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Humans, Bow Down
Hu-bots � robots that humans created as perfect versions of themselves � now control the world. They seized power in a war that almost wiped humankind off the face of the earth. The humans that remain are forced to either work as servants or live in prison camps.
But one teenage girl, Six, has a device that could change everything. Her Q-comp, a computer onto which the memories of her murdered family have been downloaded, contains information that could save humankind.
Six is unaware of the power she holds, but the ruling hu-bots are not. Forced to flee from those sent to kill her, can Six discover the secret that could save her life, and the future of the human race?
But one teenage girl, Six, has a device that could change everything. Her Q-comp, a computer onto which the memories of her murdered family have been downloaded, contains information that could save humankind.
Six is unaware of the power she holds, but the ruling hu-bots are not. Forced to flee from those sent to kill her, can Six discover the secret that could save her life, and the future of the human race?
Audio CD
First published February 20, 2017
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About the author
James Patterson
1,160books352kfollowersJames Patterson is the most popular storyteller of our time. He is the creator of unforgettable characters and series, including Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Jane Smith, and Maximum Ride, and of breathtaking true stories about the Kennedys, John Lennon, and Tiger Woods, as well as our military heroes, police officers, and ER nurses. Patterson has coauthored #1 bestselling novels with Bill Clinton and Dolly Parton, and collaborated most recently with Michael Crichton on the blockbuster Eruption. He has told the story of his own life in James Patterson by James Patterson and received an Edgar Award, ten Emmy Awards, the Literarian Award from the National Book Foundation, and the National Humanities Medal.
This author also writes under the following name: Džejms Paterson
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 584 reviews
March 9, 2017
2.5 Stars - Rounded up to 3 Stars
Humans, Bow Down! It's not an idea that is new or anything, and yet it had so much potential to be an amazing tale. This story should have been fleshed out into a trilogy or something, and it could have been quite interesting. Initially I picked up this book because the jacket is shiny and flashy (yes, I'm that easy...) Lol.
The novel was rushed, though. The story was crammed into one novel (the ending doesn't make it clear if there will be a sequel). Therefore, there isn't enough time for the reader to become attached to any of the characters. I didn't feel sad when one of them died. I didn't feel happy or relieved when one of them lived.
In many ways, there is a ton of symbolism in those pages. I mean, the entire novel is basically a big old metaphor for everything happening in our real world. But it wasn't done that well, so it sort of felt cliche and corny. Rather than an interesting story out of which you learn lessons, it felt like an unoriginal fable where the lessons are so obvious and preachy that it's like being slapped in the face with a Bible.
The writing is fine. The sentences are clear and concise. The dialogue was at times a bit cheesy. In true Patterson-collaboration fashion, the chapters are only two or three pages, with the intent of giving it the impression of being a page-turner or thriller. But for me, it had the feeling only of being rushed. If felt like the authors were going for a cliffhanger every three pages, and it was like, okay enough already, tell me a damn story I can sink my teeth into! Patterson is famous for making the pages turn, but for a scientific/fantasy endeavor such as this novel, you need more substance. You need to flesh out the story and characters, probably into a few novels.
One aspect I didn't really enjoy was the science part. It seemed too flimsy and poorly illustrated, therefore it wasn't that believable to me. I mean, I know science like this exists, or will exist, but it was sort of overkill in some parts. Let me give an example: The Hu-bot (another name for an engineered human) randomly develops superhuman strength - as in, she can carry a damn vehicle up a mountain, and run faster than a vehicle. Yet, they've got all the makings of a real human, with real organs made of biological 3D technology. Cue a bunch of eye rolling.
Anyways, ultimately this book didn't do justice to the potential it had to be a great tale. It sounds like I had more to complain about than I thought was good. But, I was somewhat still entertained, just not enough to give this novel more than half the possible number of stars.
Humans, Bow Down! It's not an idea that is new or anything, and yet it had so much potential to be an amazing tale. This story should have been fleshed out into a trilogy or something, and it could have been quite interesting. Initially I picked up this book because the jacket is shiny and flashy (yes, I'm that easy...) Lol.
The novel was rushed, though. The story was crammed into one novel (the ending doesn't make it clear if there will be a sequel). Therefore, there isn't enough time for the reader to become attached to any of the characters. I didn't feel sad when one of them died. I didn't feel happy or relieved when one of them lived.
