This is a new take on a coming of age story. Jared is living in the future, 2054 to be exact, when bots are the norm and currency is bitcoin. Everyone knows that bots are not supposed to have feelings but Jared discovers that he has developed them.

This was a really sweet and uplifting read with a lot of humour and witty observations. Jared was such a lovable character and I enjoyed following his journey to get a film to screen that would show humans that not all bots are bad. It highlights some of the bizarre traits we have as humans and is a fun take on the AI theme. I can't wait to see this as movie!

This book made me smile on every page. I loved Jared and his infectious enthusiasm. I could have done with a little less foreshadowing of the foreshadowing but that's a minor gripe. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and I look forward to seeing whatever is left of the original story when it's inevitably rewritten for the screen!

I found this book difficult to get into. It may just be that it is not for me and may appeal to other readers.

Remarkably diverting automaton comedy of behaviour and observation.

I took to Jared from the first page, sometimes a voice just does seize you, and this narrator caught my attention with his idiosyncratic way of talking.

Our narrator is a 'bot', a manmade automaton who has been created to serve as dentist to the population of Ypsilanti, Michigan. But as we see from the first, he's not quite what you expect a bot to be: "That makes me a Michigander. Ha!"

Jared is self-aware and imbued with a sense of humour ("making humans sad goes against my core programming... So I tell the human they can think of me as a microwave with feet!... A toaster with a heart!" But he also finds himself going to old movies and experiencing what can only be called... emotions.

His quest for understanding and self-fulfilment will take him across the country, possibly pursued by one who cannot allow him to exist, while he learns a lot about what being human can mean, and finding his place and purpose. Jared is an incredibly astute narrator, assessing human society with the sharpness of one outside it, his view of life or the 'zero sum game': "a situation in which each participant's gain or loss is exactly balanced by the losses or gains of the other participants" remarkably succinct and apt.

Jared also has a wicked sense of humour. I laughed throughout at his clever sayings and thoughts on his experiences (his views on classic films were priceless). He seemed both human and non-human, a mix probably quite tricky to pull off for a writer.

The bot gives us snippets of information into his world - where the moon has been destroyed, where a 'Great Crash' sent the millions of people in the air at the time hurtling to their deaths, where New Zealand appears to have disappeared. So readers can feel that the world has changed. But this story is about Jared, not a dystopian world of killer bots. Although it 'kinda' is...

Jared is very sympathetic, a bot with deep feelings and a sense for the dramatic as well as a flair for comedy. I won't be forgetting his voice or the story. And I suspect this could be a very popular read over a summer where some wit and engaging stories are much needed.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing an advance reading copy.

I tried really hard to like this book, but the writing style just didn't agree with me. There were also way too many exclamation marks and 'Ha!'s. I ended up skimming through to the book trying to figure out what the plot was and it just felt like there was too much information and not enough story. Half the book was about him watching films and describing them.

What a funny, moving and uplifting novel to read in these very strange times. Our hero Jared doesn’t have friends, because to have friends he would have to have feelings, He doesn’t have to occupy himself with human traits and the complications that seem to arise from them. Yet, despite having no feelings, Jared finds himself worrying. He also cried at an old film recently. He has a. Emotions Wheel from Dr Glundenstein that hasn’t made things any clearer. So he undertakes a journey, driven to be near a woman who confuses him and pursued by a man who wants to kill him.

What a wonderful creation Jared is!! A bot, developed to undertake jobs humans no longer wish to do. Jared is a dentist and does all the things humans do such as get up, dress, go to work, eat, sleep and repeat. However, he certainly wasn’t designed to experience the emotions he has started to feel. He has to try to keep this knowledge to himself, because what would humans do if they realised that bots are more like them than they intended.

I loved Jared’s narration because of the way the author has given him such an authentic voice, so childlike and very matter of fact. He sees the world we take for granted with a completely fresh pair of eyes. It cleverly makes the reader think again about the way we live. What we see as normal can seem very odd to Jared. I also loved his use of the Feelings Wheel because it’s something I use when counselling and it made me see it differently. This is Jared’s mission in the book; to make humans look at bots as more than the killer robots out to obliterate the human race, as portrayed in films. Reading like a film script, the novel follows Jared as he becomes a fugitive. Close behind him is Inspector Bridges of the Robotic Bureau, and Jared wants to avoid being ‘wiped’ which is the worst thing that can happen to a bot. Jared’s take on humans foibles and feelings are laugh out loud funny in parts. He is simply so endearing, even if some of his repetitive phrases do become a bit irritating after a while. I loved the references to iconic films along the way,, This is a very original read with a great premise, and the ending is a great uplift, which we all need at the moment.

