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Isaac Asimov's Robots in Time #4
Dictator
A robot named Hunter and a team of three human experts travel back into time to World War II to stop a time-traveling renegade robot before he destroys the future of humanity.
230 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 19, 2019
Feb 17,2019 EDIT ~~ Re-reading this one starting now even though it was not very long ago at all that I read it the first time. I am doing the whole series now, you see, and I can't in good conscience skip this one!
Feb 18 ~~ Well, I must say, I understood this one better this time around, thanks to reading the others in the series first. The books can stand alone, but the overall story makes much more sense if you know the background!
Nothing new to add to my first review, except that the character who made the quoted comment I quoted at the end of this review was not Hunter, it was Judy, the historian for this episode. And now I am off to China with R. Hunter to see If we can find MC 5! Will Wayne be there too? And I wonder who will be our historian for this trip? What kind of adventures will we have? Only one way to find out!
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I just got back from two weeks (and two days) visiting my Mom in Arizona. While I was there I visited with my doctor, who has been both friend and health care provider for over 20 years. We love to talk books, and this time he loaned me his copy of Dictator, which was signed by his cousin the author.
Dr. Wu knew I had read other titles by William, and he was happy to be able to share this one with me, since it was the first book he had ever had dedicated to him. (We have a running joke that someday I will write a book about my fairly exotic health issues over the years and dedicate it to him. Who knows, I might actually do it, too!)
First of all, I have read and enjoyed other Wu titles, especially Hong On The Range, but I had never tried this series. Dictator was number three of six, but I had no problem getting right into the story and there was just enough reference to the previous adventures to make me curious about them and decide I need to read them all to get the full impact (not to mention to find out What Happens Next!)
I enjoyed the book: it was fun to read, not too complicated, and I liked the characters. Well, except for Wayne, the bad guy scientist who seemed a bit dense to be a big scientist full of curiosity and capable of time travel. He was constantly being reminded of the most basic information by his robot companion, and his response nearly every time was 'Oh, okay.' So every time Wayne was involved in anything I got distracted wondering just how idiotic he was going to show himself to be this time.
The premise is that R. Hunter, a robot, and his team of humans are going back in time looking for something called the MC Governor, a robot that has split himself up into six different parts and disappeared. I don't try to figure out the logistics of time travel when I come across it in any book, I just read the story. So I have no idea if the topic was anywhere close to being accurately portrayed as far as current thought is concerned.
All I know is that sometimes it is fun to read about people going back in time, and when you add robots to the mix as well, it can be very interesting. I think it would be kind of hard to be a robot and have to deal with those famous three laws. Especially when you as a robot know that if you get into a situation where actions would force you to contradict those laws, your systems would shut down. Oh, the stress!
Here our team dealt with part of the conflict betwen Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia in WW2, and these two societies gave the author a chance to slip in a final moral towards the end of the book, which made me have to remind myself that this book was published in 1994, not 2018. Stupidly, I did not mark down which character in the book said this, but I think it was R. Hunter himself, during the team review of their adventure. But whoever it was, he was spot on point!
The larger lesson is that technological development does not necessarily mean civilized values ~~ we all have to remain on guard. Humans, unlike robots, have the power to choose how to behave.
Feb 18 ~~ Well, I must say, I understood this one better this time around, thanks to reading the others in the series first. The books can stand alone, but the overall story makes much more sense if you know the background!
Nothing new to add to my first review, except that the character who made the quoted comment I quoted at the end of this review was not Hunter, it was Judy, the historian for this episode. And now I am off to China with R. Hunter to see If we can find MC 5! Will Wayne be there too? And I wonder who will be our historian for this trip? What kind of adventures will we have? Only one way to find out!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I just got back from two weeks (and two days) visiting my Mom in Arizona. While I was there I visited with my doctor, who has been both friend and health care provider for over 20 years. We love to talk books, and this time he loaned me his copy of Dictator, which was signed by his cousin the author.
Dr. Wu knew I had read other titles by William, and he was happy to be able to share this one with me, since it was the first book he had ever had dedicated to him. (We have a running joke that someday I will write a book about my fairly exotic health issues over the years and dedicate it to him. Who knows, I might actually do it, too!)
First of all, I have read and enjoyed other Wu titles, especially Hong On The Range, but I had never tried this series. Dictator was number three of six, but I had no problem getting right into the story and there was just enough reference to the previous adventures to make me curious about them and decide I need to read them all to get the full impact (not to mention to find out What Happens Next!)
I enjoyed the book: it was fun to read, not too complicated, and I liked the characters. Well, except for Wayne, the bad guy scientist who seemed a bit dense to be a big scientist full of curiosity and capable of time travel. He was constantly being reminded of the most basic information by his robot companion, and his response nearly every time was 'Oh, okay.' So every time Wayne was involved in anything I got distracted wondering just how idiotic he was going to show himself to be this time.
