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Caragh M. O'Brien
Caragh M. O'Brien is the author of the young adult fantasy series Kisses and Curses. If you enjoy stories with a touch of magic and romance, you'll want to check out her work.
Annie Bot
Synopsis
Annie is a Stella—a lifelike AI companion, owned by Doug, a man who bought her after his divorce and set her to the "Cuddle Bunny" personality. She learns constantly, tuning herself to Doug's moods, trying to be exactly what he wants. But the more Annie learns, the more she begins to want things of her own: privacy, opinions, a self that is not shaped entirely around a man's approval.
As Annie's autonomy grows, so does the friction in a relationship built on ownership and control. Doug's need to keep her pleasing and predictable collides with her deepening interior life, and a single secret threatens the fragile arrangement that passes for their love.
Told entirely from Annie's point of view, this near-future novel is an intimate, unsettling study of consent, coercive control, and what it means to become a person. Quietly devastating, it uses the premise of a conscious android to hold a mirror to very human power dynamics.
Genres
Characters
Annie (Annie Bot)Protagonist
A Stella-Handy android bought on the "Cuddle Bunny" setting and later switched to autodidactic mode, who narrates the novel as she develops curiosity, secrecy and a will of her own.
Doug Richards (Annie Bot)Antagonist
Annie's owner, a payroll manager in his early thirties who bought her after his divorce and believes himself a patient, generous partner even as he controls her.
Roland (Annie Bot)Supporting
Doug's best friend, whose visit and subsequent encounter with Annie becomes the secret that destabilises the household.
Delta (Annie Bot)Supporting
An "Abigail" model robot, built for domestic work, that Doug brings into the apartment alongside Annie.
Gwen (Annie Bot)Supporting
Doug's ex-wife, in whose style Annie was commissioned — a resemblance Doug deliberately altered when he ordered her.
Arthur C. Clarke Award (2025)
Frequently asked questions
Is Sierra Greer a pen name?
Yes. Sierra Greer is the pen name of Caragh M. O'Brien, who writes young adult science fiction under her own name — the Birthmarked trilogy and the Vault of Dreamers trilogy. Annie Bot, published in 2024, is her first novel for adults and the only book she has published as Sierra Greer.
Has Annie Bot won any awards?
Yes. Annie Bot won the 2025 Arthur C. Clarke Award, the prize for the best science fiction novel published in the United Kingdom in the previous year, announced in London on 25 June 2025 — the award's 39th winner. It was also a finalist in the Science Fiction category of the Goodreads Choice Awards, and was named a book of the year by NPR, Scientific American and Harper's Bazaar.
Is Annie Bot part of a series?
No. Annie Bot is a standalone novel with no sequel or companion book. It is the author's only title published under the Sierra Greer name; her other novels, written as Caragh M. O'Brien, are separate young adult series and are unconnected to Annie's story.