An intriguing and introspective dystopian sci/fi focusing on one main robot within a group of robots and the robots perilous journey through the various levels within the world. This was a solid follow up story to the first installment and had me gripped from start to finish.

Thankyou to Net galley and 9mm Press for an arc of this short story.

A great addition to the series. NX made appearances in the prior book, The Warm Machine, at the beginning and the end. Those same events are seen from NX’s viewpoint this time around. In between, NX makes friends and grows on her own and with their help.

If Aimee writes them, I look forward to reading more books in this world.

While I personally prefer The Warm Machine to The Lucky Machine, and it took me a little longer to get into the swing of it, but that should in no way should diminish what is also an excellent book. The book is charming, sweet, and, like its predecessor, full of humanity – both good and bad but mostly hopeful and compassionate. NX’s almost childlike optimism is a fantastic lens through which to examine more of what is clearly a very dire world in many ways.

If I were to make any complaint, it would mostly be one of my own doing: Knowing what becomes of NX in The Warm Machine I spent way too long waiting for the other shoe to drop, wondering how she got where she was, and it sort of altered my expectations of the story. I wish I could have had more context for it earlier so I could enjoy her time with Sylvan and Level 3 more without imaging what was going to happen and how. But again, that’s mostly a me problem.

After fleeing servitude as a personal robot, NX finds herself living and working with Sylvan, a cyborg who owns The Toy Shop, a store that specializes in sex toys and vintage clothing. However, NX learns that Sylvan has a dream to not just sell clothes but design them and after he shows her some of his pieces Sylvan’s dream becomes NX’s too. Cyborg and bot though both have pasts that will catch up to them soon if they aren’t careful and whether they want to admit it or not the more popular their clothing becomes the closer they come to everything they’ve worked for crashing down around them.

NX sneaked down to the lower levels to try to find freedom and an escape from her nightly memory wipes. She hopes to find Root – a safe place place where autonomous robots can live as themselves, free from human rules and control. However, things don’t go quite as planned and she is rescued by a cyborg called Sylvan after she freezes and shuts down. In order to repay him, she (initially begrudgingly) agrees to work at his clothing store until she works off the debt she caused him.

This book is absolutely delightful! I enjoyed it even more than Warm Machine. I adored NX and Sylvan’s friendship and how they managed to help each other find something they had been missing and longing for. A beautiful story about finding light, warmth and friendship in an otherwise rather dystopian (and often rather damp) world. I hope the author decides to share more bot stories in the future.

Another lovely book from this author. Dystopian world with many levels and many robots. Following the stories of one particular bot. Really enjoyed this. Thank you to the author. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

I’m at a bit of a loss for where to even begin.

After finishing The Warm Machine, I decided I wanted more of Aimee Cozza’s work and bought a copy from her website. I don’t know what sorcery she uses to make such otherworldly stories in…

A sweet, heartwarming follow-up to The Warm Machine that focuses on Inix. It is a book about the power of creativity, about dreams and the quiet strength of community. Lovely, human and hopeful (which is sorely needed in the times we live in). Also, yay for the last chapter!

If you enjoyed The Warm Machine, you will love this one too!

Oh man I didn’t know this was a follow up book and I now will go back and read the one before it. I enjoyed this read and recommend it to readers. It kept me interested the whole way thru from start to finish.

I very much enjoyed this followup to The Warm Machine. I hope we’ll get to spend more time with all of these characters, including Feint and Sylvan

Finished reading and had to jump on and immediately leave a review. Inix’s story is a so very different from the adventure of Sterling and Zev, but introduces us to an avalanche of worldbuilding that absolutely makes it a must read. I’m just as intrigued by the cyborgs as I am the bots. Sylvan is wonderful, so good at helping Inix to become something more. And I’m in love with Feint, small as her on-page part is. With this second outing in the world, I’ve gone from enjoying the story to very much looking forward to anything else that might be in the future offing.

After reading the Warm Machine, I, of course, wanted more Inix, and the Lucky Machine does not disappoint! She was such a fun POV to read because of her general personality and I loved being along for the ride as she became more and more herself and more into creating and selling clothes. After reading the Warm Machine, I was always a little tense, waiting for the inevitable link up between the two stories.

Delightfully cozy with a fun robot pov learning how to be herself. Definitely recommend if you want something a little more low key and personal!

Such a lovely, heartfelt follow-up to The Warm Machine. I really enjoyed getting to learn more about the city (viewed briefly in TWM) and it’s inhabitants, as well as NX herself! The world felt well-considered and alive. I really enjoyed the focus on friendship as well, which I think is a bit underrepresented in modern fiction. If you’re looking for a cozy sci-fi read, this is definitely one to put on your TBR list.

I’ve decided 2026 is the year I get back into reading, and when I saw Aimee Cozza advertising the launch of a story about a robot and friendship, well, how could I resist! And I couldn’t be happier with the fact I picked this book up, it’s is everything I needed out of a story. Cute and sweet with just enough tension to really have me reading nonstop (in fact I finished the whole thing in only two sittings). Inix is the sweetest type of character and I really enjoyed watching her figure out her own autonomy and build connections with Sylvan and level three. I also really adored Sylvan! And Feint has left me wanting with so many questions!

Overall it’s a nice optimistic stiry that left me feeling good after reading it! So 10/10 I would absolutely recommend and trust me I will be recommending it to, pestering even, every friend I have to check it out XD

A lovely followup to The Warm Machine, this one focuses on Inix, a side character from that story, and tells her tale. Where the first book is all about the bots, this one covers a lot of bot/human interaction and also a bit more worldbuilding on the society. A very nice addition to the bot universe, full of wholesome relationships and lots of pattern-making!

You might think that tying together a rogue anomalous android once used only for human pleasure, a disillusioned man with cybernetic parts, underground fashion designs, and a setting that invokes the feel of Kowloon Walled City would be a difficult task, but not for Aimee Cozza. This story is cozy in all the right ways – there is some danger but also soft fabrics, second chances, growing friendships, and beautiful character growth.
NX is a loveable character who could have been written as naive, thanks to the limited memories that she managed to hold onto despite nightly memory wipes. Instead she is hopeful in the purest of ways; she knows that the world is dangerous, but she continues to see and support the best parts of it.

I recommend this and it’s companion The Warm Machine highly for folks who need hopeful stories in their lives.

What more can I say, other than the author has done it again? A repeat of The Warm Machine in the best way possible. I found a perfect sequel within the pages of The Lucky Machine, and every moment spent with NX and Sylvan was just so…endearing. An almost cozy slice-of-life SciFi that I wasn’t 100% aware I needed.

But I did, I needed this. Sure, its a SciFi dystopia, but in these pages there’s still hope, warmth, optimism, and something to look forward to. Whether that’s seeing the sunlight when leaving the depths of the city, or that people care even when you don’t think so, or both.

You do not want to miss out on this book, or this author, or the other book. Go read them. Right meow.

An absolutely brilliant follow up to The Warm Machine following Inix, briefly met in the first book. The Lucky Machine is fun, insightful, and deeply felt as it explores the nature of art, humanity, and what it means to build community in the underbelly of a near future city. This book is incredibly timely and needed.