Book Review: The Mad Scientist’s Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke

The science-fiction/romance genre is an interesting one.  I’ve read some extremely good books that have come of it and some books that, well, it was obvious that the author was interested in writing about his/her fantasy and not about putting out a story that would appeal to a wider audience.  Thankfully, The Mad Scientist’s Daughter has an appeal that will reach a wide group of people, especially those who are fans of Audrey Niffenegger’s books.

In many ways, The Mad Scientist’s Daughter reminded me of The Time Traveler’s Wife.  There’s the element of a young girl meeting the future love of her life and growing up knowing him, the dash of science fiction – not hardcore enough to turn away the less experienced in the genre, but enough to give the book a bit of that feel.  And, finally, there’s the ultimate struggle and the knowledge that one will continue to live with the other eventually passes away.

In The Mad Scientist’s Daughter, young Cat grows up with an android tutor named Finn.  For a long while, she believes him to be a ghost.  Her parents are torn on the issue of having Finn around and the world around Cat treats artificial intelligence as you might expect: creatures without feelings or desires or hopes, essentially slaves.  It reminded me a bit of the back story of the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica, if you will permit me to get really geeky for a moment.  And similar to that story, there is a definite movement toward the autonomy of those robots or the ability of the robots to govern themselves, without having to bow to the human element of power.

Cat’s journey, from child to wife and finally to understanding of her own actions and their effect on Finn makes for an interesting story.  It brings up points that question the morality of creating intelligence and inhibiting it in some way.  I was thoroughly engrossed in Cat’s struggle as well as Finn’s and anxious to see a resolution that left me feeling satisfied, which I got… eventually.  I very much recommend this book for those who are looking for something a bit out of the ordinary, or any who are looking to read something a bit science-fiction without all the strange terms and inventions to keep straight.