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Your email address will not be published.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

Have Robot, Will Travel by Alexander C. IrvineHave Robot, Will Travel by Alexander C. Irvine

Have Robot, Will Travel book cover

Derec and Ariel have been exiled to Nova Levis, the site of the cyborg lab that was uncovered at the end of the previous series by Tiedemann. Derec has been focusing the resources of his lab on containing the mutating plagues released by Kynig Pyrapoyos. There is a murder on Kopernik station which appears to be committed by a robot, which Derec is summoned to investigate. In the meantime Ariel is asked to look into the possibility of cyborg survivors getting the right to vote.

One of my main disappointments with this book is that the plot lines don’t seem to pick up in pace until about the last quarter of the book. Irvine doesn’t seem to demonstrate the knack for complexity and pacing that Tiedemann did during the last trilogy. Besides these things the book was overall an enjoyable read. If I could pick out one good thing it would be that the plot lines switch back and forth often enough so that you aren’t stuck wondering what is happening in the other one for too long.

***Spoiler discussion for this novel & Robots and Empire**** (more…)

I, Robot – BBC Radio 4 dramatization (2017)I, Robot – BBC Radio 4 dramatization (2017)

There is a 5 episode series based on Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot available to stream for free via BBC Radio’s iPlayer. I’ve only listened to the first episode “Robbie” and enjoyed it. The overall story is the same, but delivered in a slightly different way. I think it’s worth it to check out at least the first episode to see if you like it. I figured I’d post here right away when I saw it as the availability is time limited. The Omnibus has a bit longer shelf life than the oldest episode. I may go back and compare this version to the Audible version to see which I like better. If you’re into special effects, be sure to check out this one before it is too late.

Omnibus link: Expires March 14th – 1hr 10 min

Individual Episodes 1-5 link: ~15 minute episodes, begin to expire on March 8th.

 

via The Guardian

Frank Herbert’s Dune to be directed by Peter Berg and released by ParamountFrank Herbert’s Dune to be directed by Peter Berg and released by Paramount

It looks like Hollywood just can’t get enough of Dune. I’m midway through my reading the novels written by Frank Herbert (currently on God Emperor of Dune), have seen the 1984 movie and Sci-Fi Channel Miniseries. I’m about to watch the Children of Dune Sci-Fi Miniseries and just ran across this bit of news about a new Dune movie.

Found via Variety, actor turned director Peter Berg is set to direct the next adaptation which doesn’t appear to have any type of ETA. Hopefully they will get good script writers that can be faithful to the book. Although the Sci-Fi Channel remake was more true to the book than the 1984, the special effects were pretty bad due to a low budget. Most of the backgrounds were simply matte paintings. I’d like to see a new movie that looks great and is also true to Frank Herbert’s vision.