character, who is from an unrecognizable future, sees all technology as magic, so his chapters are framed more like a fantasy novel. I love Andra\’s and Zhade\’s interactions and the DIALECT!!!

Seriously one of the best YA sci-fi books I have ever read, Goddess in the Machine takes an intriguing premise and executes it incredibly well with epic twists throughout the book. Andra is a teen girl who has been put into cryogenic stasis for 100 years as she travels with her family to colonize a new planet. Except when she wakes up, it has been 1,000 years and everyone thinks she is a goddess. I mean, how can you not want to read that?! Andra is trying to cope with the death of her family and friends, heavy expectations from people around her in a vastly different and much more brutal society, and navigating the court intrigue that goes along with it. She is woken up Zhade, the exiled bastard prince of Erensed- a handsome charmer with his own plans for the new goddess. Everyone has secrets and their own agenda, and there is a lot to learn. The world-building here is top notch. The author imagines what society might look like far in the future when English vernacular has shifted and technology is no longer well-understood and is instead viewed as magic with religious mythologies built up around it. And then you drop a teen girl from our not-so-distant future into that world. The people Andra encounters speak a slightly different dialect of English, but it\’s not hard to follow and get used to. When I say there are a lot of twists, I\’m not kidding! There were a couple things that I was able to guess before they were revealed, but there were others that were completely unexpected. And I would say the first major revelation happens about halfway through the book. This will keep you guessing and leave you wishing book 2 was already available. Do be aware that this book gets quite violent with people being killed, depictions of blood, and discussions of ritualistic killing. Andra is apparently supposed to be somewhat curvy and is uncomfortable with her body, although it\’s unclear how much of that is just her internal dialogue. I had mixed feelings about how that was handled. But overall, I would definitely recommend this one. I received an advance copy of this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I loved this book! The premise of a young woman waking up 1000 years late out of cryosleep on a strange planet where the locals view her command of technology as magic is intriguing. Lora Beth Johnson\’s invention of a future dialect of English is brilliant. The main characters (Andra and Zhade) have great chemistry and the plot twists keep coming. A thoroughly enjoyable and intelligent read and highly recommended!

How many stars can I give? 5? IT\’S NOT ENOUGH! I need more stars to adequately express how desperately I love this book. and also have you SEEN THIS COVER? My bookshelf looks so beautiful. If you like Across the Universe, the Red Queen, or Cinder, then this book is for you. It has everything you could want in a syfy/fantasy: science, magic, linguistics, plucky outcasts, romance, twerpy kings, bad*** girls, sexy banter, and your everyday Word Nerd who just happens to be worshipped as a Goddess after waking up in the distant future on a faraway planet. The plot is intricate and tricksy, the worldbuilding is solid, and the characters. THE CHARACTERS. My heart swoons for Zhade (and for Andra, too, tbh–again, have you SEEN the cover?) and I want to kiss (punch?) his stupid handsome face. #bookboyfriend. I love this book and everyone needs to read it. I can’t wait to read it again.

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