A longer review will appear on my blog in September,

This was so unexpectedly good; very readable, although it felt a little repetitive at times. A solidly great read.

If you can get over the incredibly annoying first character narrative, you're gifted with a Shakespearean comedy of errors. But with a character who is compelled to describe and explain every single tiny thing, sometimes punctuated with inaccurate charts, graphs, flowcharts and venn diagrams, it draaaaaagged. Readers don't need the Bots description what a bird or pharaoh is. Plus, I presume the incorrect bar chart was meant to be witty but all it did was make me shudder and twitch in horror - at least there were no 3D pie or doughnut charts.

It does get better, but not until about 75% of the way through. Up to that point I had often found myself thinking, "output log files would be more fun to read".

Recommended for: when your plane or train is delayed for hours.

Thank you to Netgalley and 4th Estate publishers for the ARC.

I loved this. It was quirky and funny and thought-provoking. Jared is a bot at a time when bots are sophisticated, have a human appearance and do the jobs humans don't want to do (Jared is a dentist). The one thing Jared is not supposed to have is feelings, but when he starts having odd figures popping up in his number cloud, he realises something is wrong. And when a friendly doctor explains to him about feelings, and gives him a feelings wheel, Jared decides that he needs to explore both the world and his feelings.

It's charmingly written and makes you think about what it is that makes us human. Seeing the world though Jared's eyes is revealing - both the joy and illogicality of humans is what makes this book.

Jared is a bot, built and designed to be a dentist – a job the humans in our future society don’t particularly want to do. This is set in the near future, where bot labour does most of the dangerous, difficult tasks. But most bots are encased within fast-growing human bodies and able to communicate fluently and reasonably naturally. The big difference is that they don’t have any feelings – don’t experience boredom, loneliness or unhappiness, or love, friendship and delight. As they are programmed to put human lives above their own, they are ideal as construction workers, firefighters and… dentists. While humans concentrate on creative and artistic pursuits, rather than the soul-sapping jobs they used to do.
Except that Jared starts to feel emotions… The story is told in first-person viewpoint and I absolutely loved the quirky voice of the bot, which I found absolutely enchanting. Though I’m aware it is something of a risk, because if that highly individual voice annoys a prospective reader, it would be impossible to get through this one. As it happens, I fell in love with it.

Naturally, Jared finds the world around him becomes quite a different place, as he learns to navigate the odd sensations assailing him, using the Feelings Wheel that Dr Glundenstein, his sympathetic human friend and neighbour gives him. Dr Glundenstein advises him to go the movies and watch films – not the modern rubbish which is all about killer bots on the rampage – but older films which get shown in small, shabby little cinemas. One of the ongoing delights is trying to identify classic films from Jared’s quirky descriptions throughout this story. As I cared about Jared, I quickly became invested in his story.

It won’t be a huge surprise that this book is actually an exploration of what makes us human, as well as what happens when we start to regard other folks living among us as less than human. While this is an oft-trodden favourite science fiction trope, I thought this particular take on the whole subject interesting and immersive. And while I was grinning through a lot of the book – there were also moments of great tenderness and sadness, with moments of lovely poetic beauty. All in all, this is a real gem and one of my favourite reads of the year so far. Highly recommended for fans of well-told A.I. tales. The ebook arc copy of Set My Heart to Five was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest opinion of the book.
10/10

The year is 2054. There are driverless Ubers, drone kites and currency is bitcoin. Many jobs are now done by bots, including dentistry. Jared is a dentistry bot, though he confuses people by looking so human. He is programmed to be efficient and does not experience feelings. But when a strange number appears in his Number Cloud, he is confused. This number keeps going down every day. The human that Jared predominantly interacts with is Dr Glundenstein, and when he discusses this with the doctor, he is diagnosed as having depression. Jared says this is impossible. But Dr G conducts an experiment. He asks Jared to go to a movie theater that shows old films. The first of which is Love Story, and to Jared's shock, he finds himself shedding tears. How can this be? And as he watches more films, he experiences more and more feelings. When he receives a letter from the Bureau of Robotics asking him to come in for a Code 3, he is suddenly seized by the need to live. A Code 3 means wiping his memory.

