Review: Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

Daniel H. Wilson, the author of this book, has a doctorate in robotics from prestigious Carnegie Mellon and his writing credits include the nonfiction How to Survive A Robot Uprising and How to Build a Robot Army. That knowledge alone should activate your senses as you enter Robopocalypse, a realm where robots run free and humans flee skittering in many directions. Told with the unfolding menace of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, this novel will keep you up late and your computer unplugged.- Synopsis from Goodreads
Robopocalypse is like a big summer blockbuster movie, which coincidentally it's in the process of becoming and has been given the honor of Steven Spielberg directing. That says a lot. It's highly entertaining, keeps you on the edge of your seat and waiting for more. I practically needed a bucket of popcorn on my lap as I read.

When explaining it to my husband I described it as a cross between Skynet from Terminator and I, Robot. In the near future, the human population is surrounded by robots. They have cars that talk to each other in order to avoid accidents, domestic robots to help out at home, military robots, etc etc. Then, as it always goes, one robot gets a little too smart for it's own good and decides that the humans aren't really necessary anymore. At what they call 'Zero Hour' all the world's robots snap and begin to rise against the humans. This is where all hell breaks loose.

The story starts at the end of the war where a group of humans have located what they call the black box of the war. It replays stories from the war, focusing on the small group of humans whose actions were deemed heroic and essential to the human resistance. The rest of the story is those scenes. Events leading up to and foreshadowing the coming war, during 'Zero Hour' and up through the end of the war. It's a great collection of people and will no doubt make a compelling ensemble action movie.

The book read quickly as I found myself sucked into the story. It felt like it was written as a movie and I could see the entire thing play out in my head. It's not perfect but it sure was entertaining as hell and I'm eagerly awaiting casting news for the movie. With Spielberg at the helm, I have no doubt the movie will be just as entertaining.