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I, Robot (Reichert) #2
Isaac Asimov's I, Robot: To Protect(Paperback) - 2013 Edition
2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 2036: Robotic technology has evolved into the realm of self-aware, sentient mechanical entities. But even as humanity contends with the consequences of its most brilliant creation, there are those who have their own designs for the enslavement…or annihilation.
Susan Calvin is about to enter her second year as a psych resident at the Manhattan Hasbro teaching hospital when a violent crime strikes her very close to home.
When she was young, Susan lost her mother in a terrible car wreck that also badly injured her father. She now believes the accident was an attempted murder by government powers who wanted her parents dead. Susan has always known that there was a faction of the U.S. government that wanted to hijack her father’s work for military use. Now, it seems that faction is back.
As she struggles to overcome her pain and confusion as well as deal with her studies, Susan finds herself hunted by violent anti-tech vigilantes who would revert mankind to the dark ages—and at the same time watched very closely by extremists who want high-tech genocide. Somehow she must find a way to stop them both.
Susan Calvin is about to enter her second year as a psych resident at the Manhattan Hasbro teaching hospital when a violent crime strikes her very close to home.
When she was young, Susan lost her mother in a terrible car wreck that also badly injured her father. She now believes the accident was an attempted murder by government powers who wanted her parents dead. Susan has always known that there was a faction of the U.S. government that wanted to hijack her father’s work for military use. Now, it seems that faction is back.
As she struggles to overcome her pain and confusion as well as deal with her studies, Susan finds herself hunted by violent anti-tech vigilantes who would revert mankind to the dark ages—and at the same time watched very closely by extremists who want high-tech genocide. Somehow she must find a way to stop them both.
Paperback
First published September 3, 2013
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About the author
Mickey Zucker Reichert
89 books182 followersMickey Zucker Reichert (pseudonym for Miriam Susan Zucker Reichert) is an American fantasy fiction author of several best selling novels. Perhaps her most famous work is the epic Renshai series, which offers an intriguing perspective on traditional Norse mythology. She is also a parent and paediatrician with a soft spot for critters great and small. She has been known care for a veritable zoo of creatures, at times including mice, horses, snakes, llamas, parrots, squirrels, possums, and foxes.
Alongside her twenty-two novels, Reichert has also published one illustrated novella and fifty-plus short stories.
Alongside her twenty-two novels, Reichert has also published one illustrated novella and fifty-plus short stories.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
May 9, 2021
Q:
“Isn’t it a wee bit unkind to refer to your patients as edibles?” (c) Yeahh..
Frankly, without Remington, this series was likely to fizzle.... For some reason it didn't, just became more melancholic.
Dr. Susan is as clever as always, even if depressed for obvious reasons... Griefworks, sadness, less-than-inspiring work seem to be it for her in this volume. Than again, being a self-starter, she gets to do things way beyond her paygrade. And help people, of course.
Q:
“Every physician becomes at least a little bit cynical, even the ones used to seeing the glass as full of rainbows.” (c)
The way of inspiration:
Q:
“If I can rescue even one patient from that place, find someone misdiagnosed or mistreated who, with the proper therapy, can lead a reasonably normal life, it’ll be worth every moment of the time and effort.”
...
