Plus, this being interlaced with the ancient Japanese beliefs of Shintoism, kamis, shrines and temples truly made thos book for me. I loved the world Grothaus creates here, the machine populated near future of Tokyo and the small cafe our protagonist John finds. Having the book set in Japan helped immensely with the world setting as we already know Toyko as a centre for the hi-tech, a world of fantasy and whimsy. The presentation covers topics such as Ezra's interests; these are jigsaws, metal detecting, trains and badminton, Ezra's genre and Ezra's personality, which is labelled as "BORING".

The door’s bell clangs as I enter, and my eyes immediately go to the dog with the spherical head perched on the counter. There he meets the owner, a retired Sumo wrestler and a lovely young Japanese woman, (oh, and also an adorable dog with a funny round head getting a haircut). Slowly, however, the children get into the song and eventually get up and begin jumping, singing and dancing. Each is flawed, and each has suffered tragedy, yet their broken pieces fit together to make something special.While I'm not usually that into robots and AI, I really enjoyed how it was incorporated into the story here. It explores how the things that cast us as outsiders can be the very things that draw us together, and examines whether there is an inherent meaning in the world to come, or if we must create our own. You'll laugh when you know you shouldn't, be moved when you least expect it and, most importantly, never look at Hollywood, celebrity or sex in the same way again. It’s a story about having faith in humanity and how too much power in the hands of the wrong person can be detrimental for mankind. That very final scene is perhaps one of the most understated but powerful scenes in the book and it really did make me smile.

Aside from the relationship between the two main characters, and the subordinate ones who round out the cast, this book is about the world, where it is, where it is going and how people treat one another. At a sentence level Grothaus is excellent; he manages to make even rain falling against the cafe window somehow deeply compelling. Except for seventeen-year-old John, a tech prodigy from a damaged family, who hides a deeply personal secret. I love the characters, from our "boy genius" MC, to the waitress with a secret and a peculiar dog, to the sumo wrestler with a difficult past. Given that AI is a really hot topic at the moment, this is a novel that capitalises on fears and mistrust, yet somehow adds a dimension of normality to a concept that is only just finding its feet.It follows our main character and narrator John, a 17 year old American who magazines refer to as a “boy genius”.

His behaviour brought a smile to my face, and the way that the author used him and the small, perfectly coiffed dog, Inu, to create such a vivid contrast is striking and very effective.The man (who is an ex-sumo wrestler) is holding a dog, a Bichon Frise, with the strangest haircut ever, making its head appear spherical. Meanwhile, he’s walking the streets of Tokyo at night and walks into a cafe where a beautiful 20-year-old Japanese girl works alongside a retired sumo and his odd companion dog named Inu. Neotnia’s first revelation is that she went to stay and work with Goeido when her father disappeared, a year previously - who was he, and where did he go?