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Attempting to capture the last component robot of a renegade inventor, R. Hunter and his companions travel to the time of King Arthur, and land in the middle of a crucial war between the Britons and the Saxons. Original.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 21, 2019
The final book in the series and we spent our time in the England of King Arthur's day. Well, not really King Arthur, but King Artorius, a real person who many believe is the inspiration for the King Arthur persona.
As usual, the first couple of chapters introduce our team to the newest historian, and we all get caught up on what we are doing and why. Then we get into the time travel sphere and the next thing we know we are no longer in Mojave Center and we have to find shelter for the night, look for the missing robot MC 6, and keep an eye out for that wicked Wayne too.
Another good story here, and I was very satisfied with the way the author finished off this series. I'm sure I will be reading it through again Someday.
Usually in time travel stories I don't think too much about the scientific ideas behind the process, or even take too much time to fret over inconsistencies. And I didn't do that here, either. But I did notice some things that made me stop and think a little harder for just a minute or two.
I guess the main thing was that our teams went off to the past, stayed there for days and sometimes weeks, then returned just a few minutes after their original departure time. They rested one night and went off again the next day to do the same thing in some other past era. But wouldn't they be exhausted from the week in the past? More than just a few hours of sleep would make up for? It seemed like everyone was able to just keep going and going like battery bunnies, but I would think that a week's worth of unaccustomed physical activity would wear a person down much more than it seemed to here. I know I wouldn't have been able to move, let alone be able to jump in time again right away.
I also felt sorry for the human team members because before each trip they had to get a round of vaccinations to protect them from any diseases floating around in the past. Before each and every trip. Which, as I said, in real time the trips were more or less one each day. So every day the team had to go get vaccinated. That seemed a bit excessive to me with my distaste for needles.
Something I appreciated as I went along in the series was how R. Hunter developed in each book. He was always a robot of course, but he learned to be able to improvise a bit when all those pesky humans around him did not stick to plans. That was hard for him, but he managed it. Also there was much debate throughout the series between Hunter and the others about what kind of impact their time travel would have on their own era. Would every action, footstep, word of theirs change the future? Or could they get away with a bit more careful interaction than they first thought? Sometimes the historians themselves seemed the most clueless about this idea, especially Rita from the book set in Jamaica and Harriet from this book. And this is one of the ideas that make my brain smoke if I think about it for too long anyway, so I mostly just hoped for the best like the team did.
Steve's character puzzled me, too. He was the outdoorsman hired in the first book to help with survival skills. He went along on the others as well, but showed a deep streak of insecurity that I was surprised at. I never could figure out why he was so annoyed with historian Marcia in the China adventure, for example. Other than the fact that she did tend to lecture; but he overreacted to that, as far as I could see.
Well, I suppose someone with more scientific smarts would find other issues in the series, but for me it was fun, fast-moving, and interesting, with plenty of real history blended into the story. Enough to make me want to visit other books about some of the historic eras our team spent time in.
Entertainment, slight stretching of the brain muscles, and feeding the curiosity bug. I would say those are pretty good results from reading any book, don't you think?
As usual, the first couple of chapters introduce our team to the newest historian, and we all get caught up on what we are doing and why. Then we get into the time travel sphere and the next thing we know we are no longer in Mojave Center and we have to find shelter for the night, look for the missing robot MC 6, and keep an eye out for that wicked Wayne too.
Another good story here, and I was very satisfied with the way the author finished off this series. I'm sure I will be reading it through again Someday.
Usually in time travel stories I don't think too much about the scientific ideas behind the process, or even take too much time to fret over inconsistencies. And I didn't do that here, either. But I did notice some things that made me stop and think a little harder for just a minute or two.
I guess the main thing was that our teams went off to the past, stayed there for days and sometimes weeks, then returned just a few minutes after their original departure time. They rested one night and went off again the next day to do the same thing in some other past era. But wouldn't they be exhausted from the week in the past? More than just a few hours of sleep would make up for? It seemed like everyone was able to just keep going and going like battery bunnies, but I would think that a week's worth of unaccustomed physical activity would wear a person down much more than it seemed to here. I know I wouldn't have been able to move, let alone be able to jump in time again right away.
I also felt sorry for the human team members because before each trip they had to get a round of vaccinations to protect them from any diseases floating around in the past. Before each and every trip. Which, as I said, in real time the trips were more or less one each day. So every day the team had to go get vaccinated. That seemed a bit excessive to me with my distaste for needles.
