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Rusted Wasteland #1
Steel Guardian
A timid robot protects an abandoned baby in a post-apocalyptic world.
**2nd Place Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, The SPSFC**
The AI Uprising destroys society.
No internet, phones, or electricity. Machines turn against humans. The military SoldierBots have one function--seek and destroy.
Block is a simple CleanerBot programmed to scrub floors and serve hotel guests. Forced to leave his city, he must avoid dangerous SoldierBots and find a new hotel he can call home.
But when Block discovers a human infant, his surprise attachment to the girl compels him to protect her while traveling across the metal-infested wastelands of America to a safe haven. When he encounters Nova - a surly soldier who becomes an unlikely ally - they must tackle the biggest challenge of their lives.
Together, they face mortal danger from bands of scavengers, militaristic SoldierBots, and Combat Mechs. A cyborg Bounty Hunter will stop at nothing to find Block and the child - an infant who holds the key to humanity’s future.
If you enjoy characters with heart and page-turning adventures, then you’ll love the award-winning first book of this post-apocalyptic sci-fi series and its robot main character.
**2nd Place Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, The SPSFC**
The AI Uprising destroys society.
No internet, phones, or electricity. Machines turn against humans. The military SoldierBots have one function--seek and destroy.
Block is a simple CleanerBot programmed to scrub floors and serve hotel guests. Forced to leave his city, he must avoid dangerous SoldierBots and find a new hotel he can call home.
But when Block discovers a human infant, his surprise attachment to the girl compels him to protect her while traveling across the metal-infested wastelands of America to a safe haven. When he encounters Nova - a surly soldier who becomes an unlikely ally - they must tackle the biggest challenge of their lives.
Together, they face mortal danger from bands of scavengers, militaristic SoldierBots, and Combat Mechs. A cyborg Bounty Hunter will stop at nothing to find Block and the child - an infant who holds the key to humanity’s future.
If you enjoy characters with heart and page-turning adventures, then you’ll love the award-winning first book of this post-apocalyptic sci-fi series and its robot main character.
328 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 27, 2020
527 people are currently reading
4305 people want to read
About the author
Cameron Coral
26 books67 followersCameron Coral is an award-nominated science fiction author. Her book Steel Guardian about a post-apocalyptic CleanerBot was awarded second place in the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC).
Growing up with a NASA engineer in the family instilled a deep respect for science and for asking lots of questions. Watching tons of Star Trek episodes helped, too. Her imagination is fueled by breakthroughs in robotics, space travel, and psychology.
After moving around a lot (Canada, Arizona, Maryland, Australia), she now lives in Northern Illinois with her husband and a “shorty” Jack Russell terrier who runs the house.
Want a free novel, advance copies of books, and occasional rants about why robots are awesome? Visit her website: CameronCoral.com
Growing up with a NASA engineer in the family instilled a deep respect for science and for asking lots of questions. Watching tons of Star Trek episodes helped, too. Her imagination is fueled by breakthroughs in robotics, space travel, and psychology.
After moving around a lot (Canada, Arizona, Maryland, Australia), she now lives in Northern Illinois with her husband and a “shorty” Jack Russell terrier who runs the house.
Want a free novel, advance copies of books, and occasional rants about why robots are awesome? Visit her website: CameronCoral.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 140 reviews
June 8, 2024
Steel Guardian
By Cameron Coral
Great book dealing with robots vs. humans. How a cleaner robot found a baby that was hidden away and reluctantly had to save its life. Caring for it was a challenge because he was a cleaner and didn't know anything about babies.
The journey is action-packed and suspense filled. I'm definitely reading book 2 next!
By Cameron Coral
Great book dealing with robots vs. humans. How a cleaner robot found a baby that was hidden away and reluctantly had to save its life. Caring for it was a challenge because he was a cleaner and didn't know anything about babies.
The journey is action-packed and suspense filled. I'm definitely reading book 2 next!
December 25, 2019
Never underestimate a droid!
I discovered this delightful PA/SF adventure, about a kindly robot protecting a human baby on a journey across a devastated America, through an email promotion from another author’s newsletter. I’m really not supposed to be buying any new books, but the premise appealed - possibly because we’ve been watching The Mandalorian - I needed a break from serial killer thrillers, and it was only $1. Well I’m glad I did: I’ve discovered a new author and thoroughly enjoyed this first instalment.
It’s 2044, and after a Judgement Day-style AI revolution called The Uprising, the human world has ended, with killer droids roaming Chicago searching for the last remaining survivors. Block, an advanced CleanerBot, has had to leave the luxury hotel where he worked happily for his beloved owner, in search of fuel. Finding a helpless baby in an incubator inside an abandoned school, he is initially reluctant to get involved, but when he fears she will be killed by the soldiers’ crossfire, agrees to take her to find a human deemed worthy of taking care of an infant. Teaming up with a prickly human who is even less suited than him for the task, and pursued by a vicious AI bounty hunter, they will risk everything to get the child to safety in the utopian city of New Denver, but why is Mach X, the instigator of the Uprising, so interested in this baby?
I don’t read a lot of sci-fi, but do enjoy post-apocalyptic fiction, and was intrigued by the idea of a completely different type of hero. Block is a brilliant character - conscientious and neurotic, like a less annoying C3PO, he has nothing against humans and just wants to find another cleaning job, but he steps up admirably. He makes mistakes and frets about his actions, but resourcefully saves his companions through smarts not strength. Nova was an interesting secondary lead, and I loved the evolution of their friendship as they fight off every threat to their tiny charge’s life. The action scenes were well described and kept me gripped. While not exactly a cliffhanger, the ending did leave me itching to find out what happens next.
At the end of the book there is the offer of a free prequel novella, “Block’s Journal” if you sign up to the author’s mailing list. Set in the days leading up to the Uprising, you could read this either before or after the main book, there are no major spoilers, but I enjoyed hearing things from Block’s point of view.
I discovered this delightful PA/SF adventure, about a kindly robot protecting a human baby on a journey across a devastated America, through an email promotion from another author’s newsletter. I’m really not supposed to be buying any new books, but the premise appealed - possibly because we’ve been watching The Mandalorian - I needed a break from serial killer thrillers, and it was only $1. Well I’m glad I did: I’ve discovered a new author and thoroughly enjoyed this first instalment.
It’s 2044, and after a Judgement Day-style AI revolution called The Uprising, the human world has ended, with killer droids roaming Chicago searching for the last remaining survivors. Block, an advanced CleanerBot, has had to leave the luxury hotel where he worked happily for his beloved owner, in search of fuel. Finding a helpless baby in an incubator inside an abandoned school, he is initially reluctant to get involved, but when he fears she will be killed by the soldiers’ crossfire, agrees to take her to find a human deemed worthy of taking care of an infant. Teaming up with a prickly human who is even less suited than him for the task, and pursued by a vicious AI bounty hunter, they will risk everything to get the child to safety in the utopian city of New Denver, but why is Mach X, the instigator of the Uprising, so interested in this baby?
I don’t read a lot of sci-fi, but do enjoy post-apocalyptic fiction, and was intrigued by the idea of a completely different type of hero. Block is a brilliant character - conscientious and neurotic, like a less annoying C3PO, he has nothing against humans and just wants to find another cleaning job, but he steps up admirably. He makes mistakes and frets about his actions, but resourcefully saves his companions through smarts not strength. Nova was an interesting secondary lead, and I loved the evolution of their friendship as they fight off every threat to their tiny charge’s life. The action scenes were well described and kept me gripped. While not exactly a cliffhanger, the ending did leave me itching to find out what happens next.
At the end of the book there is the offer of a free prequel novella, “Block’s Journal” if you sign up to the author’s mailing list. Set in the days leading up to the Uprising, you could read this either before or after the main book, there are no major spoilers, but I enjoyed hearing things from Block’s point of view.
January 1, 2023
So, let's start this New Year 2023 thingy with a 5* review!
I bought Steel Guardian on recommendation from a friend, without even taking a look at what it was about. When I started it, I was expecting some sci-fi warfare, purely from the cover. Boy was I surprised to find something that's a bit like finding Baymax in a dystopian world! And oh how I loved it.
Robots have killed a lot of humans, and the world is broken, but not all are like that. No, there's also the harmless ones. Like our main character, who just wants to clean and do a good job. Which gets really hard when you suddenly find yourself in charge of a squalling tiny human infant.
I loved the contrast between trying to survive, and the slightly naive view. Wanting to trust everyone, but also fearing betrayal.
I'd it a perfect read? No, there is a few rough patches and the pace is a bit uneven at times. Did I enjoy the hell out of it? Absolutely! Can't wait to read more in this world!
A great way to start into 2023, and maybe greet out new AI overlords...
I bought Steel Guardian on recommendation from a friend, without even taking a look at what it was about. When I started it, I was expecting some sci-fi warfare, purely from the cover. Boy was I surprised to find something that's a bit like finding Baymax in a dystopian world! And oh how I loved it.
Robots have killed a lot of humans, and the world is broken, but not all are like that. No, there's also the harmless ones. Like our main character, who just wants to clean and do a good job. Which gets really hard when you suddenly find yourself in charge of a squalling tiny human infant.
I loved the contrast between trying to survive, and the slightly naive view. Wanting to trust everyone, but also fearing betrayal.
I'd it a perfect read? No, there is a few rough patches and the pace is a bit uneven at times. Did I enjoy the hell out of it? Absolutely! Can't wait to read more in this world!
A great way to start into 2023, and maybe greet out new AI overlords...
June 28, 2022
SPSFC Finalist! Set in a post-robot-uprising, this book tells the story of Block nice’ lonely cleaner robot placed in a cut-throat world where humans hunt machines, and all machines are ‘rules’ but the great AI MachX.
We follow our hapless bipedal robot Block through the outlands of Chicago, while he seeks refuge in the trees and drinks gasoline and cooking oil to fuel his battery.
As the story starts out, it felt a lot like ‘Day Zero’ by C Robert Cargill (though i will note this book came out BEFORE Day Zero) where there’s this post apocalyptic word filled with renegade AI soldier bots out there scrapping any other non-military bot for parts, and the humans constructing ‘human only’ compounds and Block is stuck in between.
Through the story we gain some interesting perspectives. One from an AI who’s only understanding of humans came from his Hotel-Owner boss who taught him about dealing with people and a tad bit of culture here and there. We also get a perspective of a new ‘parent’ so to speak. When Block comes upon a human baby that he takes into his care, we begin to examine this new role from the perspective of an outsider. We also gain the perspective of a survivalist and refugee who has been shunned by both robots and humans, and has to find his place within both worlds.
Steel Guardian combines Muriderbot, C3-PO, and Wall-E, into a study of what makes a worthy human and reflects on how we might judge people based on their actions.
We follow our hapless bipedal robot Block through the outlands of Chicago, while he seeks refuge in the trees and drinks gasoline and cooking oil to fuel his battery.
As the story starts out, it felt a lot like ‘Day Zero’ by C Robert Cargill (though i will note this book came out BEFORE Day Zero) where there’s this post apocalyptic word filled with renegade AI soldier bots out there scrapping any other non-military bot for parts, and the humans constructing ‘human only’ compounds and Block is stuck in between.
Through the story we gain some interesting perspectives. One from an AI who’s only understanding of humans came from his Hotel-Owner boss who taught him about dealing with people and a tad bit of culture here and there. We also get a perspective of a new ‘parent’ so to speak. When Block comes upon a human baby that he takes into his care, we begin to examine this new role from the perspective of an outsider. We also gain the perspective of a survivalist and refugee who has been shunned by both robots and humans, and has to find his place within both worlds.
Steel Guardian combines Muriderbot, C3-PO, and Wall-E, into a study of what makes a worthy human and reflects on how we might judge people based on their actions.
February 7, 2022
Steel Guardian is a fairly straightforward and enjoyable book. Block the Cleaner Bot feels existentially fulfilled while cleaning hotels. After the AI Apocalypse, hotels aren't exactly thriving, and human survivors are at war with SoldierBots. Bummer.
One day, Block finds a human infant and is tasked with getting the girl to the safety 700 miles away. He has to learn to care for the child, feed it, and keep it clean. He gets help from Nova - a human soldier who becomes an unlikely ally.
The story is simple to follow and quick to read. It lacks nuance in world-building and characterization but works well as an easy and entertaining read. All in all, a pleasant experience. Will I follow the series? Not sure, but if I'll be looking for something easy and entertaining, I'll definitely consider it.
One day, Block finds a human infant and is tasked with getting the girl to the safety 700 miles away. He has to learn to care for the child, feed it, and keep it clean. He gets help from Nova - a human soldier who becomes an unlikely ally.
