Metallic Lover: An unusual sequel to an unusual book

Metallic Love by Tanith Lee

Metallic Love (2005) is technically a sequel to The Silver Metal Lover, but (despite the same premise and a few reappearing characters) is so drastically different in tone and content that it barely counts as a continuation of Tanith Lee‘s earlier unorthodox love story between a young woman and a silver android.

That said, it is preferable if you read The Silver Metal Lover before Metallic Love, as it is a story that exists within this one: Jane’s manuscript is found by new protagonist Lr4eoren and constantly referred to over the course of her experiences. Growing up in a strict religious cult, her discovery of Jane’s Story under the floorboards changes the course of Loren’s life, inspiring her to abandon her fanatical guardians and forge her own destiny.

A few years later, her attention is caught by an advertisement from the META corporation; one announcing that they’ve re-engineered the robots that were destroyed in the previous book — including Silver. Having grown up with the story of the beautiful, silver-skinned robot with a soul, Loren is desperate to get close to him; to see if Jane’s story is true or just the work of an overactive imagination.

Loren is a very different character from Jane; she describes Jane as soft on the outside and steely on the inside, and herself as the exact inversion. Whereas Jane was a poor little rich girl, Loren grew up in the slums and knows how to take care of herself. But when she’s chosen as a potential companion for Silver (now called Verlis) she’s thrown into circumstances she can’t possibly predict or understand.

Whereas The Silver Metal Lover was a musing on love and immortality, Metallic Love is more of a conspiracy/thriller, with plenty of twists and turns throughout. Can Verlis and his kind be trusted? Was Jane’s narrative real or a fiction? What exactly do these new god-like robots want from life?

Fans of Jane’s character may be a little disappointed with this sequel; set twelve years after the first it features Jane only in a very limited role. Furthermore, as the previous book explored the love between Jane and Silver, this one is quite different in its intent and conclusion; less to do with human emotion and more to do with sci-fi concepts.

Think of Metallic Love more as a companion than a sequel, which takes the opportunity to flip perspectives between a young woman and her robotic lover: here it’s Loren who is emotionally disconnected and Verlis who pursues a meaningful connection between them. More than that, it explores the impact that such god-like beings have on the world and their understanding of their place within it, veering well into fantasy science-fiction by the final few chapters.