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Attempting to recover the fifth component of a renegade robot, Hunter and his team travel through time to ancient China, where they are thwarted by Dr. Wayne Nystrom, creator of the robot, who is determined to retrieve it himself.
240 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 19, 2019
Off we all go to China to search for MC 5, the runaway component of MC Governor, who way back in book 1 split himself into six parts and time traveled to avoid being shut down due to an odd malfunction.
Team boss R. Hunter (robot) is joined once again by loner human Steve and robotics expert human Jane. The historian in this adventure is Marcia, whose field of specialty is yep, China in the days of Kublai Khan. Say, isn't that when a certain adventurer from Venice was in town?
Will we get to actually see that man? Can we go to the palace to see the Khan himself? What will that evil roboticist Wayne do during this trip? Can he succeed in locating MC5 before Hunter does? If not, why not? Why does Steve seem so incredibly insecure this time around? What is it about Marcia Marcia Marcia that trips Steve's triggers? And Jane, what happens to Jane?! So many questions!
There was a lot more debating going on among the team members in this book. They must be getting tired of zipping back and forth through time. In their present time only a week or so has passed, but every trip back in time they spend a few days at least. I would think that would be very disorienting and maybe contribute to a jet lag type of feeling? I know I would be a raging lunatic at this point if I had been part of the team. Maybe that explains why there was more....discussion here.
I'm off to the sixth book now so I'll get to see if we've all settled our personality issues. Or rather, if there are any new ones, since the historian is the only team member that changes from book to book. Maybe for the last adventure we will all be best buddies?!
When we come back from our final trip through time, I'll make some general comments about the series as a whole. I've certainly enjoyed it but I did write down some thoughts that popped into my little pea brain as I was reading.
Now if only I can find my notes.
Marco!
Polo?
Team boss R. Hunter (robot) is joined once again by loner human Steve and robotics expert human Jane. The historian in this adventure is Marcia, whose field of specialty is yep, China in the days of Kublai Khan. Say, isn't that when a certain adventurer from Venice was in town?
Will we get to actually see that man? Can we go to the palace to see the Khan himself? What will that evil roboticist Wayne do during this trip? Can he succeed in locating MC5 before Hunter does? If not, why not? Why does Steve seem so incredibly insecure this time around? What is it about Marcia Marcia Marcia that trips Steve's triggers? And Jane, what happens to Jane?! So many questions!
There was a lot more debating going on among the team members in this book. They must be getting tired of zipping back and forth through time. In their present time only a week or so has passed, but every trip back in time they spend a few days at least. I would think that would be very disorienting and maybe contribute to a jet lag type of feeling? I know I would be a raging lunatic at this point if I had been part of the team. Maybe that explains why there was more....discussion here.
I'm off to the sixth book now so I'll get to see if we've all settled our personality issues. Or rather, if there are any new ones, since the historian is the only team member that changes from book to book. Maybe for the last adventure we will all be best buddies?!
When we come back from our final trip through time, I'll make some general comments about the series as a whole. I've certainly enjoyed it but I did write down some thoughts that popped into my little pea brain as I was reading.
Now if only I can find my notes.
Marco!
Polo?
Read
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:
When Beijing, China, vanishes under a mysterious mushroom cloud, Hunter knows where to seek MC 5. He takes his team back to the court of Kublai Khan in the time of Marco Polo's famous journey to Cathay. This time, their historian is Marcia Lew, a knowledgeable but pedantic authority on Kublai Khan's rule whom Steve can barely tolerate. They must not only capture MC 5 and return him to their own time through their time-travel device to prevent him from exploding, but also prevent him from reaching the ear of the benevolent Emperor -- and persuading him to make changes in his rule that could alter the course of history.
Their search takes them to the Great Wall of China north of Beijing, where they meet with rough and rowdy Mongol guards in the service of the Emperor.
When the team meets with Marco Polo, they must also make sure that they reveal nothing new that he can include in the book that will someday make his name virtually immortal.
During their efforts, Dr. Nystrom kidnaps Jane and takes her to another time!
