Review: The Mad Scientist's Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Goodreads Summary:

The Mad Scientist’s Daughter is the heartbreaking story of the journey from childhood to adulthood, with an intriguing science fictional twist.

There’s never been anyone - or anything - quite like Finn.

He looks, and acts human, though he has no desire to be. He was programmed to assist his owners, and performs his duties to perfection. A billion-dollar construct, his primary task is to tutor Cat.

When the government grants rights to the ever-increasing robot population, however, Finn struggles to find his place in the world.

Publication Date: January 29, 2013

This book was incredibly touching! When I read the premise I thought it sounded interesting, but I wasn’t sure how much I would buy into a romance between a human and a robot. After getting rid of my preconceptions, I immersed myself into this incredible and heartbreaking tale of falling in love with an object that no one believes has the capacity to love.

I liked the post-apocalyptic world that Clarke created. She didn’t barrage the readers with long chapters of descriptions about how androids came to be such a large part of society. Instead, the details were descriptive enough that I easily pictured the cities being rebuilt and the politics involved with giving the android population their own set of rights.

Cat as a child is very different than Cat as an adult. Cat as a kid was amazing and I loved her independence and her fierce protectiveness of Finn. I’m not sure what happened between childhood and adulthood to turn Cat into such a train wreck. I hated how she used Finn for her own personal needs. Her actions were destructive and it made me hard to cheer for her at times as a character. However, I think she found redemption at the end and it made me want a happy ending for both her and Finn.

I loved every single scene Finn was in. He didn’t come off as a cheesy cardboard cutout of what an android would look and sound like. For some of the sections, I had to remind myself that he wasn’t human. To be honest, I felt like had a stronger sense of humanity than Cat.

A few parts dragged a little bit, especially in the second half of the novel. That being said, I was still interested enough to keep reading and finished this book quickly. I was heartbroken and uplifted at times during the read. This is definitely a book that will stay with you long after you finished.

I would highly recommend this book. It’s an adult novel that follows Cat from a young girl through adulthood. Themes such as love, humanity and mortality are all touched upon over the course of the novel.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this novel for review!