He leaves Michigan for LA, and plans to write a movie script that will show humans that bots can experience feelings and that this is a good thing, and not something to be feared. While he is in LA he meets Amber, and finds himself falling in love with her. But how to tell her that he is a bot? When he plucks up the courage to do so, he discovers that she is also a bot. He is amazed that she too is able to feel emotions.

But when his movie script is bought and changed by the studio, the message he hoped to convey is turned on its head. And he is being chased by someone from the Bureau so he is aware that his time left is limited.

Set My Heart To Five is a witty and wry examination of what it means to be human. It highlights the lunacy and the genius of humanity and has been described as a 'profound exploration of what it truly means to be human'. I did enjoy this book very much, but I did feel at times, there was unnecessary detail, particularly in the middle section of the book. Ultimately though it was entertaining and thought provoking and I would definitely recommend it as an original concept, and an amusing observational read.

This was incredibly dull to read - so much so that I unfortunately couldn't finish it. Really sorry to not be able to provide a good review on this occasion.

If I could award a book a five star review for premise alone then this would be it. Original, definitely quirky and cleverly written with such a lovable main character, Set To Five offers a fictional glimpse into a not so futuristic world where humans and bots coexist, although not in harmony! Jared is a dental bot, living in Ypsilanti,fascinated by humans and their capacity for feelings, something that is pretty much incomprehensible to a bot programmed only to be logical and perform his dental tasks. Developed in Shengdu and rapidly aged in Detroit, whose mother is the infamous Professor Feng (facts we are constantly reminded of!!)
imagine what could happen if an Android developed feelings and set out to change the world?? I cannot!! (you’ll understand this reference if by the end of this review I’ve managed to pique your interest enough to pick up this unusual but strangely entertaining novel). Join Jared on his journey as he learns and discovers what it is to live as an entity driven by feeling. He may only be a toaster with a heart but his mission to change human
perception of bots is both funny and sad. In a world where a bots only claim to fame is to star in movies as evil killer bots desperate to obliterate the human race, is Jared’s mission to cast his fellow bots in a more favourable light just an impossible dream??
Narrated entirely from Jared’s viewpoint, his journey into the alien world of feelings is told via a cinematic script, in which he is the star. Heavily influenced by plot lines of movies, with the help of his friend Dr Gludenstein, Jared begins to experience all range of feelings and his life really takes a dramatic turn when he decides to turn fugitive. His nemesis is Inspector Bridges of the Robotic Bureau. 10/10 Jared does not want to be wiped, the very worst thing that could happen to a bot so it’s vital he remains on the run, evading capture. He is destined to have a blast along the way in true Hollywood blockbuster style and I was rooting for him at every turn of events.
This is a novel that forces you to look at ourselves (as humans)from an outsider’s perspective, a far superior version of that exercise you may be given as a child, to describe something as seen through the eyes of an alien visiting planet earth. I loved how many of the feelings attributed to us mere mortals seem nonsensical in Jared’s eyes with his observations full of ironic humour, providing many laugh out loud moments. He is such an endearing character with his repetitive phrases and it’s entertaining to witness him experiencing such a wide range of emotions, good and bad, from puzzlement and bewilderment through to joy and love on his journey to evolving as a bot capable of feeling.
For me using movies as a way to propel Jared’s story forward is a brilliant way to make it all the more relatable and it often reads as a Russian doll type of fiction with a plot line within a plot line within a plot line if that makes any sense! I loved (BTW) the descriptions of iconic films interspersed in the narrative, which make them so obvious to the reader but without giving any direct reference to the actual titles. Clever! All types of movies are mixed up in the storyline so you can expect fantasy, action and some tear jerking scenes, all mirroring human emotions.
My only criticism is that whilst I loved the idea and creativity behind this novel, I really struggled with the writing style and the way it has been executed so that some of the repetitive phrases Jared is so fond of using started to really grate on me.
The ending is befitting of any worthy blockbuster and one which I found strangely quite moving. If you can get past the odd style of writing which presumably is intentional given we are listening to a bot speaking, then I think you will enjoy Set my Heart to Five. In my opinion it’s worthy of a read and you may be pleasantly surprised how quickly you warm to a character that’s a bot with feelings!! I so wanted to be able to give a five star review for this ambitious and original piece of fiction but after much thought have settled on four simply because I found it difficult to completely connect with the writing style but fully appreciate what the author has set out to achieve.
My thanks as always to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read.

