The Science Fiction Review Books,Robot and Foundation,Robot City Isaac Asimov’s Robot City Book 3: Cyborg by William F. Wu

Isaac Asimov’s Robot City Book 3: Cyborg by William F. Wu

Robot City 3: Cyborg book cover

This review will most likely contain spoilers for any previous books in the series, read at your own risk.

This book has a nice intro from Asimov talking about cyborgs that is quite interesting. I always like reading these. Derec and Katherine have proven they didn’t commit murder, and stopped the rapid expansion of the city. They still stuck in Robot City though and are still searching for a way out. They are sidetracked by a rogue cyborg that escaped from a medical facility. I like the repercussions that are explored by transplanting a human brain into a robot body. The book goes by really quickly with lots of action and a few tidbits of information to keep the main plotlines going also.

2 thoughts on “Isaac Asimov’s Robot City Book 3: Cyborg by William F. Wu”

  1. I enjoyed the first two books in the series. The problem with this book was the constant repetition of the laws of robotics. I also was annoyed at the humans’ constant manipulation of the laws to get the robots to do what they wanted them to do. Robots never need to be reminded of the laws, they are programmed to follow them. Robots must do what they are told unless it interferes with the first law, so why the manipulation? I think the author needed to state the laws maybe one time and then the humans could have created the situations where the robots would have to follow the laws without the constant reminding.

    I did enjoy the plot line about the cyborg and the mental effects of becoming a combination of man and robot. I am hoping that the writing in the rest of the series goes back to the quality of the first two books.

  2. From what I remember, some of the books in this series are better than others. Since they are all done by different authors, the next one might be better. I think that Prodigy was one of my favorites of the six. Unfortunately, this same author (of Cyborg) is the author of the last book as well.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Please prove you are a human * Time limit is exhausted. Please reload the CAPTCHA.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Post

Isaac Asimov on the Greenhouse EffectIsaac Asimov on the Greenhouse Effect

I just got a Stumble to Pharyngula’s science blog that has a link to a YouTube video of Isaac Asimov. He is speaking about what he thought the top science story of 1988 was. I like running across videos of him speaking because it is nice to put a voice and face to my favorite author. The video goes out of sync about half way through unfortunately. Check it out!

Via Pharyngula

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. MillerA Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller

Book Cover

A while back a co-worker of mine gave me A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller. It sat on a shelf for a few years until I recently got around to reading it. I didn’t really know much about the book when it was given to me, but since then I’ve seen it on a few “Best of SF” book lists. It also won the Hugo Award for best science fiction novel. There are three parts to the book, each taking place a few hundred years apart.

The setting of the first part takes begins in the 26th century. At some unspecified time in the past, the world all but destroyed in a global nuclear war. Almost all the secrets of modern technology were lost in what would later be described as a purge. The mob of humans left alive banded together to destroy all knowledge that could lead to another nuclear war. There were book burnings and hangings of scientists. The story follows group of monks that have built an abbey in the desert to house the Memorabilia as they refer to books, technical manuals, and other bits of information that are uncovered over time. Their patron is a man by the name of Leibowitz, who was hung during the purge just after the first nuclear war. (more…)

Isaac Asimov’s Robot City Book 6: Perihelion by William F. WuIsaac Asimov’s Robot City Book 6: Perihelion by William F. Wu

Robot City 6: Perhelion book cover

As I stated in the general Robot City review, Isaac Asimov’s introduction to this book contains some major spoilers for the novel. Especially if you are reading the entire robot series in chronological order, I suggest not reading Asimov’s introduction unless you have finished both this novel and Robots and Empire. There are many spoilers for the rest of the Robot Novel series by Asimov also. This review will most likely contain spoilers for any previous books in the Robot City series, read at your own risk.

Doctors on Earth were able to cure Ariel of her sickness, but her memory was lost. Derec has shown signs of a sickness also, but doctors have assured him it is not what Ariel had. They finally escape and eventually Derec, Ariel, Mandelbrot, and Wolruf decide to return to Robot City to attempt to find a cure for Derec.

This book concentrates mainly on answering most of the questions that were developed in the rest of the series. Robot City appears to have covered the entire surface of the planet at this point. Derec must find out what Dr. Avery has done to him with the help of his friends. Some things are left unanswered, which frustrated me a bit. This seems a bit fitting because the climax opens the door for the next series, Robots and Aliens.