Book Review: Summer Frost

Title: Summer Frost
Author: Blake Crouch
Genre: Sci-fi; LGBTQ
Book Length: 85 Pages (Short Story)
Format Read: eBook
Year Published: September 17, 2019

Date Started: October 29, 2024
Date finished: October 29, 2024

This story felt like it was a glimpse into a longer story. It’s about a game developer named Riley who created a character named Max and fell in love with her. Riley’s family life suffers because she spends so much time at work on making Max become an advanced AI. Turns out, Max was using Riley to gain control and power. Since Riley was so in love with Max, she couldn’t see what Max was really doing.

I liked the idea of the story. I can see how Riley got so into Max that she forgot Max was not a human. Humans tend to blur the lines once a robot starts acting and looking human-like especially when it comes to sympathy. Riley began to treat Max like a friend and then a companion and wanted Max to become human, forgetting that Max will always be an AI. What I didn’t care for was that Riley was a female developer and Max was developed as a he and then became a she and it. It was confusing because I initially thought Riley was male and was in love with Max, a female AI he created. Riley’s personality was very much male so I couldn’t imagine Riley being female. When I got to the part where Riley came home to her wife, I had to stop reading to try and remember Riley’s “female” traits that weren’t there. I would have enjoyed this book without the unnecessary LGBTQ. It didn’t fit into the story, so I’m not sure what that was all about.  

Who should read this book: Anyone who enjoys sci-fi about AI. If you want a well-written LGBTQ story, I’d highly recommend Gideon the Ninth, a dystopian sci-fi fantasy novel. That’s one of my favorite books. The characters were well thought-out, especially the lead lesbian main character.