Crier's War by Nina Varela (review)

Crier was Made sixteen years ago to be the daughter of Sovereign Hesod, the ruler of most of Zulla, in a society where Automa are the dominant race and humans their subservient laborers. Automa are Designed to be stronger, smarter, and longer-lived than their human counterparts, which sixteen-year-old human Ayla resents, particularly as Sovereign Hesod directly caused her family's deaths. As Ayla works with the rebel movement to get closer to Hesod's household to murder his daughter in vengeance, Crier faces a betrothal to the leader of a movement that seeks to separate humans and Automa completely and replace the ever-depleting source of Automa life. When Ayla is appointed Crier's handmaiden, she has the perfect opportunity to take her life and exact revenge, but Crier isn't at all what Ayla expected, and the two quickly become embroiled in conspiracies that simultaneously pit them against each other and bring them close enough together to harbor romantic feelings. Amidst conspiracies and genuinely surprising plot twists, Varela raises classic sci-fi conundrums: Would androids be capable of love? Can an android and a human morally be together? At what point is something considered "alive"? This interesting mesh of sci-fi and fantasy situates androids within court intrigue, enhanced with a steamy, well-paced lesbian romance that will make readers impatient to nab the next novel in this planned trilogy.