science-fiction

MAYA: Seed Takes Root Review

Book: Maya: Seed Takes Root
Author: Anand Gandhi & Zain Memon
Publisher: Author’s Equity
Year: 2026
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis : “The Divya Trials have been announced. Billions will compete. One will ascend to godhood. In every future predicted by the Maya network, the outcome is certain: the son of a god will win. Kshar disagrees. He has rehearsed the scion’s assassination a hundred times in Maya’s simulations. In seventeen minutes, a single fruit will begin a cascade that ends in a riot. The plan is perfect. Every move predicted. Every breath choreographed. Except one. Yachay. Nineteen years old. Maker of riddles. His grandfather has staked their lives on his winning the Trials. But Yacht seeks what he has been kept away from. Maya. He doesn’t know: When you gaze into Maya, Maya gazes back.”

Review : Maya: Seed Takes Root is the first in a projected trilogy whose universe has already published a table-top game. From the creators of VR, movies, shows, and board games, it is hardly surprising to find a fully formed universe complete enough to encapsulate not just books but games as well. Maya is an epic tale of adventure and exploration on a grand scale and a deep dive into the intricacies and minutiae of the delicate web of life on a tiny, microscopic scale. And while Maya is undeniably sci-fi, it offers the reader a chance to examine life on Earth through a microscope.

We’re told in the introduction that while some of the words may be familiar to us, we should allow the similarities to fade away and become something new, but it’s nearly impossible to separate the idea of Maya in the book from the Indian concept of Maya, or illusion. Within the world of the book, Maya is, in physical form, a network of sacred trees that nearly every creature within the world of Neh can tether to. Once tethered into Maya, they interact with the world but from a theoretical level, rather than a literal interaction in the so-called real world. Hundreds of years and thousands of probabilities may be lived out and tested within Maya in the span of a single evening. In this way, they may advance civilization at a rate much higher than would have previously been imaginable – or so they are led to believe. In this way, Maya of the book is truly Maya of our own current reality; nothing more than a precious illusion. How much of an illusion Maya may be, however, remains to be seen, at least by a select few who live their entire lives without tethering to Maya, an illegal habit that those in power cannot abide by.

In the world of Neh, a select few citizens over the centuries have been given rise to godhood through something known as the Divya Trials. Upon achievement of such status, they are not only granted the ability to perceive the future through Maya, they are also privy to a life-extending elixir known as panchamrit. It is through this godhood status that the first gleams of our own reality begin to take shape; a society controlled by the few wealthy elite, making choices for those they deem less intelligent, less fortunate than themselves, doling out tiny morsels with one hand while robbing the proletariat blind with the other.

In a world where a K-shaped economy looms large, seemingly never-ending global crises persist, the media is owned by a handful of billionaires with their own preferred politicians in pocket, and social media algorithms latch onto whatever rage-fueled nonsense might be trending (perhaps due in part to the aforementioned billionaires), it’s hard to read Maya and not see the immediate connections. And while Maya is a depth exploration of our own poisoned norm, it is also an exploration into ecology and connection and the ways in which our choices, lives, and fellow non-human citizens of Earth tread this existence together.

Maya is a delicious, complex, and infuriating dive into human entanglement as told through the lens of a nineteen year old boy named Yachay. While the narrative jumps back and forth between species and characters, the through line remains with Yachay, highlighting the importance of a boy who may have never experienced tethering to Maya, who just may be primed to see through the illusions entire lifetimes of Neh have been unable to wrap their minds around while subtly being maneuvered by Maya and the Divyas who nudge Neh through their tethering to it. Maya introduces an idea familiar to many of us, that when seemingly infinitesimal choices are made, they cause ripple effects that radiate out into society; that even the slightest wingbeat might change the course of history. That something as slight as remaining above the fray of illusion might create the invention necessary for real change to occur for those beyond the elite few who would rather cling to their own immortality than truly improve upon life as we know it.

Maya is thoroughly science fiction and as such it introduces the reader to an entirely new world with new languages, new species, and new ways of experiencing life. It is at times a tricky read, with so many unique species to keep track of, so many words to store in the mind. And while there is a glossary in the back (that I found myself referring to repeatedly), it can still be a bit of a challenge to keep up with at times. I didn’t even realize there was a glossary in the back until about a quart of the way through the book, so it’s worth going into it knowing that you do have assistance, even if you have to go looking for it. I would have been pretty frustrated if I’d gotten to the end of the book to discover the tools I wished existed had been there all along. Nonetheless, it’s a beautiful feeling to have your brain stretched a bit and Maya most certainly does just that. Every intricacy introduced has a purpose and every purpose has a greater connection within the web of Neh. This is not a light or easy read but it is excellent.