And even if I can’t find anyone to save, I’ll find a way to bring something positive from this experience, whether it’s the understanding of end of life, empathy for the patients and their families, or a purpose for the incurably demented. Susan rose with new determination. “Somehow this is going to make me a better doctor, if not a better person.” (c)
Other fun:
Q:
... if there is a heaven, we know they sent a limo for Remy... (c)
Q:
“Isn’t it weird how the trends go? Just when you start thinking every generation has to do everything ten times nuttier than its predecessors, you find one making healthier choices, living more fit and sensibly. My grandparents thought nothing of eating double-fried, lard-filled doughnuts on a stick and similar things that make me puke at the mere thought, combining that toxic ball of grease with a gallon of supercharged soda, then lighting up a nicotine-filled tube of death and blowing the smoke into other people’s faces.” (c)
Q:
“It bugs the crap out of me when people do stupid things to themselves, then expect us to fix it. But it makes me homicidal when people ruin the lives of their children, even if it’s well-meaning.” She added to her own surprise, “Especially when it’s well-meaning.” (c)
Q:
“So, instead of me becoming a psychiatrist for robots, I’m lying here getting analyzed by a robotic psychiatrist. It just struck me as hilarious turnabout.” (c)
Q:
The ability to imbue a man-made object with true intelligence—common sense, planning, social understanding, creativity, deduction, reasoning, problem solving, and the like—had frustrated scientists since the beginning of time. (c)
Q:
As she watched a vein jerk and throb in Chase’s neck, she realized she needed more time to hone her technique. (с)
Q:
No news was generally good news; laboratory personnel alerted doctors to abnormalities while leaving the normal results to arrive over time. Doctors, too, were far more likely to sit on routine matters and handle the critical ones first. Still, the longer patients waited, the more they imagined they, or their loved ones, had something disfiguring and fatal the doctor could not bear to pronounce. She wondered if police ever got to deliver good news. (c)
Q:
“You mean there are more humanoid robots? And they work for the government?”...
“That would explain some of my bosses.” (c)
Q:
“He had a gun! I think he pulled it out of his underpants!” (c) Enter the wonderful underpants.
“Isn’t it a wee bit unkind to refer to your patients as edibles?” (c) Yeahh..
Frankly, without Remington, this series was likely to fizzle.... For some reason it didn't, just became more melancholic.
Dr. Susan is as clever as always, even if depressed for obvious reasons... Griefworks, sadness, less-than-inspiring work seem to be it for her in this volume. Than again, being a self-starter, she gets to do things way beyond her paygrade. And help people, of course.
Q:
“Every physician becomes at least a little bit cynical, even the ones used to seeing the glass as full of rainbows.” (c)
The way of inspiration:
Q:
“If I can rescue even one patient from that place, find someone misdiagnosed or mistreated who, with the proper therapy, can lead a reasonably normal life, it’ll be worth every moment of the time and effort.”
...
And even if I can’t find anyone to save, I’ll find a way to bring something positive from this experience, whether it’s the understanding of end of life, empathy for the patients and their families, or a purpose for the incurably demented. Susan rose with new determination. “Somehow this is going to make me a better doctor, if not a better person.” (c)
Other fun:
Q:
... if there is a heaven, we know they sent a limo for Remy... (c)
Q:
“Isn’t it weird how the trends go? Just when you start thinking every generation has to do everything ten times nuttier than its predecessors, you find one making healthier choices, living more fit and sensibly. My grandparents thought nothing of eating double-fried, lard-filled doughnuts on a stick and similar things that make me puke at the mere thought, combining that toxic ball of grease with a gallon of supercharged soda, then lighting up a nicotine-filled tube of death and blowing the smoke into other people’s faces.” (c)
Q:
“It bugs the crap out of me when people do stupid things to themselves, then expect us to fix it. But it makes me homicidal when people ruin the lives of their children, even if it’s well-meaning.” She added to her own surprise, “Especially when it’s well-meaning.” (c)
Q:
“So, instead of me becoming a psychiatrist for robots, I’m lying here getting analyzed by a robotic psychiatrist. It just struck me as hilarious turnabout.” (c)
Q:
The ability to imbue a man-made object with true intelligence—common sense, planning, social understanding, creativity, deduction, reasoning, problem solving, and the like—had frustrated scientists since the beginning of time. (c)
Q:
As she watched a vein jerk and throb in Chase’s neck, she realized she needed more time to hone her technique. (с)
Q:
No news was generally good news; laboratory personnel alerted doctors to abnormalities while leaving the normal results to arrive over time. Doctors, too, were far more likely to sit on routine matters and handle the critical ones first. Still, the longer patients waited, the more they imagined they, or their loved ones, had something disfiguring and fatal the doctor could not bear to pronounce. She wondered if police ever got to deliver good news. (c)
Q:
“You mean there are more humanoid robots? And they work for the government?”...
“That would explain some of my bosses.” (c)
Q:
“He had a gun! I think he pulled it out of his underpants!” (c) Enter the wonderful underpants.
February 4, 2014
This book is a good sequel to I Robot: To Protect. The characters have been set in place and more mayhem as Susan and Kendall choose to start their second year of residency in the Dementia unit. Their friendship gets strained as Susan’s father and one of his neighbors are murdered. Susan produces more of hre “medical miracles” but proves herself all too human when dealing with the director of the Winter Wine Facility. The robots that are seen are intriguing, but there are too few robots. Meanwhile the plotting of both the government and the Society for Humanity are almost Machiavellian. The book is an enjoyable page-turner but we’re still left dangling with more years of Susan Calvin’s residency to go and the problem of having robots so much further advanced than those in the original Asimov stories, when Calvin is older and one hopes wiser.
February 13, 2014
I enjoyed the first book, and must say I enjoyed the second book even more - there better be another one coming :)
Growing up reading Asimov, I always liked how I learned about Physics, Chemistry, etc as I was taken on an adventure to solve a Mystery or two - and I can remember in the 80's as he got back into Foundation and Robots (and unified his Universe), that each book made me want the next one. They were the first SciFi books that I bought in Hard Cover - paperback would take too long ;-)
The Author of this series, whilst indeed a different author, does offer a similar approach (at least that is what I find) - but in her case, I learn about Medicine and Psychiatry - and I think the Author handles writing in the "near future" quite well. The world is different but still very familiar. And of course, there are the Mysteries.
I like the characters - especially Susan Calvin, who I also liked in the old Robot stories - she is brilliant but flawed - sort of a Medical Sherlock Holmes (though not as callous as House MD).
I am hoping there are many more books to come :)
Growing up reading Asimov, I always liked how I learned about Physics, Chemistry, etc as I was taken on an adventure to solve a Mystery or two - and I can remember in the 80's as he got back into Foundation and Robots (and unified his Universe), that each book made me want the next one. They were the first SciFi books that I bought in Hard Cover - paperback would take too long ;-)
The Author of this series, whilst indeed a different author, does offer a similar approach (at least that is what I find) - but in her case, I learn about Medicine and Psychiatry - and I think the Author handles writing in the "near future" quite well. The world is different but still very familiar. And of course, there are the Mysteries.
I like the characters - especially Susan Calvin, who I also liked in the old Robot stories - she is brilliant but flawed - sort of a Medical Sherlock Holmes (though not as callous as House MD).
I am hoping there are many more books to come :)
February 18, 2017
I have always loved and admired Dr. Susan Calvin, one of the few recurring female characters created by Isaac Asimov. Originally a one-dimensional caricature, she slowly developed over many stories into a slightly more nuanced character. However, Mickey Zucker Reichart has finally fleshed her into a living, breathing, humane and human woman with all the qualities one would hope and expect to see in such an important part of the history of the planet Earth. I thank her for this trilogy, and only hope that it ends as brilliantly as it has begun.
March 8, 2016
I am torn on my feelings towards this book. One one hand, it's a really interesting premise, and the writing was very suspenseful. I stayed up all night to finish it! On the other hand, I was disappointed with the ending. It seemed that the book had been hinting at a bigger, more secretive plot with a big twist, and when it never came, I was let down.
However! There is a sequel coming out this fall, so perhaps that will resolve some of my issues with it. :)
However! There is a sequel coming out this fall, so perhaps that will resolve some of my issues with it. :)
September 20, 2023
A year has passed since a terrorist organisation weaponised a four year old psychopath and turned her into a walking bomb. Still recovering from the experience, Dr Susan Calvin's life is turned upside down when a police cover up following a murder leads to an Earth shattering discovery.
Reichert develops the life journey of Susan Calvin by introducing her coping mechanism of SU2, a state of mind which encourages her to follow the Three Laws of Robotics. The plot is a little tangled and overly convoluted, but this can be forgiven by virtue of the fast paced feel. While you are reading the book, everything moves at a considerable pace and feels as if the twists are necessary. It is only on reflection that readers may believe that a lot of the spinners in the text are distracting from the core narrative. Nevertheless, an enjoyable read which succeeds in being a tricky middle book in a planned trilogy.
Reichert develops the life journey of Susan Calvin by introducing her coping mechanism of SU2, a state of mind which encourages her to follow the Three Laws of Robotics. The plot is a little tangled and overly convoluted, but this can be forgiven by virtue of the fast paced feel. While you are reading the book, everything moves at a considerable pace and feels as if the twists are necessary. It is only on reflection that readers may believe that a lot of the spinners in the text are distracting from the core narrative. Nevertheless, an enjoyable read which succeeds in being a tricky middle book in a planned trilogy.
September 7, 2019
Susan Calvin is entering her second year in Psych residency when this story begins. She has survived the loss of her true love at the hands of terrorists from the SFH - Society for Humanity - and gotten to know N8-C - a positronic robot who could be mistaken for a regular human. She has learned that her father had a large part in the development of the positronic brain and the three laws that govern it.
She has chosen the same beginning site for her second year which lets her be with her friend Dr. Kendall Stevens. Their site has them working with dementia patients which is a difficult thing for Susan who wants to believe that she can fix medical problems. It causes her to wonder about the rationale for prolonging life when the mind is gone. She is also working for a lazy, self-serving boss. When Susan's genius level diagnostic skills suggest that some of her patients have been misdiagnosed and can actually be helped, she is first obstructed by her boss. When she goes around him to prove her diagnoses, he is quick to claim the credit and claim that Susan is the one who was obstructing. Susan, naturally, finds this very frustrating but it becomes quite a minor problem when the death of her father happens.
Susan comes home to find that her father has been murdered. When she tries to see his body to understand what happens, she is obstructed by the police who have decided that his death was because of "natural causes." Susan begins to conduct her own investigation along with one police officer who doesn't want to follow the party line. They soon find themselves at odds with the SFH and a shady government department that wants the secret they are certain she and her father had about the way to separate the positronic brain from the three laws.
Along the way in their investigation, Susan learns a big secret about her past and finds a way to get both the government department and the SFH off her back.
This was an engaging science fiction story. However, I started to get bogged down in all the medical terminology that Susan uses in her diagnoses. Once I decided to treat it all as bafflegab things went better. I don't know if the medical terms are fact or fiction and for the purposes of the bigger story it really didn't matter.
Fans of hard science fiction and fans of Isaac Asimov will enjoy this second book in a trilogy. I would recommend reading the series in order though.
She has chosen the same beginning site for her second year which lets her be with her friend Dr. Kendall Stevens. Their site has them working with dementia patients which is a difficult thing for Susan who wants to believe that she can fix medical problems. It causes her to wonder about the rationale for prolonging life when the mind is gone. She is also working for a lazy, self-serving boss. When Susan's genius level diagnostic skills suggest that some of her patients have been misdiagnosed and can actually be helped, she is first obstructed by her boss. When she goes around him to prove her diagnoses, he is quick to claim the credit and claim that Susan is the one who was obstructing. Susan, naturally, finds this very frustrating but it becomes quite a minor problem when the death of her father happens.
Susan comes home to find that her father has been murdered. When she tries to see his body to understand what happens, she is obstructed by the police who have decided that his death was because of "natural causes." Susan begins to conduct her own investigation along with one police officer who doesn't want to follow the party line. They soon find themselves at odds with the SFH and a shady government department that wants the secret they are certain she and her father had about the way to separate the positronic brain from the three laws.
Along the way in their investigation, Susan learns a big secret about her past and finds a way to get both the government department and the SFH off her back.
This was an engaging science fiction story. However, I started to get bogged down in all the medical terminology that Susan uses in her diagnoses. Once I decided to treat it all as bafflegab things went better. I don't know if the medical terms are fact or fiction and for the purposes of the bigger story it really didn't matter.
Fans of hard science fiction and fans of Isaac Asimov will enjoy this second book in a trilogy. I would recommend reading the series in order though.
January 14, 2017
I, Robot: To Obey is second installment in the saga of Susan Calvin’s travels through her residency years. It starts with the choice of where to begin the year’s rotation. Her friend Kendall Stevens chooses Dementia, which involves working outside of Manhattan Hasbro Hospital and is an assignment that needs two people. It is obvious to Susan that he wants her to be his partner, possibly to prop each other up as they continue to grieve the loss of Remington Hawthorn. The problem of the “all-knowing Dr. Calvin” continues throughout this book but the story is interesting. This time there’s an extra problem a supervising physician who overrides Susan’s decisions and then proceeds to blame her for the resulting health problem. The situation is so unbalanced she opts to leave the rotation and be given a failing grade than to continue living with the insanity of the facility. The Society for Humanity makes another appearance and they are making progress in their plans to limit the use of robots as well as politicizing certain health choices. This book brings another tragedy for Susan, the death of her father. It also brings her into the orbit of Jake Carson of the New York City police. He saves her live and in return gets involved in a political nightmare. The Three Laws of Robotics make a large appearance in this book and a great deal of the action revolves around the possibility of there being a way to override those laws. This book is a fair follow-up to I Robot: To Protect but it is not as strong a book.
- Jackie R.
Click here to find the book at the Prince William County Public Library System.
- Jackie R.
Click here to find the book at the Prince William County Public Library System.
January 30, 2024
Life was a quiet crapshoot that sometimes bucked the odds, for good or ill, indiscriminately.
The year is 2036. Robots were officially banned from Earth in 2030, but that ban expired in 2034. It's wholly inconceivable that our 27-year-old heroine, Susan Calvin, a medical genius and, we're told too often, a virgin, was not aware of those two years, but for some reason that's what's written into the narrative here. Reichert definitely capitalizes on her own experience as a working physician because the first 150 pages or so read more like fictionalized case studies to establish Susan's prodigious diagnostic brilliance with just a few futuristic elements thrown in, such as the citizenry's ubiquitous palm-prosses and VOXes, which are basically other names for iPhones and Apple watches. Parts of the tale are satisfyingly Kafkaesque until you wonder why, in 2036, Susan wouldn't just record and expose the blatant lies told by her vile boss at the dementia facility. Too easy? Despite that, this is a mostly fun read. Every once in a while you get a sentence that will take you right out of the story, such as any reminder of Susan's virginity or phrasing such as this: "His lips stretched taut, his eyebrows drew together, and beads of sweat spangled his philtrum." (Although, to be fair, "Spangled Philtrum" does sound like an excellent name for a punk rock band.) The book's climax is as unbelievable as Susan not knowing about the robot ban, but she's a likable heroine for all that, especially given her circumstances.
First line:
"Brilliant summer sunshine struck glimmers from the window rims and ledges of Manhattan Hasbro Hospital and lit up the bobbing signs of the usual horde of protestors."
November 4, 2017
In this prequel to the original IROBOT stories, Reichert flushes out Susan Calvin's past in some very interesting ways: a psych residency, failure at romance, friendship with robots, and intense curiosity regarding her dead parents' profession at USR.
In this book we see Susan taking her first fledgling steps on the path which will eventually lead to her position as the eminent robopsychologist/engineer at U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men Inc. In my opinion, this novel takes entirely too long to build her background in psychology and her friendship with Kendall: 10 chapters.
She is painted as a know-it-all psych resident who catches all the oversights of her superiors (which of course doesn't make her any friends in the field). While there are some interesting cases that she deals with, it really seems that Reichert is stalling/digressing WAY too much from the general direction of the plot arch in these first 10 chapters.
Then, after lulling us into half-consciousness with an entire dictionary of medical terminology, she abruptly changes gears and the book becomes an action-packed conspiracy/crime novel. While it was interesting and worth the read, the execution REALLY lacked polish...
In this book we see Susan taking her first fledgling steps on the path which will eventually lead to her position as the eminent robopsychologist/engineer at U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men Inc. In my opinion, this novel takes entirely too long to build her background in psychology and her friendship with Kendall: 10 chapters.
She is painted as a know-it-all psych resident who catches all the oversights of her superiors (which of course doesn't make her any friends in the field). While there are some interesting cases that she deals with, it really seems that Reichert is stalling/digressing WAY too much from the general direction of the plot arch in these first 10 chapters.
Then, after lulling us into half-consciousness with an entire dictionary of medical terminology, she abruptly changes gears and the book becomes an action-packed conspiracy/crime novel. While it was interesting and worth the read, the execution REALLY lacked polish...
January 29, 2016
Mickey Zucker Reichert draws upon the world of Issac Asimov pretty brilliantly. I didn't realize this was the second in a series, but will be reading the first book after this. The writing is concise and possible, although some of the characterization is pretty stiff. The ending resolves itself in the perfect self arguing wrap around, which I thought was fairly amazing. Of course, most of the agency is attributed to the main character, so the other characters as brilliant as they are supposed to be, appears stilted.
I rather enjoyed the clear and transparent writing, although the main twist in the middle of the story was expected. The only real complaint is the constant reminders of the action in the first book, which I did not read. This seemed to take me out of the story, although I suppose for one who did read it, it would seem like a good connecting piece.
I rather enjoyed the clear and transparent writing, although the main twist in the middle of the story was expected. The only real complaint is the constant reminders of the action in the first book, which I did not read. This seemed to take me out of the story, although I suppose for one who did read it, it would seem like a good connecting piece.
December 22, 2022
Instead of interesting & lay-accessible psychiatric cases, she just threw medical jargon at her readers, so there was no sense of working together to solve the mystery and figure out the diagnosis. Also, she set Susan up at the beginning as still suffering from grief from the loss of her boyfriend a year ago... and did nothing to resolve it - at the end of the book, she was still suffering, alone and depressed. So no sense of forward progress. Lastly, she represents Susan as shallow and self-centered (although she gives a cursory diagnostic thought towards her "friends" at no time does she consider what the people around her are going through with any sense of empathy or support). While this is true to the original story, this is a piece of misogyny that I would have expected to be updated in a modern retelling of the story.
June 10, 2016
The second half of Reichert's trilogy draws more deeply on its Asimovian inspiration (to the point of actually including direct references to non-Calvin stories). but suffers a little from being the middle volume of the story, with various things happening but little resolution, the better to set up the next volume's climax. That said, does contain some genuinely effective plot twists (and a cunning reinterpretation of a certain comments made by Asimov about Susan Calvin).
Right, I've eaten all my veggies. Time for the dessert. Roll on volume three.
Right, I've eaten all my veggies. Time for the dessert. Roll on volume three.
May 16, 2014
I finished this book in a week. A WEEK! that's saying something when usually takes me a few months (crazy schedule and slow reader). I had to finish it. The I,Robot series grabbed me from To Protect. To Obey was no different. Love the characters, plot twists, and little pops of humor. I really can't wait for the next installment.
December 2, 2013
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The way the author drew on the original story by Asimov continued on the feeling that was set in the original books, along with adding his own unique perspective on the I Robot world. Once you get your head around all of the medical terminology, the series makes for a challenging and thought provoking read. A great book for die hard sci-fi fans!
October 1, 2016
This book blew me away. It's been a long time since I've read sci-fi and this was an excellent book to jump back into the genre. As a reader with a biology background, I was interested in the medical aspects as well as the philosophic ones of artificial intelligence this book really made me think, but it didn't scare me on the topic of AI.
January 1, 2014
Tell don't show, show don't tell, let's see, which is which....Oh and about that in media res thing....
Couldn't get past page 20. Not interesting.
No humans were harmed in the course of this review. Except me.
Couldn't get past page 20. Not interesting.
No humans were harmed in the course of this review. Except me.
January 26, 2016
It was okay. The first 60% or so was about the MC's days at work, and then it got interesting. I didn't know that this was part of a trilogy, or that it was the second one. Probably will not get the others.
September 14, 2013
Just as enjoyable as the first, drawing appropriately on Asimov's own work.
June 5, 2015
well done, couldn't bear to put it down and now I need to find the last book of this trilogy; can't remember whether I bought it already or if it's buried among my stack of "to read" books.
July 30, 2018
A bit heavy on the medical terms but a superb story! Love the job of Asimov's storyline being picked up!
August 4, 2024
Quite an enjoyable read and, for the most part, a well written follow on from
To Protect
.
Sadly, this book at one point gets dragged down into the gutter by Mickey's insistence that she use this story to have a go at vegan diets. This added nothing whatsoever to the story, it's was very clearly put in to put down vegan diets while promoting the consumption of cooked carrion. Her, as an M.D. declaring very clearly that eating fatty meat is healthy is utterly sickening: how many people have to die from atherosclerosis and its complications (like dementia and Alzheimer's, heart disease, diabetes, and many more) before doctors stop pushing this agenda? It wouldn't bother me so much if Mickey actually knew what she was talking about, but she very clearly doesn't: just another ignorant quack thinking they know everything about nutrition when all they know about nutrition is littered with their own cognitive biases and addictions, and an absolute refusal to acknowledge the very clear scientific evidence. Or maybe it's not ignorance, maybe quacks promote unhealthy diets because quacks make an absolute fortune promoting bad dietary habits.
Fundamental truth: chronic health care is the biggest scam since organized religion.
Anyway, that dealt with, outside of that, the story itself is really good.
Moving on, it's the last book in the trilogy, To Preserve .
Sadly, this book at one point gets dragged down into the gutter by Mickey's insistence that she use this story to have a go at vegan diets. This added nothing whatsoever to the story, it's was very clearly put in to put down vegan diets while promoting the consumption of cooked carrion. Her, as an M.D. declaring very clearly that eating fatty meat is healthy is utterly sickening: how many people have to die from atherosclerosis and its complications (like dementia and Alzheimer's, heart disease, diabetes, and many more) before doctors stop pushing this agenda? It wouldn't bother me so much if Mickey actually knew what she was talking about, but she very clearly doesn't: just another ignorant quack thinking they know everything about nutrition when all they know about nutrition is littered with their own cognitive biases and addictions, and an absolute refusal to acknowledge the very clear scientific evidence. Or maybe it's not ignorance, maybe quacks promote unhealthy diets because quacks make an absolute fortune promoting bad dietary habits.
Fundamental truth: chronic health care is the biggest scam since organized religion.
Anyway, that dealt with, outside of that, the story itself is really good.
Moving on, it's the last book in the trilogy, To Preserve .
September 14, 2017
First of all, it's an entertaining read. Calvin is a good character, more developed than Asimov was able to achieve. I think he tried to hard to make her too hard.
However, Reichert suffers under the same hindrance as other SF writers, the need to show off scientific knowledge. Since she is a doctor, her particular vanity comes through with medical terms. Thankfully, after the first third of the book, that particular problem calms down a bit and we can start tracking with Susan Calvin's personality. The development, outside Asimov's personal canon, is a bit too obvious to miss. Never mind the fact that when Asimov was writing Calvin, she was dealing with some of the more basic robotic developements toward personality. She had no personal hand in anything like a robot that could pass for human. As it is, John Calvin is even more human than Olivaw. One would like to think this is because Reichert has a better command of how to make that transition than Asimov did, but truly, her character was probably just easier to write that way.
Never the less. To Obey is a fun read. If a person can blank his way through the cryptic medical jargon and focus on the story, he is in store for a fine romp, as good as any plot IA ever devised.
However, Reichert suffers under the same hindrance as other SF writers, the need to show off scientific knowledge. Since she is a doctor, her particular vanity comes through with medical terms. Thankfully, after the first third of the book, that particular problem calms down a bit and we can start tracking with Susan Calvin's personality. The development, outside Asimov's personal canon, is a bit too obvious to miss. Never mind the fact that when Asimov was writing Calvin, she was dealing with some of the more basic robotic developements toward personality. She had no personal hand in anything like a robot that could pass for human. As it is, John Calvin is even more human than Olivaw. One would like to think this is because Reichert has a better command of how to make that transition than Asimov did, but truly, her character was probably just easier to write that way.
