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Machine Wars
It was only a matter of time until one escaped. Bram just wasn't expecting it to be today. In the sky, drones are hunting him. On every corner, machines are waiting to kill him. But Bram has a plan. First, scatter and hide. Then, with his best friend and wise - cracking roboduck, help to save the world.
- GenresYoung Adult
276 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2014
5 people are currently reading
297 people want to read
About the author
Michael Pryor
130 books191 followers Michael Pryor's bio
Check out my Fantasy podcast, 'The World Below the War in the Heavens' wherever you get your podcasts!
I was born in Swan Hill, Victoria. I spent my childhood in country Victoria and Melbourne before moving to Geelong at the age of 10. I lived in Geelong until I went to university in Melbourne after secondary school.
I currently live in Melbourne. I’ve worked as a drainer’s labourer, a truck driver, a bathroom accessories salesperson, an Internet consultant, a Multimedia Developer, a Publisher, in a scrap metal yard and as a secondary school teacher. Whew.
I’ve taught English, Literature, Drama, Legal Studies and Computer Studies.
I've published over thirty-five novels and more than sixty of my short stories have appeared in Australia and overseas in publications such as Overland and the New South Wales School Magazine. My writing moves from literary fiction to genre Science Fiction to slapstick humour, depending on my mood.
I’ve been shortlisted eleven times for the Aurealis Award for Speculative Fiction, and have also been nominated for a Ditmar award. My short stories have twice been featured in Gardner Dozois’ ‘Highly Recommended’ lists in The Year’s Best Science Fiction and The Year’s Best Fantasy. Nine of my books have been CBC Notable Books, I’ve been longlisted for a Golden Inky and I’ve been shortlisted for the WAYBRA Award. I’ve also twice won the Best and Fairest Award at West Brunswick Amateur Football Club.
My reviews tend toward the three word style of the trenchant critic, N. Molesworth.
Check out my Fantasy podcast, 'The World Below the War in the Heavens' wherever you get your podcasts!
I was born in Swan Hill, Victoria. I spent my childhood in country Victoria and Melbourne before moving to Geelong at the age of 10. I lived in Geelong until I went to university in Melbourne after secondary school.
I currently live in Melbourne. I’ve worked as a drainer’s labourer, a truck driver, a bathroom accessories salesperson, an Internet consultant, a Multimedia Developer, a Publisher, in a scrap metal yard and as a secondary school teacher. Whew.
I’ve taught English, Literature, Drama, Legal Studies and Computer Studies.
I've published over thirty-five novels and more than sixty of my short stories have appeared in Australia and overseas in publications such as Overland and the New South Wales School Magazine. My writing moves from literary fiction to genre Science Fiction to slapstick humour, depending on my mood.
I’ve been shortlisted eleven times for the Aurealis Award for Speculative Fiction, and have also been nominated for a Ditmar award. My short stories have twice been featured in Gardner Dozois’ ‘Highly Recommended’ lists in The Year’s Best Science Fiction and The Year’s Best Fantasy. Nine of my books have been CBC Notable Books, I’ve been longlisted for a Golden Inky and I’ve been shortlisted for the WAYBRA Award. I’ve also twice won the Best and Fairest Award at West Brunswick Amateur Football Club.
My reviews tend toward the three word style of the trenchant critic, N. Molesworth.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 26, 2018
2.5 stars - Review copy provided by Random House Australia for an honest review.
Machine Wars was an interesting and quick read that, while entertaining, was somewhat disappointing. I think I set the bar a little too high for this, seeing that I have loved Michael Pryor's other series, The Laws of Magic which would, in fact, have to be one of my all-time elite favourite series. The characters are lovable, hilariously witty and mysteriously charming; the plotline is always baffling in the best sort of way, keeping my on my toes, bewildering me but loving every possible second; and the vibe of the steampunk society that Aubrey lives within is one of my favourite settings in all the series I have read. With all this in mind, I have to admit that I expected that level of wonder in Machine Wars as well.
However, I didn't realise that this was a middle grade book, and while I normally do not shy away from those sorts of books, I struggled to appreciate the overall simplicity of this. The plot could have been so much more involving if the battle scenes been more drawn out, if the good guys hadn't won so easily and if the junkbots and killbots had actually been scary.
The characters were a little too immature for my liking and the protagonist a little too, well, wussy and pathetic really. He cried a little too much and almost vomited at the sight of his barely nicked ear - I prefer my MCs with a little more kick and oomph, sorry. Bob was a great comic relief however and I enjoyed his witty remarks.
What let this down most of all was the lack of development in the actual artificial intelligence apocalypse that had sent our characters into the predicaments they were in. I understand that the targeted audience would be a little below understanding the actual technicalities of it. Hell, I am below understanding it all but I would have appreciated more profound effort attempting to explain it more than Bob's scuba diving metaphor.
Overall, I enjoyed the premise of this book but found that the age barrier significantly effected me from being able to relate to both the characters (even though they are only a year or two younger than me) and lowered by tolerance for the simplicity of plotline and its resolutions. If you are looking into Michael Pryor, I would strongly recommend trying out Blaze of Glory instead.
Machine Wars was an interesting and quick read that, while entertaining, was somewhat disappointing. I think I set the bar a little too high for this, seeing that I have loved Michael Pryor's other series, The Laws of Magic which would, in fact, have to be one of my all-time elite favourite series. The characters are lovable, hilariously witty and mysteriously charming; the plotline is always baffling in the best sort of way, keeping my on my toes, bewildering me but loving every possible second; and the vibe of the steampunk society that Aubrey lives within is one of my favourite settings in all the series I have read. With all this in mind, I have to admit that I expected that level of wonder in Machine Wars as well.
