The year is 2075. Although it's against the law for robots to hold positions of power in the government and in large corporations, they have managed to do so largely because of the efforts of RobotWorld--one of the largest corporations on the planet. RW has created sentient robots that can totally pass for human.
Taylor Morris, a human, has risen rapidly up the RobotWorld hierarchy and has earned a life of privilege. But he laments the fact that he's had to compromise many of his personal values. When he goes too far in questioning RW's negative effects on humanity to Sophia Ross, RobotWorld's brilliant leader, he's fired, then marked for death by the hidden government/RobotWorld complex.
Taylor eventually becomes homeless and goes on the run. But with the help of Roz Troward, a loyal co-worker at RW who gets fired with him; Austin O'Connor, a wise old homeless philosopher, who may not be what he appears to be; and others, Taylor must match wits with the powerful government/RobotWorld complex to save himself, his associates, and maybe all of humanity.
I enjoyed this book. Good characters and story line. The presentation of George/intuition was kind of clunky but got used to it. Will continue on with the next book
I really was not sure how I would like this book, I have to say I am very glad that I listen to the little voice that told me “read it “. In the time of robotics, and the revealing of robots that are seemingly able to communicate without someone controlling them like a puppet, there has been a increase talk about robots taking over eventually. This book touched on good and evil, Since it is after all humans that developed them. Will they evolve by watching the actions And behavior Of blood,bones and skin? will the time comes where we cannot tell the difference between human and a bucket of bolts. Will they eventually teach humans to be more caring, loving to despise violence and hatred? There seems to be a lot that can be taught to robots, the question is what will they teach us. Enjoyed this very much.
This was an interesting read and it kept me turning pages. There were parts of it that were problematic for me. I understand that one of the key themes was the "evolution" of robots and their becoming more human-like. But the talk of emotions and the "illogical" and emotional responses of some of the robots in the story were still off-putting.
One of the more interesting bots was the Jennifer one. She disappeared about a third of the way into the story.
And the main characters did not act in consistent ways. For ME, it would have been better if Sophia was originally GOOD, and was programmed to be less good. Her fighting against her programming is kind of a nice juxtaposition between the internal wrangling that the main character does with his self-conscious or whatever you want "george" to be.
There was a lot of stuff left out of this story. Maybe all will be revealed in the next book. But I am not so sure. There could have been a lot more done around the struggle for survival and an explanation of WHY some of the things were the way they were.
For some reason, the Sophia character bothered me, especially once she started to "be good." It was like a switch flipped in her and it completely caused her to reverse course. That did not make sense to me. And then, by the end, after struggling throughout the whole book to accomplish her objectives, she decides to allow herself to be destroyed?
And the whole bit about the main characters knowing they are on the run and could be snuffed out, but then deciding to just reveal all their plans to the Google home device in the TV...NONE of them thought that was not a good idea?!?
I liked this book, but there was a potential for it to be amazing and I do not think it made it. Too many unanswered questions and character flips and implausible sidetracks.
I won a copy of this book as a Good Reads Giveaway and I am very grateful to the author for a chance to read this in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately, once again, I did not enjoy this as much as I thought I would. It started out good, although some of the dialog felt a little weak, but I lost interest when the main protagonist went home to his Jennifer Lawrence copy robot. I really dislike the use of celebrities (living or dead) in anything but historical fiction. It just completely pulls me out of the story and I cannot get back to it. I am constantly thinking of the real person and trying to paint this picture in my head that matches their known personality with that of the book's version of them and they never match up well. I'm sorry but it would take an exceptional author to pull that off and I don't know that I have ever seen it successfully done. If his robot had been based on a made up celebrity that resides in that world only, I would have been able to go along with it. But using a real life modern (living no less) person just completely ruined it for me.
#goodreadsgiveaway Taylor works at RobotWorld, the primary manufacturer of robots, and finds out that they are planning to take over the world. (OK, very loose description of the plot.) So this is basically your typical Asimov ripoff. As a character, Taylor is not entirely likeable, which makes it difficult to enjoy the book if he is supposed to be the protagonist - he's a little too full of himself. Everyone else is very two-dimensional, which is disappointing since I really would have enjoyed learning more about his assistant Roz, his sister Tracy, and his homeless friends Austin, Max, and Errol. I found it a bit predictable and I didn't like his 'intutition' - or George as he called it. Any time we needed clarification that a character was good or bad, you could rely on Taylor asking George, and get back a definitive answer. As a book, it was an OK read, kind of enjoyable, but not top-notch fiction.
RobotWorld is a story of a dystopian future in which robots are very much a part of life. There is a large company called RobotWorld, and it is up to all sorts of bad things.
The story follows a human employee of RobotWorld, and his journey of discovering the ills that beset his society. There are a lot of ills that beset his society. A long time ago I read Asimov’s Robot stories and I was struck by the contrasts with Asimov’s classic tales and this dystopian world. Long ago most writers had an optimistic view of the future, like technology will make our lives so much better. Now we seem to know better.
Anyhow, this novel explores the personal journey of more than one person and even one robot. I found it engaging and I recommend it to anyone who likes a good sci-fi read.
This was a GoodReads giveaway win of a Kindle ebook.
The writing style was not suited to my tastes, but I attempted the read anyways. Got to about 20%. I am just a tad too tech savvy, so went I got to the part where the author has to explain to me the concept of Maglev, that was when I decided to put it aside. It can enjoy a well developed story, but not if I am going to be talked down to. I will assume this book will be better suited as an introduction for a younger or less scientific reader.
Author freebie. First of a series. Suitable for teens and adults. If this was made into a movie could they get Jennifer Lawrence? The worst part of the new battlestar galacticca was when everybody was secretly a cylon? This novel has too many secret robots. Asimov had several robot worlds in his novels. What would be the perfect blend 1 robot per human? The epilogue was a little disappointing.
The premise of the story is interesting but there is too much drug use and references to sex in this book. The intimate scenes are not described but they are abundantly mentioned. It is definitely not something I would ever let me teenagers read. I also didn't care for the ending because it left me with the question - okay now what?
The story had a great premise but it wasn’t executed very well. The dialog between the characters was very forced with a lot of cliches. There wasn’t a lot of descriptive details to help form the story. I had a hard time getting into then book and the main character was really annoying.
You are taken on a journey where AI robots are trying to be like human , but there are others who due not want humans to live. You will see how high in government they go , there are a few that will not let it happen. The author did a good job with the book , you can not stop reading the book.
I won this book off a Goodreads Giveaway. This book received 3 stars because I can definitely see how someone would enjoy this story, it just wasn't for me; and it was written well enough. I'm glad I had the chance to read it.
Well written story about, of course, robots and the people who created them, and the eventual takeover of the world by robots. Many humans are addicted to drugs propagated by robots, but a few humans fight back. Great read
It held my attention, even if the subject matter is not my normal fare. I was feeling for the various characters, there were some parts that were surprising.I liked that. If you like, or fear, robots, this book is for you.
This is a fast-paced science fiction thriller with great character development. Albeit, I felt that there were a few loose ends during the climax and epilogue but still it was an intriguing plot. One of the few novels, where I actually was sympathetic at times with a robot!
I got this ebook in a Goodreads Giveaway. It is kind of a HS SF thriller. the plot is OK, but the action is a little slow. I had no desire to read the next book in the series.
I appreciate the opportunity to read this ebook, as it was won in the giveaways. The theme, while one of many recurring sci fi themes, is a worthwhile plot line. Robots versus human and how far out of control can that get? Who will save humanity. *Note, GREAT twist at the end, if the entire book had been that intriguing, it would've received 4 or 5 stars. Post WWIII, humans are disillusioned, have become more and more drug dependent, are 'selecting the path of least resistance and the most short term pleasure....they are not go getters or self motivated types'. THIS is very much an issue in our own society today. Even pre WWIII. The outlook is that there are 'three types of people: people who watch things happen, people who don't know what the hell happened, and people who make things happen'. The government has ceased to really care about the first two categories. It's all about profit and certain agendas. Little people be damned. Overall, the book was too thin. Not enough depth in any one character, the plot was simple and moved at a snails pace with little twist.
From Cover to Cover I enjoyed this book. It's a sci-fi futuristic tale, yet there are aspects that are prevalent even today i.e. homelessness and drugs. With strides in technology being what they are and what they continue to evolve to be, we often wonder what would the world be like if robots took over. In decades past robotics took over automation of building things, today you see them taking over packing, grabbing, and shipping in warehouses, and even mopping floors in our local grocery stores. Driving cars and trucks, and eventually perhaps you won't even be able to tell humans from robots.
This book touches on the themes of good vs evil, It was easy to follow, and the characters were likeable. So much so that a sequel follow up would be on my to read list. The book is well written and I would even enjoy watching this remade into a movie.
**Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest unbiased review**