Narrated by Regina Hall,
Mindy Kaling, Feodor Chin, Therese Plummer, Dina Pearlman, Neil Hellegers, Adenrele
Ojo, Kyla Garcia

If I didn’t already enjoy Alyssa Cole books, the cast list for this narration would have had me one-clicking. Regina Hall! Mindy Kaling! I’m delighted to report that The A.I. Who Loved Me is just excellent.

At AudioGals we have already submitted our
best of lists for the year. We agreed that any fabulous audiobooks which came
out after would be put into 2020’s best of list. I already know my first entry.
It’s that good.

I started my Christmas baking frenzy on the weekend and The A.I. Who Loved Me kept me company all through the various meringues and cake balls and chocolates.

Regina Hall voices Trinity Jordan, the main
character. In some future world where tech has improved vastly from what it is
today but where a lot of current problems still exist, only amplified, Trinity
works for “the Hive”. She was a data analyst but was in some kind of accident/terrorist
event and is now working remotely as a driver for “AI vehicles”. In this world
driverless cars were too dangerous so a real person controls the car from a
driving station and the people who use them just think there’s no human
driver. Trinity has a knee injury and a phobia about elevators and strange gaps
in her memory.

Her next-door neighbour Dr. Zhang also
works at the Hive. Dr. Zhang is a specialist in developing AI technology. At
the start of the story, Dr. Zhang’s “nephew” Li Wei has arrived for a visit.
Dr. Zhang explains to Trinity that he is recovering from a brain injury and so
Trinity puts his strange behaviour down to a TBI. However, what’s really going
on is that Li Wei is a “biosynthetic humanoid”. He looks like a (hot) man, can
eat and drink (but doesn’t have to), can have sex (yay!) but he’s not human. He
can however, feel. And he feels all the feels for Trinity.

There is far more to the story with various
twists and turns but they are best discovered as one listens, and I don’t want to
spoil the experience for anyone.

Mindy Kaling voices Penny, the personal artificial
intelligence home assistant (a kind of virtual building superintendent but much
more than that) who supports the residents of the apartment complex and also
helps Li Wei to understand humans better, particularly with rituals like
dating.

I couldn’t find the cast list online to
know exactly who of the other actors provided the voice for the other cast
members so I don’t know for sure if it was Feodor Chin or Neil Hellegers who
played Li Wei (but given the billing I’m guessing it was Feodor Chin). In any
event, I adored this character and the way he was portrayed. As Li Wei learned
about people, about language, about feelings, his speech changed and became
less robotic. Some of his confusion was hilarious. The descriptions of some of
the things humans do (silly and otherwise), broken down into “AI speak” were
very funny.

The other actors play various supporting
characters, friends of Trinity’s who live in the complex, Dr. Zhang, and
Trinity’s virtual therapist who is helping her over the trauma of “the
accident”. All are excellent.

Some of the book is in the form of
“security footage”, “therapy sessions” or “therapy transcripts” and where this
is in play, each character is voiced by the actor who plays that person.
However, when in Trinity’s POV, she provides the voices for everyone.
Similarly, when in Li Wei’s perspective, he provides the voices for everyone
else. If I could make one change to the book, I would have the whole of the
performance voiced as the security footage or therapy sessions/transcripts,
with each distinct character having only one vocal presence.

Even though that would be my preference,
I’m still giving this audiobook an A. It was so much fun and it had everything.
The romance between Trinity and Li Wei was swoony and believable and charming.
The mystery behind what exactly had happened to Trinity was well-plotted. The
trail of breadcrumbs to the answers made sense but didn’t give the game away
too early. The world-building was fantastic. And the narration was excellent.
The story works fabulously well on audio.

As I said on Twitter, if any listener likes
Alyssa Cole or sci-fi romance or even just thinks they might, I’d
absolutely recommend picking this one up. It’s also in the Audible Escape
package, so members can listen for no extra cost. What are you waiting for?