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Robopocalypse (Robopocalypse, #1)

Daniel H. Wilson

Start date: November 21, 2016

Finish date: December 10, 2016

Discussion: Book Discussions

Why we're reading this: Group contemporary novel discussion November 2016
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Jun 05, 2011 Michael rated it liked it

Following the example of Max Brook's "World War Z," Daniel H. Wilson's "Robopocalypse" documents the history of our robotic overlords uprising and seeking to exterminate all of humanity. Told through the use of shifting first-hand accounts of the uprising, "Robopocalypse" gives us the beginning of the robotic uprising as well as how humanity copes and begins to fight back against our robotic overlords.

"Robopocalypse" is being touted as one of the must read books of the summer season. It's alrea Following the example of Max Brook's "World War Z," Daniel H. Wilson's "Robopocalypse" documents the history of our robotic overlords uprising and seeking to exterminate all of humanity. Told through the use of shifting first-hand accounts of the uprising, "Robopocalypse" gives us the beginning of the robotic uprising as well as how humanity copes and begins to fight back against our robotic overlords.

"Robopocalypse" is being touted as one of the must read books of the summer season. It's already been optioned as a movie by Steven Spielberg. It has the potential to be the next big thing in science-fiction publishing, possibly luring in those readers who don't necessarily always enjoy a good genre novel. There are glowing praises all across the back of the book from some of the biggest selling names in contemporary fiction.

And yet for all of that, I find myself ultimately a bit disappointed by the novel. It feels like it's ready made to be made into a movie--and that's not always a good thing. (Michael Crichton was guilty of this in several of his later novels as well (you could almost see him telling the lighting and camera crews where to set up in "Timeline" and "The Lost World").)

As a summer novel, I expect a solid, engaging story with a few characters I have enough interest in to keep me turning the pages as I relax. And therein lies my biggest problem with "Robopocalypse"--about halfway through the book I wasn't engaged enough by the story or characters to care much about what was happening. Part of the problem is this that all the first person accounts feel pretty much the same in terms of their voice. If not for the introduction to each chapter telling us who was speaking, it'd be difficult to really distinguish one voice from another in the story. And while I had issues with "World War Z," I'll give Brooks credit there--he at least made sure most of his characters has a distinct voice in telling their portion of the story.

That's not to say "Robopocalypse" is a complete wash. The story has a few moments that are genuinely compelling. There are enough early in the story that my interest was at least piqued enough to want to keep going and find out how things turned out. The problem is that the early momentum wanes quickly and by the mid-way point of the book I found myself less compelled to keep going as I was in the early stages. I will say there are enough good scenes that a screenwriter should have little problem crafting them together into a solid film.

But it's a shame the book didn't inspire more passion and excitement in me. It has a lot of solid potential, but it doesn't necessarily make the most of the potential. ...more

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Feb 18, 2016 Jim rated it really liked it

Shelves: scifi, 1audio, 2fiction, action, apocalyptic

Written in chapters from multiple points of view by one of the survivors, this recounts a bad start with artificial intelligence (AI). It was very well done. There are connections between those recounting the stories - a father in OK, his son in the Middle East, a congresswoman & her daughter. The characters were real & often eccentric. The fight seemed very real, not a just a Terminator gore-fest, although there is some of that, too.

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Feb 02, 2019 Netanella rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction, robots, 2019-february-reading-challenges

World War Z and I, Robot blend perfectly in this epic tale of man versus machine. Incredibly well done.

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Jun 22, 2014 Tom rated it really liked it

I guess I was on a robot kick on a recent vacation. I read this and (book: Machine Man) on Kindle.

I enjoyed this apocalypse/singularity event novel. It's written in the (book: World War Z) style, in which different journal entries or story tellers all convey the plot. In this book, the tales blend together more snugly, with the explanation being that these stories are all be retold by a single author... who is compiling them from a memory storage robot device found after the end of the war.

The ...more

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Sep 18, 2013 SFReader rated it really liked it

Narrated at times by various different characters, but mainly by Cormac 'Bright Boy' Wallace, a battle hardened combat veteran of the New War.

All over the world isolated incidents become more commonplace. Everyday household machinery and vehicles start to take on a life of their own. Slowly at first, then in the blink of an eye... the machines are taking over... and there's damn little anyone can do to stop them.

Read the rest of the Robopocalypse review at SFReader ...more

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Oct 05, 2011 LeisureSuitLarry rated it really liked it

Shelves: 101-in-2011, apocalypse-whenever

Similar enough to "World War Z" that you could call it "World War R". In spite of that, it's a pretty fantastic book. I had to force myself to put it down and go to sleep one night and I wanted to get through it so much that I blew part of a work day finishing the last 25%. ...more

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Aug 09, 2011 Derek rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

Sweet book! Lots or guns, robots, and action. (Oh and an apocalypse!)

Things I liked:
* The characters-- especially Archos!
* The robot names.
* The robot's (902) narrative voice.
* A strong and consistent, even believable, apocalypse scenario.

Things I didn't like:
* Starting with the ending. (It would have been suspenseful if it had started with another scene, though I understand the need to set up the other scenes as "recorded history".)
* No mention of EMP weapons. Seriously!?!?!

In short, I enjoyed ...more

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