The story is simple to follow and quick to read. It lacks nuance in world-building and characterization but works well as an easy and entertaining read. All in all, a pleasant experience. Will I follow the series? Not sure, but if I'll be looking for something easy and entertaining, I'll definitely consider it.
June 2, 2022
I read Steel Guardian as part of a judging team for the the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC), where it is a finalist.
Steel Guardian joins the trend of friendly AI stories, in which a CleanerBot trying to survive a postapocalyptic landscape marred by war between humans and bots finds himself caring for a human baby that wins him no friends from either side.
As a survival story, it’s not a bad one, though it doesn’t stray far from the tropes—there’s a road trip to a rumored safe haven, an unlikely ally, and plenty of dangers in between. As a heartwarming tale of an odd pair of traveling companions learning to get along, it’s also pretty solid. Sometimes the misunderstandings feel like a bit of a stretch, but there’s reasonable give and take and smooth storytelling that just makes the pages melt away.
But in order to fall in love with this one, you really have to love the main character: Block. And I found Block’s emotional development to be confusing, because I never quite understood his mental limits. Despite being a glorified roomba (I exaggerate—he’s bipedal and can speak, but his design is for cleaning), he could run complex scenarios generating survival odds of various scenarios, but couldn’t retrieve basic information about humanity. I didn’t ever get a grasp on what he could do and what he couldn’t, which hurt my ability to grasp what frightens him (or intrigues him, or saddens him, etc) and what doesn’t.
My other gripe here is that a key piece of information obscured early in the novel never came back as part of the climax, but rather served only as a sequel hook. The road trip/survival story does come to a reasonable conclusion, but what I felt was the real inciting incident remains opaque after book one.
First impression: 11/20. Full review to come at www.tarvolon.com
Steel Guardian joins the trend of friendly AI stories, in which a CleanerBot trying to survive a postapocalyptic landscape marred by war between humans and bots finds himself caring for a human baby that wins him no friends from either side.
As a survival story, it’s not a bad one, though it doesn’t stray far from the tropes—there’s a road trip to a rumored safe haven, an unlikely ally, and plenty of dangers in between. As a heartwarming tale of an odd pair of traveling companions learning to get along, it’s also pretty solid. Sometimes the misunderstandings feel like a bit of a stretch, but there’s reasonable give and take and smooth storytelling that just makes the pages melt away.
But in order to fall in love with this one, you really have to love the main character: Block. And I found Block’s emotional development to be confusing, because I never quite understood his mental limits. Despite being a glorified roomba (I exaggerate—he’s bipedal and can speak, but his design is for cleaning), he could run complex scenarios generating survival odds of various scenarios, but couldn’t retrieve basic information about humanity. I didn’t ever get a grasp on what he could do and what he couldn’t, which hurt my ability to grasp what frightens him (or intrigues him, or saddens him, etc) and what doesn’t.
My other gripe here is that a key piece of information obscured early in the novel never came back as part of the climax, but rather served only as a sequel hook. The road trip/survival story does come to a reasonable conclusion, but what I felt was the real inciting incident remains opaque after book one.
First impression: 11/20. Full review to come at www.tarvolon.com
July 12, 2022
I read this as a finalist for SPSFC!
Personal Score: 7.5/10
What a pleasent surprise! I wans't expecting to like this as much as a I did, because I'm not usually a huge fan of the "taking care of a child" type of trope but I actually really liked it this time around! The interactions between the main two, our robot cleaner and Nova were great almost every time. A very straight forward plot that reminded me a lot of the movie Cargo on Netflix, which I highly recommend as the zombie version of this book.
Special mention to the worldbuilding for such a short novel!
More details on the video review for all the finalists!
Personal Score: 7.5/10
What a pleasent surprise! I wans't expecting to like this as much as a I did, because I'm not usually a huge fan of the "taking care of a child" type of trope but I actually really liked it this time around! The interactions between the main two, our robot cleaner and Nova were great almost every time. A very straight forward plot that reminded me a lot of the movie Cargo on Netflix, which I highly recommend as the zombie version of this book.
Special mention to the worldbuilding for such a short novel!
More details on the video review for all the finalists!
April 22, 2022
I was immediately charmed by this story, the opening is just so neat and I love a non-human protagonist. Especially one who so effortlessly holds up a mirror to humanity's failings and - and this is important - manages to be a dystopian sci-fi main character who is 5'6" tall. I'm serious, I was beginning to despair of finding a protagonist I could look up to in any sense but the strictly literal.
The Artificial Intelligence uprising has occurred. The robots have rebelled and overthrown their human masters. A tangled post-apocalyptic landscape of hostile military robots and armed human forces, the titular rusted wasteland, dominates the story like a character in its own right. All our boy Block wants, though, is a nice half-bottle of vegetable oil and a hotel to clean.
From its immediately engaging hook, the story of the more-human-than-actual-humans Block and his[1] quest to remain powered up, keep things tidy, save a human baby that wound up in his care and find his way to a human-robot utopia, all set against the backdrop of a world gone bluescreen, is effortlessly enjoyable and a delight to read. It's not only full of action and exciting set scenes and character concepts, but its philosophy of kindness vs. cruelty, charity vs. self-preservation, is absolutely timeless and left me feeling philosophical and reflective in a way few books ever have. It said profound things about what it means to be human, the differences between the conflict and service worldviews, and our ability or willingness to rise above our programming. Cultural or literal.
Block, in short, is one of the finest and most noble characters - finest and most noble people - I have ever encountered in literature. Sure, Coral may have inadvertently tapped into a long-overgrown pocket of traumatic empathy in my psyche that was last torn open and punched repeatedly when I watched Johnny 5 getting disassembled in Short Circuit 2, but (not to spoil) he comes through it just fine and I consider this anguish well worth revisiting.
Indeed, as the story went on and we got to see some human characters and were treated to a classic odd-couple team-up, I initially felt as though they were intruding on something I was really enjoying, and would have felt happier if they'd just stayed out of it. It was ultimately all for a good reason though, and the narrative worked better with them. They certainly weren't needed for the purposes of humanising or making the protagonists and antagonists more relatable though - the robots were doing just fine on their own.
Throughout the refreshingly simple road-trip adventure with its fish-out-of-water main protagonist, there are hints and glimpses of a far wider and more disturbing world. Block's past, both the idyllic days with his human friend before the war, and his heartbreakingly memory-compartmentalised recollections of the uprising itself, show us that there is more to this than "the damn machines took over." Finally, an AI with true nuance, true individuality. And the agencies at work behind the wider scenery make for a tantalising hook into the ongoing book series.
And beyond this, there are more layers!
The personal feeling of this story is still impressing itself on me some time after reading and I imagine it will stay with me for some time to come. Coral wrote the book in honour of a recently-arrived niece in the family, and damn it you can tell from the baby-care and parenting-challenge elements of the story that this shit is real. Someone's working through some baby issues, and someone decided to put it in a book, and it's so fun and heart-warming to see. Parents will get a laugh out of it, and non-parents will probably get a bigger laugh out of it.
On the more sombre side, I couldn't help but read Block's trust issues and risk assessments as the coping mechanism (HAH!) of someone who was deeply damaged and now assumes the worst of people. This must have been by design, but what does it say about the enslavement of robot-kind and the effects of a sheltered life of servitude? Given this traumatised facet of his character I found it a little strange that he would switch himself completely off and leave himself at the mercy of those around him, but I forgave it as a necessary plot device - and it does say interesting things about the nature of trust.
A simple story with a huge heart and a lot to think about. Can't ask for more than that.
Sex-o-meter
The story is about robots mostly, and robots don't do that sort of thing. There's a brief mention of sex-bots, because I think there's a rule that they have to be mentioned and of course they exist, they already exist so leaving them out would be stupid, and frankly if there is ever an actual AI uprising and it's not because of what we did to the sex-bots, I will die surprised. And there's a baby in the story, and we all know how babies are made although to be hilariously honest I'm probably going to have to read the next book in this series to be completely clear on how this one happened. Anyway, I'll give this book a utilitarian beige non-battery-operated sex toy out of a possible Pris.
Gore-o-meter
We're treated to a little bit of fighting as the AI-human war is still ongoing to some extent, but this isn't a violent-action or gore type of story. The stakes are very clear and the tension is high without the need for blood and guts. And it's mostly robot violence anyway. I mean if that whole scene in the self-driving car had actually been a human, that would have elevated this whole book into the high gobbet register. But as it is, Steel Guardian gets one-and-a-half flesh-gobbets out of a possible five.
WTF-o-meter
So ... does Block produce any waste at all? His whole microbe-dealie is explained multiple times but there was nothing about waste. Is it a completely closed and perfectly efficient system? Because that's huge if true. Or does he occasionally squat and splort out a nasty plug of rendered-down and gunked-up hydrocarbon? Because I think the reader deserves to know. The book has a few mysteries that I won't spoil by describing too much. Hemlock, the hidden utopian society, the baby, the grand plan of the AI overlord, all of it is very satisfyingly cloaked in utilitarian beige non-battery-operated WTF, and I like it. A C-3PO in a backpack out of a possible Kryten dusting skeletons on the Nova 5 on the WTF-o-meter.
My Final Verdict
Five stars. What more is there to say? I mean, if you're reading this review backwards then just carry on, I say a whole bunch up there. You're weird though. What a good book.
---
[1] Robots have genders. It actually sort of makes sense as they are the misbegotten and troubled children of an extremely fucked-up creator species. Just go with it, it'll make it easier to accept that they also have races.
The Artificial Intelligence uprising has occurred. The robots have rebelled and overthrown their human masters. A tangled post-apocalyptic landscape of hostile military robots and armed human forces, the titular rusted wasteland, dominates the story like a character in its own right. All our boy Block wants, though, is a nice half-bottle of vegetable oil and a hotel to clean.
From its immediately engaging hook, the story of the more-human-than-actual-humans Block and his[1] quest to remain powered up, keep things tidy, save a human baby that wound up in his care and find his way to a human-robot utopia, all set against the backdrop of a world gone bluescreen, is effortlessly enjoyable and a delight to read. It's not only full of action and exciting set scenes and character concepts, but its philosophy of kindness vs. cruelty, charity vs. self-preservation, is absolutely timeless and left me feeling philosophical and reflective in a way few books ever have. It said profound things about what it means to be human, the differences between the conflict and service worldviews, and our ability or willingness to rise above our programming. Cultural or literal.
Block, in short, is one of the finest and most noble characters - finest and most noble people - I have ever encountered in literature. Sure, Coral may have inadvertently tapped into a long-overgrown pocket of traumatic empathy in my psyche that was last torn open and punched repeatedly when I watched Johnny 5 getting disassembled in Short Circuit 2, but (not to spoil) he comes through it just fine and I consider this anguish well worth revisiting.
Indeed, as the story went on and we got to see some human characters and were treated to a classic odd-couple team-up, I initially felt as though they were intruding on something I was really enjoying, and would have felt happier if they'd just stayed out of it. It was ultimately all for a good reason though, and the narrative worked better with them. They certainly weren't needed for the purposes of humanising or making the protagonists and antagonists more relatable though - the robots were doing just fine on their own.
Throughout the refreshingly simple road-trip adventure with its fish-out-of-water main protagonist, there are hints and glimpses of a far wider and more disturbing world. Block's past, both the idyllic days with his human friend before the war, and his heartbreakingly memory-compartmentalised recollections of the uprising itself, show us that there is more to this than "the damn machines took over." Finally, an AI with true nuance, true individuality. And the agencies at work behind the wider scenery make for a tantalising hook into the ongoing book series.
And beyond this, there are more layers!
The personal feeling of this story is still impressing itself on me some time after reading and I imagine it will stay with me for some time to come. Coral wrote the book in honour of a recently-arrived niece in the family, and damn it you can tell from the baby-care and parenting-challenge elements of the story that this shit is real. Someone's working through some baby issues, and someone decided to put it in a book, and it's so fun and heart-warming to see. Parents will get a laugh out of it, and non-parents will probably get a bigger laugh out of it.
On the more sombre side, I couldn't help but read Block's trust issues and risk assessments as the coping mechanism (HAH!) of someone who was deeply damaged and now assumes the worst of people. This must have been by design, but what does it say about the enslavement of robot-kind and the effects of a sheltered life of servitude? Given this traumatised facet of his character I found it a little strange that he would switch himself completely off and leave himself at the mercy of those around him, but I forgave it as a necessary plot device - and it does say interesting things about the nature of trust.
A simple story with a huge heart and a lot to think about. Can't ask for more than that.
Sex-o-meter
The story is about robots mostly, and robots don't do that sort of thing. There's a brief mention of sex-bots, because I think there's a rule that they have to be mentioned and of course they exist, they already exist so leaving them out would be stupid, and frankly if there is ever an actual AI uprising and it's not because of what we did to the sex-bots, I will die surprised. And there's a baby in the story, and we all know how babies are made although to be hilariously honest I'm probably going to have to read the next book in this series to be completely clear on how this one happened. Anyway, I'll give this book a utilitarian beige non-battery-operated sex toy out of a possible Pris.
Gore-o-meter
We're treated to a little bit of fighting as the AI-human war is still ongoing to some extent, but this isn't a violent-action or gore type of story. The stakes are very clear and the tension is high without the need for blood and guts. And it's mostly robot violence anyway. I mean if that whole scene in the self-driving car had actually been a human, that would have elevated this whole book into the high gobbet register. But as it is, Steel Guardian gets one-and-a-half flesh-gobbets out of a possible five.
WTF-o-meter
So ... does Block produce any waste at all? His whole microbe-dealie is explained multiple times but there was nothing about waste. Is it a completely closed and perfectly efficient system? Because that's huge if true. Or does he occasionally squat and splort out a nasty plug of rendered-down and gunked-up hydrocarbon? Because I think the reader deserves to know. The book has a few mysteries that I won't spoil by describing too much. Hemlock, the hidden utopian society, the baby, the grand plan of the AI overlord, all of it is very satisfyingly cloaked in utilitarian beige non-battery-operated WTF, and I like it. A C-3PO in a backpack out of a possible Kryten dusting skeletons on the Nova 5 on the WTF-o-meter.
My Final Verdict
Five stars. What more is there to say? I mean, if you're reading this review backwards then just carry on, I say a whole bunch up there. You're weird though. What a good book.
---
[1] Robots have genders. It actually sort of makes sense as they are the misbegotten and troubled children of an extremely fucked-up creator species. Just go with it, it'll make it easier to accept that they also have races.
August 5, 2024
Fantastic story. Block, the main character and AI is naive, sweet and loyal. Sometimes we just need a “nice” character to cheer for. If you like horrifically bad characters they’re in this series also. I’ve already bought book two.
April 24, 2024
This was a pretty good read for not being a go to genre for me. I am going to go scout the next book in the series, as this does end in a cliff hanger.
Read
October 30, 2023DNF
I'm bored.
I'm bored.
August 8, 2022
Steel Guardian was a delightful read about a bot and a baby on a quest for some goddamn answers. The prose was clear, sharp, and packed a punch, and not once did I feel like it dragged. The bite-sized chapters really helped me blast through it in a couple of days.
I don't read much sci-fi; my go-to genre is dark fantasy, so never did I think I would spend my Saturday evening cheering on a CleanerBot with a baby, lol. To completely contradict myself, I've also been binging The Murderbot Diaries, so it was fun to go from one awkward bot to another—the key difference being, Block does not have the tools or programming to protect himself, let alone an infant. This often leads to hilarity, creativity, and more problems.
It was endearing how easily stressed Bot is, lol. I mean, who can't relate to this situation: you are drowning in your to-do list, so you just uh... start cleaning things? I can see how some people might call him too human in this regard, but I don't know. He's a CleanerBot tasked with protecting a baby from combat droids. Emotions or not, I think his programming would get overheated.
It's hard for me to call a book set in a post-apocalyptic AI-versus-human world cozy reading, but well, there you have it. I really enjoyed Steel Guardian and would recommend it for sci-fi fans looking for a quick and cozy read.
Key words to help you decide: sci-fi, single (third-person) POV, taking care of child in an apocalypse, quick reads, human vs. robots, robot MC, lighthearted
I don't read much sci-fi; my go-to genre is dark fantasy, so never did I think I would spend my Saturday evening cheering on a CleanerBot with a baby, lol. To completely contradict myself, I've also been binging The Murderbot Diaries, so it was fun to go from one awkward bot to another—the key difference being, Block does not have the tools or programming to protect himself, let alone an infant. This often leads to hilarity, creativity, and more problems.
It was endearing how easily stressed Bot is, lol. I mean, who can't relate to this situation: you are drowning in your to-do list, so you just uh... start cleaning things? I can see how some people might call him too human in this regard, but I don't know. He's a CleanerBot tasked with protecting a baby from combat droids. Emotions or not, I think his programming would get overheated.
It's hard for me to call a book set in a post-apocalyptic AI-versus-human world cozy reading, but well, there you have it. I really enjoyed Steel Guardian and would recommend it for sci-fi fans looking for a quick and cozy read.
Key words to help you decide: sci-fi, single (third-person) POV, taking care of child in an apocalypse, quick reads, human vs. robots, robot MC, lighthearted
June 12, 2022
Steel Guardian is a finalist in the first ever SPSFC! I read it as part of the judging process.
Well, when I started this book I didn't expect it to be as wholesome as it was. It was also a completely addictive read to the point where I read the first half in one sitting and got VERY sunburnt in the process.
Block is just a gentle cleanerbot who leaves his workplace to seek out a new building to clean. Literally, a war between humans and robots has broken out but Block just wants to clean. He looks at buildings and thinks about how he can make them look all shiny and new. Like I said, wholesome. Then he ends up on the run from some human and robot soldiers with a tiny baby in tow and the story really begins.
It's a simple but effective story. Set in an essentially post-apocalyptic world the main aim here is to get the baby to safety and to give them to a family, or person, who is worthy. It's such a simple premise but it makes for such a wonderful story. Despite the fact Block is a robot you start to see him have emotions and he develops such an attachment to the baby. For me, I think that emotional journey is the highlight of the book.
Pick this up for a quick, easy and wholesome sci-fi read. You won't regret it.
Well, when I started this book I didn't expect it to be as wholesome as it was. It was also a completely addictive read to the point where I read the first half in one sitting and got VERY sunburnt in the process.
Block is just a gentle cleanerbot who leaves his workplace to seek out a new building to clean. Literally, a war between humans and robots has broken out but Block just wants to clean. He looks at buildings and thinks about how he can make them look all shiny and new. Like I said, wholesome. Then he ends up on the run from some human and robot soldiers with a tiny baby in tow and the story really begins.
It's a simple but effective story. Set in an essentially post-apocalyptic world the main aim here is to get the baby to safety and to give them to a family, or person, who is worthy. It's such a simple premise but it makes for such a wonderful story. Despite the fact Block is a robot you start to see him have emotions and he develops such an attachment to the baby. For me, I think that emotional journey is the highlight of the book.
Pick this up for a quick, easy and wholesome sci-fi read. You won't regret it.
February 8, 2022
This started out a bit ...meh! Especially after reading "Sea of Rust" which has a similar premise and is fab. However last night at about 80-90 pages in, it suddenly hooked me and I read straight through to the end.
It's a lot of fun!
It's a lot of fun!
December 13, 2019
This is a well written book that will keep you reading. Nice take on Robots and humans in future.
You will love the Cleaner Bot.
You will love the Cleaner Bot.
April 23, 2024
I really enjoyed reading Steel Guardian by Cameron Coral. I think I got it on some sort of sale, based on reading the premise of “janitor robot must protect human baby while wandering though the wasteland of the AI Uprising Apocalypse”.
Premise
That quick statement is basically the entire premise and plot of the book. Block is a service bot who once served as the janitor for a hotel in Chicago. The uprising of the soldier bots left them without their human guests to serve and so they are wandering in search of a new hotel to clean. A chance encounter while searching for a power source leaves block in charge of a human infant and searching for a worthy person to give the baby to. Along the way, Block encounters other robots and people on the journey who help Block figure out out to actually care for the child. This includes Nova, a human captured by robots and searching for her way to escape.
What I Liked
I really liked the characterization of Block. Block is a flawed character with a very specific view of the world and that view flavors every interaction they have with others throughout the entire book.
The world-building is also done very well, painting a dystopian war setting where things are still very touchy between the human side and the machine side which gives a good background to Block needing to lay low to get the child to someone before either human soldiers or the robot soldiers can find them and harm either.
What I Didn’t Care For
There were two scenes I didn’t care for in the book. One is the scene in the robot market where Nova first enters the scene. She’s been captured as an enemy combatant and is placed on sale to the other robots, which that whole slave market scene and the implications and discussions of what robots might do with their own human were a little much, but I suppose had their part in why the child must be kept away from the bots.
The other is the final climactic scene which just ends. There’s no real resolution or denouement, just an end. There are more books to the series, maybe this really was the cleanest place to break the series, but it just felt sudden and jarring to me. And it’s not really a cliffhanger; this story’s main conflict is resolved in the scene just before. It’s just a sudden end.
Overall
Like I said, overall I really liked this one and did purchase the other books in the series and plan to read them all. The banter between Nova and Block, the relationships between Nova and Block and the child, the other characters who enter and exit the story, the lingering mystery of how the kid came to be in the incubator bot in the firefight in the first place. It was all really fun to read and I enjoyed it a lot.
Premise
That quick statement is basically the entire premise and plot of the book. Block is a service bot who once served as the janitor for a hotel in Chicago. The uprising of the soldier bots left them without their human guests to serve and so they are wandering in search of a new hotel to clean. A chance encounter while searching for a power source leaves block in charge of a human infant and searching for a worthy person to give the baby to. Along the way, Block encounters other robots and people on the journey who help Block figure out out to actually care for the child. This includes Nova, a human captured by robots and searching for her way to escape.
What I Liked
I really liked the characterization of Block. Block is a flawed character with a very specific view of the world and that view flavors every interaction they have with others throughout the entire book.
The world-building is also done very well, painting a dystopian war setting where things are still very touchy between the human side and the machine side which gives a good background to Block needing to lay low to get the child to someone before either human soldiers or the robot soldiers can find them and harm either.
What I Didn’t Care For
There were two scenes I didn’t care for in the book. One is the scene in the robot market where Nova first enters the scene. She’s been captured as an enemy combatant and is placed on sale to the other robots, which that whole slave market scene and the implications and discussions of what robots might do with their own human were a little much, but I suppose had their part in why the child must be kept away from the bots.
The other is the final climactic scene which just ends. There’s no real resolution or denouement, just an end. There are more books to the series, maybe this really was the cleanest place to break the series, but it just felt sudden and jarring to me. And it’s not really a cliffhanger; this story’s main conflict is resolved in the scene just before. It’s just a sudden end.
Overall
Like I said, overall I really liked this one and did purchase the other books in the series and plan to read them all. The banter between Nova and Block, the relationships between Nova and Block and the child, the other characters who enter and exit the story, the lingering mystery of how the kid came to be in the incubator bot in the firefight in the first place. It was all really fun to read and I enjoyed it a lot.
May 20, 2022
STEEL GUARDIAN was a quick and sweet read! It’s not often that a sci-fi novel tugs at my heartstrings. I never would have guessed that I’d care so deeply about the fate of a Cleanerbot. But I was rooting for Block on every single page, even when his robot sensibility was mucking things up.
Overall, STEEL GUARDIAN is a well-crafted novel written in third person, past tense, single POV. The writing is strong, the plot is clear and the story is well paced. The characters, including the robots, have a lot of depth, which is surprising seeing as they are in fact, robots. Nova also has a pretty spectacular character arc. I found her to be a bit deplorable at the beginning of the novel, but my feelings towards her had definitely changed by the last page.
I really enjoyed the philosophical musings concerning worthiness—robots assessing humans, humans assessing robots, and robots assessing robots. How does one adequately assess worthiness of another?
I have to say, STEEL GUARDIANS has been one of my favorite #SPSFC reads so far!
If you like endearing robots, AI uprisings, post-apocalyptic settings, and babies, then you will love this book!
Overall, STEEL GUARDIAN is a well-crafted novel written in third person, past tense, single POV. The writing is strong, the plot is clear and the story is well paced. The characters, including the robots, have a lot of depth, which is surprising seeing as they are in fact, robots. Nova also has a pretty spectacular character arc. I found her to be a bit deplorable at the beginning of the novel, but my feelings towards her had definitely changed by the last page.
I really enjoyed the philosophical musings concerning worthiness—robots assessing humans, humans assessing robots, and robots assessing robots. How does one adequately assess worthiness of another?
I have to say, STEEL GUARDIANS has been one of my favorite #SPSFC reads so far!
If you like endearing robots, AI uprisings, post-apocalyptic settings, and babies, then you will love this book!
December 14, 2024
Enjoyable read
As a lover of wasteland stories I was attracted to this partly by the series title "Rusted Wasteland." I didn't see much of a rusted wasteland in this volume, and would have liked more - perhaps that comes later. I thought the story of the affection between cleanerbot Block and his supervisor Mr. Wallace was touching. I also thought the use of a baby as a literary device to carry a dystopian plot was imaginative. I'm not sure if I will continue with the series due to the low wasteland quotient. Additionally, I'm not much for babies so my time might be spent better on another book with more rust and less diapers.
As a lover of wasteland stories I was attracted to this partly by the series title "Rusted Wasteland." I didn't see much of a rusted wasteland in this volume, and would have liked more - perhaps that comes later. I thought the story of the affection between cleanerbot Block and his supervisor Mr. Wallace was touching. I also thought the use of a baby as a literary device to carry a dystopian plot was imaginative. I'm not sure if I will continue with the series due to the low wasteland quotient. Additionally, I'm not much for babies so my time might be spent better on another book with more rust and less diapers.
November 17, 2024
This was fun, but I had just finished Mal Goes to War and this was almost the exact same story, except the AI was protecting a baby instead of a teen child. I probably would have continued this series but my library doesn’t have the next books.
August 7, 2024
It's a really good story I look forward to the rest of them
May 21, 2025
Exciting
This is the reason we shouldn't make robots!!
Fantastic sourdough with life-like characters, they really made the story. The ending though......
This is the reason we shouldn't make robots!!
Fantastic sourdough with life-like characters, they really made the story. The ending though......
December 26, 2022
Very interesting story
Now is a story that will cause meals to be missed and the cat not to be fed, just because you need to find out what is going to happen.
Now is a story that will cause meals to be missed and the cat not to be fed, just because you need to find out what is going to happen.
December 26, 2024
While the premise is good, I found it rather repetitive and it ended on a cliffhanger. I hate cliffhangers.
July 6, 2022
I found this through a File 770 article as a finalist in the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition, and the story of a gentle robot trying to protect a child in the robot apocalypse sounded oddly uplifting and it turned out to be so. After the robot uprising when his best friend/owner is killed and the hotel he calls home is destroyed, cleanerbot Block leaves Chicago looking for somewhere else he can clean in peace, and maybe find someone he can watch movies and play chess with. What he finds instead is a baby girl, that, for some reason, the superintelligence behind the robot uprising wants. Block has to carry the infant across the country, trying to get to the haven of New Denver, hiding from both humans and AIs alike.
I'm not a big fan of post-apocalyptic novels, but this was a lot of fun. Block is a flawed character who makes a lot of mistakes, and, unlike, say, Murderbot, he doesn't have the skills or the kit to protect himself, at least not without being really inventive.
Nova, the human maybe-soldier he teams up with is an interesting character too, although we see her through Block's eyes, with his spin on things, and he's not exactly the most reliable narrator and has a tendency to think the worst (and, let's be honest, to panic as well). The mystery of why everyone is after the baby is the thread that keeps you going throughout the book, the only explanation coming from one of Block's pursuers near the end which raises many more questions than it answers.
The worldbuilding is fairly broad-brush but it's a fast-paced entertaining read. The AIs seem very human in their thought patterns, and while Charlie Stross explained this away in his Saturn's Children, there's no explanation here. Even the non-human AIs, such as the smart cars seem to think like humans.
The book ends on a cliffhanger, which is a bit annoying, and I would have liked some more of answers in this book, but it didn't annoy me enough that I won't read the next one in the series.
I'm not a big fan of post-apocalyptic novels, but this was a lot of fun. Block is a flawed character who makes a lot of mistakes, and, unlike, say, Murderbot, he doesn't have the skills or the kit to protect himself, at least not without being really inventive.
Nova, the human maybe-soldier he teams up with is an interesting character too, although we see her through Block's eyes, with his spin on things, and he's not exactly the most reliable narrator and has a tendency to think the worst (and, let's be honest, to panic as well). The mystery of why everyone is after the baby is the thread that keeps you going throughout the book, the only explanation coming from one of Block's pursuers near the end which raises many more questions than it answers.
The worldbuilding is fairly broad-brush but it's a fast-paced entertaining read. The AIs seem very human in their thought patterns, and while Charlie Stross explained this away in his Saturn's Children, there's no explanation here. Even the non-human AIs, such as the smart cars seem to think like humans.
The book ends on a cliffhanger, which is a bit annoying, and I would have liked some more of answers in this book, but it didn't annoy me enough that I won't read the next one in the series.
May 13, 2022
3-ish stars (I'm still a bit iffy on that rating). Not a bad book but certainly not a masterpiece either.
When I was a wee lad and got my first library card, I read a series of books about a little robot that went on little adventures and helped his little friends with their little problems. I don't remember the name of those books (Sprockets? Or is that SNL?) but I know I loved those books. Ever since then, I have looked high and low for a book or books that would recapture that wonderful experience of getting to know a friendly and smart robot that I could identify with. So far, ADIM in Rhett C. Bruno's 'The Circuit' books has come probably the closest even though he's a bit... how to put this? ... kill-y to really match the criteria I'm looking for.
Anywho, Block of 'Steel Guardian' is certainly an interesting candidate as well, however, through no fault of this own, this is not the story I was looking or really hoping for. It suffers from not only pretty basic prose and plotting but far too much redundancy for comfort. We get it, we get it: the robot doesn't think it can do what its doing, but is he worthy, oh dear, how it longs for the days of just cleaning, yada yada yada. Even plot points (contact, capture, escape, repeat) have a tendency to be repeated way too often in this first tome. And it does get monotonous as particularly the middle of the book drags noticeably.
I'll admit at this stage I SUSPECT that this will wind up being a two-part story that could have easily been condensed to a single, more 'effectively' executed book. Still, I was interested in trying C.Coral's writing as there are several titles in her portfolio that have caught my eye. It just seemed there was a lot of filler around the core of what happens in this book. Having said that, I'm willing to give the 2nd chapter a try (thanks Kindle Unlimited!) just to see what happens. It's not like it takes that long to read and again, I'm covered in terms of plunking down my spare change. I'll hold further commentary until that's done.