However, I didn't realise that this was a middle grade book, and while I normally do not shy away from those sorts of books, I struggled to appreciate the overall simplicity of this. The plot could have been so much more involving if the battle scenes been more drawn out, if the good guys hadn't won so easily and if the junkbots and killbots had actually been scary.
The characters were a little too immature for my liking and the protagonist a little too, well, wussy and pathetic really. He cried a little too much and almost vomited at the sight of his barely nicked ear - I prefer my MCs with a little more kick and oomph, sorry. Bob was a great comic relief however and I enjoyed his witty remarks.
What let this down most of all was the lack of development in the actual artificial intelligence apocalypse that had sent our characters into the predicaments they were in. I understand that the targeted audience would be a little below understanding the actual technicalities of it. Hell, I am below understanding it all but I would have appreciated more profound effort attempting to explain it more than Bob's scuba diving metaphor.
Overall, I enjoyed the premise of this book but found that the age barrier significantly effected me from being able to relate to both the characters (even though they are only a year or two younger than me) and lowered by tolerance for the simplicity of plotline and its resolutions. If you are looking into Michael Pryor, I would strongly recommend trying out Blaze of Glory instead.
September 9, 2025
robots
September 2, 2016
Machine Wars is book written by Michael Pryor in 2014, which is about a boy called Bram who tries to save the world with his best friend (Stella), his mum and dad, and a stuffed duck plush with an A.I. in it called Bob. When you pick up the book, the cover looks a bit dull - it was grey with what looked like a washing machine knob pointing to a kill button. However, if you’re looking for a book that inspires you to never give up and never stop trying to achieve your goals, this is the book for you. Overall the book was sometimes fantastic, but had some weaknesses.
Bram’s mum was a super intelligent scientist, his dad is a photographer and he is just a kid. Bram and Stella have to survive three weeks while Bram’s mum works on a way to destroy an even more super intelligent A.I. called Ahriman. Ahriman is a AI who tricked Bram’s mum into putting it into an unsecure file. It tricked Bram’s mum into thinking it was a fail. After Bram’s mum realised it was too late. Ahriman had escaped onto the internet.
Not only did Bram and Stella have to survive three weeks, they had to with no electronics (apart from Bob, of course). Bram’s full name is Bram Argent, His mum’s is Anita Argent, and his dad’s is Oscar Argent. Bram and Stella can’t have done it on their own, they had help on the way, and betrayals aswell. Bram and Stella did things that were mostly believable, but not all of the things were, like how pressing a simple button destroyed all robots and electronics in a kilometre radius.
Bram was really talented with his cartoon voices. He would use them about after every sentence Stella said. Stella was a natural at the slingshot. She would hit almost every time she shot. Bram’s cartoon voice talent didn’t help but Stella’s slingshot talent did. Bram is a little immature considering he nearly gagged looking at his left ear which had been injured and also because he is almost 14 and still using cartoon voices. He also gets punched by Stella on pretty much every page.
At one point, Bram and Stella tried to escape the city by lying to a taxi driver that their grandmother was sick. Unfortunately for them, there wasn’t a way out. They didn’t give up. They went to a taxi driver going a different way out but unfortunately there still wasn’t a way out. They had to stay in the city and destroy all the robots that came at them.
Though the book was, good, Michael Pryor could have put the audience a couple years down, it was good, but should be more for 10 year olds. This is because it was a simpler read. It was still enjoyable. The chapters were achievable, but maybe the chapters could have been longer. Each chapter was around 5 pages and could maybe be 10 or more. It’s overall great for younger readers.
Michael Pryor uses ok dialogue, but could maybe improve by putting more descriptive words in it. The words he used didn’t describe enough and it got kind of confusing at points. In the book you might find that it is really repetitive and keeps dragging on and on, which made the book get boring at times. The plot was ok, but the moment you pick up the book and read the blurb, you pretty much know how it’s going to end. The author had a good idea for Machine Wars, but he should write a second book and make it not as obvious. If Michael Pryor makes a movie for Machine Wars, it would probably be better than the book.
There weren’t a lot of themes is the book. For example, half the book was set in the city. Bram and Stella climb through sewers and amazingly robots can climb through sewers aswell. Machine wars is mainly Sci-fi and adventurous, but should have more themes in it.
Overall the book was enjoyable, but could have better dialogue next time. It could also be a little less repetitive and not drag on and on. It would probably be a 3 – 3.5 stars.
Bram’s mum was a super intelligent scientist, his dad is a photographer and he is just a kid. Bram and Stella have to survive three weeks while Bram’s mum works on a way to destroy an even more super intelligent A.I. called Ahriman. Ahriman is a AI who tricked Bram’s mum into putting it into an unsecure file. It tricked Bram’s mum into thinking it was a fail. After Bram’s mum realised it was too late. Ahriman had escaped onto the internet.
Not only did Bram and Stella have to survive three weeks, they had to with no electronics (apart from Bob, of course). Bram’s full name is Bram Argent, His mum’s is Anita Argent, and his dad’s is Oscar Argent. Bram and Stella can’t have done it on their own, they had help on the way, and betrayals aswell. Bram and Stella did things that were mostly believable, but not all of the things were, like how pressing a simple button destroyed all robots and electronics in a kilometre radius.
Bram was really talented with his cartoon voices. He would use them about after every sentence Stella said. Stella was a natural at the slingshot. She would hit almost every time she shot. Bram’s cartoon voice talent didn’t help but Stella’s slingshot talent did. Bram is a little immature considering he nearly gagged looking at his left ear which had been injured and also because he is almost 14 and still using cartoon voices. He also gets punched by Stella on pretty much every page.
