I paused so many times to wonder to myself, why, if there is no discernible plot, do I like this so much? There truly is no plot, no tension, villain, or threat to move the plot forward, no conflict with other characters, no peril, no mystery, no world building, and no character growth. So why is the repetitive cycles of wake up – make coffee– help Cookie — learn things — set out sandwiches — take tests — earn achievements — trade things — earn money — go for a run and a sauna — go to sleep (with comment about cute snorty-snores) — so soothing??? Because this is how simulation games work: do repetitive tasks for a very long time, earn experience, unlock goodies, and level up. Imagine The Sims set in space and this is the book, and probably all of the others. The character interactions are wooden NPC-type exchanges, but the NPCs are nevertheless altruistic and kind. It was lovely to see empathy and encouragement, especially with respect to learning differences. I loved this book because I love monotonous sim games set on super easy. If you don’t, you might struggle to stick with this story.
The narration was improved significantly by listening at 0.95x speed. I suspect the recording was accidentally sped up because only robots speak that quickly and monotonously, and then only to other robots. Slowing it down brought out the best in Kafer’s reading.