The kitchen trash can was one of those with the electronic sensor which opened when he waved his hand over it. What had taken them so long to invent such a wonderful contraption? You could open a trash can without having to touch it? They had the ones you could open with your foot, of course, but then you had to change your socks every time you used it, and that meant you also had to wash your feet.

I don’t think I’ve every written a review like this one before. I am going to praise this book, while stating that I have no plans to continue with the series. I shall explain my reasons, anon.

Dan Mitchell, the protagonist of Savannah 1.0: The Quest for Love, is the quintessential IT nerd. He knows his job and science fiction, and pretty much nothing else. He suffers from extreme OCD, has few friends, and no hope of a girlfriend. So when the science of robotics advances (the year is 2028) to the point where robots look and act entirely human, he mortgages his house to finance the purchase of a “companion bot.”

When Savannah arrives, she’s all he hoped for and more. Beautiful, caring, sexy, eager to learn about the world. There is one small glitch, though – she doesn’t know she’s not supposed to run into the back yard naked. This gives the neighbors a show, and also gets both of them arrested. Also, it gets Dan fired from his job.

However, the robot manufacturer comes to his rescue, offering free legal representation and a new (though somewhat sleazy) job, at twice his previous salary. He begins a new stage of his life, as showing Savannah the world (and sometimes protecting the world from her) gradually draws him out of his shell.

If you ever saw the film, “Lars and the Real Girl,” there are some similarities here – except that the movie showed the main character gradually getting past his “doll” girlfriend stage to connect with a genuine woman. I’m not sure that something like that isn’t the ultimate goal here, though. There are suggestions in that direction. But this is only the first volume, and so far the depiction of human/robot relationships seems pretty rosy.

Which is where I have trouble with it. I saw this book advertised on Instapundit, but I don’t see much conservative or libertarian about it (though it’s admittedly early days). Republicans and conservative Christians are painted as a bigoted lot – because of their knee-jerk opposition to machine love.

But my big problem with the book was that I found it too personally appealing. I’m not that different from Dan, and I found the fantasy pretty seductive. I think the experience was bad for me. It comforts facets of my personality that shouldn’t be encouraged.

So I won’t continue with the series. But it’s well-written and appealing, and may even turn out fairly healthy in the end. The sex is not explicit.