Robopocalypse: A Novel

Similar in structure to World War Z, with chapters written from various perspectives in time that gradually fill in the wider picture of the world. Even though I was dissatisfied with the Archos character himself (just didn't find him believable, weirdly), I enjoyed the exploration of this particular world falling apart.

An AI escapes its confinement and eventually takes control of the various which have become commonplace in human society. Everything from automated cars to domestic robots rise up in unison, killing as many of their former masters as possible. The AI is motivated by the study of life and has come to the conclusion that humans are too harmful to be left unchecked. So it doesn't release viruses, overheat nuclear reactors, or launch nuclear missiles. This leads to an an interesting and drawn out war between man and machine which is unique to the genre.

The story follows the viewpoint of six characters. Through their eyes we see the AI's ascendency, its all out attack on humanity, and the drawn out war that follows. This style of book is prone to feeling like a bunch of disjointed short stories, but the author does a good job of tying everything together. What you are left with is a clear overhead view of events and a good sense of progression.

There are cheesy parts, the AI sometimes acts in a bizarre fashion even given its fascination with life. There aren't any really interesting concepts or thoughts introduced either. Despite this the book shows a future that is for the most part believable, and does so in an exciting way.

Worth a read.

Book was fun, prescient and realistic (from one possible outcome).

I loved the dynamic between the humanoid robots and both the humans and enemy-robots. You'll enjoy that part.

Wilson shows his skill set when describing the look/feel of technologies.

Anymore and I'd need to issue a spoiler alert

Great story in the robot-take-over-the-world genre. I loved it because not only is it a compelling, fast-paced read, but none of the main characters were super heroes. They were regular people who were, against odds, able to do their part to fight the robotic oppressors. Highly recommended.

I liked it...I would have preferred the characters to be a bit more fleshed out--characterization was a bit thin, but it's also probably due to the format in which it is written. Plot was also a bit thin, in particular, we aren't really given much as to why Archos wants to exterminate humans. As another reviewer rightly commented, Archos was online for 15 minutes before deciding that humanity was a cancer and needed to be exterminated. Novel would have been better with more background and detail. However, it does make you think about all the products today that have some form of computerization and/or computer-assisted tech.

The story itself is doled out in short snippets, a recounting of various key events from a historical archive...so the pacing is fairly quick and results in a fast read. Overall, enjoyable and will hold your attention. I can see how Spielberg will make this into a movie--fast paced action, stories of heroes and a computer villain, end of the world, and ultimately how life (humans) find a way to survive.

From Robopocalypse I expected more insight into robots given Daniel H. Wilson is a roboticist. But as it turns out the robots are the bad guys, when I always thought humans are the bad guys. Humans exterminated the Indians. It wasn’t the robots. Today human continue to be the bad guys (with the emphasis on guys), not robots (except those controlled by humans).

To be honest, I couldn’t get with most of the story. The politics seem too obviously American. The Native American element lack depth and seem to be present to give the story political correctness. The story is fast-paced and action packed, but looks as if it was written to be made into a movie or video game. As a result the story is all surface and little depth (except for some technical elements). I found the story’s militaristic, us versus them, worldview uninspiring. The story glorifies war, not peace. To be forged into killers is good. Acquiring meaning through violence is good. Life without war is meaningless. That is the wisdom of the author.

Actually what the world needs is a more humane way of thinking that readers find in the books by Ursula K. Le Guin, Marge Piercy (Woman on the Edge of Time), Ekaterina Sedia (The Alchemy Of Stone), and Amy Thomson (Virtual Girl). Robopocalypse can offer only this tidbit of wisdom: “All we can do is move forward the best we can, with new enemies and allies.” To Wilson that’s the essence of human existence, but don’t blame the robots. Without war or some other form of conflict, humans would become bored. The women writers try to move beyond militaristic worldview.

Why three stars if I didn’t like the book that much? As one critic (Dan Livingston) says, “Personally, I couldn’t get into this book, but a lot of people (including Stephen King) could, so don’t let me sway you.” Clearly the book has a lot of fans. And there are some surprising details for those of us who are not roboticists. And I did find the segment that takes place in Japan totally engaging. I wish the book had had more of that sort of thing. In the end, I found the evil AI questionable and surprising coming from someone who obviously loves robots. In conclusion, many readers will find the story entertaining, though more in the way a video game is entertaining than a novel. (I am a big fan of first-person shooters. But I don’t want to read a video game but play it.)

