PositiveEngineering & Technology... defies easy categorisation ... Campbell is empathetic towards both women and their arguments. At times their conversation evokes Socratic dialogue, but neither side is destined to trample triumphantly over the other ... The essays cover all the big debates in this area and are written with lay readers in mind. While anyone with an existing interest in robotics and AI will be familiar with many of these concepts already, they would serve as a great introduction for readers new to this area. Given that Scarlett and Gurl is on the shorter side, however, 12 essays may be a few too many; the overlap between them is noticeable ... Is The Love Makers a novel or is it an essay collection? Yes. Its very refusal to slot into one category or the other reflects the challenge robots present to the old person-object binary opposition. The book is worth buying alone for Scarlett and Gurl, which manages to explore human-machine relationships with empathy, fully fleshed-out characters and genuinely original ideas. The essay collection is secondary, but well worth reading, especially for those unfamiliar with the debate around human-machine relationships.
Kate Devlin
PositiveEngineering and TechnologyWitty and optimistic ...The opening chapters are effective introductions to these concepts for anyone unfamiliar with them. However, anybody already interested in sex technology, robots and science-fiction is certainly going to be familiar with much of this material already ... Devlin proves to be a rational voice amid a sea of speculation and concern ... Devlin’s pro-sex feminist stance is refreshingly well-informed and empathetic. She understands sex and fantasy in a way that many writers approaching these subjects fumble with ... While the first half of ‘Turned On’ is a witty journey through well-worn territory, the second half of the book is a creative, optimistic, open-minded exploration of sex robots.