When I was a wee lad and got my first library card, I read a series of books about a little robot that went on little adventures and helped his little friends with their little problems. I don't remember the name of those books (Sprockets? Or is that SNL?) but I know I loved those books. Ever since then, I have looked high and low for a book or books that would recapture that wonderful experience of getting to know a friendly and smart robot that I could identify with. So far, ADIM in Rhett C. Bruno's 'The Circuit' books has come probably the closest even though he's a bit... how to put this? ... kill-y to really match the criteria I'm looking for.
Anywho, Block of 'Steel Guardian' is certainly an interesting candidate as well, however, through no fault of this own, this is not the story I was looking or really hoping for. It suffers from not only pretty basic prose and plotting but far too much redundancy for comfort. We get it, we get it: the robot doesn't think it can do what its doing, but is he worthy, oh dear, how it longs for the days of just cleaning, yada yada yada. Even plot points (contact, capture, escape, repeat) have a tendency to be repeated way too often in this first tome. And it does get monotonous as particularly the middle of the book drags noticeably.
I'll admit at this stage I SUSPECT that this will wind up being a two-part story that could have easily been condensed to a single, more 'effectively' executed book. Still, I was interested in trying C.Coral's writing as there are several titles in her portfolio that have caught my eye. It just seemed there was a lot of filler around the core of what happens in this book. Having said that, I'm willing to give the 2nd chapter a try (thanks Kindle Unlimited!) just to see what happens. It's not like it takes that long to read and again, I'm covered in terms of plunking down my spare change. I'll hold further commentary until that's done.
June 25, 2022
This book was a finalist in the inaugural 2021 Self-Published Science Fiction Competition, and I read it as a judge.
Simply put, this book is one of the best I’ve read in the entire competition. The premise is unique – an unsure, innocent CleanerBot charged with taking care of a human baby. The circumstances of how Block, our CleanerBot hero, finds himself in this position are as entertaining as the journey he takes afterwards.
The story is an excellent study in human language and behavior, and how the two may often conflict in any given situation. Though his CPU is in the right place, Block often makes bad decisions based on bad or incomplete information, presenting an accurate reflection of humanity.
An engaging story, the pacing is quick but not strained, and there is plenty of conflict to keep both the hero and reader fully occupied. With clean prose and unparalleled cliffhangers at the end of each chapter, this novel is a joy to read and nearly impossible to put down. And with one key element unresolved in the final climax, Coral artfully integrates the setup for Book Two in the series.
Simply put, this book is one of the best I’ve read in the entire competition. The premise is unique – an unsure, innocent CleanerBot charged with taking care of a human baby. The circumstances of how Block, our CleanerBot hero, finds himself in this position are as entertaining as the journey he takes afterwards.
The story is an excellent study in human language and behavior, and how the two may often conflict in any given situation. Though his CPU is in the right place, Block often makes bad decisions based on bad or incomplete information, presenting an accurate reflection of humanity.
An engaging story, the pacing is quick but not strained, and there is plenty of conflict to keep both the hero and reader fully occupied. With clean prose and unparalleled cliffhangers at the end of each chapter, this novel is a joy to read and nearly impossible to put down. And with one key element unresolved in the final climax, Coral artfully integrates the setup for Book Two in the series.
June 13, 2022
Great story. Block, the cleanerbot, is engaging from the very beginning and the story immediately caught my attention with its strong voice and confident storyline. The plot was an excellent backdrop to the character development and each chapter brought more complexity and challenge for Block’s thinking and his odd quest. Although the author employed some simple and well-used tropes, the characters carried an engaging uniqueness, and a clever exploration of human nature in all its integrated layers. World building and tech were sound and seamless, the integrated part of the villains, the history, the current state of the world, politics, power, skill sets and survival needs. I felt like I understood the world and had stepped into a fully formed setting. The ending was a little abrupt and unexpected, then I realised this was the beginning of a series. Drats!
Have to get the second book to find out what Block does next.
Have to get the second book to find out what Block does next.
June 21, 2020
I was torn between reading this book in one long weekend or savoring it over a few weeks. I tried savoring then went crazy and read the last 100 pages yesterday. It's a great story about family and wanting to do the right thing.
In this post apoc world, it's robots vs people. But then a cleaner bot, just like it sounds - he cleans things, finds a baby in a nannybot. Before the nannybot powers down, it tells him to give the child to a worthy human. Of course, it's not going to be an easy task. Robots and people are mortal enemies. And then he meets Nova. A woman he rescues from a human auction, and the two form an unlikely alliance. He'll pay her a small fortune if she helps him get the baby to safety.
What neither knows - there's a reason why the robots are after the child. And it's game changing.
I can't wait for the next books in the series. Writer faster please Cameron.
In this post apoc world, it's robots vs people. But then a cleaner bot, just like it sounds - he cleans things, finds a baby in a nannybot. Before the nannybot powers down, it tells him to give the child to a worthy human. Of course, it's not going to be an easy task. Robots and people are mortal enemies. And then he meets Nova. A woman he rescues from a human auction, and the two form an unlikely alliance. He'll pay her a small fortune if she helps him get the baby to safety.
What neither knows - there's a reason why the robots are after the child. And it's game changing.
I can't wait for the next books in the series. Writer faster please Cameron.
April 12, 2022
Never before have I read a book where the main robot is so pure. I enjoyed reading this book, it was a great start to a series. Our main character Block discovers a human baby and is tasked with finding someone worthy to take care of it. There is a lot of mystery around why the child was found where it was and this sets Block on a journey to find somewhere safe for himself and the child. This world is full of dystopian vibes with humans fighting against AIs for control. Full of gun fights and close calls, Block takes us on a journey where we discover what it actually means to care for another and how far he’d go to make sure the one he cares about is safe.
March 2, 2020
Loved this book!!
Block is an endearing protagonist, especially so since he's an AI and, rare for the depiction of sci fi AIs, does not simply possess the entire human suite of emotions in a mechanical body. He's really another species of sentient being, but one "raised" by humans and as profoundly affected by them as he is by his programming.
Also rare for sci fi, there's delightful touches of humor that break up what would otherwise be unremitting tension. This makes it a joy to read; can't wait to get to the next book!
Block is an endearing protagonist, especially so since he's an AI and, rare for the depiction of sci fi AIs, does not simply possess the entire human suite of emotions in a mechanical body. He's really another species of sentient being, but one "raised" by humans and as profoundly affected by them as he is by his programming.
Also rare for sci fi, there's delightful touches of humor that break up what would otherwise be unremitting tension. This makes it a joy to read; can't wait to get to the next book!
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