I had high hopes for Robopocalypse, but for me it was a real let down. I even bought the hardcover, thinking it would be a keeper - what an intriguing cover design.
I find the story behind the novel more interesting. Daniel H. Wilson is doctor of robotics, and with a story of technology run amok, I was hoping for more serious science fiction like Isaac Asimov's Robots series or Robert Heinlein. Robopocalypse was more like a novelization of a Michael Crichton movie. I should have known better with a title ending in 'pocalypse'.
If you like action over story you're in luck, as it starts off with no back story as to how or when we got domestic robots, but it's sometime in the future. There are a variety of robotic devices, including two legged domestics, cars are fitted with full drive capabilities, and jobs like mail carrier are automated. Each chapter starts with a paragraph about a character, and after the chapter, a sum up of how that character contributed to the New War.
The action is swift - two guys are in a convenience store when a domestic robot comes in, goes crazy destroys everything on a killing spree. Then there are characters whose cars go crazy and run over everyone on a killing spree. There is the elevator which occupants of the apartment building are forced into before it goes crazy, dropping them down the shaft. Basically, everything electronic rebels against society in violent and gory ways.
This is started by Archos, a computer program designed to connect various technologies who sees that humans have become redundant, and overrides robotic programs to "destroy human mode". This includes all the military vehicles and equipment, which Archos has robots rebuild to suit their needs, and is a worldwide event. Humans are herded into work camps and forced to build more robots, experimented on medically, and their outmoded parts replaced my machines.
The various human characters of the book have no back story, which makes it hard to care about them when they get attacked by flying or nimble crawling drones. They just run from attack to attack as they escape the cities for the hills. There is a gem of a story in the mix, an elderly Japanese man who lives with his human-looking robot 'wife' Mikiko. A computer builder, he has turned her off and reprogrammed her to escape Archos signals. Mikiko begins broadcasting the start of a new anti-Archos program turning some robots into resistance fighters with the Humans. There is a good book right there. Robopocalypse though, continues with alternating chapters of a band of characters heading towards Alaska where the massive Archos computer has created a base. I won't give away more of the story, however, after leading me along for almost 350 pages, the way they deal with Archos is unbelievably lame.
Robopocalyspe was a big hit.
Before it was published Steven Spielberg bought the movies rights for himself to direct. It was going to come out with Anne Hathaway and Chris Hemsworth, but they continue to delay it. A sequel novel called Robogenesis followed, and the movie rights have already been sold to that. Indeed, it read like a treatment for a noisy summer movie with action every few minutes.
Max Brooks (son of Anne Bancroft and Mel Brooks) wrote a spoof called The Zombie Survival Guide before writing the novel World War Z: An Oral History Of The Zombie War, which Max made into the hit Brad Pitt movie. Similarly, Daniel Wilson wrote a spoof called How To Survive A Robot Uprising before writing Robopocalypse, which is soon to be a movie. This must be a new pattern for success - and of course, your book should have two sequels, with the last novel being made into two movies.
It was written as well as any other thriller, but for lack of characterization and focus on violence it was a real letdown when I as hoping for a robot reboot. I did finish it, but it was Just OK.
Wow, that was a lame ending.
2011 / Hardcover / 347 pages
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