Advice : A few content warnings first; theoretical murder, riots, speciesism / racism, the death of a loved one, political instability, poverty, and oppression all make their way throughout Maya. If you enjoy science fiction, political commentary, or seeing a possible way forward for our future, I think you’re going to love this book! If you enjoy Indian mythology, have a background in Ayurveda or yoga or have any familiarity with Sanskrit words and phrases, I think you’ll find connections here that are hard to look away from. If you love an epic tale, an exciting journey, and a world that unveils itself slowly over time; if you don’t mind being a bit confused at times as the details are slowly revealed you, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

I do want to let you know that this does not wrap up neatly and it is very much the first book of several. The second appears to be underway.

Automatic Noodle Review

Book: Automatic Noodle
Author: Annalee Newitz
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group
Year: 2025
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Synopsis : “You don’t have to eat food to know the way to a city’s heart is through its stomach. So when a group of deactivated robots comes back online in an abandoned ghost kitchen, they decide to make their own way doing what they know : making food – the tastiest hand-pulled noodles around – for the humans of San Francisco, who are recovering from a devastating war.
But when their robot-run business starts causing a stir, a targeted wave of one-star reviews threatens to boil over into a crisis. To keep their doors open, they’ll have to call on their customers, their community, and each other – and find a way to survive and thrive in a world that wasn’t built for them.”

Review : Automatic Noodle is a sweet, quick, low-stakes read that I managed to get through in under a day. Weighing in at just 160 pages (in ARC form), when I tell you this is a quick read, I mean it; while Automatic Noodle tells one small story quickly, it isn’t without substance or a deeper meaning. Newitz has done what I have found happening with regularity these days, they’ve disguised within their robot novel a story with a greater meaning, taking a group of othered people and mirroring them to our current world, perhaps not in a perfectly seemless manner, but with dedication that pays off.

In a world where robots have been granted some, albeit small, level of rights (particularly if they’re of a sentient class of robot) following a brutal war between California and the rest of the United States, we enter this novel to find that the sentient robots don’t have much in the way of rights after all. Living either slaved or indentured to corporations or woken to find they’ve been created by a debt that’s strapped not to who created them but to the robot themselves, most sentient robots have little to no choice about the life they must live. They may also find themselves the subjects of hate speech, disgust, cancel culture, and worse due to the nature of their capitalistic society that created a thing to do a job that a human would otherwise have been hired to do. I’ll admit, it was hard for me to wrap my mind around the first layer of this novel, which is, at face value, robotphobia, given the horrific misuse and abuse of generative AI in our current world; destroying the planet, replacing jobs, and demolishing our creative abilities all in one fell trendy swoop. It feels as though Automatic Noodle might be a look through time at ourselves if we don’t get behind human beings pretty immediately. And that’s where our second layer comes in.

Automatic Noodle is a clever mask for a narrative driven by the gross inequities people of all creeds and backgrounds face even in 2025, particularly our queer, trans, neuro-spicy, and non-white friends. Empathy is the thread Newitz binds this story together with, putting the reader into the shoes of sentient robots who just want to live and thrive in a world where others are so able to live and thrive within. In a world where they are outcast and othered simply for being exactly who they are, they find a way to engage with each other, with their community, and to find their own personhood in the midst of everything. Without needing to ask their community for assistance, it’s freely given to them because in Newitz’ world, empathy exists in the majority of people and for those who seem incapable of seeing a person as a person, they appear to be the minority, enraged and bated by targeted online attacks from those with outdated ideas of what might make a country great. Uncanny, huh?

If you want to know how a society is functioning, simply look to the sci-fi and fantasy world to tell you. It’s no coincidence that the last two books I’ve read in this realm have emphasized the concept of empathy. In a world where we forget that people are people and our humanity makes us inherently more alike than different, it’s no surprise to find stories that allude to the hate and vitriol that’s being spewed with more and more vehemence and frequency. Automatic Noodle does an excellent job of relating a futuristic scenario to our present-day troubles, all while cultivating a narrative of joy, peace, friendship, and community despite and because of our differences. Love is a greater force than fear and hate and we see it time and time again in sweet novels such as this. And while I didn’t find the flow of robotic narration my favorite to follow (in fact, I enjoyed Newitz’ writing the best in their letter to the reader), Automatic Noodle is a book I’ll be recommending to friends in the future. It’s a joyous journey into the world of savory noodles, found family, and community support despite raging phobias and hate over a group of people who are simply trying to live their lives in peace. We are all deserving of a peaceful, joy-filled life. Full stop.

Advice : If you’re looking for a quick, cozy read in the vein of A Psalm for the Wild Built, I think you’ll really love Automatic Noodle. If you enjoy a reclamation story, found family, or how food gets made, this is definitely for you!