Synopsis:
Forty years ago, the world nearly ended.
Be is an old robot who was there, and doesn’t want to think about what happened, or what role they played in that conflict. They have settled into a life of isolation in the abandoned ruins of an old mill in the former New York Botanical Gardens, disinterested in what has happened in the outside world since they stepped away from the war. Someone out there, though, has not forgotten about them, and when they are attacked, their person vandalized, and one of their legs stolen, they set out to find the thief accompanied by a cyborg dog and a human mechanic.
The world has changed, but the recovery from the war is uneven and faltering, and Be begins to suspect a malicious hand trying to rekindle the old conflict and finish what was started. In order to stop them, Be needs to come to terms with both their own past and who they have become, and how everything and everyone else they knew has changed in their absence. Being left alone is no longer an option, and peace may be impossible.
This is a story about coming to terms with your past, with who you’ve become and who you still want to be: a tale of resilience and hope, an ode to those struggling to become whole in a world half-broken.
Review:
With a title like Ode to the Half-Broken, I went into Suzanne Palmer’s latest novel expecting a very specific thing. While the book has the shiny veneer of a cozy novel, there is so much below the surface in this found-family dystopia. As Ode to the Half-Broken began, I settled into the journey of a robot and their newly-made dog friend named Atticus. In the first few chapters it was giving major Monk and Robot vibes, ala Becky Chambers, but the longer the book went, the deeper the mystery and the richer the backstory. In the end, this post-apocalyptic tale ensnared me from the start, giving me some truly memorable characters along the way, up until an action-packed climax.
Most of the novel is told first-person (first-robot?), with the exception of interlude chapters that provide historical context for certain events and characters from the war that nearly ended the world. Those chapters tell a story from the 2030s and 2040s about some of the scientists who worked on and developed the robots who could have wiped out humanity. The present-day scenes show that Be was one of those robots who was programmed by a vengeful man in the latter stages of the war, only to “wake up” and realize they could chart their own course and that their programming was wrong.
Even though they isolated themselves for decades, trouble came for Be anyway, forcing them out into the world. On their journey to find their leg and eventually discover where they fit into the world, Be meets Atticus, a cyborg dog; Murphy, the human mechanic who reattaches Be’s leg; Charp, a down on its luck drone; and 44-Mongoose, a robot who initially controlled a train and takes over a vintage VW bus. Each bring their own skills and traits to the team, which eventually becomes a de facto family.
For me, Atticus was perhaps the best part of the entire book, giving much-needed levity to serious situations. But, he had his own part to play in the larger narrative, answering some questions that the reader didn’t even know needed to be asked.
As we watch humanity take themselves down in the flashbacks, we’re often shown that those with the most humanity are those who were made, not born. That perhaps the choices that we make give us our values and morals, not where we come from.
Ode to the Half-Broken is a poignant reminder that there is value in everyone, no matter who they are and where they come from. In Palmer’s novel, the answer is often in a factory or a virtual sandbox, but Be’s ethical quandary is no less real than one that a human may undergo as well. I loved the tone of the book that was verging on coziness and sometimes a dry humor, paired with desperation and tragedy.
Thank you to DAW for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
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