Robot Revolt

by Nicholas Fisk

One day the robots will join forces and rise against their human masters!

Max is the best robot in town, the very latest model from Robomart. He can do anything. So it's natural for Abi to enlist his help when she begins to plot against her hated father.

But Max has a much more sinister motive for joining her scheme ...

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

(1923–2016), British author of more than forty books and television scripts and a master of science fiction for children. Fisk, whose real name is David Higginbottom, grew up during the Second World War and served in the Royal Air Force. His autobiography, Pig Ignorant (1992), covers the years 1939–1941 and details his life in Soho, a bohemian section of London, where he played jazz in the evenings until he was called to enlist. After the war Fisk worked as a musician, journalist, and publisher. He started writing in the 1960s, and his popularity was at its height in the 1970s and 1980s. His most impressive work, A Rag, a Bone, and a Hank of Hair (1982), is a thrilling futuristic novel set at the end of the 22ndcentury. The government is cloning new people and has manufactured a 1940s wartime family whose members are unaware that nothing they know is real. This moving story is a dark representation of the threat posed by technological advancement but is optimistic in its message about the triumph of the human spirit. Fisk's most enduring books include Grinny (1973), which features a technologized extraterrestrial threat in the form of a great- aunt who glows at night, and Trillions (1971), an eerie story about mysterious hard shiny objects that contain an alien intelligence. Monster Maker (1979) was made into a film.

Reviews

[Andrew Sammut · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I enjoyed the little action that happened throughout this book. I expected it to be better in the end when the revolt was actually described. This short book was quite repetitive as the descriptions of what the robot was capable of were being repeated. I loved the twist at the end of the book. the acronym for one of the characters being the inventor of robomart was awesome. he managed to stop the robots from hurting their leader Max because of jealousy and Max s master who bought him in the first place. From the BEGINNING of the book I thought that Abi and his bossy sister s father s religion was stupid. i kind of realized that something was going to end up happening at the end because of the title which compared to the story was kind of a spoiler !!! :((

[A.E. Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a kid, I greatly enjoyed reading Nicholas Fisk's sci-fi things. They were a fine pathway into the back catalogue of '50s-'70s sci-fi that formed the backbone of my early teenage reading. Coming back to this, as I realise I haven't read enough of the genre in years, I am surprised by aspects of its content, which are complex and unpleasant, and also by the simplicity and smallness of it. Since I've found more expansive worldbuilding, this is a little...dry, and, occasionally, dull. But the aspects of humans and robots explored are worth the contemplation given, and it's a tiny read, which I wouldn't regret.

[Vincent Konrad · Rating 3 out of 5]

got very dark very quickly, then kinda petered out.

[Matt Micucci · Rating 2 out of 5]

Obviously written for children, but that doesn't quite explain why it would have to be so dull.

[Doug]

This book was given to me as a joke.

I read it anyways because I like robots.

I regret my decision.