At one point, Bram and Stella tried to escape the city by lying to a taxi driver that their grandmother was sick. Unfortunately for them, there wasn’t a way out. They didn’t give up. They went to a taxi driver going a different way out but unfortunately there still wasn’t a way out. They had to stay in the city and destroy all the robots that came at them.
Though the book was, good, Michael Pryor could have put the audience a couple years down, it was good, but should be more for 10 year olds. This is because it was a simpler read. It was still enjoyable. The chapters were achievable, but maybe the chapters could have been longer. Each chapter was around 5 pages and could maybe be 10 or more. It’s overall great for younger readers.
Michael Pryor uses ok dialogue, but could maybe improve by putting more descriptive words in it. The words he used didn’t describe enough and it got kind of confusing at points. In the book you might find that it is really repetitive and keeps dragging on and on, which made the book get boring at times. The plot was ok, but the moment you pick up the book and read the blurb, you pretty much know how it’s going to end. The author had a good idea for Machine Wars, but he should write a second book and make it not as obvious. If Michael Pryor makes a movie for Machine Wars, it would probably be better than the book.
There weren’t a lot of themes is the book. For example, half the book was set in the city. Bram and Stella climb through sewers and amazingly robots can climb through sewers aswell. Machine wars is mainly Sci-fi and adventurous, but should have more themes in it.
Overall the book was enjoyable, but could have better dialogue next time. It could also be a little less repetitive and not drag on and on. It would probably be a 3 – 3.5 stars.
August 16, 2016
Machine Wars is about Bram Argent, who, with Bob (an AI chip put into Bram’s favorite childhood toy duck, created by his mother) and best friend Stella, must help save the world from a robot named Ahriman. To their detriment, almost every machine connected to the internet is a minion of Ahriman’s. They must keep Ahriman distracted for 3 weeks in order for Bram’s mother, who is an incredibly intelligent computer scientist, to figure out a way to stop him from taking over the world. They distract Ahriman by letting his robot minions give chase and fighting back a bit.
When I saw this book, I thought the cover was slightly boring and made me disinterested, but the blurb is what made me buy it. In my opinion, the story was good and most of it made sense, but a few parts were hard to relate to and, really, didn’t fit the storyline, like when Bob tries to describe the internet. The junkbots/killbots weren’t entirely scary and the protagonists didn’t have to work too hard. It was exciting, though, as Bram, Stella and Bob ran for their lives and eventually tried to fight back. There were a few funny parts too, so I never lost interest.
Bram, Stella, Bob and even Ahriman played a huge part in the book, as they were the main characters. I especially liked Bob, because even for an AI chip, he could still freely communicate with others and sometimes said random and funny stuff. However, there were some people that didn’t contribute too much to the story, and were mainly just there to fill in some space. At one point, there was a random bald guy who didn’t do much at all. If this was a movie, I think it would have some great fighting scenes. Some of the parts didn’t make sense at the time they were mentioned, but they did later in the story.
There were some parts that didn’t really fit into the story, but were still funny or good like when Stella has to make up an excuse for why they needed to go 100km in a taxi. She said she and Bram had a sick grandmother, which made me chuckle because it was quite random how she just made it up with almost no thought. I also liked when Stella scratches Bram’s face (and draws blood) and tells people there’s a murderer with a gun inside to get them away from a killbot. There were a few disappointing parts, though, like when Bob, even after he describes the internet, gets carried away and continues to talk about ‘dodging Ahriman’ on the internet, because it was a bit repetitive.
There were some good messages in the book too, like never give up. It says, “We didn’t give up straightaway. After we were dropped in the middle of the city, we tried to go south in another taxi. Every little bit of progress was a win, and every red light, every barrier across the road, was another sign of the true state of things.”
Overall, this was an enjoyable book but I don’t think a sequel would really fit, because they’ve already done all there is to do. However, even taking all the negative comments into play, I liked the book and it kept me on the edge of my seat, always wanting to know what happened next. I would probably recommend it for 10-14 year olds because it would be hard to relate to otherwise. I’m giving it 4 out of 5 stars because it was a good book, but there was a bit of room for improvement.
When I saw this book, I thought the cover was slightly boring and made me disinterested, but the blurb is what made me buy it. In my opinion, the story was good and most of it made sense, but a few parts were hard to relate to and, really, didn’t fit the storyline, like when Bob tries to describe the internet. The junkbots/killbots weren’t entirely scary and the protagonists didn’t have to work too hard. It was exciting, though, as Bram, Stella and Bob ran for their lives and eventually tried to fight back. There were a few funny parts too, so I never lost interest.
Bram, Stella, Bob and even Ahriman played a huge part in the book, as they were the main characters. I especially liked Bob, because even for an AI chip, he could still freely communicate with others and sometimes said random and funny stuff. However, there were some people that didn’t contribute too much to the story, and were mainly just there to fill in some space. At one point, there was a random bald guy who didn’t do much at all. If this was a movie, I think it would have some great fighting scenes. Some of the parts didn’t make sense at the time they were mentioned, but they did later in the story.
There were some parts that didn’t really fit into the story, but were still funny or good like when Stella has to make up an excuse for why they needed to go 100km in a taxi. She said she and Bram had a sick grandmother, which made me chuckle because it was quite random how she just made it up with almost no thought. I also liked when Stella scratches Bram’s face (and draws blood) and tells people there’s a murderer with a gun inside to get them away from a killbot. There were a few disappointing parts, though, like when Bob, even after he describes the internet, gets carried away and continues to talk about ‘dodging Ahriman’ on the internet, because it was a bit repetitive.
There were some good messages in the book too, like never give up. It says, “We didn’t give up straightaway. After we were dropped in the middle of the city, we tried to go south in another taxi. Every little bit of progress was a win, and every red light, every barrier across the road, was another sign of the true state of things.”
