Her friend Clovis concocts a plan to help Jane get what she wants from their friend Egyptia, who has rented Silver, but this time with the robot is fleeting. Although she is rich, Jane does have a monthly cap on her allowance to teach her responsibility and does not have enough money to buy Silver. However, he is not a man but S.I.L.V.E.R., one of the newest creations of Electronic Metals, Ltd., a manufacturer of robots who have a new line of machines that appear to be very human.Īs much as Jane tries to forget about this robot, she keeps encountering him and eventually comes to the realization that she is in love with a machine. When she sees his face, Jane thinks he is beautiful. Her life consists of keeping up with the latest dramas of her “friends” (most of whom she admits she doesn’t even actually like) and pleasing her mother until she hears a singer on the street. She’s rarely had to make decisions on her own since everything from her ideal hair color to the perfect weight for her body type have been made for her and are regulated through treatments and pills. Jane is a wealthy teenage girl who has never had to think for herself: she’s perfectly happy to adopt her mother’s opinions as her own. The basic premise of the story is a girl falls in love with a robot but The Silver Metal Lover is much more than that – both a bittersweet romantic tale and a coming of age story told from the perspective of sixteen year old Jane. From what I have heard, the second book is not nearly as good as its predecessor, but not having actually read it, I can’t supply my own opinion on the matter. The Silver Metal Lover stands alone well as a complete story, and Metallic Love, which focuses on a different set of characters, actually takes place twelve years after this one. It has one sequel, Metallic Love, published about 24 years after the first book. So she escapes into the city's violent, decaying slums to embrace a love bordering on madness.The Silver Metal Lover by the prolific Tanith Lee was originally published in 1981. And she will give up everything to prove it. Jane is certain that Silver is more than just a machine built to please. Until Jane's life is changed forever by a chance encounter with a robot minstrel with auburn hair and silver skin, whose songs ignite in her a desperate and inexplicable passion.

She and her friends are the idle, pampered children of the privileged class, living in luxury on an Earth remade by natural disaster. Love is made of more than mere flesh and blood.įor sixteen-year-old Jane, life is a mystery she despairs of ever mastering. In this unforgettably poignant novel, Lee has created a classic tale-a beautiful, tragic, sensual, and ultimately triumphant love story of the future. Tanith Lee is one of the most thought-provoking and imaginative authors of our time.

The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee