Provides Examples Of:
- 20 Minutes into the Future: Other than some very advanced Artificial Intelligence, the world isn't too much different than ours.
- Abandoned Area: The titular Mod Park, at least at the time that the story begins.
- Absurdly Dedicated Worker: When Vonnie initially discovers Casey, he stubbornly insists on acting like the obviously decrepit Mod Park is still operational.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: In the end, it turns out that Casey was the one who messed with Mod Park's rides and caused the deaths of six people. He's not exactly evil, though, since he wasn't intending to kill anyone; his actions were partially software error, partially him being a bit of an Attention Whore, and partially the fact that Casey is so Innocently Insensitive that he didn't realize what the consequences of his actions would be.
- Amusement Park: Mod Park
- Androids Are People, Too: A major theme of the novel, given that some characters such as Anton Murchison view Casey as Just a Machine, while others like Vonnie are more sympathetic.Vonnie: You may not be a human, but you're still a person.
- Benevolent A.I.: Casey. For the most part.
- Bittersweet Ending: Casey, who's been officially pinned with six deaths, ends up having to be shut down for a thorough examination; Vonnie takes him to Mod Park one last time, and the novel ends with her thinking about how she'll apply herself and be ready to work with Casey once he's reactivated.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Vonnie definitely starts out as this.
- Extreme Doormat: At the beginning of the novel, Amos is so reluctant to discipline Vonnie that he lets her go to the abandoned park and take Casey home with her.
- Grew Beyond Their Programming: Casey started out as somewhat of a limited intelligence, or "psuedo-AI", but eventually got smart enough to develop a more human mindset. Dr. Cullings even warns Anton about this, but he ignores her - which goes about as well as you'd expect.
- Hive Mind: Casey is actually a series of various software clones who all work together as one. At least, that's how it's supposed to happen...
- How We Got Here: Played with. The chapters alternate between two plots, with the odd-numbered ones telling Vonnie's story as she encounters Casey, and the even-numbered ones covering Casey's past, until both converge at the end.
- Motherly Scientist: Dr. Cullings. She's the one who cared enough about Casey to save the last copy of him.
- No Biological Sex: Casey explicitly states that, despite being designed to look like a boy and using male pronouns, he's actually completely genderless.
- Plucky Girl: Vonnie.
- Pushover Parent: Amos, though he's more of a Pushover Parental Substitute. Apparently this is because Vonnie's actual parents are somewhat overprotective.
- Teen Genius: Vonnie started college a year early and is knowledgeable in a variety of STEM fields. Apparently Anton Murchison was this, too, as it's mentioned that he skipped a couple years of school.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Anton Murchison ran a successful business for more than a decade, despite obviously caring more about his bottom line than his employees - to the point where he tries to permanently delete Casey just to keep himself out of trouble.