Overall, this was an enjoyable book but I don’t think a sequel would really fit, because they’ve already done all there is to do. However, even taking all the negative comments into play, I liked the book and it kept me on the edge of my seat, always wanting to know what happened next. I would probably recommend it for 10-14 year olds because it would be hard to relate to otherwise. I’m giving it 4 out of 5 stars because it was a good book, but there was a bit of room for improvement.
September 2, 2016
Machine Wars: Book review
Off-On-Kill
Machine Wars, in a science-fiction adventure book written by Michael Pryor, in 2014.It is set sometime in the future of the 21st century. The story is about Bram, Stella and Bob trying to survive for 3 weeks without getting captured by Ahriman. In those 3 weeks Bram’s mum, Anita, tries to think of a strategy to destroy Ahriman. This book is very boring in some parts but on the whole it is not a waste of time to read, because parts of the book were quite exciting.
The plot is about Bram, Stella and Bob trying to survive for 3 weeks without getting killed by Ahriman. It is hard because of Ahriman’s access to everything, and he can make anyone do anything he wants. Whenever they were boxed in and they were no possible escape roots they turned to a secret EMP device that could fry all electricity inside its radius. The story is a bit annoying because it was repetitive with Bram using the EMP device all the time, so they can get out of dangerous situations. For example: when they were trapped with drones and junkbots surrounding them, and there are no possible ways to escape they use the EMP device to fry every mechanical object in the area. The strength of the plot is definitely Bram’s relatable character who can relate to a lot of teenagers.
Bram is not your typical fourteen-year-old boy because he has no long-time friends, due to his mother moving locations for her job. Anita isn’t your typical mother either because she is a highly intelligent computer scientist.
Stella is a tough fourteen-year-old girl who doesn’t give up easily. Stella became friends with Bram when Bram her life from a junkbot. This book is unusual because it also features a toy duck that is more intelligent than Bram and Stella. Bram’s rival Ahriman is the villain of the novel. Ahriman is an artificial intelligent being, created by Anita. Ahriman became Bram’s rival because of Bram’s connection to his mother. Ahriman isn’t a very believable character because although he is incredibly intelligent, he could not prepare for Bram, Stella and Bob’s escape. This situation happened way too often for an artificial intelligence being.
Michael Pryor, writing is easy to understand, because he uses simple language. He also very good at writing from Bram’s perspective, so that the reader can imagine Bram’s situation. Michael Pryor uses a lot of dialogue which also helps the reader understand what it feels like to be constantly hunted and creates suspense. A great example of this dialogue is when were trapped in a factory and discussed a way to get way from Ahriman.
The themes of this book are: Friendship, trust and survival. The book teaches you about friendship and how it can be used to help each other out. It also shows that trust in your friends and family can help you survive against threats. Lastly the book describes that survival skills can be quickly developed if you are under the threat of getting killed.
In conclusion some parts of the story are repetitive, however, most of the book is easy to read and you imagine yourself as Bram. This book isn’t for everyone but is recommended for children aged between 10 and 15 who are interested in sci-fi adventures.
Rating out of 5:
Off-On-Kill
Machine Wars, in a science-fiction adventure book written by Michael Pryor, in 2014.It is set sometime in the future of the 21st century. The story is about Bram, Stella and Bob trying to survive for 3 weeks without getting captured by Ahriman. In those 3 weeks Bram’s mum, Anita, tries to think of a strategy to destroy Ahriman. This book is very boring in some parts but on the whole it is not a waste of time to read, because parts of the book were quite exciting.
The plot is about Bram, Stella and Bob trying to survive for 3 weeks without getting killed by Ahriman. It is hard because of Ahriman’s access to everything, and he can make anyone do anything he wants. Whenever they were boxed in and they were no possible escape roots they turned to a secret EMP device that could fry all electricity inside its radius. The story is a bit annoying because it was repetitive with Bram using the EMP device all the time, so they can get out of dangerous situations. For example: when they were trapped with drones and junkbots surrounding them, and there are no possible ways to escape they use the EMP device to fry every mechanical object in the area. The strength of the plot is definitely Bram’s relatable character who can relate to a lot of teenagers.
Bram is not your typical fourteen-year-old boy because he has no long-time friends, due to his mother moving locations for her job. Anita isn’t your typical mother either because she is a highly intelligent computer scientist.
Stella is a tough fourteen-year-old girl who doesn’t give up easily. Stella became friends with Bram when Bram her life from a junkbot. This book is unusual because it also features a toy duck that is more intelligent than Bram and Stella. Bram’s rival Ahriman is the villain of the novel. Ahriman is an artificial intelligent being, created by Anita. Ahriman became Bram’s rival because of Bram’s connection to his mother. Ahriman isn’t a very believable character because although he is incredibly intelligent, he could not prepare for Bram, Stella and Bob’s escape. This situation happened way too often for an artificial intelligence being.
Michael Pryor, writing is easy to understand, because he uses simple language. He also very good at writing from Bram’s perspective, so that the reader can imagine Bram’s situation. Michael Pryor uses a lot of dialogue which also helps the reader understand what it feels like to be constantly hunted and creates suspense. A great example of this dialogue is when were trapped in a factory and discussed a way to get way from Ahriman.
The themes of this book are: Friendship, trust and survival. The book teaches you about friendship and how it can be used to help each other out. It also shows that trust in your friends and family can help you survive against threats. Lastly the book describes that survival skills can be quickly developed if you are under the threat of getting killed.
In conclusion some parts of the story are repetitive, however, most of the book is easy to read and you imagine yourself as Bram. This book isn’t for everyone but is recommended for children aged between 10 and 15 who are interested in sci-fi adventures.
