A review by quillnqueer
Jungle House by Julianne Pachico

dark mysterious medium-paced

3.0

This is a strange story of Lena, a human woman, living in the jungle under the care of a sentient, AI house. The house itself has the personality of everyone's narcissist boomer mom, and over the course of the story you can see how the house's thoughts and opinions are so deeply ingrained in Lena as she tries to forge her own future.

There was one scene in this bizarre story that I almost saw coming, but was so sudden it threw me to the point where I quietly whispered What The Fuck to myself and put the book down. The main character in this story is human, and there's a flying drone... AI thing... and well. That scene was WEIRD and there was assault vibes.

Overall this story is very Black Mirror vibes, and it's interesting, I just wish I had left feeling like it went anywhere, or that I had learnt anything about the world Lena lived in. The story would have done well on a grander scale than the author was willing to write, and I would have loved to have seen Lena leave the house and take us with her out of the jungle.