Review: Automatic Eve by Rokuro Inui

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Tangled between the straining power of the shogunate and an imperial household is a beautiful automaton named Eve.  Further complicating matters all around are mechanical crickets. This is an intense novel full of so many things.

 

An absolute research perk in researching this book was discovering a new term: “mosaic novel” (credit to NPR’s review) which is the perfect for understanding this novel. Once receiving this novel,  it was a complete leap into the dark.  There was no pre-research or knowledge of the author. It became an adventure in maneuvering the world of shogun Japan and steampunk.

Automatic Eve is a mosaic of stories that tell a tale as one but as a  whole reveal the complete utter complicated chaos of this story.  At the heart of it all is Eve. Her role of object of desire may encourage the bravado of a doomed pawn in the politics game. Or she becomes involved in saving lives.  Just like the cogs of a machine, the intricate shogunate operations are complicated as they juggle shogun pride, strife within, and eyeing the imperial power.

 

Each of the stories seems so disconnected but taken as a whole showcases the deep well of tension leading up to the bloodbath towards the end. With this much discontent, there can be no peaceful ending.  The shogunate is pretty powerful and scary force. There is a lot of betrayals, sword fights, and removing limbs.  Yet their power is completely  tempered by the absolute  matriarchal power of the Imperial Queen within Tempu Castle. The power of the Queen is so great that no one outside of the inner sanctum has seen her. Her inner sanctum tends to her needs as she has been lying “sick” for years but no one knows the ailment or cure. Society still functions around her as they toe around her power. Yet even the inner sanctum is not immune to petty human betrayal. A few choice words and a targeted maid acts as another catalyst to the breakdown. All of which are still connected by Eve.

The challenge comes from piecing the novel as a whole and retaining it within the memories. With each story, there is a strong threat of plot or emotion but there is a struggle to recall the character names.  So many names begin to stack upon one another so when Eve comes into the story, it is like a refreshing mental state pushing all of the noise away.For it is all just noise. Noise of politics, broken alliances, screams of horror, and empty promises. It is the automaton who despite questioning having a soul, is the one that walks with confidence in her own belief and loyalty to love.

 

Automatic Eve is complex book that is well worth the challenge. The kind of novel that seeps ideas and feelings to mull over. Especially ones which question the concept of humanity itself. The book is out now, so don’t hesitate on this exercise in connections .The novel is the part of Haika soru, a Viz Media imprint’s literary collection and is available now.

For more information:

http://www.haikasoru.com/automatic-eve/

https://www.viz.com/automatic-eve

 

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