Rating out of 5:
October 14, 2014
Stories about future societies, especially dystopian ones, are high on our "most popular books" lists. Most are about surviving in this new somewhat alien worlds, Hunger Games and Maze Runner, and many are read across most year levels.
Michael Pryor's book is set at the beginning, when the hero might just have a chance to stop things before society is forced to change and is enjoyed mostly by our younger students 11-13 year olds.
What if all the machines in your world were taken over by an artificial intelligence (AI) that is self-aware and wants to make sure it stays that way? This is the premise behind Machine Wars by Michael Pryor. A rogue AI unit has escaped onto the internet and will do anything to ensure its survival.
14-year-old Bram comes home late and as he arrives at the gate senses something is wrong. It is part of the survival strategy that his parents have drilled into him all his life. Bram's mother is a brilliant scientist who is a world leader in the artificial intelligence world. She has always been aware that things could go wrong in her field and has planned for it. Bram has an elaborately planned survival plan, called "Scatter and Hide", that has been designed to give his mother time to find a solution to the disaster. She asks Bram to stay out of the clutches of Ahriman (as the AI calls himself) for 3 weeks. He must not be taken hostage if she is to figure out how to overcome the rogue AI. This turns out to be easier said than done. With the help of his friend Stella and Bob, another AI unit, built by his mother and put into his childhood toy duck, Bram works hard to stay free. It is not easy to stay out of the clutches of a being that controls the internet. In today's world staying off-line and off the grid is difficult especially when so many everyday activities are dependent on technology without you being really being aware of it. Bram teaches Stella to use a slingshot against some of Ahriman's creations and Bob has some very useful moves as they try to stay ahead of their pursuer.
Bram is intelligent and a bit of a loner due to moving around a lot due to his parents working arrangements. He has developed various coping mechanisms such as using different character voices to hide his feelings. Stella, his new friend, is independent, thinks for herself and belongs to no single group but is friendly with all. Together, along with Bob, they decide that it is sometimes better to attack than just hide. Their days are spent alternatively hiding and planning then carrying out ways to fight back.
There are some humorous moments such as the description of Bram trying to find a way of keeping up with the news without technology and Stella walking across to a newspaper seller to buy the "old-fashioned" option.
From the authors site, a page that discusses the novel, the story behind, its writing and links to other information
Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn-d7...
Michael Pryor's book is set at the beginning, when the hero might just have a chance to stop things before society is forced to change and is enjoyed mostly by our younger students 11-13 year olds.
What if all the machines in your world were taken over by an artificial intelligence (AI) that is self-aware and wants to make sure it stays that way? This is the premise behind Machine Wars by Michael Pryor. A rogue AI unit has escaped onto the internet and will do anything to ensure its survival.
14-year-old Bram comes home late and as he arrives at the gate senses something is wrong. It is part of the survival strategy that his parents have drilled into him all his life. Bram's mother is a brilliant scientist who is a world leader in the artificial intelligence world. She has always been aware that things could go wrong in her field and has planned for it. Bram has an elaborately planned survival plan, called "Scatter and Hide", that has been designed to give his mother time to find a solution to the disaster. She asks Bram to stay out of the clutches of Ahriman (as the AI calls himself) for 3 weeks. He must not be taken hostage if she is to figure out how to overcome the rogue AI. This turns out to be easier said than done. With the help of his friend Stella and Bob, another AI unit, built by his mother and put into his childhood toy duck, Bram works hard to stay free. It is not easy to stay out of the clutches of a being that controls the internet. In today's world staying off-line and off the grid is difficult especially when so many everyday activities are dependent on technology without you being really being aware of it. Bram teaches Stella to use a slingshot against some of Ahriman's creations and Bob has some very useful moves as they try to stay ahead of their pursuer.
Bram is intelligent and a bit of a loner due to moving around a lot due to his parents working arrangements. He has developed various coping mechanisms such as using different character voices to hide his feelings. Stella, his new friend, is independent, thinks for herself and belongs to no single group but is friendly with all. Together, along with Bob, they decide that it is sometimes better to attack than just hide. Their days are spent alternatively hiding and planning then carrying out ways to fight back.
There are some humorous moments such as the description of Bram trying to find a way of keeping up with the news without technology and Stella walking across to a newspaper seller to buy the "old-fashioned" option.
From the authors site, a page that discusses the novel, the story behind, its writing and links to other information
Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn-d7...
September 2, 2016
Machine Wars is a fiction of adventure for teenager, which was written by Michael Pryor in 2014. The story happens in a era of high technology, and is quite similar with “The Terminator”. Bram, the main character, was being hunted by an A.I., also known as Ahriman. It was only a matter of time until ‘one’ escaped. Bram just wasn’t expecting it to be today. In the sky, A.I’s drones are hunting him. But Bram has a plan. First, he needed to scatter and hide, then with friend and wise, cracking all the robots and machines, help to save the world!
Bram was late home from band practice, it was just a ordinary day that can not be more ordinary, but when he go back to home he was dumbfounded by the things he saw: his house was burned and only thing he know is a mystery ‘the Ahriman’ was hunting, and he needed to find his mum to get a USB with the information of the Ahriman and his robots to damage (shut down) them, Bram fell scared everyday, he can’t even relax, because the ‘Ahriman’ is going to kill him.Bob is my favorite character in this book, Bob is a toy duckling robot, which was create by Bram’s mom to protect Bram. Because he can sacrifice himself to protect Bram. Someone will might say: “That’s because it’s the order of Bram’s mom.” But he has his own mind as well, just like A.I., he doesn’t need to do it, but he still did, he died… but he protected Bram, Bob is not a robot for Bram, he’s Bram’s friend, no, he’s Bram’s family. And the A.I. is the bad character in this book, because it wants to kill all the humans, some reader might hate it so much, but do you know that A.I. (Ahriman) is a smart artificial intelligence but it’s a wrong program, it shouldn’t be in this world, and humans will delete it. It didn’t want to kill all the humans, he just want to protect itself.
The world of the story is a world with lots of dangers, the A.I. want to kill all the human, imagine that all the machines, robots and all the electronic things want to kill you, that’s a really terrible world.
The writer will also to use italics to write some important point, for example: “Every book I ever owned was in there, you know. I had three copies of The Very Hungry Caterpillar!” or “We have to do more than just survive. A cockroach can survive, a jellyfish.” The advantage of this is it can make the reader realize ‘that must be a important thing’, which is really helpful.
So finally machine wars is a really good book to read, especially for teenager, you can experience wonderful fighting scenes in there, you can learn writing skills from there. You can also get some morals from there, the morals For example when you in a trouble unity, friendship and never give up are the most important things for you. Anyway Machine wars is a really interesting book to read. Thank you for your reading.
Bram was late home from band practice, it was just a ordinary day that can not be more ordinary, but when he go back to home he was dumbfounded by the things he saw: his house was burned and only thing he know is a mystery ‘the Ahriman’ was hunting, and he needed to find his mum to get a USB with the information of the Ahriman and his robots to damage (shut down) them, Bram fell scared everyday, he can’t even relax, because the ‘Ahriman’ is going to kill him.Bob is my favorite character in this book, Bob is a toy duckling robot, which was create by Bram’s mom to protect Bram. Because he can sacrifice himself to protect Bram. Someone will might say: “That’s because it’s the order of Bram’s mom.” But he has his own mind as well, just like A.I., he doesn’t need to do it, but he still did, he died… but he protected Bram, Bob is not a robot for Bram, he’s Bram’s friend, no, he’s Bram’s family. And the A.I. is the bad character in this book, because it wants to kill all the humans, some reader might hate it so much, but do you know that A.I. (Ahriman) is a smart artificial intelligence but it’s a wrong program, it shouldn’t be in this world, and humans will delete it. It didn’t want to kill all the humans, he just want to protect itself.
The world of the story is a world with lots of dangers, the A.I. want to kill all the human, imagine that all the machines, robots and all the electronic things want to kill you, that’s a really terrible world.
The writer will also to use italics to write some important point, for example: “Every book I ever owned was in there, you know. I had three copies of The Very Hungry Caterpillar!” or “We have to do more than just survive. A cockroach can survive, a jellyfish.” The advantage of this is it can make the reader realize ‘that must be a important thing’, which is really helpful.
So finally machine wars is a really good book to read, especially for teenager, you can experience wonderful fighting scenes in there, you can learn writing skills from there. You can also get some morals from there, the morals For example when you in a trouble unity, friendship and never give up are the most important things for you. Anyway Machine wars is a really interesting book to read. Thank you for your reading.
September 4, 2016
The author of Machine Wars, Michael Pryor writes about a 14-year-old boy name Bram Argent, Bram’s friend Stella and an A.I. robot Bob, who is running away from killer Robots. To spot a genre of Machine Wars, the easiest to spot are Sci-Fi and Adventure. Personally Machine Wars is very different from most book. The setting of the story jumps to different place, but the main focus of the area is the city.
A plot of the story is something that is Accenture to a good story, and that is what we will be discussing in this paragraph. Michael Pryor did an average job in explaining the plot and tell us how each of the characters fell and what they are thinking. However, there is a weakness to this book, and that it is too repetitive at some stage, other than that it’s a great book. An example of repetitive is them running away from the killer Robot. Luckily before it gets to annoying Michael decided to change things up and make it the other way around, but it didn’t last too long. If you were to asked me if the story is original, it’s not quite original, it’s pretty much a zombie story like the walking dead but with Machines and Robots. So, now let’s talk about the characters some more.
Bram is definitely the most interesting character since he is the main character. He is not the most interesting of most books, the reason being that Michael’s style of writing is screeches which shows relationships between characters. Michael defiantly did a great job on that. Some action of the character was predicable but some of the things they did were belief able. A part where they were predicable is when there plain to destroy some robot were successful. There is still a topic to talk about and that is theme.
Only the most elite of readers will be able to spot every single theme is Machine Wars. These are some theme that are easy to spot, team work and survival. It’s like a hunger game except you don’t have the be the last person standing to end the game. The lesson to learn from this book is most likely, the work together and achieve higher goal. The idea behind story a mystery, the reason being how confusing the story is. I would rate this Book a 4/5
A plot of the story is something that is Accenture to a good story, and that is what we will be discussing in this paragraph. Michael Pryor did an average job in explaining the plot and tell us how each of the characters fell and what they are thinking. However, there is a weakness to this book, and that it is too repetitive at some stage, other than that it’s a great book. An example of repetitive is them running away from the killer Robot. Luckily before it gets to annoying Michael decided to change things up and make it the other way around, but it didn’t last too long. If you were to asked me if the story is original, it’s not quite original, it’s pretty much a zombie story like the walking dead but with Machines and Robots. So, now let’s talk about the characters some more.
Bram is definitely the most interesting character since he is the main character. He is not the most interesting of most books, the reason being that Michael’s style of writing is screeches which shows relationships between characters. Michael defiantly did a great job on that. Some action of the character was predicable but some of the things they did were belief able. A part where they were predicable is when there plain to destroy some robot were successful. There is still a topic to talk about and that is theme.
