The other Masters have banded together to protect themselves, but their organization is threatened when Vulcan hints at a new plan for his creations - one that has been using all their actions and feuds to further his grand designs.

The Editor, Gabbler, claims to know the Narrator personally and believes the story to hold literary merit and contain half-truths.

Publishers Weekly called the book "amusing," though noted that the meta nature of the novel could draw the reader away from the underlying story.

[5][6] Tales of the Talisman gave The Automation 4.5 talismans out of 5, and observed that the characters "are being manipulated by the author and editor, who break the fourth wall in running commentary that bounces between text and the footnotes..." and that the story brings "the gods into the modern world.

It’s a little experimental, a little goofy, and a little science-fiction-y, while also hosting a bit of Greek myth and hard boiled detective novel-style narration.