The premise is that R. Hunter, a robot, and his team of humans are going back in time looking for something called the MC Governor, a robot that has split himself up into six different parts and disappeared. I don't try to figure out the logistics of time travel when I come across it in any book, I just read the story. So I have no idea if the topic was anywhere close to being accurately portrayed as far as current thought is concerned.
All I know is that sometimes it is fun to read about people going back in time, and when you add robots to the mix as well, it can be very interesting. I think it would be kind of hard to be a robot and have to deal with those famous three laws. Especially when you as a robot know that if you get into a situation where actions would force you to contradict those laws, your systems would shut down. Oh, the stress!
Here our team dealt with part of the conflict betwen Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia in WW2, and these two societies gave the author a chance to slip in a final moral towards the end of the book, which made me have to remind myself that this book was published in 1994, not 2018. Stupidly, I did not mark down which character in the book said this, but I think it was R. Hunter himself, during the team review of their adventure. But whoever it was, he was spot on point!
The larger lesson is that technological development does not necessarily mean civilized values ~~ we all have to remain on guard. Humans, unlike robots, have the power to choose how to behave.
March 24, 2022
Dictator is an impulse-buy that I picked up 30 years ago in a brief sci-fi phase, not knowing that it was a middle book in a series of six, or that “Isaac Asimov’s” to start the full title did not mean it was written by the legendary creator of the Three Laws of robotics. My attention to detail wasn’t what it is today.
Nevertheless, I did not feel I missed much by jumping into the middle of the saga, as the earlier tales were adequately explained, and one can presume what follows in the books ahead.
I imagine I was partly taken in my youth by robots being lead characters, and perhaps also by their time-travel to World War II Eastern Europe, though I was also not as big a history fan as I am today. I’ve done my own time travel of sorts.
The story was easy to read, and the history was as accurate as my limited knowledge of WWII battles expected it to be. The characters were likable and real enough, with a surprise or two coming from them here and there. I imagine the constant reminders of which of the Three Laws the mechanical characters were bound by in any given moment could be tedious to the more dedicated science fiction aficionado, but it was only slightly bothersome to me.
My biggest complaint is that each of the human characters did so much “grinning wryly” that you would think they were, well, robots.
I almost want to read the other books in the series, but it’s more like I just want to know the highlights.
5 stars in my younger days, when I was only an occasional reader and was binging Star Trek TOS/TNG movies. 2 stars today. It was just OK.
Nevertheless, I did not feel I missed much by jumping into the middle of the saga, as the earlier tales were adequately explained, and one can presume what follows in the books ahead.
I imagine I was partly taken in my youth by robots being lead characters, and perhaps also by their time-travel to World War II Eastern Europe, though I was also not as big a history fan as I am today. I’ve done my own time travel of sorts.
The story was easy to read, and the history was as accurate as my limited knowledge of WWII battles expected it to be. The characters were likable and real enough, with a surprise or two coming from them here and there. I imagine the constant reminders of which of the Three Laws the mechanical characters were bound by in any given moment could be tedious to the more dedicated science fiction aficionado, but it was only slightly bothersome to me.
My biggest complaint is that each of the human characters did so much “grinning wryly” that you would think they were, well, robots.
I almost want to read the other books in the series, but it’s more like I just want to know the highlights.
5 stars in my younger days, when I was only an occasional reader and was binging Star Trek TOS/TNG movies. 2 stars today. It was just OK.
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November 1, 2020
About the series:
In the robot universe created by Isaac Asimov, a humanoid robot named Hunter leads a human team to search the past for six rogue robots before they change the course of history -- or explode with nuclear force in the present!
The first such series in Asimov's universe to appear after his death, written by William F. Wu in the tradition of Asimov's original robot short stories to be acceptable for any age group.
About the book:
December, 1941: Hunter knows that MC 4 will appear in the area of Moscow just before the great battle between the invading German army and the Soviet Red Army defending the city. The battle will be the first Soviet victory in World War II, unless MC 4 somehow interferes, driven by the First Law not to let humans come to harm.
Hunter, Steve, Jane, and their new historian Judy Taub must avoid trouble with the Soviet secret police and move back and forth between the two poised armies in search of MC 4. Meanwhile, Dr. Nystrom and Ishihara enlist the aid of German officers in their search for the rogue component robot. Jane joins a corps of Russian women desperately digging anti-tank trenches as the cold winter grows worse.
As the Red Army begins its counter-attack, Hunter's team and Dr. Nystrom and his assistant converge on MC 4 at the same time.
January 9, 2012
This book, Robots In Time (Dictator), is the fourth of a six book series written by William F. Wu and deals with Asimov’s robots and their adventures in time. In short this, and the other five novels by Wu in this series, are concerned with the three laws of robotics and six specific times in human history. If you don’t know what I’m talking about and you like science fiction, you really must go out and read the Robot novels by Isaac Asimov. But if you are continuing to read this review, you most likely already know his work and are curious about this Robots In Time Series.
There are three series I know of which are not written by Asimov, but deal exclusively with his robots and the three laws or robotics. The first series written was Robot City (1 -6), then came Robots In Time (1-6) and lastly Robots And Aliens (1-6). Asimov himself gave his okay for certain other writers to explore his concepts. Asimov’s short story “Robot Visions” was the inspiration for Robots In Time.
In Robots In Time (Dictator) we are transported back in time (by a time machine - a.k.a. story convention so don’t try to figure it) to the Russian front during world war two. Its cold, dismal, and the escaped robot MC 4 (long story, but you don’t really need to know it) must be recaptured by Hunter (a humaniform robot) and three humans. There is also another roboticist (Dr. Nystrom the creator of the MC robots) trying to find and recapture the escaped MC 4 as well. He shows up as the foil in all six books and in this one he is accompanied by a robot as well.
I would class this book as a young adult novel. William F. Wu does a good job, though it is nothing like Asimov’s originals, of depicting robots and how they deal with the contradictions and situations which can arise from conforming to the three laws of robotics. Suffice to say that this novel dealing with world war two, Russians and Germans, is entertaining but not too heavy. And easy read that is fairly enjoyable. If you approach these novels as young adult books, you will have nothing to be upset about. If you were expecting classic Asimov, I’m afraid you are going to be disappointed.
Bottom line is - fun, light, and something to pass the time. Not a real page turner, mind expanding read, but it never pretends to be. For reference I’ll list all six titles in case you get the urge to collect (like I do all the time). So in order,
Robots In Time (Predator)
Robots In Time (Marauder)
Robots In Time (Warrior)
Robots In Time (Dictator)
Robots In Time (Emperor)
Robots In Time (Invader)
There are three series I know of which are not written by Asimov, but deal exclusively with his robots and the three laws or robotics. The first series written was Robot City (1 -6), then came Robots In Time (1-6) and lastly Robots And Aliens (1-6). Asimov himself gave his okay for certain other writers to explore his concepts. Asimov’s short story “Robot Visions” was the inspiration for Robots In Time.
In Robots In Time (Dictator) we are transported back in time (by a time machine - a.k.a. story convention so don’t try to figure it) to the Russian front during world war two. Its cold, dismal, and the escaped robot MC 4 (long story, but you don’t really need to know it) must be recaptured by Hunter (a humaniform robot) and three humans. There is also another roboticist (Dr. Nystrom the creator of the MC robots) trying to find and recapture the escaped MC 4 as well. He shows up as the foil in all six books and in this one he is accompanied by a robot as well.
I would class this book as a young adult novel. William F. Wu does a good job, though it is nothing like Asimov’s originals, of depicting robots and how they deal with the contradictions and situations which can arise from conforming to the three laws of robotics. Suffice to say that this novel dealing with world war two, Russians and Germans, is entertaining but not too heavy. And easy read that is fairly enjoyable. If you approach these novels as young adult books, you will have nothing to be upset about. If you were expecting classic Asimov, I’m afraid you are going to be disappointed.
Bottom line is - fun, light, and something to pass the time. Not a real page turner, mind expanding read, but it never pretends to be. For reference I’ll list all six titles in case you get the urge to collect (like I do all the time). So in order,
Robots In Time (Predator)
Robots In Time (Marauder)
Robots In Time (Warrior)
Robots In Time (Dictator)
Robots In Time (Emperor)
Robots In Time (Invader)
May 25, 2014
I forced myself to finish this one.
The plot is even more monotonous than in the previous three books.
I initially thought the gestalt robot concept was cool, with each book in the series covering the hunt for a single unit of MC 6, but by book four it is really starting to drag on.
If not for its strict adherence to the idea that the future could be irreparably altered, requiring minimal interaction with the people of that era, I think this could have been a much more interesting read.
In contrast, this rule wasn't followed so strictly in Marauder, which is definitely my favorite of the four.
Instead the monotony continues, with a new backdrop being applied to the same tired plot.
The plot is even more monotonous than in the previous three books.
I initially thought the gestalt robot concept was cool, with each book in the series covering the hunt for a single unit of MC 6, but by book four it is really starting to drag on.
If not for its strict adherence to the idea that the future could be irreparably altered, requiring minimal interaction with the people of that era, I think this could have been a much more interesting read.
In contrast, this rule wasn't followed so strictly in Marauder, which is definitely my favorite of the four.
Instead the monotony continues, with a new backdrop being applied to the same tired plot.
June 1, 2012
This book was far better than the previous in the series. That said, it still wasn't great. A lot of the problems I had with the stupid "experts" were thankfully absent from this one. It was a quick read that was fairly enjoyable. Hopefully the last 2 will keep it up this trend.
October 2, 2013
Abandoned part way through. Too sterile and characters of little interest/engagement.
Nothing like the pedigree of Isaac Asimov's Robots, so feel bought book under false assumption would be of same ilk and style. Disappointing.
Nothing like the pedigree of Isaac Asimov's Robots, so feel bought book under false assumption would be of same ilk and style. Disappointing.
Want to read
January 10, 20142/1/94. No library.
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