Something I appreciated as I went along in the series was how R. Hunter developed in each book. He was always a robot of course, but he learned to be able to improvise a bit when all those pesky humans around him did not stick to plans. That was hard for him, but he managed it. Also there was much debate throughout the series between Hunter and the others about what kind of impact their time travel would have on their own era. Would every action, footstep, word of theirs change the future? Or could they get away with a bit more careful interaction than they first thought? Sometimes the historians themselves seemed the most clueless about this idea, especially Rita from the book set in Jamaica and Harriet from this book. And this is one of the ideas that make my brain smoke if I think about it for too long anyway, so I mostly just hoped for the best like the team did.
Steve's character puzzled me, too. He was the outdoorsman hired in the first book to help with survival skills. He went along on the others as well, but showed a deep streak of insecurity that I was surprised at. I never could figure out why he was so annoyed with historian Marcia in the China adventure, for example. Other than the fact that she did tend to lecture; but he overreacted to that, as far as I could see.
Well, I suppose someone with more scientific smarts would find other issues in the series, but for me it was fun, fast-moving, and interesting, with plenty of real history blended into the story. Enough to make me want to visit other books about some of the historic eras our team spent time in.
Entertainment, slight stretching of the brain muscles, and feeding the curiosity bug. I would say those are pretty good results from reading any book, don't you think?
November 3, 2025
The whole series is a fun easy romp through time. The way the robots work might feel a bit weird, especially with how we imagine robots now, but if you buy into it it works well. The books follow a certain pattern, but within the pattern the author manages to creative and put fun twist on it.
January 9, 2012
In this, the final novel in the six book series ‘Robots In Time’, written by William F. Wu, we are taken on a journey back to England in A.D. 459. The time of King Arthur. And so, of course, we have to meet up with him.
Taken from a more literal account of the Arthurian legend (not the Monty Python adaptation) we see our protagonists trying to capture the last renegade robot in time. The Britons and Saxons are at war and England is about to change historically for the rest of time as the Saxons claim more and more land and begin to fully integrate with the Britons.
The chase is on to reclaim the last robot, and we encounter Arthur, called king Artorius and his army of Britons as they try to stave off the Saxon incursion. Dr. Nystrom, from the future also and the stories antagonist, also is in the race and even holds captive one of the ‘good guys’ party for a time. The protagonists must be careful though, as they needed to be in the other five books, of not significantly altering history in any way.
And you know, because of the first five novels also written by William F. Wu, that they will succeed. But it’s not the end but the journey which makes these books fun to read. And again, as I said before in other Robot in Time reviews, these are young adult books. No ‘Lord of the Rings’ depth, but more ‘The Hobbit’, and in fairness to Wu, I don’t think they were meant to be extremely meaningful historical fiction.
All in all a good conclusion to the series and I’m glad they are part of my collection. Worth the read if you can find them. Also recommended, in the same vein, are the ‘Robot City’ six book series and the ‘Robots and Aliens’ six book series.
If you can’t get enough reading material concerning Asimov’s robots, you can always watch Star Trek: The Next Generation as well.
Taken from a more literal account of the Arthurian legend (not the Monty Python adaptation) we see our protagonists trying to capture the last renegade robot in time. The Britons and Saxons are at war and England is about to change historically for the rest of time as the Saxons claim more and more land and begin to fully integrate with the Britons.
The chase is on to reclaim the last robot, and we encounter Arthur, called king Artorius and his army of Britons as they try to stave off the Saxon incursion. Dr. Nystrom, from the future also and the stories antagonist, also is in the race and even holds captive one of the ‘good guys’ party for a time. The protagonists must be careful though, as they needed to be in the other five books, of not significantly altering history in any way.
And you know, because of the first five novels also written by William F. Wu, that they will succeed. But it’s not the end but the journey which makes these books fun to read. And again, as I said before in other Robot in Time reviews, these are young adult books. No ‘Lord of the Rings’ depth, but more ‘The Hobbit’, and in fairness to Wu, I don’t think they were meant to be extremely meaningful historical fiction.
All in all a good conclusion to the series and I’m glad they are part of my collection. Worth the read if you can find them. Also recommended, in the same vein, are the ‘Robot City’ six book series and the ‘Robots and Aliens’ six book series.
If you can’t get enough reading material concerning Asimov’s robots, you can always watch Star Trek: The Next Generation as well.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews