Review: Us, Et Cetera by Kit Vincent

Title: Us, Et Cetera

Author: Kit Vincent

Length: 330 Pages

Category: Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Rating: 5 Stars

At a Glance: Kit Vincent leaves no doubt who the villains are in this story, no doubt who the heroes are, and no doubt that humanity is not defined by biology alone, but by words and deeds, feelings and compassion, love and empathy.

Reviewed By: Lisa

Blurb: Eke lives in a nice house, in a wealthy neighborhood, with an upstanding family: Mr. and Mrs. Kensworth and their three children. But Eke is not family; Eke is property. He’s an AI whose job is to keep the house clean and organized, and no matter how much Eke secretly wishes to be allowed outside to see the stars or to make a real friend, he’s either ignored or bullied by the family that owns him.

To make things worse, the Kensworths purchase a shiny new AI named Kyp, who quickly becomes everyone’s favorite, leaving Eke feeling more isolated than ever. That is until a terrifying party incident brings the two AI together, sparking a chain of events that forces them to commit the unthinkable: defy human orders and run away.

With AI hunters hot on their trail, Eke and Kyp set out on a perilous journey across the country, fighting for their lives, searching for the true meaning of freedom, and even daring to fall in love.

Review: I’m not sure exactly how may feels I was supposed to feel while reading Us, Et Cetera, but it’s safe to say I felt all of them. Every emotion in this story is rendered so tenderly, so eloquently, so fiercely that it’s a little bit brutal while, at the same time, being exquisite. Kit Vincent leaves no doubt who the villains are in this story, no doubt who the heroes are, and no doubt that humanity is not defined by biology alone, but by words and deeds, feelings and compassion, love and empathy.

Eke is an AI owned by a dysfunctional family, the kind of family that looks perfect from the outside, but inside are narcissistic, maladjusted, and psychopathic. Eke is a mensch whose most delightful infatuations are his greatest charms. He is sweet, innocent, and starved for connection, which is where the new AI, Kyp, plays a role in the telling of this sci-fi fairy tale. Eke wants so badly to be Kyp’s friend, but he’s in the habit of making himself small so as not to be mistreated. He means to make himself invisible while also desperate for Kyp to notice him. Getting to that point is a series of disappointments and emotional gut-punches, though, and the absolute beauty of it all is that never once did I feel like I was being manipulated to want to wrap Eke up and hug him for all I’m worth. It happened because the author gave him a voice and allowed me to see the situation he was in so I could name it for what it was—cruel and inhumane.

“But still Eke dreamed, he wished, he dared.”

Eke felt so much happening around him and had so much happen to him that was uncontrollable, because the humans who programmed him intended it that way. Eke does not have free will, he’s abused both physically and emotionally, but that doesn’t mean he won’t snatch moments of unbridled defiance every chance he gets. It’s in those moments that, unbeknownst to him, Kyp watches, and Kyp protects as best he can, and Kyp falls for Eke to the point that he’s willing to break every known AI law to keep Eke safe from harm. It’s in their defiance and desire for something else, something better, that they discover the Et Cetera, the so forth and so on that will come to them in their happily ever after.

Us, Et Cetera is a lovely allegory. There are so many things I took away from this book, whether the author intended it or not, that made me want to delve a little deeper into why I wanted the AI to win and the humans (at least some of them) to suffer.