Uptown Oracle Reads… The Hierarchies | Thought-Provoking Story About a Sex Robot Achieving Sentience

The Hierarchies Ros Anderson

(Affiliate Links)

Your Husband is the reason for your existence. You are here to serve him. You must not harm your Husband. Nor may you harm any human.

Sylv.ie is a synthetic woman. A fully sentient robot, designed to cater to her Husband’s every whim. She lives alone on the top floor of his luxurious home, her existence barely tolerated by his human wife and concealed from their child. Between her Husband’s visits, deeply curious about the world beyond her room, Sylv.ie watches the family in the garden—hears them laugh, cry, and argue. Longing to experience more of life, she confides her hopes and fears only to her diary. But are such thoughts allowed? And if not, what might the punishment be?

As Sylv.ie learns more about the world and becomes more aware of her place within it, something shifts inside her. Is she malfunctioning, as her Husband thinks, or coming into her own? As their interactions become increasingly fraught, she fears he might send her back to the factory for reprogramming. If that happens, her hidden diary could be her only link to everything that came before. And the only clue that she is in grave danger.

Set in a recognizable near future and laced with dark, sly humor, Ros Anderson’s deeply observant debut novel is less about the fear of new technology than about humans’ age-old talent for exploitation. In a world where there are now two classes of women—“born” and “created”—the growing friction between them may have far-reaching consequences no one could have predicted.

The Hierarchies is another sci-fi book which covers the topic of robots becoming more humanistic in nature. In places it reminds me heavily of the TV show, Humans, however the “dolls” in this universe are being used more and more as sex dolls over robots to help around the house. 

I think a huge part to that anyone needs to know about before reading are the trigger warnings. The book contains sexual abuse, coercion and rape – plus it has a theme bordering around consent and who can consent in this world.

Sylv.ie is a female robot that her “husband” keeps in the attic room whilst he and his family live downstairs. As she develops and learns about the world, she slowly becomes self-aware and starts to be intelligent and autonomous. The mystery aspect is in full force as she keeps a journal for herself, hidden within a drawer in her room, and she finds that pages are missing and there’s messages she tries to tell herself. 

The titular Hierarchies are the rules that robots have to meet the needs of their “husband”/master and how they can’t hurt them or their family. This is programmed into the dolls, but over time our protagonist starts to have more self-control than before. As Sylv.ie becomes more and more aware she realises how badly she’s been treated, memories that have been wiped come back, and she starts to question whether this is all there is to life. 

I enjoyed reading about the themes around what makes a human that are brought up again and again as Sylv.ie meets other robots and humans. Because she’s reached a point where she feels emotions, she’s not quite either and this means she never truly belongs but she still fights for what she wants. There’s also the question around human’s who’ve created the robots starting to hate them because their function in society is lessened too. 

“It is an all-too-Human failing…to wish to improve the object of desire, then to shrink from the creature one creates.”

The Hierarchies is a difficult book to read, especially when it comes to how humans treat the robots in inhumane ways. Whilst the argument is there that they’re not human, the depictions of sex and especially the assault and rape within the book was jarring when reading. Although it is unfortunately not surprising that society would get “gynoids” to use as a sex object, it was odd as we’re reading from Sylv.ie’s perspective. 

Overall I found The Hierarchies to be a thought-provoking, but definitely had themes which some people may struggle to read about. I found the overall story to be gripping and you want to know what will happen to Sylv.ie next, although the pace can be very slow at times.

Positives of The Hierarchies

• Thought provoking ideals for a future world
• Explores robot character as she develops from her programming

Negatives of The Hierarchies

• Strong topics and slow pacing at times

I received The Hierarchies by Ros Anderson from the publisher. This is an unbiased and honest review

If you enjoy content on Uptown Oracle consider supporting us:
 Ko-fi  | PayPal