robot_city – Page 2 – Made by Mikal

Isaac Asimov’s Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Changeling

Post author:mikal
Post published:April 4, 2009
Post category:Book

Despite the rather unwieldy name, and being trapped as the seventh book in a share cropping series using Asimov's name, this is actually quite a good book. The plot explores something Asimov didn't do much of (what happens when Asimovian robots meet aliens and define them as human), while not being self righteous about it. The book is also more technically competent that some of the earlier ones in the series -- it doesn't feel like it was written for seven year olds. I think this one is the best in the series so far.

Isaac Asimov’s Robot City: Perihelion

Post author:mikal
Post published:April 1, 2009
Post category:Book

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I haven't previously been impressed with Wu's work, but this book is the best of the Robot City series. The other books suffer from feeling juvenile, whereas this book tells a story without being badly written and boring. Its a shame that you have to wade through the others in the series to get to this one. Interestingly, this book assures me that there another six in the series. They don't sound like the Robot and Aliens series, as these extra books are meant to more fully explain the origin of Robot City. However, as best as I can tell these additional books were never produced. Wikipedia, Amazon and LibraryThing all have no record of these books existing.

Isaac Asimov’s Robot City: Refuge

Post author:mikal
Post published:February 2, 2009
Post category:Book

This is the fifth book in the Robot City series. I think its actually the best written of those that I have read so far. The story makes sense, isn't hard to believe like some of the others, and the dialog doesn't feel wooden.

Isaac Asimov’s Robot City: Prodigy

Post author:mikal
Post published:December 29, 2008
Post category:Book

This is the fourth book in the Robot City series, which is based in Asimov's Foundation universe. This one follows Odyssey, Suspicion and Cyborg. This book has quite a different style, the robot characters using quite convoluted sentences, which I found annoying. It is a little jarring in this series that each book is by a different author -- it takes me a little while to transition between the authors' various styles when I read them, especially when they're back to back. I think what Cover was trying to achieve is a more intellectual style of book than the others in the series, and it suffers the same fate as the Benford's Foundation's Fear -- the style is out of place with the rest of the books in the series, and that decreases from the enjoyment to be derived from this book. The actual plot line is fine though, if a little simplistic. Because of the very verbose style, it feels like less happened in this book than the others (which are of similar length). Overall, a bit of a disappointment.

Isaac Asimov’s Robot City: Cyborg

Post author:mikal
Post published:December 26, 2008
Post category:Book

This is the third book in the Robot City series, which is based in Asimov's Foundation universe. This one follows Odyssey and Suspicion, and is a pretty good book. Its also a very fast read. The robot-wandering-the-city subplot is very reminiscent of Caliban, which is yet another Asimov spinoff. The plot lines are different enough that it doesn't feel like a rehash, but there are certainly strikingly similar elements. I liked this book.

Isaac Asimov’s Robot City: Suspicion

Post author:mikal
Post published:November 27, 2008
Post category:Book

This is the second book in the Isaac Asimov's Robot City series, and follows on directly from Odyssey. In fact, it follows so closely that it feels like it should be part of that earlier book. I preferred this book to the first in the series, I suspect because it didn't need to use a random unexplained change to escape a dying plot line (which is what I felt happened about a third of the way through the first book). This book does feel a little juvenile though, but I forgive it.

Isaac Asimov’s Robot City: Odyssey

Post author:mikal
Post published:November 26, 2008
Post category:Book

This is the first in a series of robot stories endorsed by Isaac Asimov. I enjoyed the first third of the book more than the last two thirds, mainly because I found the second two thirds a little hard to believe. Interestingly they were hard to believe in a similar manner to some of the Stainless Steel Rat books (such as The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World, The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You, and The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell). I wont get too specific, because I don't want to spoil the plot. This book felt kinda juvenile as well -- the plot lacked depth in my opinion. On the other hand, I did enjoy reading it, and it was better than I expected it to be.