Never the less. To Obey is a fun read. If a person can blank his way through the cryptic medical jargon and focus on the story, he is in store for a fine romp, as good as any plot IA ever devised.
August 13, 2022
The second in a three part series that prequels Asimov's 'I, Robot' with the support of his estate. It is a serviceable and enjoyable, a solidly written but didactic thriller backgrounded in the origins of the Three Laws of Robotics and the practical and ethical dilemmas they pose.
It has one odd aspect. The first quarter or so of the book seems to have nothing to do with science fiction, Azimov or the main story line but is a medical procedural novel largely centred on issues of dementia. The author is a practising physician.
This should not put you off because it is interesting but this is only barely a science fiction novel. The author is far more concerned with the psychology of her 'over-achieving' heroine Susan Calvin with a father complex, allowing more than a bit of subdued largely asexual romance into the story.
Perhaps the only thing that bothers me about the Azimovian world and the Three Laws is the deliberate denial of agency to the robots with positronic brains. Their God (scientific humanity) denies them free will and sexuality and asexuality seems to be an occult aspect of the novel.
February 25, 2019
Well, we find ourselves back in Susan Calvin’s life about a year after the first book ends. Just when you think things are going ok for her, the wheels start coming off and we are off for quite a ride. Susan’s father is killed, at least that’s who she thought he was for all these years. Then his body disappears after she finds out that his body was decapitated and then “cremated.” But really it was stolen before the so called cremation took place.
After a beginning like this I’ll let you decide whether to read it or not. If not, you’ll miss a good story.
After a beginning like this I’ll let you decide whether to read it or not. If not, you’ll miss a good story.
July 15, 2021
I grew up reading Asimov, though it has been some years since I read one of his novels. Overall, I enjoyed the book. It is placed within Asimov's timeline and world events (rather than our own). Susan is not always likeable in her opinions but her overall striving and determination is ultimately driven by a desire to do no harm and her reflective thought processes are at least honest about her struggles. Her character is also bounded by a need to be consistent with Asimov's portrayal of her.
January 27, 2022
This was good. There was a moment almost at the middle of the book after the inciting incident takes place when you know certain thing would happen as a plot point and you know it's for pages, but when it hits, and you know that it will hit, that the writer managed to keep every impact intact from the reveal and I think that's great writing.
I'm only giving it four stars because this woman doesn't know how to write normal men.
I'm only giving it four stars because this woman doesn't know how to write normal men.
June 22, 2024
Denne bog (nr. 2 i serien) er væsentligt bedre end nr. 1.
jeg er glad for at jeg trodsede mig mistænksomhed og læste den, nu er jeg spændt på nr. 3 (og sidste), som gerne må være til 5 stjerner.
Nr. 2 handler meget mere om robotter end nr. 1. Så hvis du har kæmpet dig igennem nr. 1, så kan du glæde dig til nr. 2 😊
Der er stadig en del medicinsk ævl, som kun de færreste forstår, men ikke foruroligende meget. Narrativet er lidt tynd nogle steder - med enkelte huller - men det er til at leve med.
jeg er glad for at jeg trodsede mig mistænksomhed og læste den, nu er jeg spændt på nr. 3 (og sidste), som gerne må være til 5 stjerner.
Nr. 2 handler meget mere om robotter end nr. 1. Så hvis du har kæmpet dig igennem nr. 1, så kan du glæde dig til nr. 2 😊
Der er stadig en del medicinsk ævl, som kun de færreste forstår, men ikke foruroligende meget. Narrativet er lidt tynd nogle steder - med enkelte huller - men det er til at leve med.
January 22, 2022
Excellent pageturner. I was worried the heavy technical medical jargon would confuse me to the point that it would make this series unenjoyable. That’s not the case. Now by book two I deeply care about Dr. Susan Calvin and her gaggle of friends. I even just bought the publisher set overpriced Kindle version of the third book to read right away.
August 31, 2018
Love this second book as much as the first. Despite an ant problem, washing clothes and dishes, mopping the floor and keeping track of two dogs, I found time to listen to all of it. Same plot with different twists and lots of action with intellect.
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