Kelli lives on the moon. Not just any moon, but Callisto, where a generative AI company runs and owns everything. Kelli works for the media, tuning generated AI scripts of her own characters and turning them into entertainment for the masses. Not everything is as it seems though, certain topics are taboo, restricted from being aired on TV or even researched without black market materials. As Kelli's ex, Rowan, resurfaces, she begins to delve into a world she wishes to forget, and also a new world too. This book is very dystopian heavy, which I love. Lots of topics and themes currently centred around modern issues, such as trans rights, queer rights, ai use, autistic/disabled rights. I personally feel like the author approached these heavy topics really well. As an autistic person myself, I found the neurodivergent rep to be refreshing. Kelli, the mc, covers her ears from loud noises, wears noise cancelling headphones, has safe foods, doesn't like being touched, etc. This book a is nice exploration into society. Kelli is ostracised as her diagnosis leads her to have an ai companion robot - a robot which tells her to introduce herself and ask her classmates' names, despite her being in classes with them for years. It looks into queer issues, both past and present, as well as mental health issues too. The plot was great. It was a lot more than I expected for a sci-fi romance story. We have crime bosses, a heist, first loves, growing friendships, space, ai, all wrapped into a perfect, firey package. It explores dual pov, and past and present. The reveals and build ups worked perfectly for me, I wasn't moaning the time spent on anything, nor was i thinking it was too fast paced. I could not recommend this more, especially for ND and/ or queer folks into dystopian and sci- fi.

Ignore All Previous Instructions was a fantastic read! It's set in a future where an AI Conglomerate basically owns all media / stories and has space colonies and stuff. Everyone has Basic Income and Basic housing because only 10% of people have jobs. I would have loved to have explored this a bit more, because ideally you'd think it'd be a bit like Star Trek right? Except money is still a thing so it isn't at all. The main character is one of those people with a job, essentially supervising the AI that creates the shows, like making sure the output is in line with the character's expected behaviour and stuff like that. It deals with the homogenisation of stories / media when it's all created with AI, the danger of over-relying on AI when it comes to life and stuff like mental health etc, queer awakenings and how that goes when queerness is a thing to be hidden away and there's no rep or books available to kids about it etc. And there's a heist! It's such a fun and heart warming and character-driven story. There's also some darkness here, as the world they live in is far from perfect. But I think at heart it's a very hopeful story. I know this is a standalone but I'd LOVE to have another book with Kelli and Rowan! Like...as a series of standalones maybe! I liked that Ada Hoffman has some post script end chapters explaining stuff like the queer stuff, the neurodivergent stuff, the GenAI stuff AND has a list of references to some of the things that they said / referenced! I really appreciated how thorough and thoughtful that was.

This book was such ans enjoyable read. It was like experiencing steampunk and space opera at the same time same time. I forgot I was reading and felt like watching an epic tale unfold in front of me. So many passages I had to read aloud because they were so well written. High recommended to all fantasy and science fiction readers. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this wonderful story.

Ignore All Previous Instructions was a fantastic read! It's set in a future where an AI Conglomerate basically owns all media / stories and has space colonies and stuff. Everyone has Basic Income and Basic housing because only 10% of people have jobs. I would have loved to have explored this a bit more, because ideally you'd think it'd be a bit like Star Trek right? Except money is still a thing so it isn't at all. The main character is one of those people with a job, essentially supervising the AI that creates the shows, like making sure the output is in line with the character's expected behaviour and stuff like that. It deals with the homogenisation of stories / media when it's all created with AI, the danger of over-relying on AI when it comes to life and stuff like mental health etc, queer awakenings and how that goes when queerness is a thing to be hidden away and there's no rep or books available to kids about it etc. And there's a heist! It's such a fun and heart warming and character-driven story. There's also some darkness here, as the world they live in is far from perfect. But I think at heart it's a very hopeful story. I know this is a standalone but I'd LOVE to have another book with Kelli and Rowan! Like...as a series of standalones maybe! I liked that Ada Hoffman has some post script end chapters explaining stuff like the queer stuff, the neurodivergent stuff, the GenAI stuff AND has a list of references to some of the things that they said / referenced! I really appreciated how thorough and thoughtful that was. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the Tachyon for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you Ada Hoffman, Tachyon Publishing and NetGalley for an eARC of Ignore All Previous Instructions. This is my honest review. The concept of this book--an AI conglomerate who controls all language and media, sounds both fascinating and terrifying. And while this book does manage to encompass both facets, there are times where the, for lack of a better word, vibes fall flat. Given the blurb, I expected more world-building dystopia, but it's more heavily character-driven. And while that's not a bad thing, it took me a while into the book to fully appreciate the nuance of the characters. I don't know, for me, if this was down to the author's voice or the timeline jumping of the plot, neither of which aren't done well. But the mix of the two, perhaps, led to me not fully understanding or gelling with these characters for quite a while. However, once you get where the characters are coming from and how they connect, who they are, etc, everything clicks. I didn't always like Rowan and Kelli (and that's not the point of any story) but I did see them, appreciate them, and enjoy the nuanced realism of their struggles. The AI aspect of this book is subtle, the descriptions of their schooling under StoryGen and the use of the therapy bots crept up on me and I didn't fully comprehend the ramifications at first. But that feels real for our current timeline, scarily. All that, plus throw in some space pirates and a heist? Yep, this is a pretty decent read.