Eigenlijk weinig van te zeggen. ( )

This series is dragging on. The problem is that I was hooked from the first book into wanting to find out how the main character developed amnesia and what his story is. So, I read on and on. It's ok and the books are short and clever, but maybe they would have been more interesting when I was a youngster. I'll read the next book. I have to know the ending. ( )

This is an interesting series and an interesting book. The book and the series isn't and aren't particularly well plotted or well written. The characters are pretty one dimensional. There's a lot that's left unsaid and untold. But it's an original story and as a result it's interesting reading.

In this, Book Four, of the Robot City series, the robots develop personalities and discover the arts. One robot builds a colorful, artistic building that overwhelms the robots, as well as Derec and Ariel. Unfortunately, one robot isn't very thrilled about it and "murders" the artistic robot. Derec suspects him, and strangely, sets out to prove his guilt by staging the play, Hamlet, with he and Ariel starring, surrounded by robot actors. It's truly bizarre.

Ariel's disease is starting to get to her in this book and she's slowing going mad. She needs to get off planet badly for medical help. Derec, of course, wants to get off planet to help him recover from his amnesia.

They also meet three robots who play music and crack jokes. The music is Duke Ellington and they're initially not that good, but they improve over time. Derec is astounded that robots can evolve into beings with human-type characteristics.

Additionally, the creator of Robot City finally shows up. Dr. Avery is a total asshole and takes them prisoner, with their robot and their alien friend, Wolruf. He uses a truth serum on them, but they don't know what for. He's come in a space ship however and Derec uses robot logic on their robot guard to get him to release Ariel from captivity. She in turn, releases the others. The book ends with their finding the ship and taking off, destination unknown. Oddly, Derec finds that he immediately misses Robot City and wants to return. That makes no sense to me, as he's spent four straight books now trying to escape.

I guess something will happen to their space ship and they'll be forced to return as there are two more books in the series. I don't know what, though, and that'll keep me me reading the next one. The book is fairly creative, and I appreciate that, but like the others, it leaves so much out of the plot and the dialogue is so stilted that it's only a three star book at the most. It definitely could have been improved upon. Recommended, only if you're reading the series. ( )

While this novel is written quite like Asimov it was written by two authors under Asimov’s guidance, with a forward and a mid-novel commentary by Asimov.
This is quite a story. It begins with a young man, Derec, waking in a survival pod on a frozen asteroid, not knowing who he is or where he is. His personal history is a blank slate, yet he retains his technical knowledge. It ends with Derec saving Robot City from an out-of-control defense system. What happens in between, of course, is the real story.
Robot City is one of the best novels I’ve ever read. Not that I couldn’t set it aside when other demands required my attention or fatigue blurred my vision, but I didn’t want to. The situations were fraught with danger, Derec and Katherine (the protagonists) all too real and the story line compelling and all to believable.
Along the way Michael and Michael explain the laws of robotics and create human/robot interactions that display the complexity of such relationships and the misunderstandings and miscommunications that entails. The truth is robots are logical and humans are a collection of competing emotions and misguided logic.
I was impressed with the technology displayed throughout and have no doubt whatsoever that the robot/human collaboration will someday make it all real.
Despite the high caliber of the writing, there were a number of issues that I was less than comfortable with. Such as the twenty plus typos any proof reader should’ve easily spotted and corrected and the consistent, misplaced and inexplicable underlying anger that was so much a part of both protagonists. Another was the significant number of loose threads that never got tidied up. Michael 2 wrapped it up by writing that Derec still didn’t know who he was and where he came from by the end, and there were certain things that would be beyond the protagonists’ pov. But then there was the issue of the body and the unknown behind-the-scenes hand, both of which were glazed over, perhaps as not relevant to the story. Still, this lack of closure bothered me.
Would I recommend this to sci-fi and Asimov fans? Absolutely. ( )

This is the fourth book in the Robot City series, which is based in Asimov's Foundation universe. This one follows Odyssey, Suspicion and Cyborg.

This book has quite a different style, the robot characters using quite convoluted sentences, which I found annoying. It is a little jarring in this series that each book is by a different author -- it takes me a little while to transition between the authors' various styles when I read them, especially when they're back to back. I think what Cover was trying to achieve is a more intellectual style of book than the others in the series, and it suffers the same fate as the Benford's Foundation's Fear -- the style is out of place with the rest of the books in the series, and that decreases from the enjoyment to be derived from this book.

The actual plot line is fine though, if a little simplistic. Because of the very verbose style, it feels like less happened in this book than the others (which are of similar length). Overall, a bit of a disappointment.

http://www.stillhq.com/book/Arthur_Byron_Cover/Isaac_Asimovs_Robot_City_Prodigy.... ( )