April 13, 2021
When I bought it, I didn't realize it wasn't written by Asimov and that it was already the fifth in a series.
It's not very memorable either, horses are mentioned more than robots.
It's not very memorable either, horses are mentioned more than robots.
July 19, 2024
I love time travel stories and this one is very good. I'll have to find the others in the series.Happy reading
January 9, 2012
No, Asimov did not write this book. Wanted to clear that up right away. This book is actually one of six (and this happens to be number 5 in the series) authorized by Asimov himself to be written using his robots and exploring the ideas of time travel at the same time.
The author is William F. Wu. Now you know. Oh, and he (William F. Wu, not Asimov) wrote all six of the “Robots in Time” series, unlike the “Robot City” series which had different authors. And I found, while collecting them, that the “Robots In Time” books were pretty hard to find in paperback version anymore - having been published in 1994... You know, back when dinosaurs roamed the land. (I heard that, and yes I am still roaming - thank you.) Ahem.
So on to the review, actually a series of impressions as giving too many details may spoil the actual read for you. The setting is China, and the year is around 1000 BC. Two characters of note historically fictionalized (thems is two big words) are - Marco Polo (no, not the inspiration for the shirt, the explorer) and Kublai Khan (not the Coleridge poem or Kirk’s adversary, but the Emperor of China.)
Once again we are taken on a pretty exciting ride through history as told to us by Wu. And once again we are treated to a young adult fiction novel. You will not find the deep Verner Vinge type idea novel here, but more the early Heinlien adolescent fun one. And as such, it succeeds quite well. We get a taste of China and the political culture of 1000 BC, and the protagonists accomplish their task satisfactorily - all in only 227 pages.
I have a special fondness for all things “Asmovian Robot” whether they were written by him or not, so my liking of this series may be tainted by that admiration. If you don’t care for Asimov’s work, you may not care much for these novels then either.
Still, if you can find them, I would say get them.
Fun, and I think, worth your time.
The author is William F. Wu. Now you know. Oh, and he (William F. Wu, not Asimov) wrote all six of the “Robots in Time” series, unlike the “Robot City” series which had different authors. And I found, while collecting them, that the “Robots In Time” books were pretty hard to find in paperback version anymore - having been published in 1994... You know, back when dinosaurs roamed the land. (I heard that, and yes I am still roaming - thank you.) Ahem.
So on to the review, actually a series of impressions as giving too many details may spoil the actual read for you. The setting is China, and the year is around 1000 BC. Two characters of note historically fictionalized (thems is two big words) are - Marco Polo (no, not the inspiration for the shirt, the explorer) and Kublai Khan (not the Coleridge poem or Kirk’s adversary, but the Emperor of China.)
Once again we are taken on a pretty exciting ride through history as told to us by Wu. And once again we are treated to a young adult fiction novel. You will not find the deep Verner Vinge type idea novel here, but more the early Heinlien adolescent fun one. And as such, it succeeds quite well. We get a taste of China and the political culture of 1000 BC, and the protagonists accomplish their task satisfactorily - all in only 227 pages.
I have a special fondness for all things “Asmovian Robot” whether they were written by him or not, so my liking of this series may be tainted by that admiration. If you don’t care for Asimov’s work, you may not care much for these novels then either.
Still, if you can find them, I would say get them.
Fun, and I think, worth your time.
June 4, 2016
In the series Robots in Time groups of people assemble to find robots which have gone missing through time. These situations are so dire because if these robots are not found they blow up in a nuclear explosion. In Emperor, the group assembled must go back to Kublai Khan era China and retrieve a robot gone awry. Through their adventures they face many different obstacles such as appearing out of thin air in front of the Chinese locals who are first convinced they are demons. This book puts a very interesting twist on history making it entertaining as well as informational.
May 31, 2014
Emperor was a nice surprise after forcing myself to finish the preceding book in the series, Dictator.
The hunt for the Mojave Center Governor gestalt robots is still dragging on, and while each book is beginning to seem somewhat formulaic, I still found Emperor to be an enjoyable read.
Want to read
January 10, 20146/1/94. No library.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews