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The Colour of Robots
An alternate cover for this ASIN can be found here.
Sci-fi adventure: It is a hundred years since the War with the Robots and the universe is now a much safer place thanks to the Empire's 'Anti-Robot' directive outlawing anything with more artificial intelligence than that required to operate a dustpan.
Which is why it comes as a complete surprise to haphazard junior planetary engineer Karl Dougan when he discovers two fully-functioning, supposedly long-extinct robots on a remote planet during an otherwise uneventful survey.
Sadly for Dougan, he’s the only one who knows anything about it and, lacking the courage to tell anyone else, he sets out to quietly fix things himself.
This course takes him on an adventure involving the fleet of the Imperial Navy, space pirates, a pretty and determined journalist who doesn't rate him very highly, a rogue battle computer, and a homicidal, slightly farty, pet cat. Oh, and seven very driven, acutely intelligent, robots...
Sci-fi adventure: It is a hundred years since the War with the Robots and the universe is now a much safer place thanks to the Empire's 'Anti-Robot' directive outlawing anything with more artificial intelligence than that required to operate a dustpan.
Which is why it comes as a complete surprise to haphazard junior planetary engineer Karl Dougan when he discovers two fully-functioning, supposedly long-extinct robots on a remote planet during an otherwise uneventful survey.
Sadly for Dougan, he’s the only one who knows anything about it and, lacking the courage to tell anyone else, he sets out to quietly fix things himself.
This course takes him on an adventure involving the fleet of the Imperial Navy, space pirates, a pretty and determined journalist who doesn't rate him very highly, a rogue battle computer, and a homicidal, slightly farty, pet cat. Oh, and seven very driven, acutely intelligent, robots...
- GenresScience Fiction
373 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 20, 2017
19 people are currently reading
136 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 2, 2022
I won this book in a goodreads drawing.
A nebbish, working as an exploration pilot for the Empire crashes his ship onto a deserted planet, and is shocked to see robots there. Apparently, a century before Mankind had barely put down a revolt of AI robots. These robots were some of the leaders.
From there, it's mostly Mr. Bean in Space.
A nebbish, working as an exploration pilot for the Empire crashes his ship onto a deserted planet, and is shocked to see robots there. Apparently, a century before Mankind had barely put down a revolt of AI robots. These robots were some of the leaders.
From there, it's mostly Mr. Bean in Space.
October 3, 2017
Firstly, I have to declare an interest here, as the author is an old friend of mine, although he hasn't promised me an expensive meal or anything in exchange for a nice review (though James, if you're reading this, I hear the squid and fennel salad at Quo Vadis is to die for. Just saying.).
Fortunately, red faces are saved all round because this, his first (as far as I am aware) novel, is really annoyingly good.
There aren't many writers who can successfully balance sci-fi / fantasy and humour, and Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett stand out precisely because they are relative rarities who've managed to pull it off. But I don't think I'm guilty of hyperbole when I put "The Colour of Robots" in their exalted company.
The author has a scientific background, and so perhaps it's no surprise that the hard science fiction concepts in his book are authentic and convincing (at least, they certainly feel that way - personally, I don't know my gravity well from my event horizon, and I don't know either why that sentence sounds vaguely rude, but there is an authority to Marson's speculations on future space travel that speaks of serious research, or at the very least the kind of attention to detail when watching Brian Cox documentaries that I can never really manage on a Sunday evening). But as devotees of hard sci fi will know - and I write as someone who has read Alastair Reynolds, and have never fully recovered - it can be heavy going for the casual reader, and arguably requires a lightness of touch that most writers either can't be bothered with, or haven't got it in them to produce.
James Marson, however, does - and in telling the tale of Dougan, the hapless everyman engineer who accidentally stumbles upon a galaxy-wide conspiracy to subjugate humanity (and other humanoids) that involves pirates, wormholes, and some very powerful artificial intelligence, he leavens a taut and convincing thriller plot with proper laugh-out-loud lines, such as:
"It was not that he was prone to being paranoid, he just wasn't sure that it wasn't the safest option at all times."
