Toy Wars

by Thomas Gondolfi

Don wakes from a normal manufacturing process as a two-meter, sentient teddy bear sporting purple fur. He learns he is the result of a desperate gamble by an autonomous factory with hashed programming. To protect his home, his way of life, and his creator, Don must lead other killer toys across a harsh alien landscape to battle the native fauna of Rigel-3 and even his own kind.

His discoveries change not only his view of the wars, but his own Human gods. In spite of these trials, Don’s harshest test may be getting his own brethren to believe his adventures and the soul-churning changes needed to survive.

Genres: Science Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 20, 2012

About the author

- Author of the Toy World series, the CorpGov Chronicles, the Monarchy of America series, as well as one off novels such as Wayward School
- Editor of many anthologies
- Renaissance man
- Electrical engineer with BSEE
- Happily married to the love of his life
- As comfortable in a kilt as a suit or polo and slacks
- Father of 3; all grown and leading their own lives
- 30-year board gamer and roleplayer, mostly as GM
- Military brat who’s lived in ten different states
- Competitive table tennis, volleyball, and pickleball player
- Cooked for a living and experimentally at home
- Certified Flirt
- Dreams of an Australian vacation
- Inventive enough to never stop writing; 14 more novels already planned
- Favorite authors: Heinlein, Foster, Turtledove, Chalker, McCaffrey

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can go wrong when a hacker programs a fleet of factory mining ships, destine for a faraway planet, with blueprints from a toy shop instead of the usual heavy-duty machinery required for the task? Thomas Gondolfi answers this question in his book “Toy Wars”. Ever wanted to read about a teddy bear army with machine guns, or a sniper giraffe, or how about a pink poke-a-dot brute elephant? Don’t get me wrong, this is not a kid’s story nor is it a light hearted and fluffy story about toys. Not at all.

Toy Wars at times is a light hearted and fun story, however the author also focuses on many complex and deeper topics in this book than just toys. He does a great job of bringing the many characters to life and shows their many different struggles. John Hough does an excellent job narrating the book and its many characters. I was easily brought into this unique world and did not want to leave until it was done. The story is detailed and I could see it being made into a movie, but audiences may be confused if it is a kids or adult movie. I found it refreshing that this was not a series, but it was so good I look forward to other material by this author; maybe in the same world.

I want to say that I went into this book because of the many positive reviews, and I was not disappointed after I had finished it. It was a little science fiction with its space travel, futuristic with the factory AI (discussed later), but the author also included many aspects around friendship, relationships and the desire to survive no matter what one’s programming says. The best way I can describe this unique story is to think “The Martian” but with toys. Stranded on a planet where nearly everything, including your own creator, wants to kill you takes tenacity. The main character suffers in many ways, be he also overcomes only through the help of others.

In the future, humans are still unable to travel at the speed of light to reach distant planets. However, they quickly discovered that non-living objects could be sent to these planets and mine the precious resources; afterwards returning them to earth. Man programmed these factory ships to travel to a single planet, destroy the local inhabitants, and strip it of the required resources. Once done, the resources would be sent back to Earth.

This all seemed like a good plan until a hacktivist penetrated the code of three of the ships prepared to depart and directed them to all land on the same planet while also uploading schematics of a toy producer replacing those of the machine equipment that will be constructed once it arrives on the planet. Upon their arrival, not only do the factories (Ai) start to turn our unique and interesting robots based on a combination of toys and mining machines, it also constructs an army to conquer the planets inhabits no matter the cost. What each of the three AI factories is not aware of is that each of them landed on the same planet and will be battling not only for the resources, but one another for dominance.

I found the book fascinating and well written. The author creates believable and likeable characters that are not super-human (toy). Each has its weakness and strengths based on the role is was assigned by the factory. Soldiers, snipers, brutes, etc. are all included in this mayhem of toy-based characters. The book is also more than just a battle between factories, it also involves deep friendships, complex situations, along with many other challenges one could face in this situation. What better could handle this pressure than a teddy bear with an M-16 rifle. It is a journey for survival and reconciliation. It is a story you will not quickly forget; in a good way.

John Hough did an exceptional job of bringing this book to life and as stated earlier, the narration was professional and without any recognizable audio artifacts heard such as swallowing, background noise, etc. As of this writing, he has not narrated many books on Audible, but I did enjoy his voice and pace of the book read.

