Sunday, July 24, 2011

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

In the not-too-distant future, the first true artificial intelligence, Archos. awaken. in a computer research center in northwest Washington State and decides that humanity's dominion over the planet has ended and the time of the machine has begun. Archos, unlike SkyNet in the Terminator movies, prefers more mundane but creepier methods: instead of using cyborg Arnold Schwarzeneggers as instruments of destruction, Archos relies on children's toys, battlefield pacification units, domestic service robots, and pleasure dolls to do its dirty work. In one unsettling scene, a little girls Baby-Comes-Alive doll tries to get out of the toy box so it can massacre the entire family.

But even in the face of almost certain defeat against the growing hordes of electronic killers in the New War, humanity unites to kick some serious robot butt. The author, who holds a doctorate in robotics, shows great promise as a worthy successor to Michael Crichton as Wilson, like the late Crichton, is skilled in combining cutting-edge technology with gripping action scenes.


--Gannon, Michae. Copyright 2010 Booklist

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