In many ways, there is a ton of symbolism in those pages. I mean, the entire novel is basically a big old metaphor for everything happening in our real world. But it wasn't done that well, so it sort of felt cliche and corny. Rather than an interesting story out of which you learn lessons, it felt like an unoriginal fable where the lessons are so obvious and preachy that it's like being slapped in the face with a Bible.
The writing is fine. The sentences are clear and concise. The dialogue was at times a bit cheesy. In true Patterson-collaboration fashion, the chapters are only two or three pages, with the intent of giving it the impression of being a page-turner or thriller. But for me, it had the feeling only of being rushed. If felt like the authors were going for a cliffhanger every three pages, and it was like, okay enough already, tell me a damn story I can sink my teeth into! Patterson is famous for making the pages turn, but for a scientific/fantasy endeavor such as this novel, you need more substance. You need to flesh out the story and characters, probably into a few novels.
One aspect I didn't really enjoy was the science part. It seemed too flimsy and poorly illustrated, therefore it wasn't that believable to me. I mean, I know science like this exists, or will exist, but it was sort of overkill in some parts. Let me give an example: The Hu-bot (another name for an engineered human) randomly develops superhuman strength - as in, she can carry a damn vehicle up a mountain, and run faster than a vehicle. Yet, they've got all the makings of a real human, with real organs made of biological 3D technology. Cue a bunch of eye rolling.
Anyways, ultimately this book didn't do justice to the potential it had to be a great tale. It sounds like I had more to complain about than I thought was good. But, I was somewhat still entertained, just not enough to give this novel more than half the possible number of stars.
March 4, 2017
This book feels like it was written by the Hu-bot that would replace James Patterson in this society. It fails to live up to the thrills, brutality and suspense of his other works. There are some interesting ideas, but the pacing makes it impossible for them to resonate with the reader. The illustrations are distracting, and I do not understand why they are in this book. If you're a fan of James Patterson, I'd recommend reading almost anything else he's written before reading this one. If you like sci-fi dystopias, read almost any other dystopian novel first.
September 21, 2024
Enjoyable James Patterson with a scifi twist
February 21, 2017
I was looking forward to reading this book only to be completely let down. Horrible book. Great idea, but terrible story.
May 7, 2017
I read James Paterson books as often as the leap year shows up. One every 4 years.
I like robots, I like robots that we have to fight. So naturally (since I'm basically dug from up) with its shiny red cover and huge bold title HUMANS BOW DOWN I was instantly drawn to the book. Saw it was a Patterson and told myself to forget about it, leave it alone. So I did exactly what I knew I was gonna do and bought the shiny red book.
The idea isn't really anything new, instead of at the beginning of the war it starts off years after the war ended.
It wasn't a terribly slow book, no long drawn out back stories, gunfire, death, robots, car chase, guns. So yeah good action going on. The only problem was when all the shit hit the fan you realized you only had 15 or so pages left and the big fight wasn't gonna get to be as big as it should be.
That was where the book had a major down fall (besides the whole James Patterson thing) the huge confrontation that was build up in the 300 plus pages ended in a sputter like candle at the end of its wick. It would have been better if it ended before the big end fight and they had a 2nd book in the future. The surprise twist on the last 2 pages was not worth the ink, or paper used.
In short I still won't be reading more than 1 Patterson book every 4 years, and save yourself some money borrow this from a library, if you really want to read it.
Side bar- the illustrations inside of the book drove me nuts. It's like it couldn't figure out if it wanted to be a teen book, a graphic novel or a sci-fi book. In the end it failed at all of it.
I like robots, I like robots that we have to fight. So naturally (since I'm basically dug from up) with its shiny red cover and huge bold title HUMANS BOW DOWN I was instantly drawn to the book. Saw it was a Patterson and told myself to forget about it, leave it alone. So I did exactly what I knew I was gonna do and bought the shiny red book.
The idea isn't really anything new, instead of at the beginning of the war it starts off years after the war ended.
It wasn't a terribly slow book, no long drawn out back stories, gunfire, death, robots, car chase, guns. So yeah good action going on. The only problem was when all the shit hit the fan you realized you only had 15 or so pages left and the big fight wasn't gonna get to be as big as it should be.
That was where the book had a major down fall (besides the whole James Patterson thing) the huge confrontation that was build up in the 300 plus pages ended in a sputter like candle at the end of its wick. It would have been better if it ended before the big end fight and they had a 2nd book in the future. The surprise twist on the last 2 pages was not worth the ink, or paper used.
In short I still won't be reading more than 1 Patterson book every 4 years, and save yourself some money borrow this from a library, if you really want to read it.
Side bar- the illustrations inside of the book drove me nuts. It's like it couldn't figure out if it wanted to be a teen book, a graphic novel or a sci-fi book. In the end it failed at all of it.
July 30, 2022
God I despise James Patterson SO MUCH that practically everything i read by him is garbage. I just hope that my book club won't mind.
......................
I really really don't like Patterson
......................
I really really don't like Patterson
March 31, 2017
I wasn't expecting the juvenile tone. It's a very YA book, not because of the cast of young characters but the writing style is simplistic and lacking in detail.
I didn't like the characters, I didn't like the world, I didn't care about the conflict between the humans and the bots, so I skim read. I don't read a lot of sci-fi, so it says a lot that this managed to feel like a cliche. I'm tired of dystopias.
So, astonishingly, it turns out the humans aren't all good and the robots aren't all bad! Golly, who'd have seen that coming?
Tangentially related, I am interested in reading more about Musk's new project to combine humans with AI. The articles on it will probably hold my attention better than this book.
I didn't like the characters, I didn't like the world, I didn't care about the conflict between the humans and the bots, so I skim read. I don't read a lot of sci-fi, so it says a lot that this managed to feel like a cliche. I'm tired of dystopias.
So, astonishingly, it turns out the humans aren't all good and the robots aren't all bad! Golly, who'd have seen that coming?
Tangentially related, I am interested in reading more about Musk's new project to combine humans with AI. The articles on it will probably hold my attention better than this book.
February 28, 2017
I tried, but I just couldn't do it.
October 3, 2017
It's been awhile since I've actively hated a book but read it all anyway. Maybe this would've worked somewhat as a simpler graphic novel. There are "illustrations" that point in that direction, which really look to me staged photographs. Weird.
Anyway, James Patterson lends his million dollar name in this case to what must have been a group of 13 year girls at a sleep-over, amped-up at 3am on Skittles, Red Bull and Mountain Dew:
"Ooooo... you guys! I have the awsomeest idea! What if robot-humans took over the world, ya know? And there's this one robot, called MikkyBo and she's like the coolest, sexiest robot of them all! Maybe they could be called 'Hu-Bot'... like kinda human and kinda robot! Get it? And she's got perfect skin and long dark hair and wears a cool leather jacket all the time and has a golden choker necklace and is like super skinny and six foot five!"
"Jeez Mikky. Kind of sounds 'I-wish-I-was-taller-and-had-perfect-skin' wish fulfillment for you."
"SHUTUP KELLY! Who like, invited you to this slumber party anyway!? Anyway, MikkyBo is a detective! And she has this angry-hu-bot-cop-boss! Totally, EW! And she deals with stress by imagining butter-pecan ice cream! But because she's a ROBOT, she can actually, like taste it! Coolest! And her angry-hu-bot-cop-boss makes her investigate these stinky, ratty humans who survived the human/robot war and now are starving! And live off skanky old protein bars made out of BUGS and totally never shower or change clothes! And two of these humans steal a Corvette and go for a joy ride!"
"Uh, Mikky, why would robots eat ice cream? Or drive Corvettes? And for that matter, why would they be female... or male? Do they have like real girl-parts and boy-parts?"
"OMIGOD KELLY! You are like for-sure-gross! It doesn't matter! Corvettes are cool! And this one talks and is like totally bitchy to these humans that steal it! And these two humans are like boyfriend and girlfriend but not really... I mean, he's cute and everything but they only made out, like, one time. And her name is "SIX" like the first number of her robot assigned ID. And anyway they crash the car and run away from the robots who come to kill the entire, skanky town and they barely get away by hiding in icky food-garbage made up of noodles or whatever under a shack.... GROSS!"
"Mikky, didn't you just say everyone is starving? Why is there a pile of 'food garbage' under a shack?"
"KELLY! Gosh, what are you some kind of logic-robot yourself? I-AM-KELLY-ROBOT. STORY-THINGS-DON'T-MAKE SENSE! BEEP-BEEP-BEEP! It doesn't matter!!! So anyway, they also go to this movie where people just get totally murdered by just watching it! Like, that's what passes for a good time in this world, ya-know? And Six carries this quantum computer that's like a cell phone but could save the world. But she only uses it to look at videos of her dead parents. And then Six's kinda-boyfriend gets killed in this awesome gun battle scene and it makes her really sad. And then it turns out her grandpa made the robots and he totally hates Six! He's old and gross and mean! And Six's brother and sister are in prison and they hate Six too! But mean-Grampa makes Six and MikkyBo the Hu-bot train together and they become, like best friends and and and MikkyBo becomes like even more strong, fast and awesome .... and they totally rise up against the robot leaders and save the world!"
