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Your email address will not be published.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’s Robots and Aliens Book 1: Changeling by Stephen LeighIsaac Asimov’s Robots and Aliens Book 1: Changeling by Stephen Leigh

Robots and Aliens Volume 1 book cover

One thing I like about this book is there is a nice eight page synopsis of the whole Robot City series. Even after just reading the series, it was a nice refresher for the events leading up to Robots and Aliens. This new series involves Asimov’s challenge to the authors to describe what might happen if robots encountered an alien species. How would they treat them? How would the Three Laws apply?

I particularly enjoyed this first book because it addresses one of the main questions I had regarding the Three Laws of Robotics. What does the key phrase “human being” actually mean? Throughout Asimov’s books and it is explained that the laws aren’t as simple as the English translation. They are complicated sets of positronic potentials that govern every action of a robot.

In Changeling, Stephen Leigh describes a robot model that is given a very simple definition of “intelligent life form” as an equivalent. This idea seems to work very well in this book and after several chapters we see how this experiment intersects with the Robot City plotlines. Also, we get to see Derec use the powers he was given to control Robot City. One thing that did bug me a little bit was how little of the main plotlines was advanced.

What is Science Fiction?What is Science Fiction?

I was recently stumbled an interesting page with quite a few quotes that define Science Fiction. The sources range from various famous authors that include Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, and Robert A. Heinlein, to unknown sources. There are a few explanations of the difference between Science Fiction and Fantasy which were quite interesting. It should be a very interesting read for any fans out there. Check it out!

Isaac Asimov’s Caliban by Roger MacBride AllenIsaac Asimov’s Caliban by Roger MacBride Allen

Caliban book cover

I was glad to break into a new series after reading sixteen books with Derec and Ariel as main characters. Roger MacBride Allen brings the robot Caliban to life from “infancy” from when he is first powered up. Caliban awakens with his arm half raised to see the body of a woman laying on the floor, which later turns out to be his creator Fredda Leving. If Caliban was a normal robot he would have sent for help immediately, but unfortunately he was created lacking the infamous Three Laws of Robotics. Instead, Caliban investigates the scene briefly and then ventures out to explore this new unfamiliar world. (more…)