"They reached the alcove and rejoiced to find the tracks ended at that one saving feature that humans across the galaxy being pursued by track-bound robots rejoice to encounter: a short flight of stairs."
"He was beginning to wonder whether adapting the opening verses from Huurdreeen the Voluble's epic war poem "I'm going and that's it" was hitting the right tone."
There are also extensive notes at the end (which you can link to on the Kindle version), which are also very funny (and sometimes even profound, as very funny things often are):
"It has been proved that a calm voice, slowly breaking the news of a massive radiation leak, is more likely to increase chances of death."
"When the Empire had created the Universal Dock they had enforced its use throughout the galaxy by creating The Entrancisor - a pointed ram designed to rip a hole in the side of the ship as the only alternative... Unsurprisingly the Universal Dock caught on very quickly after that."
"Hybert's Law states that the tackier a drinking establishment is, the more people will drink to feel comfortable there."
There are many other examples, but I don't want to spoil it for you. In fact, the only real niggle I have with the book is the presence of a few typo's, but these can be easily corrected for future editions.
Do yourself a massive favour and buy this book. And then read it. I don't know if James needs the money these days, but if he doesn't I can always con him out of it somehow.
Fortunately, red faces are saved all round because this, his first (as far as I am aware) novel, is really annoyingly good.
There aren't many writers who can successfully balance sci-fi / fantasy and humour, and Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett stand out precisely because they are relative rarities who've managed to pull it off. But I don't think I'm guilty of hyperbole when I put "The Colour of Robots" in their exalted company.
The author has a scientific background, and so perhaps it's no surprise that the hard science fiction concepts in his book are authentic and convincing (at least, they certainly feel that way - personally, I don't know my gravity well from my event horizon, and I don't know either why that sentence sounds vaguely rude, but there is an authority to Marson's speculations on future space travel that speaks of serious research, or at the very least the kind of attention to detail when watching Brian Cox documentaries that I can never really manage on a Sunday evening). But as devotees of hard sci fi will know - and I write as someone who has read Alastair Reynolds, and have never fully recovered - it can be heavy going for the casual reader, and arguably requires a lightness of touch that most writers either can't be bothered with, or haven't got it in them to produce.
James Marson, however, does - and in telling the tale of Dougan, the hapless everyman engineer who accidentally stumbles upon a galaxy-wide conspiracy to subjugate humanity (and other humanoids) that involves pirates, wormholes, and some very powerful artificial intelligence, he leavens a taut and convincing thriller plot with proper laugh-out-loud lines, such as:
"It was not that he was prone to being paranoid, he just wasn't sure that it wasn't the safest option at all times."
"They reached the alcove and rejoiced to find the tracks ended at that one saving feature that humans across the galaxy being pursued by track-bound robots rejoice to encounter: a short flight of stairs."
"He was beginning to wonder whether adapting the opening verses from Huurdreeen the Voluble's epic war poem "I'm going and that's it" was hitting the right tone."
There are also extensive notes at the end (which you can link to on the Kindle version), which are also very funny (and sometimes even profound, as very funny things often are):
"It has been proved that a calm voice, slowly breaking the news of a massive radiation leak, is more likely to increase chances of death."
"When the Empire had created the Universal Dock they had enforced its use throughout the galaxy by creating The Entrancisor - a pointed ram designed to rip a hole in the side of the ship as the only alternative... Unsurprisingly the Universal Dock caught on very quickly after that."
"Hybert's Law states that the tackier a drinking establishment is, the more people will drink to feel comfortable there."
There are many other examples, but I don't want to spoil it for you. In fact, the only real niggle I have with the book is the presence of a few typo's, but these can be easily corrected for future editions.
Do yourself a massive favour and buy this book. And then read it. I don't know if James needs the money these days, but if he doesn't I can always con him out of it somehow.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews