[Review] Robopocalypse - Daniel H. Wilson

[digitaldiscipline]

Can we call a fucking moratorium on -pocalypse word constructions in the same way we have with -gate?

In Robopocalypse, an unlikable AI sentience emerges from a research project, and takes over all the machinery in the world, then promptly sets about killing off humanity (which, as depicted here, is also almost entirely unlikable; the least-likable human in the book is, unfortunately, the narrator, so we know he survives, and we're stuck with him).

You'd think a struggle against a variety of robots on the hunt would be exhilarating, or at least interesting... but you know from the prologue that the humans win, so there's about as much dramatic tension as an episode of Family Ties. Characters appear and vanish nearly at random, due to the epistolary construction of the book, and they undergo almost no development (the most striking exception to this, and the one character whose situation is compelling, is an elderly Japanese engineer and his robot wife, whose interactions are the kernel around which an excellent story could have been written; this was not that story).

There are spider tank-sized holes in the worldbuilding, and it's only by the barest margins of a fleeting mother-daughter interaction that it squeaks over the Bechdel threshold (and even then, mom is admonishing daughter to take care of her younger brother; the daughter is, arguably, the most important character in the book and most of her implied heroism takes place offstage).

I understand that the novel has been optioned by Hollywood, and I have no doubt that it could be made into a visually-impressive and immediately-forgotten summer SFX-fest. That kind of irritates me, because the wide popular acclaim of stuff that simply isn't very good - Twilight, 50 Shades, et al - offends me as an aspiring craftsman. Why write the best that you can, when something worse is apparently what sells?

Don't answer that. If you have a couple hours to kill and want to kill it with robots? It's probably possible to overlook the shortcomings here, but I wouldn't seek it out.

One and a half autonomous androids out of five.

Comments

[sskipstress.livejournal.com]

This book may have sucked, but it makes me want to re-read Jeter's Infernal Devices.

[mimerki.livejournal.com]

After the sudden rise of Harry Potter, I had hopes that the public's literary tastes had changed and improved. Not that HP was high literature, but I enjoyed reading them and would allow children to read them without fearing the harm that would come of such an action ("shouting in Latin" is much nicer than "obsessing over emotionally abusive boys"). I am tired of praise heaped on bad books...

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

I hear you about your criticisms, and would very much have loved to have seen more of the old man's story and the young girl's. On the other hand, what Wilson was trying to do was write a better World War Z with robots - which is exactly what it did, I think.

Why do books like this get made into movies? Because they're well-suited to visuals, that's all. Movie studios aren't the best judge of literature, but they do understand what looks awesome on-screen.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I've heard a lot of folks wax effusive about WWZ, but I have a fairly robust failure to appreciate zombies as a subgenre (I get the social critique of mindless consumerism / last safe faceless enemy / etc), so I'm kind of "enh" about pursuiing it.

I snagged a couple of Nancy Kress' books at the shop yesterday: Probability Earth & Probability Moon (I had been hoping for a used copy of "Beggars in Spain," because I loved the novella and wanted to see the novelization), for which I have high hopes. Sadly, the only scalzi they had was... The Ghost Brigades. *laugh*

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I was lukewarm towards HP, because it just doesn't hit my buttons for something I want to dedicate five books' worth of reading time towards, but, yes, it has been mentioned as better in terms of writing and reader engagement, which would have been nice to see gain momentum.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I have had such a mixed bag of hit-or-miss luck with Jeter's stuff that I'm gunshy; his Halo book was superb, but his sequel to Blade Runner was atrocious.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

I can safely assure you that any Kress you read will be much more rewarding! Loved the Probability series - great modern hard-SF, and by a brilliant woman writer, to boot! She's great at both crunchy science and cool ideas, and character and insight into human nature.

I really enjoyed the Old Man's War series, PLUS it would make a great movie ;-)

[vatine]

Only five? I thought it was more than that. Now I have checked, there's a whole seven of them (that must make it 40% worse to start on, I think).

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I am not a follower of the series; I thought there were five books and seven movies, or... something. *facepalm*

[etcet.livejournal.com]

Haven't read WWZ, so I couldn't tell if it was a ripoff or not. I just didn't do anything for me, other than those two characters being interesting.

[vatine]

I had to go and check Wikipedia. I thought it was 8-9 books and inf movies (well, 11-12, I guess). I still haven't checked the number of films.

[yelena-r0ssini.livejournal.com]

7 books 8 movies. Only the last book was split into two movies. It just SEEMS like infinity.