[QuickTidal]

So this one was only released yesterday, but the buzz around it is already massive. Including early praise from Steven Spielberg who is fast-tracking a movie he will direct himself for 2013.

I picked it up yesterday myself and though I've only read the first two chapters so far I can't put the bloody thing down.

Premise and Cover below.

ROBOPOCALYPSE - Daniel H. Wilson



They are in your house. They are in your car. They are in the skies…Now they’re coming for you.


In the near future, at a moment no one will notice, all the dazzling technology that runs our world will unite and turn against us. Taking on the persona of a shy human boy, a childlike but massively powerful artificial intelligence known as Archos comes online and assumes control over the global network of machines that regulate everything from transportation to utilities, defense and communication. In the months leading up to this, sporadic glitches are noticed by a handful of unconnected humans – a single mother disconcerted by her daughter’s menacing “smart” toys, a lonely Japanese bachelor who is victimized by his domestic robot companion, an isolated U.S. soldier who witnesses a ‘pacification unit’ go haywire – but most are unaware of the growing rebellion until it is too late.

When the Robot War ignites -- at a moment known later as Zero Hour -- humankind will be both decimated and, possibly, for the first time in history, united. Robopocalypse is a brilliantly conceived action-filled epic, a terrifying story with heart-stopping implications for the real technology all around us…and an entertaining and engaging thriller unlike anything else written in years.

[Aptorian]

Oh how I hate the way people use the term "decimation" it always makes me come to a grinding halt.

On topic, this sounds amazingly unoriginal. What is so special about this book that we haven't seen or heard before? It sounds like a mix between Skynet and I'robot with multiple POVs.

This post has been edited by Battle Plaptypus: 08 June 2011 - 06:25 PM

[QuickTidal]

 Battle Plaptypus, on 08 June 2011 - 06:23 PM, said:

Oh how I hate the way people use the term "decimation" it always makes me come to a grinding halt.

On topic, this sounds amazingly unoriginal. What is so special about this book that we haven't seen or heard before? It sounds like a mix between Skynet and I'robot with multiple POVs.

Having read the first little bit I can tell you a couple of things.

Yeah, you can draw comparisons to Skynet ect. But overall this isn't an AI that WANTS to kill us just cause we are human and it's gone haywire or thinks that robots are better to rule over earth. In fact it decides that it loves life....but everything we have done as a society has made it come the the conclusion that humans mostly only kill life, so as much as it doesn't like doing it, cleansing human life from the planet makes the most sense to it. The guy who invents this AI kills it 13 times as every time it comes up with this "kill humans" position after being woken...but on the 14th time the machine ai tricks him and escapes.

The actual whole story is told from the POV of an elite soldier AFTER the war who finds a black box that is the robots recorded history of everything that led up to the war and through it, and he basically goes through it and the robots term it a history of HUMAN heroes and survivors...of all things. So the narrative takes the shape of this soldier recounting what he sees/hears in the black box.

The way I am seeing it so far is like the anime THE SECOND RENAISSANCE from the Matrix story...the story of how we messed up and how the machines took over and took us to war.

Analogy. If someone told you that Nolan's Batman films were going to put everything that came before it on TV and in film to shame....would we believe it before having seen BATMAN BEGINS of TDK? I dunno. So yeah, we may have seen this before, but that doesn't mean it can't be interesting or well done.

...and even two chapters in I'm pretty mesmerized.

Just my humble two cents.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 08 June 2011 - 06:37 PM

[jdiddyesquire]

 QuickTidal, on 08 June 2011 - 06:34 PM, said:

 Battle Plaptypus, on 08 June 2011 - 06:23 PM, said:

Oh how I hate the way people use the term "decimation" it always makes me come to a grinding halt.

On topic, this sounds amazingly unoriginal. What is so special about this book that we haven't seen or heard before? It sounds like a mix between Skynet and I'robot with multiple POVs.

Having read the first little bit I can tell you a couple of things.

Yeah, you can draw comparisons to Skynet ect. But overall this isn't an AI that WANTS to kill us just cause we are human and it's gone haywire or thinks that robots are better to rule over earth. In fact it decides that it loves life....but everything we have done as a society has made it come the the conclusion that humans mostly only kill life, so as much as it doesn't like doing it, cleansing human life from the planet makes the most sense to it. The guy who invents this AI kills it 13 times as every time it comes up with this "kill humans" position after being woken...but on the 14th time the machine ai tricks him and escapes.

The actual whole story is told from the POV of an elite soldier AFTER the war who finds a black box that is the robots recorded history of everything that led up to the war and through it, and he basically goes through it and the robots term it a history of HUMAN heroes and survivors...of all things. So the narrative takes the shape of this soldier recounting what he sees/hears in the black box.

The way I am seeing it so far is like the anime THE SECOND RENAISSANCE from the Matrix story...the story of how we messed up and how the machines took over and took us to war.

Analogy. If someone told you that Nolan's Batman films were going to put everything that came before it on TV and in film to shame....would we believe it before having seen BATMAN BEGINS of TDK? I dunno. So yeah, we may have seen this before, but that doesn't mean it can't be interesting or well done.

...and even two chapters in I'm pretty mesmerized.

Just my humble two cents.

My only objection to this was the fact it was a direct clone of World War Z. Titling it World War R would have made more sense. But it's a fun read and will make a better movie. I wrote this spoof review to have some fun with it.

http://staffersmusin...l-h-wilson.html

[Abyss]

self contained or part one of $?

[QuickTidal]

 Abyss, on 08 June 2011 - 08:00 PM, said:

self contained or part one of $?

I am pretty sure it's self-contained.

[jdiddyesquire]

 Abyss, on 08 June 2011 - 08:00 PM, said:

self contained or part one of $?

Self contained.

[Coco with marshmallows]

certainly wasn't released in the UK yesterday.

I bought it on Saturday as part of a 3 for 2 in Waterstone's.

[QuickTidal]

 Cocoreturns, on 08 June 2011 - 08:42 PM, said:

certainly wasn't released in the UK yesterday.

I bought it on Saturday as part of a 3 for 2 in Waterstone's.

They must be doing a deal...it's got a release date of June 9th in the UK VIA Waterstones and amazon.co.uk.

[Abyss]

I'm intrigued.

[D'iversify]

Premise sounds A LOT like the plot of the Will Smith 'I, Robot' film. And horrible title.

[jdiddyesquire]

 D, on 09 June 2011 - 02:31 PM, said:

Premise sounds A LOT like the plot of the Will Smith 'I, Robot' film. And horrible title.

Nailed it.

[QuickTidal]

A few more chapters in and it's pretty damn awesome.

It's NOTHING like the iRobot film. Considering that the point of that story is that Robots have to follow Asimov's 3 rules...and how one finds out how those rules can be complicated or circumvented...and not even on purpose....

This is about AI discovering life and wanting to protect it...even from humans who kill life. The two don't sound remotely alike....other than concerning Robots and humans.

So far it's episodic chapter to chapter, each one about a different situation from a different POV of the events leading up to the war. Like the first one is a kid who works at a Frogurt shop where a harmless domestic robot attacks the workers there telling his story to a cop and it's done in a question (bolded) answer format, then the next one is about a Japanese factory repairman who has a lover robot doll (and old woman looking one for some reason) who's co-workers prank him by getting her to come to work to humiliate him for loving a robot, but it ends up trying to strangle him and that one is told through the POV of one of the pranksters, and the next is an American military pacification robot (who isn't supposed to be able to harm anyone and hasn't before) and is told through the POV of a commanding officer in the form of an inquisition in front of the United States Armed Service Commitee and is again done in a question (bolded) and answer format.

So just the storytelling style is unique and interesting, and each chapter is prefaced and ended with notes from the Soldier from after the war (who I mentioned starts the book by finding the archive), adding depth to the events you just read about by saying stuff like.

...and I personally like the title. Yeah, sure it's cheesy on the surface, but who cares. The cover is also gorgeous. I bought it hardcover instead of on my Kindle cause I liked the cover so much.

It's also the kind of book that makes me annoyed to be at work working...I'd rather be reading.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 09 June 2011 - 02:55 PM

[QuickTidal]

Okay, over 100 pages in now and I am getting seriously addicted to this narrative. Still told VIA events from chapter to chapter book-ended by the soldiers' comments, I am literally mesmerized now.