The book is well worth your time, I spent my own Audible credit for this book, and I was not sorry I did.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting.

[Don Zimmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. The story is great, and the character development of the protagonist is outstanding.

[Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard sci-fi, I'd call it. Robot takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Author says in a note at the end that he writes to entertain, not to educate.

[Neala · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fabulously fun read that takes you on an incredible ride. It doesn't go where expected, but in a very satisfying way.

[Aaron Fletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toy Wars by Thomas Gondolfi

It is the twenty second century. Humankind's appetite for raw materials is overwhelming what is available on Earth. The Answer: Reach out to other planets and harvest everything. Faster than Light Travel, FTL for short, has been discovered with only one flaw. Organic matter cannot survive it. Inorganic matter can. The Answer: Project Infuse. Send one semi-intelligent factory to each uninhabited planet where it will create robots to strip the mineral resources. All of the resources. Eleven years go by. The first ship returns from space loaded with the fruits of its robotic labors. Raw materials the likes of which have not been seen on Earth before. New discoveries and incredible wealth abound. It is a brilliant operation. What could go wrong? Enter a preadolescent computer hacker into the equation. The hacker unknowingly slips a virus into the semi-intelligent factories original programing. The virus does two things. One: It causes six factories to be launched to the planet designated as Rigel-3. Two: The virus exchanges the original robotic plans with the blueprints of toys. The semi-intelligent factories cope as best they can. The Results: Each factory considers the others as local fauna. They must fight for control of the planet and the resources they are there to mine. More importantly one of the factories accidentally creates Artificial Intelligence. AI. An incredible breakthrough. AI takes the form of a two meter tall purple furred teddy bear with a M16A assault rifle and .45 caliber long slide pistol. Designation: Teddy 1499. The Mission: Pursue and destroy any local fauna. Take control of the planet by any means necesssary. It is all out war.

Toy Wars was a lot of fun to read. This futuristic science fiction tale pulled me in and wouldn't let go. From the starting scenario this story made sense. The originality of combining toys with robots made for a great situation. The plot was clear and easy to follow. I could see the challenges actually happening as if this were real. The pacing was good and worked well building tension as the story progressed. The characters were distinctive and each had their own voices. The main character was especially fun to watch evolve, literally, as he worked through one challenge after another. The character progression was superb. The descriptions were descriptive. Giving enough detail to keep everything believable without over doing it. I never had to question where I was or what was happening. All in all this was a fun read that I would recommend to science fiction lovers. Previous works by this author that I have read are: An Eighty Percent Solution CorpGov Chronicles: Book One; Thinking Outside The Box CorpGov Chronicles: Book Two; and Drinking the Kool-Aid(A short story appearing in Dragon Roots Missing Pieces Volume 5).

[Elena Alvarez Dosil · Rating 4 out of 5]

My original Toy Wars audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

Humanity has discovered how to travel at FT2L, the double of FTL, Faster than Light Speed. There is just a problem: organic matter will not survive traveling at this speed, so ships able to travel at FT2L will just transport semi-intelligent central units (named factories) able to construct robots in order to mine far away planets and collect precious inorganic materials. Just before the take off of six of these vessels, a hacker gets into the system and leaves a virus by accident, making those six ships to aim for the same planet, and switching the robot plans for toy blueprints from a toy factory. Four ships make it to the planet and start production successfully, but as one of the goals is gaining complete control of the planet, they will start fighting each other to gain supremacy.

The experiments of one of the factories on Teddy 1499 will make him become sentient, and with time he will realize that they are just fighting other factories and that the only way to reach their goals will be to find peace and unite. This is the journey of Teddy 1499 on this new world, fighting for something nobody believes in.

This is a very clever book. The name sounds almost cute, but there is nothing cute about this book. I would consider it hard sci-fi, and a kind of experiment mixing some out of the normal elements. Two meter teddy bears with guns, big elephant dolls, nurse nuns patching the fallen in battle. This is the normal world for Teddy 1499, who starts questioning how things work and experiments thinking 'outside the box'. This story is one of those that could have been born after a 'what if'.

I enjoyed the experiment but it took a long time to take off. I think Tom Gondolfi spent too much time with the exposure. It is not that it did not have useful information. It had, but I found it a bit distracting, and I was impatient to start the story.

I enjoyed the evolution of Teddy 1499, and how he was also amazed by it. We travel a long journey with him and it is impossible to not feel something for him. In a way, it is an endearing story.

John Hough's narration was clear but I found it a bit too theatrical at times. It could have been appropriate, since he was giving voice to toys, but I think I would have preferred a more neutral narration. It was very good though, and the production had a high quality.

This book is not for everybody, not even for every science fiction lover, but I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys hard sci-fi and would like something different.

[Connie Jasperson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toy Wars, by Thomas Gondolfi, was a bit of a departure for me. It is hard sci-fi, so despite the name, it is not a warm and fuzzy sort of book.

But first, THE BLURB:

Don wakes from a normal manufacturing process as a two-meter, sentient teddy bear sporting purple fur. He learns he is the result of a desperate gamble by an autonomous factory with hashed programming. To protect his home, his way of life, and his creator, Don must lead other killer toys across a harsh alien landscape to battle the native fauna of Rigel-3 and even his own kind.

His discoveries change not only his view of the wars, but his own Human gods. In spite of these trials, Don’s harshest test may be getting his own brethren to believe his adventures and the soul-churning changes needed to survive.

MY REVIEW:

This is an intriguing book, with an unusual storyline. The idea of sentient toys battling for supremacy seems at first glance, cartoonish. But it is not, and there is a deep story here.

First, I caution you that there is a large info dump at the beginning. Don't put the book down--stick with it, and you'll find that the story that follows is immersive and well written.

Teddy-1499's journey to self-awareness as 'Don Quixote' is the core of this tale. He is born pre-programmed for certain tasks in the ongoing galactic war, but somewhere along the line, Teddy develops a desire to live, affection, guilt, compassion, and a need to understand the meaning of his life.

Teddy-1499 reads widely, and in Cervantes' 'Don Quixote,' he finds a kindred spirit. He begins finding many parallels in his own situation to that of the mad knight, and when he finds himself in opposition to his creator factories, he takes that as his name.

This novel is techno-based, with a lot of military jargon, which I found daunting but which will appeal to adults who read hard sci-fi with a military-centric plot.

[Lee French · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only thing I didn't care for about this book was the prologue. It opens with an explanation of the events that lead to the moment where the story actually begins, as a telling of historical fact. While the omission of this section would have made some parts of the story harder to grasp, especially at the beginning, I was reminded rather too much of reading a history textbook for my tastes.

Once past that, the story is brilliant. Teddy 1499 goes through a logical, sometimes tragic sequence of self-awareness and maturation. His adventures are gripping and display a deft world-building hand with the inclusion of living creatures able to survive on a world with mercury as the dominant liquid instead of water. His loneliness is real and heartfelt, and his failures are crushing.

I can't quite tell who to best recommend this book for, as it seems like it should appeal to a wide variety of readers, so long as you're not expecting a riff on the Toy Story movies. This is not a kiddie story. Though is has no objectionable material for young readers, I suspect those under about 14 wouldn't connect with the mature themes of war, regret, and some forms of insanity.

[Denise Kawaii · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining as hell!

What do you get when you send an A.I. program with toy store schematics instead of construction schematics to mine for resources on a distant planet? Well, you just might get Toy Wars.

When Earth starts pillaging other planets for resources, they do so with the use of factories designed to self-produce all of the equipment needed. But when the program gets an incomplete hack and the files get switched around, multiple factories are built on the same planet. One of these sentient factories begins experimenting with the brains of its workers, and the result is a sentient teddy bear named Don who goes on an epic quest to end the war on his planet.

It took me a couple of chapters to get into the groove of this first person narrative. I was having difficulty really identifying with Don and his very linear processing style early on. But as his experiences grew, so did his charisma. Don and his silent partner, Sancho, are presented with a wide range of obstacles as they push forward on their quest. This makes them more endearing and relate-able as the story progresses.

This is a fun read.

[Gerri Balter · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a collector of stuffed animals, I was predisposed to like this book. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way. There was no one for me to care about. There was too much information about the technology and not enough about the plot and characters.

[Justin M. Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. When I saw it was about militarized teddy bears I thought it would be silly but it was actually a good sci-fi war story.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I enjoyed the story about a soulful teddy trying to end a war, I felt that the deposition was quite long which sacrificed some of the good storytelling time.

[Felix · Rating 5 out of 5]

some of the lingo was a tad beyond me but this book is really good. i really enjoyed it!