Book Review: Lexi
Author: Heidi J. Hewett Rating: 4/5 ASIN: B07KT8TDXY
I have always wanted to branch out into reading more sci-fi books. It’s a genre that, for some reason, has never been at the top of my list, but one that has always intrigued me – and Heidi J. Hewett’s Lexi was a great, albeit new age, introduction into this world.
The book centres on a robotics engineer named John Michael Kirkpatrick, whose father is famous in the robotics world. John Michael and his team have perfected a female robot called LX8000, who is “built to mimic humans”. However, in the classic case of A.I. sentience, LX8000 (whom John Michael also refers to as “Lexi”) starts to become curious of the world around her. Meanwhile, the LX8000 model is bought by mysterious rich businessmen, whom John Michael soon finds out are planning to take LX8000 to Mars to terraform (ie. make into livable conditions for humans). Lexi’s rebellious nature causes John Michael to abandon his conventional lifestyle and go on the run with a robot who unabashedly adores him. Soon enough, he begins to develop the same feelings for her.
It is immediately clear upon reading the first few pages of Lexi that Hewett knows what she’s talking about. The scientific jargon, which mostly revolves around the robotics world, can sometimes be hard to follow for a layman such as myself – but it makes clear that a lot of work and research have gone into the book, which is a particularly important thing to do in sci-fi. This ensures that the subject matter come across as legitimate. Though I found the first few chapters to move a bit slowly (which is not surprising of any book, considering the time it takes to set up a foundation), I was hooked about four chapters in. On another side note, Hewett does an excellent job at breaking up the chapters accordingly, ensuring that the reader can take a moment to catch up with the book’s fast-paced nature of events.
The cover – which depicts the main characters John Michael and Lexi – gives off a kind of harlequin romance vibe. The models are typically attractive, and Lexi’s revealing outfit lives and breathes sex appeal. However, I’d tell readers not to let this affect your judgment of the book: while it does, at times, take on the harlequin romance tone, Lexi is very much a sci-fi book that only focuses a small portion of itself on the romantic elements. And I assure you, it is a much more unpredictable storyline that you would imagine.
While the concept of A.I. advancing to the point of sentience is not a new one by any means (I, Robot, Blade Runner, and Ex Machina to name a few) Hewett makes the relationship between Lexi and John Michael unique enough to make this book worth reading. As well, the concept of a human and robot developing feelings for each other is not new, either: we see this in the HBO show Westworld, have seen it in the film Her, and tons of other books, film, and television. Part of what makes Lexi so interesting, though, is that Hewett has created a world that is not too far off from our current future, a world based on real scientific predictions.
Though the exact year is unclear, the timeline John Michael lives in is at least 30 or so years in the future. This is a world where Smart watches are used for everything: as a phone, as a wallet, as a calendar, a place for your entire life to be. A simple tap, and you can pay for your driverless cabs. A world where robots are being made to resemble, and even surpass, humans; and one where the Chinese currency has taken over. This is a world where overpopulation has led to an earth that is severely lacking in resources, where birth control is mandated and having children requires applying for a permit. This is a world where climate change is leading the earth to an apocalyptic state; a world where the extremely wealthy intelligentsia are planning to terraform Mars, to start over and leave earth to waste. Any of this sound familiar? Hewett does an uncannily good job at writing this future out to be one that could very well happen in real life. I think this factor is what unsettled me the most (in a good way), while simultaneously keeping me hooked.
Though I am not one to gender stereotype, I often find myself becoming hyperaware of the narrative tone if the author is female writing as male, or if an author is male writing as female. Though it is often in the subtler details, some writers are unable to pull this off, sounding inherently more like the gender they are than the one they are writing. However, Hewett does a solid job at maintaining a convincing male tone through the lens of John Michael Kirkpatrick. (Of course, I recognize that this area of conversation is complicated and quite grey area, as conversations on gender and gender stereotypes are constantly progressing).
In terms of the storyline between John Michael and Lexi, I will admit that I found the character of Lexi to be somewhat irksome at times (bear in mind that this very well may have been a conscious choice on the author’s part). Because she is a doe-eyed robot who has been built to be optimistic and friendly, her naivety is often a source of calamity. Though I had to remind myself not to get irritated by a robot who didn’t know any better (similar to the way children are), the major blunders that Lexi makes paired with John Michael’s relatively mellow reactions seem disproportionate at times. I found it hard to keep rooting for her because of the ever-piling consequences she caused, but this also made for a more dynamic character. My only criticism of this relationship is that I found John Michael was never frustrated or angry to the level that a human would normally be, given some of the things that Lexi did. However, that just might be my own flaw of being easily irritated getting in the way! Overall, I enjoyed seeing the progression of their relationship, and moreover, seeing the way Lexi’s sentience progresses.
Ultimately, Hewett poses a very interesting contrast: Lexi is inherently very good and very innocent, making her almost un-human in her niceties, and that is both her saving grace as well as her downfall, particularly when thrown into the harsh world her and John Michael live in. What Hewett does best in this book is emphasize the harrowing realities of what the world might look like in the next few decades if we humans don’t begin to make serious changes: the population teeming, climate change having destroyed most of the world, and technology advancing in a way that takes over our lives. The obsession about making Mars habitable, one that many currently have as a way of “saving” the human population, is a particularly intriguing one. Hewett delivers us a deeply unique story about a man who wants to save the humanity inside the robot he’s built, while simultaneously delivering a cautionary tale about the way humans treat humanity and the environment around us.
I personally rate this book a 4/5 stars: the writing style was consistent and, even amidst the aforementioned technical jargon, was not bogged down by its scientific complexities. Aside from a somewhat slow start, Lexi is action packed and constantly left me wondering what was going to happen next. Its unpredictability, as well as a creative and strong foundation, makes for a successfully entertaining and thought-provoking book. All in all, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of sci-fi, or even just looking to expand their reading range!
Lexi is available to purchase for both Kindle and Paperback. Click here to purchase Lexi on Amazon.
Below are the author’s social media outlets:
Website: https://www.heidijhewett.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heidijhewett/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hj_hewett
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/heidijhewett
~ Z ~