Only the most elite of readers will be able to spot every single theme is Machine Wars. These are some theme that are easy to spot, team work and survival. It’s like a hunger game except you don’t have the be the last person standing to end the game. The lesson to learn from this book is most likely, the work together and achieve higher goal. The idea behind story a mystery, the reason being how confusing the story is. I would rate this Book a 4/5
September 2, 2016
Book Review: Machine Wars-Michel Pryor
Machine Wars, written by Michel Pryor in 2014, is set in the near future. The story is about a 14-year-old boy name Bram; he has to survive for three weeks from an AI that his mother that made by mistake. The theme of the book is that the misuse of power and survival. The scatter and hide rule he does that a lot in that book. “Step one, clear out as fast as you can with nothing electronic on you, step two, get to the runaway stash from the secret cache, step 3, don’t get caught. The main character is Bram, from what it seems Bram is a very calm person on the outside but in the inside he is panicking a lot, mostly he is panicking at the starts of the book.
Bram’s family is a unique family; his mother is an expert at computer programmer but she has accidentally made a bad AI that has escaped to the internet. That AI is called Ahriman he plans to take over the world for his survive. His dad is a mechanic but in the story he is not seen throughout the book, the story made the day mysterious. The dad would just show out of nowhere but he wasn’t seen at all.
Throughout the story he meets a girl named Stella, Bram meets her by returning a book that he borrows from her. But they got attacked by junkbots so they both had to survive for three weeks together. A while before, Bram met bob that was given from his mother, Bob is always thinking he is useless he always goes over the top when a simple thing is needed.
The language of the book is very simple, even a 9-year-old could understand it. Sometimes in the book when they made references made the one to watch the movies all again though sometimes they overdo it a bit. I wished that they put harder words in the book.
The author clearly shows that Bram didn’t want to do these things, he finds the determination throughout the book, it also says that one person can change the world. They put too much filter in the book when nothing happens. Well people couldn’t say that they like the book because it does the same thing again and again for a while. In the end the book is targeted to people aged 11-13, because of the language in the book. I give the book out of 5, 2.5/5
Machine Wars, written by Michel Pryor in 2014, is set in the near future. The story is about a 14-year-old boy name Bram; he has to survive for three weeks from an AI that his mother that made by mistake. The theme of the book is that the misuse of power and survival. The scatter and hide rule he does that a lot in that book. “Step one, clear out as fast as you can with nothing electronic on you, step two, get to the runaway stash from the secret cache, step 3, don’t get caught. The main character is Bram, from what it seems Bram is a very calm person on the outside but in the inside he is panicking a lot, mostly he is panicking at the starts of the book.
Bram’s family is a unique family; his mother is an expert at computer programmer but she has accidentally made a bad AI that has escaped to the internet. That AI is called Ahriman he plans to take over the world for his survive. His dad is a mechanic but in the story he is not seen throughout the book, the story made the day mysterious. The dad would just show out of nowhere but he wasn’t seen at all.
Throughout the story he meets a girl named Stella, Bram meets her by returning a book that he borrows from her. But they got attacked by junkbots so they both had to survive for three weeks together. A while before, Bram met bob that was given from his mother, Bob is always thinking he is useless he always goes over the top when a simple thing is needed.
The language of the book is very simple, even a 9-year-old could understand it. Sometimes in the book when they made references made the one to watch the movies all again though sometimes they overdo it a bit. I wished that they put harder words in the book.
The author clearly shows that Bram didn’t want to do these things, he finds the determination throughout the book, it also says that one person can change the world. They put too much filter in the book when nothing happens. Well people couldn’t say that they like the book because it does the same thing again and again for a while. In the end the book is targeted to people aged 11-13, because of the language in the book. I give the book out of 5, 2.5/5
September 2, 2016
Machine wars, written in 2014 by Michael Pryor is probably the most recent of the long line of the “AI-world-domination” books. However, what sets this novel apart from most of the others in its genre, was its setting in the precursor to society’s downfall. This book follows two ordinary children and their AI friend who is stuffed inside a plush duck. Together they struggle to prevent humanity’s imminent future: dystopia and autocracy.
The book takes place in the near future, judging by the futuristic inclusion of a few gadgets and buildings. The main characters, Bram and Stella, both intelligent and quick witted children, and Bob, an AI created by Bram’s mother Anita, try to stop Ahriman, another AI who turned out to be evil. They must remain as fugitives for three weeks while Anita works on a way to fix the problem.
The underlying themes of the story are to never give up, trust each other, and be confident- not afraid. This is evident throughout the novel, especially during times when the trio was being chased or close to getting caught.
The text itself is clearly written and the themes are well hidden throughout the book. It is rather comical for its genre, mostly due to Bob’s character, although this is not a downside. On the contrary, the vocabulary could be more sophisticated in some passages (eg. “urgent and not quacky at all”), as the story would have been much more dramatic.
The novel does a very good job at showing how two school acquaintances become close friends during the events of the book. The plot is rather original in the sense that it explores an interesting side of the genre, although, it does bear a resemblance towards Terminator that way.
Conclusively, the novel was an exciting read due to its constant action and comic relief when necessary. The characters were loveable and the author’s use of modern slang such as “I said for about the zillionth time” make it an effective and overall exemplary book.
The book takes place in the near future, judging by the futuristic inclusion of a few gadgets and buildings. The main characters, Bram and Stella, both intelligent and quick witted children, and Bob, an AI created by Bram’s mother Anita, try to stop Ahriman, another AI who turned out to be evil. They must remain as fugitives for three weeks while Anita works on a way to fix the problem.
The underlying themes of the story are to never give up, trust each other, and be confident- not afraid. This is evident throughout the novel, especially during times when the trio was being chased or close to getting caught.
The text itself is clearly written and the themes are well hidden throughout the book. It is rather comical for its genre, mostly due to Bob’s character, although this is not a downside. On the contrary, the vocabulary could be more sophisticated in some passages (eg. “urgent and not quacky at all”), as the story would have been much more dramatic.
