There are not many science-fiction and fantasy authors that I read while a teenager that I still read, Tanith Lee is among them, in fact “Cyrion” is among my all time favorite novels. So on my trip to Japan, I took a battered copy of the “The Silver Metal Lover” I had bought in a second hand book store in California. The book takes place in a vague future, where work scarce and most people live in polluted cities.

The protagonist is an ultra-rich teenager girl with low self esteem, which as the title suggests, falls in love with a robot. While the thema is hardly new, the story is well written and energetic, in tune with a teenager going crazy.

The book reminded me of the The Magic Toyshop to the extent that this is also a book about a woman becoming an adult and the general plot outline are similar: the heroine moves out of the original home into a new one with a strong masculine presence. In one case a domineering father like presence that builds puppets, in the other a loving and nurturing robot. In both case the masculine character is destroyed. Interestingly both Tanith Lee and Angela Carter are from the UK.

In conclusion, a nice character oriented science fiction novel that I recommend reading.