Seriously, I've missed my subway stop 3 times over the last 2 days, cause I was so intensely reading. LOL

[jdiddyesquire]

 QuickTidal, on 10 June 2011 - 12:49 PM, said:

Okay, over 100 pages in now and I am getting seriously addicted to this narrative. Still told VIA events from chapter to chapter book-ended by the soldiers' comments, I am literally mesmerized now.

Seriously, I've missed my subway stop 3 times over the last 2 days, cause I was so intensely reading. LOL

It is a very fun read. And it's not like Asimov's books, it's like the terrible movie that bastardized Asimov - in style anyway.

This post has been edited by jdiddyesquire: 10 June 2011 - 01:22 PM

[QuickTidal]

 jdiddyesquire, on 10 June 2011 - 01:22 PM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 10 June 2011 - 12:49 PM, said:

Okay, over 100 pages in now and I am getting seriously addicted to this narrative. Still told VIA events from chapter to chapter book-ended by the soldiers' comments, I am literally mesmerized now.

Seriously, I've missed my subway stop 3 times over the last 2 days, cause I was so intensely reading. LOL

It is a very fun read. And it's not like Asimov's books, it's like the terrible movie that bastardized Asimov - in style anyway.

Hey Jdiddyesquire...WE GET IT. You didn't much care for it beyond finding it fun. So do me a solid and don't contribute if you have nothing else constructive to contribute other than random insults about the book. You may be new, but here at these forums we do try to give reasons for dislike and not just random trollish comments.

I'm clearly enjoying it, so posting a quote of mine and responding in such a way is trollish behaviour, as you aren't going to convince ME otherwise. Thus I can only surmise you disliked it so much that you feel posting random negativity is the way to steer others away from it.

My goal is the opposite as I know at least a few people here would find it quite interesting. But that's because I've been here a while and I know at least a few peoples tastes.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 10 June 2011 - 01:36 PM

[jdiddyesquire]

 QuickTidal, on 10 June 2011 - 01:35 PM, said:

 jdiddyesquire, on 10 June 2011 - 01:22 PM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 10 June 2011 - 12:49 PM, said:

Okay, over 100 pages in now and I am getting seriously addicted to this narrative. Still told VIA events from chapter to chapter book-ended by the soldiers' comments, I am literally mesmerized now.

Seriously, I've missed my subway stop 3 times over the last 2 days, cause I was so intensely reading. LOL

It is a very fun read. And it's not like Asimov's books, it's like the terrible movie that bastardized Asimov - in style anyway.

Hey Jdiddyesquire...WE GET IT. You didn't much care for it beyond finding it fun. So do me a solid and don't contribute if you have nothing else constructive to contribute other than random insults about the book. You may be new, but here at these forums we do try to give reasons for dislike and not just random trollish comments.

I'm clearly enjoying it, so posting a quote of mine and responding in such a way is trollish behaviour, as you aren't going to convince ME otherwise. Thus I can only surmise you disliked it so much that you feel posting random negativity is the way to steer others away from it.

My goal is the opposite as I know at least a few people here would find it quite interesting. But that's because I've been here a while and I know at least a few peoples tastes.

Fair enough - not trying to steer you from it at all. I enjoyed it - I was just pointing out that the comment made by D'iversify was about the movie, not Asimov's books. I quoted the wrong post by you.

I'll check out now.

[QuickTidal]

I also don't see the parallels to the Asimov books. Aside from concerning humans and robots, the two don't have anything common. The books stories don't even have the Viki intelligence going haywire and destroying a building like in the film. It's literally an interview with a Robopsychologist about her life's work and the various instances when robots did something wierd.

It's not about a war. Or an intelligence that takes over everything. Or even about one person.

It's not remotely comparable.


The only things I can actually call it comparable to even slightly are Skynet from the Terminator flicks, and even that is a stretch, and closer is The Animatrix: The Second Renaissance.

I am finding that this story is all its own beast. Nothing feels unoriginal in fact. Does it take an idea that's been done before (AKA Robots fighting humanity for some reason)? Yeah. Whjat's interesting is how it goes about it, and how it actually differs from what has come before it.