The novel does a very good job at showing how two school acquaintances become close friends during the events of the book. The plot is rather original in the sense that it explores an interesting side of the genre, although, it does bear a resemblance towards Terminator that way.
Conclusively, the novel was an exciting read due to its constant action and comic relief when necessary. The characters were loveable and the author’s use of modern slang such as “I said for about the zillionth time” make it an effective and overall exemplary book.
Read
August 17, 2016The book is about robots taking over the world and two 14-year-old kids called Bram and Stella. They are trying to save everyone from a really smart computer program called Ahriman. To help them beat Ahriman they have a bit of help from a stuffed duck with a computer in him called Bob.
My favorite character was bob the duck because he was usually funny and pretty exciting. One of the characters I didn’t like was Bram’s dad. I didn’t really like him because he didn’t add much to the story and he was usually very boring. I also think Bram’s mum should have been in the story more as well and not just towards the end of the book.
Sometimes I thought it was very unrealistic and not believable like when Bram used the EMP device that his mum invented to make all the robots within the range of it stop moving. I also thought that Bob the talking duck was pretty unrealistic as well. Even though some things were very unrealistic, sometimes you didn’t know what was going to happen next which I thought was pretty exciting.
My favorite scene was when Bram and Stella got caught by the robots when they were with Marius Roch. It was surprising because they thought that he was good but then he turned bad. Marius Roch had to save his family and the only way he could save them was by handing Bram and Stella in to the robots. Then the robots could find out where Bram’s mum was so that they could stop her. This was my favorite scene because it kept me guessing and I wanted to keep reading to see what was going to happen next.
I think this book should have a sequel because it left you guessing especially at the end of the book. But I think it could have had a little bit more action and excitement or even some more comedy. Overall I think this is a good book for a 12 to 14-year-old but probably not an adult. I would give this book a rating of 4/5.
My favorite character was bob the duck because he was usually funny and pretty exciting. One of the characters I didn’t like was Bram’s dad. I didn’t really like him because he didn’t add much to the story and he was usually very boring. I also think Bram’s mum should have been in the story more as well and not just towards the end of the book.
Sometimes I thought it was very unrealistic and not believable like when Bram used the EMP device that his mum invented to make all the robots within the range of it stop moving. I also thought that Bob the talking duck was pretty unrealistic as well. Even though some things were very unrealistic, sometimes you didn’t know what was going to happen next which I thought was pretty exciting.
My favorite scene was when Bram and Stella got caught by the robots when they were with Marius Roch. It was surprising because they thought that he was good but then he turned bad. Marius Roch had to save his family and the only way he could save them was by handing Bram and Stella in to the robots. Then the robots could find out where Bram’s mum was so that they could stop her. This was my favorite scene because it kept me guessing and I wanted to keep reading to see what was going to happen next.
I think this book should have a sequel because it left you guessing especially at the end of the book. But I think it could have had a little bit more action and excitement or even some more comedy. Overall I think this is a good book for a 12 to 14-year-old but probably not an adult. I would give this book a rating of 4/5.
June 7, 2014
I thought (or I wished) the story was set in the far future. It's actually in the near future (or is it even in the present time?). Laws of Magic is one of my favorite fantasy series, so I started reading Machine Wars excitedly. The first chapter is promising. I like it how Bram gets into trouble directly. The machine appears right on page 2. And I enjoyed how Bram's background (a very cool mother, he has!) is revealed bit by bit in the first chapters. Stella, his friend who's dragged in the adventure is uniquely awesome; i'd love to read more about her. They are 14 and act like 14--believable characters.
I do realize that it's a middle grade book. So I tried to bring my 12-year-old-me back and I did have fun reading Machine Wars while pretending to be younger. But work made me have to put the book down for a while, and I failed to recall my younger self back when I returned to the book. I find reading Machine Wars as an adult to be difficult. Bram and Stella spend too much time Scatter and Hide: running about in the city, avoiding drones and bots, trying to survive (while their parents are preparing a way to annihilate the villain). I wish the kids have more significant roles/mission in the story.
All in all, this is a great read for middle graders, not for adults.
(I got the book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Michael Pryor!)
I do realize that it's a middle grade book. So I tried to bring my 12-year-old-me back and I did have fun reading Machine Wars while pretending to be younger. But work made me have to put the book down for a while, and I failed to recall my younger self back when I returned to the book. I find reading Machine Wars as an adult to be difficult. Bram and Stella spend too much time Scatter and Hide: running about in the city, avoiding drones and bots, trying to survive (while their parents are preparing a way to annihilate the villain). I wish the kids have more significant roles/mission in the story.
All in all, this is a great read for middle graders, not for adults.
(I got the book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Michael Pryor!)
August 7, 2016
The storyline is mainly about fighting the robots. There is a lot of action like right at the start. Bram and Stella try to survive for weeks until Bram’s mum comes back so she can help them fight the robots. There is a lot of stuff about robots. I thought it was a bit draggy in one of the bits in the middle. I kind of thought that this book was set in the future, not the present time. I loved how it puts you in the action right at the start. (page 2) There should be a continuation for this book. I really enjoyed it. Overall, this is a really exciting book. 4/5.
September 25, 2014
I sort of enjoyed this book. I might have been a bit old for this book; it is more targeted at 13-14 year olds. The element of robots reminded me of the laws of magic series, which I really enjoyed; however, this book didn't grab my attention that much. Sometimes it was a bit disorderly and a bit over the place. Some parts confused me a bit.
Overall, Michael Pryor is a great author even if I didn't really enjoy this book.
Overall, Michael Pryor is a great author even if I didn't really enjoy this book.
April 5, 2014
Oh my gosh! This book was amazing!
Full Review to come.
Full Review to come.
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