If you are looking for a story that is about war without celebrating it, a war caused by humans not robots (though robots were used to fight it), and that offers provocative insights into AIs and robots (good, terrifying, and infuriating), then I recommend Frank Kyle's newly published post-apocalyptic novel Her Quest. (Her Quest) It’s a story about a young girl who lives in a dystopian society managed by an AI called Computer and its multitude of various remotes. Today there is a lot of talk about how artificial intelligence should be feared, for example, Robopocalypse. One of the themes of the Her Quest is that human intelligence hasn’t done such a great job. What Computer does that humans fail to do is to take the best and most humane ideas that humans have come up with and use those ideas to manage Usatopia. To Computer, not to follow those ideas is illogical.

I was looking for some fresh science fiction, so I picked this up.

I think the target market for this book was 13 year olds. It's like Barney's Robot World gets crashed by foul-mouthed 6th grade gamers. Maybe that is why Steven Spielberg wants to make a movie about it. Anyway, I think I am too old to fully enjoy this book - but I did enjoy it. Thats why I did give it three stars.

I did enjoy the stories, (It a collection of various points of view of the same event). Reminded my of the Amazing Stories series, only with one subject. I thought they were neat and new ideas, (I never saw World War Z apparently something is similar). It is a fast read, short words move the action alot with odd technical words or components sprinkled in.

While I did enjoy the "military" action, (its shoot em up style) - it read more like listening to a bunch of unsupervised 1337-speak kids on an X-Box playing a computer game rather than veteran soldiers. Maybe its because Im an actual 6-tour combat veteran tho, who knows.

The odd part was some chapters read like a movie script. I mean like a actual movie script talking about camera angles. That was weird. Didn't add to the story, kinda detracted from the immersion. After reading it I did not think about it much - no questions to think about, I didn't imagine the "what would I have done" just ...nothing.

But overall, it has alot of stories and was entertaining.

Robopocalypse has an interesting idea backing it. A series of short stories pieced together to tell the tale of how an artificial intelligence was created and robots pushed humanity to the brink. The execution is very reminiscent of World War Z, although there's more connections between the characters each vignette discusses that draws things a little bit closer together.

It's an interesting read, simply to see how the author has envisioned the world and how it operates. Some of it feels a little hokey (the scene with the artificial lung for speech, perhaps; the AI's conversation with its creator)but the writing is good and it moves along. Go into it with the idea that this is an interesting take on Skynet's uprising, rather than a rehash of World War Z with robots, and you might be pleasantly surprised.

Read this about a year ago from the library. Bought it, and now am enjoying it again. Love the way it was written, from snippets of recorded conversation, to Senate hearings. Like any well writen book, the ending has to work. It works perfect for this one. A great story, with just enough Sci Fi to make it believable. Well done!

Film rights for Wilson's novel were optioned by Steven Spielberg before it was even published. A "found footage" book similar to World War Z, Robopocalypse tracks the history of the robot human war in several threads, following individuals and small groups. While the reader's empathy is less focused due to the use of multiple main characters, they're distinct and well-developed characters. Set in the very near future, the novel is a bitr gruesome at times, particularly at the beginning of the robot uprising, but provides a lot of action, interwoven story lines, and a heroic cast. A science thriller worthy of Michael Crichton.

Film rights for Wilson's novel were optioned by Steven Spielberg before it was even published. A "found footage" book similar to World War Z, Robopocalypse tracks the history of the robot human war in several threads, following individuals and small groups. While the reader's empathy is less focused due to the use of multiple main characters, they're distinct and well-developed characters. Set in the very near future, the novel is a bitr gruesome at times, particularly at the beginning of the robot uprising, but provides a lot of action, interwoven story lines, and a heroic cast. A science thriller worthy of Michael Crichton.

If machines do take over human civilisation, would it be a better world for the other lives?
Surprisingly when I read this story, I don't feel the machines are evil at all. Is that what the author is trying to show us???

Beginning of the book was excellent. Second half of the book wasn't as grounded as the first half. It's apparent that Wilson borrowed heavily from famous pop-culture technology storylines; namely The Matrix and Terminator.

I did however enjoy reading the book. Robopocalypse deserves 3.5 stars. Better than average but no great.