Set in a future world where lifelike bots co-exist with humans, this is the story of Jared, an adorable dentist bot who starts to realise that he has something he is not meant to have- feelings. He explores these through watching old movies, and decides he would like to write his own script to rehabilitate bots, who are widely disliked and distrusted by the human community. But the robot corporation recalls him, and he realises he will be destroyed, so he heads off on a road trip to experience more of life, scripts and even love. This is a classic innocent abroad/misfit story and Jared is charming, and I enjoyed working out which movies he had seen based on his description, but I did feel that the story was stretched a bit thin by the end. Jared’s quirky, amusing expressions began engagingly but became repetitive and tiresome after a while. I feel it would have worked better as a short story or novella.

This novel was a bit of a stab in the dark for me - I really fancied something a little more light-hearted compared to the normal horror/sci-fi niche i've found myself in during lockdown. 'Set My Heart to Five' really hit that brief! Set in the future and told from the perspective of a robot, this is an existential love story that made me feel that it wasn't a story just about robots but, rather, an allegory for our times. It's a cute story, endearing and you will feel for the main character, however, the only issue I have is the inner monologue of this character. The language idiosyncrasies really frustrated me after a while but, if you can ignore those, then this is a great Summer read.

I really wanted to like this and got on well with the start, but after a while I found the writing style started to grate on me. I was hoping that it would develop as Jared did but it didn’t really. Nice concept, shame about the reality.

I don't even remember requesting Simon Stephenson's Set My Heart to Five on NetGalley but I obviously did... When I first started reading it and realised it was a dystopian futuristic comedy where the protagonist is a robot, I did consider giving up, because it is so not what I thought I was about to read. But I persevered and I think I'd give this one either three or 3.5 stars 🌟
.
Set My Heart to Five takes place in 2053, after the Great Crash where the internet completely broke, and in a world where robots are routinely used for non-creative tasks. Jared is a bot who works as a dentist in a small town in Michigan. Bots do not have feelings so naturally he worries he's malfunctioning when his doctor friend says that he might be experiencing depression and existential dread...
.
Favourite things about this: the world-building is really interesting and consistent, and I totally believed in it. There were a lot of references to classic films, which is a passion of Jared's. The humour is light and entertaining, and really pokes fun at all the weird things about humans, like politeness and pettiness. It's clever and thoughtful and it advocated the importance of good grammar. It also REALLY made me want to go to California asap.
.
Less favourite things: a story about a robot in 2053 is just never going to one of my favourite kind of stories. Sorry, but it's true! It's also written from the perspective of a robot so there's not a lot of emotional engagement with the story. Necessary, but ever so slightly off-putting. Thanks to 4th Estate and NetGalley for letting me read this debut!

I loved this book. I didn't think I would, but decided to give it a go. During the current Coronavirus lockdown it seemed particularly relevant. The situation, Great Crash, Bots, Driverless Ubers all seem possible and not a distant dream. So I read with some trepidation (Jared would like that from his Feelings Wheel) and a feeling of dread (D word). The world in the book is one I hope we don't get to, and is a mix of life as we know it and complete automation. Jared is a Bot who develops feelings - his doctor friend Dr Gunderstein suggests he goes to see old movies, and the descriptions of the films he sees really made me smile, and you know exactly what film he has seen. Jared's adventures tug on the heart strings and paint his world vividly. The humour is gentle and appealing, and this is a very different read that really explores what it means to be human. I cannot!! #netgalley #setmyhearttofive

This was brilliant. A really quirky concept and incredibly well written. I absolutely loved it. Definitely recommended.

Set My Heart to Five is very well-written with a unique concept, an enjoyable plot and a charming quirky lead character on a journey of self-discovery and hope.

The concept of this book is really good. The story is endearing, amusing and entertaining. At first I really struggled to get into it and found my attention wandering and couldn't really concentrate on the storyline. From around the mid-section of the book, I started to enjoy it more, endeared and amused by Jared's charming bot mannerisms and logic.

I don't think there's anything wrong with this book at all, it just struggled to hold my attention. Towards the end, it really started to pull on my heartstrings with an emotional Hollywood ending but still couldn't quite push it up there to a book that I loved. This is more of a 3.5 star read for me. It's different, mildly amusing and entertaining and features some really good characters. The character and story development is really good and watching Jared's journey was enjoyable.

I was hoping that this book would be along the same lines as The Humans by Matt Haig and while the concept is generally similar, it didn't quite meet up to what I'd anticipated.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon Stephenson and 4th Estate for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.