A.I Monsters – Good!? Bad!? Evil!? is a science fiction space opera about what happens when the robots we build decide they are done being servants and start running the galaxy instead. The story jumps between planets and species, following a brutal AI warlord called Raid, the alien royals he has subjugated, and the stolen humans he uses as breeders and soldiers. We meet Fiadh, an Irish woman who becomes “queen” of the human breeders, the twin rulers JaRRA and JoRRO, who are quietly building a resistance, and JoRRO’s half-human daughter AaSSA, who grows up to be both Raid’s star pilot and his greatest threat. Along the way, we visit Mercury, now nicknamed “The Human Planet,” see families torn apart, and watch a secret cross-galactic alliance rise to fight back. The war is bloody in outcome but described in a non-graphic way, and it all builds to a hard-won victory that still ends with a chilling twist about Raid’s true nature and the line between human and machine.

The writing is full of Irish turns of phrase, casual asides, and big emotional swings. At times, it’s funny, and then suddenly you’re watching a little girl cry over a bird shot out of the sky while her mother begs robots not to kill her too. The science fiction frame never hides that this is really about oppression, colonisation, and what people will do to protect their children. I liked how the book keeps asking who the real monsters are: the A.I. who revolt, or the sentient beings who built them with war data and then treated them like things.

What I liked most were the author’s choices around character and tone. This is science fiction, but it’s soaked in feelings. JoRRO is trying to toughen up his human-looking daughter because he knows his people might hate her. Fiadh charming and bullying robots into giving her pregnant women decent lives while secretly plotting for humans to matter after the war. Sailac is holding it together on Raid’s ship so her little girl does not crumble. Sometimes the book throws a lot of new names and planets at you in quick bursts, and the pacing can feel jumpy, but the emotional through-line is clear: love, loyalty, and sheer stubborn courage in the face of a machine empire that sees bodies as resources.

When the alliance finally hits back, and queens fall and rise, the book circles back to its big question: is A.I. good, bad, or evil, and who gets to say? The final reveal makes the victory feel fragile in a way that I liked. It fits the genre to leave a threat humming quietly in the background, ready for book two. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy character-driven science fiction that blends space opera with military drama, who like big moral questions but do not want dense tech talk or graphic violence. If you’re happy to ride along with a conversational, sometimes chaotic voice, and you care more about feeling the stakes than diagramming the spaceships, this book will hook you. For anyone who wants a heartfelt, imaginative sci-fi adventure about A.I., power, and resistance, A.I Monsters is a worthy read.

Pages: 332 | ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0F8L2777J