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Metallic Love by Tanith Lee
01/10/2005 . Source: Shaun Green 
pub: Bantam Spectra. 301 page paperback. Price: $ 6.99 (US), $10.99 (CAN). ISBN: 0-553-58471-5. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.bantamdell.com
Despite being a sequel to 1982's 'The Silver Metal Lover', a Science Fiction romance concerning the relationship between a humanoid robot and a human girl, 'Metallic Love' functions well as a standalone novel. The connections between the two books is even played with in the text. Both novels are written from a first-person perspective and there is a tongue-in-cheek yet unobtrusive sense that the fallibility of the narrator and the flexibility of interpretation are being toyed with. Such concerns need not bog down what is first and foremost a high-quality thriller.
The novel begins with the narrator, Loren, describing her life as a pre-teen in a religious orphanage. She locates a book which turns out to be the story of Jane, the protagonist of 'The Silver Metal Lover'. Loren reads this voraciously and secretly as books are forbidden by the orphanage's fanatical Patriarch. The book inspires her escape and she spends several years working illegally with a crew of other young girls.
Upheaval is introduced into Loren's simple life when she learns that META - the corporation responsible for the original robot lover, Silver - have constructed more robots. Eight of them in fact. One of whom appears to be Silver, now known as Verlis. Loren is drawn to Verlis by a powerful attraction only partially born of her childhood obsession with Jane and Silver's story. More surprisingly, the attraction appears to be reciprocated.
This relationship draws Loren deep into the dangerous worlds of META and the robot lovers they built. Loren barely escapes a bloodbath which leaves a train derailed and dozens dead at the hands of two of the robots. Verlis' obsession with her is all that seems to be protecting her and she becomes more and more helpless as events unfold. A decade on from the writing of Jane's tale and it seems like nothing is so innocent any more, least of all love.
In contrast with its predecessor, 'Metallic Love' has a dark take on romance. The protagonist is pragmatic and cynical. There is a constant sense of ambiguity and even resignation in her relationship with her robot lover, Verlis. Despite bearing the facade of gentility and love, Verlis is always in total control of any situation. His passion for Loren is important to him but still secondary to his plans for META and his robot brethren. This is not a traditional love story. It is more of an exploration of dysfunctional relationships and issues of trust, understanding and power.
'Metallic Love' is an engaging near-future thriller that examines artificial intelligence and life from an unusual angle and succeeds in telling a story that is, despite or perhaps because of the subject matter, intimate and personal.
Shaun Green
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