"Um... Mikky? Why would a robot... er... Hu-bot... rise up against it's own kind? And why wouldn't Six's brother and sister hate their Grampa, the guy who actually MADE the robots?"
"KELLY IMNOTKIDDINGFORGODSAKES SHUTUP! Maybe like MikkyBo gets reprogrammed or something! Or maybe they take her little sister hostage!"
"Mikky, wait a minute. This robot has a little sister?! They manufactured her that way? Or was she born from an egg or something, and is still growing? More like an android? How are these robots made?"
"GAWD 'PROFESSOR KELLY!'... Of course she wasn't born from an EGG! They're ROBOTS! All wires and plastic bones and stuff! GAWD you are SO STUPID ! Anyway, it turns out Six's brother hates her because Six stole some bread when she was six years old and so he thinks she's a traitor and a murder! But it turns out HE'S the traitor when he joins the robot side after everyone rises up! And Six and MikkyBo totally free the world!"
"Jesus, Mikky. This doesn't make any sense! Why would her brother join the robot side? Especially after he called his sister a traitor AND been in a robot-run prison all these years? And who would blame a starving six year old for stealing bread? And then... the entire world is free? How does that happen? You only have about 4 or 5 characters in this story!"
"I hate you Kelly. And everyone else does too. You're fat and dumb and horrible and you're never invited to another sleepover. Oh, and I almost forgot, MikkyBo's hu-bot brother is really a transvestite, or transgender.... or something... whatever. Anyway, he just wants to be a beautiful girl and it's tragic and sad."
"WHAT? Why would a robot want to be either boy OR girl? And why would it make any difference to them? Gah... you know what? Don't even answer. I'm outta here."
Anyway, James Patterson lends his million dollar name in this case to what must have been a group of 13 year girls at a sleep-over, amped-up at 3am on Skittles, Red Bull and Mountain Dew:
"Ooooo... you guys! I have the awsomeest idea! What if robot-humans took over the world, ya know? And there's this one robot, called MikkyBo and she's like the coolest, sexiest robot of them all! Maybe they could be called 'Hu-Bot'... like kinda human and kinda robot! Get it? And she's got perfect skin and long dark hair and wears a cool leather jacket all the time and has a golden choker necklace and is like super skinny and six foot five!"
"Jeez Mikky. Kind of sounds 'I-wish-I-was-taller-and-had-perfect-skin' wish fulfillment for you."
"SHUTUP KELLY! Who like, invited you to this slumber party anyway!? Anyway, MikkyBo is a detective! And she has this angry-hu-bot-cop-boss! Totally, EW! And she deals with stress by imagining butter-pecan ice cream! But because she's a ROBOT, she can actually, like taste it! Coolest! And her angry-hu-bot-cop-boss makes her investigate these stinky, ratty humans who survived the human/robot war and now are starving! And live off skanky old protein bars made out of BUGS and totally never shower or change clothes! And two of these humans steal a Corvette and go for a joy ride!"
"Uh, Mikky, why would robots eat ice cream? Or drive Corvettes? And for that matter, why would they be female... or male? Do they have like real girl-parts and boy-parts?"
"OMIGOD KELLY! You are like for-sure-gross! It doesn't matter! Corvettes are cool! And this one talks and is like totally bitchy to these humans that steal it! And these two humans are like boyfriend and girlfriend but not really... I mean, he's cute and everything but they only made out, like, one time. And her name is "SIX" like the first number of her robot assigned ID. And anyway they crash the car and run away from the robots who come to kill the entire, skanky town and they barely get away by hiding in icky food-garbage made up of noodles or whatever under a shack.... GROSS!"
"Mikky, didn't you just say everyone is starving? Why is there a pile of 'food garbage' under a shack?"
"KELLY! Gosh, what are you some kind of logic-robot yourself? I-AM-KELLY-ROBOT. STORY-THINGS-DON'T-MAKE SENSE! BEEP-BEEP-BEEP! It doesn't matter!!! So anyway, they also go to this movie where people just get totally murdered by just watching it! Like, that's what passes for a good time in this world, ya-know? And Six carries this quantum computer that's like a cell phone but could save the world. But she only uses it to look at videos of her dead parents. And then Six's kinda-boyfriend gets killed in this awesome gun battle scene and it makes her really sad. And then it turns out her grandpa made the robots and he totally hates Six! He's old and gross and mean! And Six's brother and sister are in prison and they hate Six too! But mean-Grampa makes Six and MikkyBo the Hu-bot train together and they become, like best friends and and and MikkyBo becomes like even more strong, fast and awesome .... and they totally rise up against the robot leaders and save the world!"
"Um... Mikky? Why would a robot... er... Hu-bot... rise up against it's own kind? And why wouldn't Six's brother and sister hate their Grampa, the guy who actually MADE the robots?"
"KELLY IMNOTKIDDINGFORGODSAKES SHUTUP! Maybe like MikkyBo gets reprogrammed or something! Or maybe they take her little sister hostage!"
"Mikky, wait a minute. This robot has a little sister?! They manufactured her that way? Or was she born from an egg or something, and is still growing? More like an android? How are these robots made?"
"GAWD 'PROFESSOR KELLY!'... Of course she wasn't born from an EGG! They're ROBOTS! All wires and plastic bones and stuff! GAWD you are SO STUPID ! Anyway, it turns out Six's brother hates her because Six stole some bread when she was six years old and so he thinks she's a traitor and a murder! But it turns out HE'S the traitor when he joins the robot side after everyone rises up! And Six and MikkyBo totally free the world!"
"Jesus, Mikky. This doesn't make any sense! Why would her brother join the robot side? Especially after he called his sister a traitor AND been in a robot-run prison all these years? And who would blame a starving six year old for stealing bread? And then... the entire world is free? How does that happen? You only have about 4 or 5 characters in this story!"
"I hate you Kelly. And everyone else does too. You're fat and dumb and horrible and you're never invited to another sleepover. Oh, and I almost forgot, MikkyBo's hu-bot brother is really a transvestite, or transgender.... or something... whatever. Anyway, he just wants to be a beautiful girl and it's tragic and sad."
"WHAT? Why would a robot want to be either boy OR girl? And why would it make any difference to them? Gah... you know what? Don't even answer. I'm outta here."
January 22, 2018
This is the worst book I have ever read - The only reason it gets 2 stars is that it is so bad it is funny so it kept me reading and it didn’t feel like a chore to do so.
Unlikeable/unrealistic characters, cringey “futuristic� lingo and unoriginal storytelling.
I recommend it if you want a laugh 😂
Unlikeable/unrealistic characters, cringey “futuristic� lingo and unoriginal storytelling.
I recommend it if you want a laugh 😂
September 4, 2017
3.5 ⭐️
April 3, 2017
Humans, Bow Down
This is not a book that I would normally read but I did enjoy it. This has been a great change that James Patterson has done teaming up with different writers and publishing all kinds of different types of books. I can't wait to see what he comes out with next.
This is not a book that I would normally read but I did enjoy it. This has been a great change that James Patterson has done teaming up with different writers and publishing all kinds of different types of books. I can't wait to see what he comes out with next.
August 31, 2024
2⭐️ = Below Average.
Hardback.
This was my physical book club book this month and I’m unsure that this will be a hit.
This definitely felt like a YA novel and quite an immature one at that.
I didn’t detest the subject matter of human/robot hybrid but the frequent repetition of statements became a little boring.
As is usual with a JP book, the chapters are short, which I quite like.
Hardback.
This was my physical book club book this month and I’m unsure that this will be a hit.
This definitely felt like a YA novel and quite an immature one at that.
I didn’t detest the subject matter of human/robot hybrid but the frequent repetition of statements became a little boring.
As is usual with a JP book, the chapters are short, which I quite like.
December 7, 2020
I picked this up at the library because I had no more sci-fi to read at home, tbh. The premise sounded interesting enough and I'd never read a James Patterson book before. But can you really call it "his" book since it's written by Emily Raymond?
I liked the overall idea of this book because the plot centers around the world after a big war where the robots have won. The book was a super quick read because of the big font, the pictures and the fast paced storytelling. But I lost interest about halfway through the book.
The story wasn't great, the characters were onedimensional and the plot was predictable. It was my first book about robots vs humans, and yet it didn't feel like anything new.
The pictures seemed like a nice addition at first, but after a while they became unnecessary and also felt like a break in the reading flow because whenever I turned a page, there was a picture basically screaming at me to look at it. There were just too many of them.
So all in all the idea wasn't bad, but the execution kinda was. This book was not super original and I didn't care about the characters (especially after the only one I cared for a bit died). It was kind of a waste of time, but well, when I picked it up I didn't have any other book at hand^^
I liked the overall idea of this book because the plot centers around the world after a big war where the robots have won. The book was a super quick read because of the big font, the pictures and the fast paced storytelling. But I lost interest about halfway through the book.
The story wasn't great, the characters were onedimensional and the plot was predictable. It was my first book about robots vs humans, and yet it didn't feel like anything new.
The pictures seemed like a nice addition at first, but after a while they became unnecessary and also felt like a break in the reading flow because whenever I turned a page, there was a picture basically screaming at me to look at it. There were just too many of them.
So all in all the idea wasn't bad, but the execution kinda was. This book was not super original and I didn't care about the characters (especially after the only one I cared for a bit died). It was kind of a waste of time, but well, when I picked it up I didn't have any other book at hand^^
August 27, 2017
James Patterson should go back to writing for quality not quantity. His books have gone down hill slowly but surely the more books he puts his name to. There was a point a few years ago when I was proud to say I'd read everything he'd written - not any more. This year alone (August 2017) he has put his name to over 50 books - many of them Book Shots - that's writing more than a book a week. There's no keeping up and if this one is anything to go by then I don't want to keep up. The story felt rushed and couldn't decide if it was aiming at Young Adult or Sci Fi. The characters had no redeeming features, even by the happy ending, and it all just felt rushed and thrown together. Go back to writing your own books James Patterson, and just one or two a year.
October 15, 2017
I rented this audio book thinking, Patterson trying his hand at science fiction? Cool! Actually, this was written by his co-author Emily (Last name, who cares? She's never going to publish a word I want to read). Maybe Patterson formatted it into short chapters for Emily so he could put his name on it and make Emily a little money for charity's sake. How do I know it was Emily who wrote this? The writing was done by someone with the emotional maturity of a 14-year-old. The science fiction was horrendous too. Take the shallowest pulp imaginable, add a Cameron terminator dystopia for plot, except no time travel, with an undefined, dull world. Put in silly kids doing unlikely things like going to movies made by robots for robots, and you have the formula for the crappiest read imaginable. L. Ron Hubbard's worst day looks like Dostoevsky compared to this nauseating drivel. I returned the audio book to Cracker Barrel after the first disc. Patterson, you owe me a refund of $3.59.
February 7, 2017
I won and received an Advance Reading Copy. Patterson has done it again.
A good story with interesting characters. Isaac Asimov is shaking his head.
A good story with interesting characters. Isaac Asimov is shaking his head.
June 9, 2017
This book was like a bad one-night stand that lasted for months. I can't write anymore about this book, it is making me have flashbacks.
February 24, 2017
This is definitely going to be a divisive book in that you’ll either like it or hate it.
I am on the fence about this book. On the one hand, for a Patterson book, it is an interesting concept reading about a world where the robots are in charge and humanity is near extinction. The robots in this one were also portrayed differently than in most AI uber bad stories in that they acted almost completely human, even eating and creating ‘waste�, along with having feelings. At the same time, how many more stories do we really need about AI taking over the world and killing humans? Terminator has done it to death.
There’s a LGBT relationship thrown in at the very end with no lead up that either character was headed that way so it felt a bit like it was put in just for show which irritated me because they had a real chance in character development to flush this out but didn’t. One of the best examples of transgendered, that feeling of being one gender but trapped in the wrong body, was given to a freaking robot! I guess that was to show that somehow the AI was that great even robots could ‘feel� transgendered but to me it just cheapened it, like being transgendered is nothing but bad programming which is basically what some of the other AI jerk off bots claimed as they even had a process for reprogramming. It felt too much like another thrown in there concept just to be able to say they had one.
There were illustrations on practically every page and it felt a bit like a YA adult novel. The pace, phrases used, plot development all reminded me A LOT of his Maximum Ride series; it just has a very similar ‘sound�.
It felt like there was so much missing in how the world was set up. It seemed to be all centered in Colorado but there wasn’t much mention of how the rest of the world fared with this AI take over.
There also weren’t any characters you could really sink your teeth into, no one you felt like was worth your time to invest in. As a human you would of course want humanity to fight back and win so any human doing that you’d want to root on and support but some of the robots came off with better character development, morals, ethics and plot lines than the humans.
