Robopocalypse

A Novel

By: Daniel H. Wilson

Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain

Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2011 Daniel H. Wilson (P)2011 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

2012, ALA Alex Award, Winner

“Daniel H. Wilson’s Robopocalypse is...an ingenious, instantly visual story of war between humans and robots.” [Janet Maslin, New York Times]

“It’s terrific page-turning fun.” [Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly]

Bad performance decision

This book needed more than one performer, one person reading for such an array of characters in different situations ruins the audiobook.

Great build up, End was a little abrupt

What did you love best about Robopocalypse?

Overall entertaining story.

Any additional comments?

Lots of decent subplots but the author decided to abandon them about 2/3 of the way through and wrap up the story somewhat quickly. This story is a lot like World War Z in it's construction.

Good Sci-Fi Listen

Grabbed this on recommendation from my brother and it didn't disappoint! If you like robots and dystopian future stuff you'll like this.

Interesting book, not a must-read

Any additional comments?

Weirdly, the first thing I noticed was Mike Chamberlain's voice. It is mesmerizing and reminds me of Christian Bale's voice. It's something about the soft 't's. However, as the book moved on, I started to get annoyed with the way he was emphasizing emotional thoughts. He was too slow and it broke the pace of the book. Would have been better to say them with meaning and leave a pause instead of emphasizing each word.

As far as the writing goes... I have to say the storyline is pretty interesting. It keeps you thinking. The protagonist insists that each event was critical to the war effort but you don't really see all the pieces until the very end. I recommend reading this book over a short period of time. This is not the kind of audiobook you can listen to casually. The author leaves out so much detail that you are required to deduce a great deal yourself.

My last comment about Robopocalypse is about the writing. The wording gets too poetic. Too many times we hear poetic descriptions of emotional scenes. It's okay if one of the crazy characters (perhaps Mr. Namora) get poetic with his thoughts. But for every character to have the same poetic arch is fake and quite distracting. The most compelling thing about this book is the fascinating storyline/premise and all the details he leaves out.

I would recommend Daniel H Wilson and Mike Chamberlain to others, but I feel that both have some maturing to do.

Pretty Average

If you could sum up Robopocalypse in three words, what would they be?

Heard this before.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Overall the story has a very "warmed over" feeling to it. It was good... it just feels like the author has borrowed his favorite bits from all the more excellent stories that have come before (I Robot, The Matrix, 2001: Space Odyssey, etc).

Who was the most memorable character of Robopocalypse and why?

I actually enjoyed Dr. Nomura the most; and wish they would have explored his story a bit more. Nomura's story brought an interesting anime-style angle to the story.

I Loved this Story!

Would you consider the audio edition of Robopocalypse to be better than the print version?

I think this was a perfect book for audio and the performance was exceptional.

What other book might you compare Robopocalypse to and why?

The author obviously has a good mind for robotics and I just loved the story and was entertained the entire time. This does remind me of an article written the Bill Joy and how we need to be careful about A.I. and Robotics.

Have you listened to any of Mike Chamberlain’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was the first time for me to listen to Mr Chamberlain and I have to say he is magnificent. I really enjoyed listening to him.

If you could rename Robopocalypse, what would you call it?

Beware of the A.I.

Any additional comments?

Much like one of my other favorite books "Word War Z", I believe it's going to be very difficult to create a movie from this book. It's not just told from one perspective and no movie will be able meet your own imagination. I suggest listening to the book.

Like Irobot and Matrix

If you like The Matrix and Irobot this is in the same league. Loved it but I think the ending could use a bit more improvement.

WE are Screwd~!

Would you listen to Robopocalypse again? Why?

This is a great concept based on what could happen.

Who was your favorite character and why?

There is a mail delivering robot that just makes me smile. Converting a robot from delivering mail to defending humanity is awesome.

What about Mike Chamberlain’s performance did you like?

He did a good job but it's hard to say why? People seldom complain about a good job?

Who was the most memorable character of Robopocalypse and why?

Why am I benig asked most memorable and favorite character in one survey?

Any additional comments?

Scary future that is 100% possible. Fear AI!

Great story. The writing felt ... choppy.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story. I enjoyed the character development. I enjoyed the author's creative ideas about what might be possible with technology in the future.

I did not like the way the author divided up the stories. It frequently felt like a collection of short stories instead of a novel.

Like Stephen King’s versión of the Terminator

Visceral and intense. I read through this one in two days and only paused to sleep. Highly recommend with anyone into robo-terror in the tradition of the Terminator.