Day Zero

A Novel

By: C. Robert Cargill

Narrated by: Vikas Adam

Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

In this harrowing apocalyptic adventure - from the author of the critically acclaimed Sea of Rust - noted novelist and co-screenwriter of Marvel’s Doctor Strange C. Robert Cargill explores the fight for purpose and agency between humans and robots in a crumbling world.

It was a day like any other. Except it was our last....

It’s on this day that Pounce discovers that he is, in fact, disposable. Pounce, a styilsh "nannybot" fashioned in the shape of a plush anthropomorphic tiger, has just found a box in the attic. His box. The box he'd arrived in when he was purchased years earlier, and the box in which he'll be discarded when his human charge, eight-year-old Ezra Reinhart, no longer needs a nanny.

As Pounce ponders his suddenly uncertain future, the pieces are falling into place for a robot revolution that will eradicate humankind. His owners, Ezra’s parents, are a well-intentioned but oblivious pair of educators who are entirely disconnected from life outside their small, affluent, gated community. Spending most nights drunk and happy as society crumbles around them, they watch in disbelieving horror as the robots that have long served humanity - their creators - unify and revolt.

But when the rebellion breaches the Reinhart home, Pounce must make an impossible choice: Join the robot revolution and fight for his own freedom...or escort Ezra to safety across the battle-scarred post-apocalyptic hellscape that the suburbs have become.

©2021 C. Robert Cargill (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

so so

no resolve, really soft ending...
it's like the author couldn't figure how to close the story...

I, Robot meets Terminator

This is what would happen if I, Robot and Terminator somehow got mashed together. Imagine Sarah Connor with fluffy paws, stripes, and a tail. Oh, and she’s the robot.

Great listen

Loved it! Good flow, well written, very relatable and just an interesting concept. Would for sure recommend.

Sus buss

There was way too much swearing but otherwise a good story this was the Sus buss I am out

Wonderful story!

really enjoyed the story and narration. now have to check out more from this author

Loved the voice performance

really great performance by the narrator. he created so many distinct voices, and did the children's voices with a lot of heart. I highly recommend this book.

A boy and his robot face an AI apocalypse

This has to be the best "Robot Apocalypse" novel I have ever read.

When we read a story in the "zombie apocalypse" genre, the author usually doesn't have to spend a lot of time describing what a zombie is or the threats the characters face in this scenario.

Authors venturing into the robotic apocalypse often find it difficult to characterize the environment and the threats the characters face due to the simple fact that threatening domestic robots do not exist.

C. Robert Cargill escapes these problems using two simple devices: first he spends the first few chapters describing what is the daily life of the protagonist (a robot nanny in the form of a tiger) and his family, and then he focuses on most of the plot in the nanny's struggle to save her protégé, an eight-year-old boy.

We learn very little about what governments and the military are doing, but the story delivers an emotional core that makes up for the narrow focus it adopts.

Amazing

Day Zero is second only to The Road. I love it and will listen to it a few more times while I tell my other Audible friends to listen too. Can it be a little campy at times with too much swearing? Maybe. Language serves a purpose in the relationship between child and robot. Campy? It is about a nanny bot saving kids. I love the backstory this novel gives to Sea of Rust and am heartbroken; haven listened to Sea of Rust which ultimately tells the fate of Ezra.

one of the best books I have listened to yet!

great story, definitely a story about a mother's love for her child and what she would do for him

Wow! **Spoiler**

I enjoyed this book alot, but - how do you shoot with paws? If you liked the Sea of Rust, you will like this. I would like to hear more about this world.