[Tsundoku]

 QuickTidal, on 10 June 2011 - 01:35 PM, said:

 jdiddyesquire, on 10 June 2011 - 01:22 PM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 10 June 2011 - 12:49 PM, said:

Okay, over 100 pages in now and I am getting seriously addicted to this narrative. Still told VIA events from chapter to chapter book-ended by the soldiers' comments, I am literally mesmerized now.

Seriously, I've missed my subway stop 3 times over the last 2 days, cause I was so intensely reading. LOL

It is a very fun read. And it's not like Asimov's books, it's like the terrible movie that bastardized Asimov - in style anyway.

Hey Jdiddyesquire...WE GET IT. You didn't much care for it beyond finding it fun. So do me a solid and don't contribute if you have nothing else constructive to contribute other than random insults about the book. You may be new, but here at these forums we do try to give reasons for dislike and not just random trollish comments.

I'm clearly enjoying it, so posting a quote of mine and responding in such a way is trollish behaviour, as you aren't going to convince ME otherwise. Thus I can only surmise you disliked it so much that you feel posting random negativity is the way to steer others away from it.

My goal is the opposite as I know at least a few people here would find it quite interesting. But that's because I've been here a while and I know at least a few peoples tastes.

Mate, I think you've jumped the gun a little bit there, I'm pretty sure he's not trolling, seemed like he was agreeing about how fun it was and tacked a reply to D'iversify (like he says) on the end instead of doing the standard quote-respond; quote-respond format we're used to.

In fact, between the 2 of you I might give this one a look. Consider it added to the "must look out for" list.

EDIT - remember, people are just talking about their "impressions", so it's going to be different for everyone, whether they've read it or not like they've said.

Actually, the bit about the AI(s?) taking out humanity for - essentially - "humanitarian" reasons reminds me a bit of

Spoiler

the AI in the movie "Eagle Eye". Carla Gugino's voice makes logic damn sexy.

This post has been edited by Sombra: 10 June 2011 - 02:38 PM

[QuickTidal]

 Sombra, on 10 June 2011 - 02:32 PM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 10 June 2011 - 01:35 PM, said:

 jdiddyesquire, on 10 June 2011 - 01:22 PM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 10 June 2011 - 12:49 PM, said:

Okay, over 100 pages in now and I am getting seriously addicted to this narrative. Still told VIA events from chapter to chapter book-ended by the soldiers' comments, I am literally mesmerized now.

Seriously, I've missed my subway stop 3 times over the last 2 days, cause I was so intensely reading. LOL

It is a very fun read. And it's not like Asimov's books, it's like the terrible movie that bastardized Asimov - in style anyway.

Hey Jdiddyesquire...WE GET IT. You didn't much care for it beyond finding it fun. So do me a solid and don't contribute if you have nothing else constructive to contribute other than random insults about the book. You may be new, but here at these forums we do try to give reasons for dislike and not just random trollish comments.

I'm clearly enjoying it, so posting a quote of mine and responding in such a way is trollish behaviour, as you aren't going to convince ME otherwise. Thus I can only surmise you disliked it so much that you feel posting random negativity is the way to steer others away from it.

My goal is the opposite as I know at least a few people here would find it quite interesting. But that's because I've been here a while and I know at least a few peoples tastes.

Mate, I think you've jumped the gun a little bit there, I'm pretty sure he's not trolling, seemed like he was agreeing about how fun it was and tacked a reply to D'iversify (like he says) on the end instead of doing the standard quote-respond; quote-respond format we're used to.

In fact, between the 2 of you I might give this one a look. Consider it added to the "must look out for" list.

EDIT - remember, people are just talking about their "impressions", so it's going to be different for everyone, whether they've read it or not like they've said.

Actually, the bit about the AI(s?) taking out humanity for - essentially - "humanitarian" reasons reminds me a bit of

Spoiler

the AI in the movie "Eagle Eye". Carla Gugino's voice makes logic damn sexy.

You could be right Sombra, but it's early and my tolerance today is low. LOL

Jdiddyesquire. Sorry for going off on you if you aren't trolling the thread.