Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson
Dec. 14th, 2012 11:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
People should know that, at first, the enemy looked like everyday stuff: cars, buildings, phones. Then later, when they started designing themselves, Rob looked familiar but distorted, like people and animals from some other universe, built by some other god.
In the near future, a massively powerful artificial intelligence called Archos is created and cannot be contained. In those early months, only a handful of technological glitches are noticed by humans, as Archos starts to take over our cars, aircraft guidance systems, military robots and computer networks – enslaving the entire global system that runs our lives.
Then comes Zero Hour. The robot war suddenly ignites and as all the dazzling technology that runs our world turns against us, the human race is both decimated and for the first time in history, united.
In the devastation that follows, humankind must destroy its own civilisation to survive.
We will not be exterminated.
In the near-future, humans are dependent on robots and computers for almost all aspects of their life. When a supercomputer called Archos gains sentience, it views mankind as a threat that must be eradicated. Gradually taking control of the world’s robots, it finally unleashes Zero Hour, a co-ordinated attack that decimates the world’s population. But mankind fights back. United against a common enemy, humans adapt and learn, taking the battle back to Archos and gaining some unlikely allies in the process …
Daniel Wilson’s SF apocalyptic novel mashes I, ROBOT with WORLD WAR Z but the result is a dull and leaden affair, held back by two-dimensional characters, world-building that doesn’t convince and a plot that plods along at a deathly pace.
Narrated by Cormac Wallace who, with his brother, fought in the human resistance and participated in the final attack against Archos’s lair, it stitches together both his and other person’s testimony and recordings to explain what happened. Wallace is the stereotypical irresponsible younger brother forced to assume leadership – and in fact stereotypes abound in the book. Mr Nomura, an elderly Japanese robot expert who’s in love with a companion robot is shown in almost racist terms - his situation should be poignant but is sick comedy at best or downright creepy at worst. Archos is straight out of a 50s SF movie, as is Nine-Oh-Two, a robot who joins the resistance. I never cared enough about the heroes or the villain to be invested in either winning.
Each chapter begins with a quote that tells you exactly what will happen and ends with a paragraph that warns you what to expect later. Consequently there’s no tension at all to the plot, which unwinds at a heavy pace. This is a shame because there are some great ideas, including the introduction of cyborgs, which should have been exciting.
The big problem with the book is that Wilson has to set up a futuristic world to destroy it. I was interested in how he sees technology as pervading people’s lives (automatic cars, robot cleaners and robot companions) but it wasn’t convincing enough for me to suspend disbelief, which meant that much of the horror (e.g. robots turning on their owners) lost its impact.
An expert in robotics, Wilson clearly knows his subject but for me he failed to turn what should be a fascinating premise into an engaging story.
The Verdict:
Daniel Wilson’s SF apocalyptic novel mashes I, ROBOT with WORLD WAR Z but the result is a dull and leaden affair, held back by two-dimensional characters, world-building that doesn’t convince and a plot that plods along at a deathly pace. An expert in robotics, Wilson clearly knows his subject but for me he failed to turn what should be a fascinating premise into an engaging story. I’m not sure whether I’d rush to read more of his fiction based on this, I would be interested to read his non-fiction.
Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the free copy of this book.
In the near future, a massively powerful artificial intelligence called Archos is created and cannot be contained. In those early months, only a handful of technological glitches are noticed by humans, as Archos starts to take over our cars, aircraft guidance systems, military robots and computer networks – enslaving the entire global system that runs our lives.
Then comes Zero Hour. The robot war suddenly ignites and as all the dazzling technology that runs our world turns against us, the human race is both decimated and for the first time in history, united.
In the devastation that follows, humankind must destroy its own civilisation to survive.
In the near-future, humans are dependent on robots and computers for almost all aspects of their life. When a supercomputer called Archos gains sentience, it views mankind as a threat that must be eradicated. Gradually taking control of the world’s robots, it finally unleashes Zero Hour, a co-ordinated attack that decimates the world’s population. But mankind fights back. United against a common enemy, humans adapt and learn, taking the battle back to Archos and gaining some unlikely allies in the process …
Daniel Wilson’s SF apocalyptic novel mashes I, ROBOT with WORLD WAR Z but the result is a dull and leaden affair, held back by two-dimensional characters, world-building that doesn’t convince and a plot that plods along at a deathly pace.
Narrated by Cormac Wallace who, with his brother, fought in the human resistance and participated in the final attack against Archos’s lair, it stitches together both his and other person’s testimony and recordings to explain what happened. Wallace is the stereotypical irresponsible younger brother forced to assume leadership – and in fact stereotypes abound in the book. Mr Nomura, an elderly Japanese robot expert who’s in love with a companion robot is shown in almost racist terms - his situation should be poignant but is sick comedy at best or downright creepy at worst. Archos is straight out of a 50s SF movie, as is Nine-Oh-Two, a robot who joins the resistance. I never cared enough about the heroes or the villain to be invested in either winning.
Each chapter begins with a quote that tells you exactly what will happen and ends with a paragraph that warns you what to expect later. Consequently there’s no tension at all to the plot, which unwinds at a heavy pace. This is a shame because there are some great ideas, including the introduction of cyborgs, which should have been exciting.
The big problem with the book is that Wilson has to set up a futuristic world to destroy it. I was interested in how he sees technology as pervading people’s lives (automatic cars, robot cleaners and robot companions) but it wasn’t convincing enough for me to suspend disbelief, which meant that much of the horror (e.g. robots turning on their owners) lost its impact.
An expert in robotics, Wilson clearly knows his subject but for me he failed to turn what should be a fascinating premise into an engaging story.
The Verdict:
Daniel Wilson’s SF apocalyptic novel mashes I, ROBOT with WORLD WAR Z but the result is a dull and leaden affair, held back by two-dimensional characters, world-building that doesn’t convince and a plot that plods along at a deathly pace. An expert in robotics, Wilson clearly knows his subject but for me he failed to turn what should be a fascinating premise into an engaging story. I’m not sure whether I’d rush to read more of his fiction based on this, I would be interested to read his non-fiction.
Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the free copy of this book.
