Rabbit & Robot

Starred review from July 9, 2018
On Cager Messer’s 16th birthday, Rowan and Billy sneak him aboard a lunar cruise ship, the Tennessee, to save him from his addiction to the enhancement drug Woz. Cager and Billy have lived lives controlled by their parents, powerful figures in their technologically advanced and war-ravaged version of Earth, where most humans work as coders (“Robots”) or soldiers (“Rabbits”). On the ship, it becomes clear that war has destroyed what’s left of planet Earth; cogs—robots that experience heightened human emotions and drives of joy, sadness, and arousal—begin to devour each other; and the boys begin to suspect that other humans might be on board. Absurdist characters and scenarios abound, from a kind, French-speaking giraffe, released from the ship’s zoo when gravity fails, to a constantly horny valet with a distinct lack of boundaries. Readers will enjoy unraveling the meaning within this provocative jaunt by Smith (Grasshopper Jungle), which dissects society, technology, othering, and what makes humanity human. Ages 14–up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

July 15, 2018
Two overly privileged teens unwittingly escape Earth's last days on a luxury spacecraft.Cager Messer's father has made a fortune from the eponymous Rabbit & Robot, a television show devoured by the masses yet one Cager and his best friend, Billy (beautiful, bisexual, and equally wealthy), are forbidden to watch. The secondary Messer fortune was made from lunar cruise ships, one of which Billy, along with Cager's caretaker, Rowan, hijacks to get Cager off drugs. Like all best-laid plans, everything goes awry: Two human girls stow away disguised as robots, a loss of gravity leads to chaos, and Earth might very well have imploded in their absence. Reading as a nonlinear diary, Cager grapples with his secrets, his should-have-dones, and what it means to be human, all while simultaneously begrudging and wielding his own social standing. Intermittent third-person omniscient chapters reveal the tandem story of the two stowaways as they slowly form bonds with Cager and Billy (spoiler alert: romance). Just like any journal, some thoughts are deeper than others, with the content meaning more to the writer than the reader. Cager is a drug-addicted, privileged kid on a stolen playground without any supervision, and the book reads with as much depth as his situation portends. The cast is presumed white save for a royal family of liquid blue life-forms.A scattered sci-fi romp with occasional fun parts but a passable whole. (Science fiction. 14-17)

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August 1, 2018

Gr 10 Up-Cager and best friend Billy, along with their faithful assistant Rowan, are headed to space on the luxury ship Tennessee to escape the multiple wars the United States is waging and to seek treatment for Cager's increasingly dangerous Woz addiction. The boys' fathers are the inventors of Cogs, artificial intelligence beings that are created to serve humans, as well as the creators of Rabbit & Robot, an extremely popular television show rooted in the principles asserted by their fathers. After unfortunate events strike Earth while they are on the ship, Cager, Billy, and Rowan are thought to be the only humans left alive. Cager struggles with his Woz detox and Billy starts to deal with his new life on the ship. A worm makes its way onto the ship and infects the captain (who is also a Cog). This infection spreads to the rest of the Cogs, which makes them cannibalize one another in increasingly graphic ways. Unbeknownst to everyone, humans Meg and Jeffrie are stowaways. Smith's trademark humor and gonzo storytelling is on full display here. Much of the universe is set up within the first half of the book, although it is revealed somewhat confusingly at a leisurely pace (sometimes to the detriment of the narrative flow). Meg and Jeffrie mainly serve as objects of desire or affection. The narrative attempts to tell a story about what makes us human and whether it really matters in the end. VERDICT Purchase where Smith has a following. Others may find this story inaccessible.-Christopher Lassen, BookOps: The New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2018
In Smith's gonzo, sardonic version of future America, humans are practically obsolete. All work is done by uber-realistic robots called cogs; the only working-class human occupations left are Coder (robot programmer) or Bonk (professional soldier). Public education takes the form of a viral show called Rabbit & Robot, which plays inane songs to teach Coders their tasks and requires viewers to ingest a drug called Woz in order to concentrate. Bonks are kept busy fighting the twenty-seven simultaneous wars slowly obliterating the planet. Two sixteen-year-old best friends, Cager Messer and Billy Hinman, are heirs to cog fortunes: their fathers' companies produce cogs and Rabbit & Robot, in addition to super-luxurious spaceships named for U.S. states. Billy tricks Cager, a Woz addict, into hijacking the Tennessee, effectively forcing his friend to quit the drug cold turkey. On board, they are surprised by cannibalistic, lascivious cogs; rude aliens; and two cute female human stowaways. Sober, Cager is suddenly forced to question everything he's ever been taught about being human. Smith's (Grasshopper Jungle; The Alex Crow, rev. 5/15) ambitious world-building, which features extended metaphorical riffs on consumerism, class, social media outrage, sexual harassment, and violence, is wildly creative, if somewhat exhausting in its repetition. Hand this to politically astute teens with a healthy sense of the absurd. jennifer hubert swan

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)