An Unnatural Life by Erin K. Wagner

​I love robots and will read all about them. Tor.com this month offered its newsletter subscribers not one but three robot-themed novellas or short novels. Terrific ones, too.
I’ve been striking out with science fiction lately, but this one reminded me of why I like the genre in the first place.
It’s a murder mystery/legal drama set on Europa in a not-too-distant future of 2145. Europa has been colonized but modestly. There’s a small population of people and robots working side by side. The robots have been given some rights, but it’s far from the separate but equal situation. The balance gets tested when a robot convicted for murdering a person decides to appeal the court’s decision.
A lawyer, disillusioned with Earth and looking for a fresh start on Europa, takes up his case and finds herself at odds with the local population in a case that is threatening to upend all the existing boundaries and conventions.
A fascinating story that questions the legal and moral assumptions or a divided society, this story worked on every level: from terrific world-building to great character writing to being a poignant and thought-provoking intelligent literary read.
There was an interesting choice here (either deliberate by the author or it’s just how it read to me) where the robot, 812-3, comes across more humane that its carbon-based meat and blood counterparts. The lawyer character makes less sense in her actions that he does in his, in a way. The robot’s motivations are more clearly laid out…and more emotionally driven too.
Some fascinating juxtapositions there; makes the reader question the very nature of being. Just how artificial is AI? Just how authentic are we?
And that ending…what a gut punch.
Overall,a very good read. Smart, emotionally engaging and entertaining too. Sped by in one relatively brief sitting and well worth checking out. Recommended.