A Quick Review of Robopocalypse, a Novel by Daniel Wilson

Robopocalypse is a novel by A.I. Researcher Dr. Daniel Wilson that chronicles a near future robotic uprising and the humans that fight back against it, in the style of an oral history.


Minor Spoilers Ahead!

PROs

- The "Oral History" storytelling style allows for a wide scope, which enables Wilson to lay out a story that feels big and broad in only 300 pages.

- The chapters written from the perspective of the Arbiter-class military robot, a liberated AI operating on free will, were particularly engaging and showcased Wilson's knowledge of the technical aspects of his subject matter.

- Robopocalypse is, overall, a highly engaging read. Wilson did a great job of weaving together his series of first hand accounts into an ultimately cogent and suspenseful tale.
 

CONs

- Writing a novel as an "Oral History" requires the author to be able to write convincingly in a number of, often quite different, voices. While Wilson's writing style is good, he seems to have trouble changing it up enough from sub-story to sub-story, and so overall, most of the characters speak in the same voice.

- Some of the cultural, racial and moral lessons seemed a little too forced and obvious.

- The robotic uprising theme is not exactly new ground, and Robopocalypse doesn't do quite as much as I was hoping to expand upon it and take it in new and creative directions. (Read: Most of the core concepts are also found in the Terminator series)

- Robopocalypse left me wanting more, which is good in that it leaves open the potential for a sequel, but there are definitely some plot points that I felt were glossed over too quickly, and quite a few loose ends that remained untied by book's end, which was most likely intentional, but I, nonetheless, found it annoying.

OVERALL

Robopocalypse is an engaging and highly entertaining read but does not break a ton of new ground for the genre and at times came off a tad cliche. However, most of my complaints stem from the extremely high expectations I had for a robotic uprising novel written by a man with a PhD in the topic.

Overall, I would say that if you're a fan of the genre, go pick it up now... otherwise, wait till it hits paperback, or, if you're lazy, the silver screen.

Rating: 4 out of 5