Weekly Reader: Cardinal Machines (Cardinal Machines Book One) by Tracy Eire; Engaging Science Fiction Mystery YA Romance Explores The Union Between Woman and Machine

 

Weekly Reader: Cardinal Machines (Cardinal Machines Book One) by Tracy Eire; Engaging Science Fiction Mystery YA Romance Explores The Union Between Woman and Machine

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Tracy Eire's Science Fiction novel, Cardinal Machines,  explores the complex relationship between humanity and machinery. Nothing new in that, except that machinery is personified by an android taking the form of a handsome young man and humanity is personified by a cynical young woman working as a private investigator. Also that the relationship between the two develops into a potential romance, so Cardinal Machines explores the complex quasi romantic relationship between woman and machine. 

Katherine Zoey Cardinal Collins had a pretty rough life even though she is still in high school. Her parents died when she was very young leaving her to be raised by aunt and uncle. Her aunt was reported missing and presumed dead. Her uncle turned to alcoholism to cope with his grief and trained his niece to work in his very dangerous field of private investigation to the point that after he died, she took over his business.

Zoey has been cut off from her mother's wealthy powerful family, the Cardinals, and she has been struggling financially ever since then, though she refuses to ask for a handout. She is estranged from the Cardinals until she learns that her great aunt Katherine, for whom she was named, has died leaving her the heir to a custom ocean. Before Zoey can get out a surfboard and plunk a flag in the middle of the Pacific claiming it for the Cardinals, a handsome dark haired man arrives with a perfect mannequin like body and a stilted emotionless way of speaking. His paperwork reveals that he is C001-Oisin, pronounced "Ocean," and is fresh from the assembly line of her great aunt's robotics company. 

Ocean is an android specifically made for law enforcement, so Zoey can get some assistance in the pursuit of dangerous criminals. Katherine, the elder, apparently left Ocean to Zoey as a peace offering and to remind her that no matter how far she runs, she is still a Cardinal so she might as well suck it up and live with it.

Cardinal Machines blends the tone of Mystery, Science Fiction, YA, and even some Romance to create a work that is the best of all of these genres. The Science Fiction aspects are certainly the most prominent. The setting is in the near future in which AI is not yet a constant presence, but people are in fear of it becoming so. Many people make derogatory comments and threats toward Ocean to the point that Zoey and his former colleagues at the LAPD spend as much time protecting him from violent technophobes and other androids who are programmed to kill, as much as they protect the flesh and blood citizens around them from dangerous other humans. 

There are also real questions about how much Ocean has adapted to humanity. He has a very strict honor code which he follows the law to the letter and he doesn't always understand the shades of gray nuances that sometimes following a dangerous person can provide. In one chapter, he follows a suspect relentlessly while Zoey learns the suspect's background and why he chose to act as he did. As far as upholding the law, Ocean is a seasoned veteran but when it comes to understanding humans, he is still a rookie.

That also applies to his emotional state and his ability to reason and question his programming. As Zoey gets to know Ocean, she sees him adapt beyond his initial minor emotional responses and act out of sacrifice, self-preservation, feeling and in other ways beyond his programming. When they begin to experience a deeper connection, he moves beyond a faceless being of technology and behaves almost human. The questions of how human AI can become and how their experience with humans changes and adapts them is answered through Ocean's relationship with Zoey and others.

Cardinal Machines is not only a tribute to the future but to the past, specifically the hard boiled detective genre notably through Zoey's character arc. Zoey is sort of like what would happen if Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade or Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlowe adopted a daughter and exposed her to the dangerous elements that they lived with day after day. The results are a tough talking rebellious cynical teen who is much harder than the other high schoolers around her. When the other kids rebel, they might sneak out past curfew or steal the family car for a joyride. When Zoey rebels, she becomes a bounty hunter to search for dangerous criminals for money. Nancy Drew she ain't.

Sometimes Zoey's dangerous profession catches up to her as her apartment is shot at, she is drugged and kidnapped, and either she or Ocean are held up multiple times throughout the book. Her experiences with society's worst gives her a very negative perspective on humanity as well as an almost addictive thirst for danger. She lives for the danger of catching crooks, whether it's an ex husband who owes for child support and doesn't mind attacking Zoey with a gun or a robotics employee turned corporate spy who might have been a victim of an organized crime murder. It's the excitement and adventure that draws her as much as the idea of protecting innocent people from violent ones. Her experience with the dark side of human nature makes up for Ocean's innocence and confusion, making them a perfect couple that fill each other's needs.

Even though Zoey is in a hardened profession, she is still a teenager and in high school. That's where the YA aspect comes in. It would almost be a distraction from the philosophical science fiction questions and the hard edges mystery suspense, but somehow it works as almost a lighthearted contrast to the rest of the book. The school age gossip of hook ups, break ups, mean teachers, and popular kids is an almost welcome distraction to the darker stuff circling around Zoey on a regular basis. Zoey's closest friends are popular girls, Clara and Anne and Noah, who is at odds with his family because of his sexuality and who harbors a not so secret crush on Ocean. The three friends defend Zoey when townspeople attack her for the audacity of owning an android or when schoolmates spread rumors about what she and Ocean are actually doing. Because of their loyalty, Clara, Anne, and Noah form a loving and nonjudgmental family for Zoey in the absence of her biological one and accept Ocean into their circle as well. They provide an emotional center in Zoey's life, an emotional center that she will  defend.

The emotional center in Zoey's life is also provided by Ocean as he does for her. Zoey is certainly initially aroused by Ocean's attractiveness and he proves to be a good partner in crime solving.  They balance each other out with Zoey's street smarts and experience with the dangerous aspects of humanity and Ocean's more educated approach and ability to research information instantaneously. They become very protective of each other and often pull one another out of danger or draw a weapon on someone if they sense that their partner is in danger. 

Zoey addresses the physical aspects of their partnership by kissing Ocean and he responds in a very um shocking manner. What draws them is not only their physical connection, but their emotional one. Ocean is a learning android and he learns to care for and protect Zoey. He is able to question and rebel against his programming because of his feelings towards her. Through her, he understands humanity. He doesn't see Zoey as one of several who need his help. He sees her as Zoey, someone unique and individual.

In her own way as Ocean questions his initial programming, Zoey questions hers. She was afraid of getting close to anyone because she felt surrounded by death. She didn't want to lose anyone else or feel responsible when they died. Ocean breaks down that wall she put around herself as she breaks down his. She opens herself towards him. When they finally get together, it is a completion that they both evolve and adapt themselves.  Because of this, Zoey and Ocean are among my favorite romantic couples that I read this past month.

Cardinal Machines blends Science Fiction, Mystery, YA, and Romance to create a child that combines all of their aspects into one. This child, like its protagonists, questions its earlier programming influences and adapts into something different and unique.