The book ended in such a way that it could either be a standalone or a sequel could easily be written to pick up from where this left off because there were a few cliffhanger like elements added to the last few chapters.
I am on the fence about this book. On the one hand, for a Patterson book, it is an interesting concept reading about a world where the robots are in charge and humanity is near extinction. The robots in this one were also portrayed differently than in most AI uber bad stories in that they acted almost completely human, even eating and creating ‘waste�, along with having feelings. At the same time, how many more stories do we really need about AI taking over the world and killing humans? Terminator has done it to death.
There’s a LGBT relationship thrown in at the very end with no lead up that either character was headed that way so it felt a bit like it was put in just for show which irritated me because they had a real chance in character development to flush this out but didn’t. One of the best examples of transgendered, that feeling of being one gender but trapped in the wrong body, was given to a freaking robot! I guess that was to show that somehow the AI was that great even robots could ‘feel� transgendered but to me it just cheapened it, like being transgendered is nothing but bad programming which is basically what some of the other AI jerk off bots claimed as they even had a process for reprogramming. It felt too much like another thrown in there concept just to be able to say they had one.
There were illustrations on practically every page and it felt a bit like a YA adult novel. The pace, phrases used, plot development all reminded me A LOT of his Maximum Ride series; it just has a very similar ‘sound�.
It felt like there was so much missing in how the world was set up. It seemed to be all centered in Colorado but there wasn’t much mention of how the rest of the world fared with this AI take over.
There also weren’t any characters you could really sink your teeth into, no one you felt like was worth your time to invest in. As a human you would of course want humanity to fight back and win so any human doing that you’d want to root on and support but some of the robots came off with better character development, morals, ethics and plot lines than the humans.
The book ended in such a way that it could either be a standalone or a sequel could easily be written to pick up from where this left off because there were a few cliffhanger like elements added to the last few chapters.
February 20, 2017
For all my reviews, visit Clues and Reviews
In a world run by machines, humans are the endangered species. After a devastating war, the robots (known as Hu-bots) have won. Surviving humans have two options; submit or be banished. Six, a young woman, chooses the ladder and soon is a fiery rebel on the run. With nothing to lose, and a secret weapon that could save human kind, can she unlock the secret that can save her life? Or will she be forced to bow down…forever.
I have been such a sucker for a science fiction thriller lately; first with Dark Matter and then with All our Wrong Todays and now with Humans, Bow Down by James Patterson (out TODAY)!
I have always enjoyed a dystopian novel and this one sort of reminded me of a combination of War of the Worlds meets I, Robot. Between the ominous tone, the short chapters and the phenomenal storytelling that Patterson is known for, I had no issues flying through this book.
What I Liked:
The Opening Scene: What. An. Opening. This book hooked me immediately.
Graphics: this novel had an incredible feature of adding in graphics throughout; I am always a fan of visuals, especially in science fiction, to help me gain a true sense of the landscape, clothing and what these hu-bots looked like.
Six: I loved the lead character. I am always a fan of a female protagonist and this girl was fierce!
What I Struggled With:
The Character Names: this is so minor but it really bothered me. All the robots are named ridiculously. I guess they are robots, but still!
If you are a fan of dystopian fiction or a solid sci-fi thriller, you will enjoy having this one in your arsenal!
In a world run by machines, humans are the endangered species. After a devastating war, the robots (known as Hu-bots) have won. Surviving humans have two options; submit or be banished. Six, a young woman, chooses the ladder and soon is a fiery rebel on the run. With nothing to lose, and a secret weapon that could save human kind, can she unlock the secret that can save her life? Or will she be forced to bow down…forever.
I have been such a sucker for a science fiction thriller lately; first with Dark Matter and then with All our Wrong Todays and now with Humans, Bow Down by James Patterson (out TODAY)!
I have always enjoyed a dystopian novel and this one sort of reminded me of a combination of War of the Worlds meets I, Robot. Between the ominous tone, the short chapters and the phenomenal storytelling that Patterson is known for, I had no issues flying through this book.
What I Liked:
The Opening Scene: What. An. Opening. This book hooked me immediately.
Graphics: this novel had an incredible feature of adding in graphics throughout; I am always a fan of visuals, especially in science fiction, to help me gain a true sense of the landscape, clothing and what these hu-bots looked like.
Six: I loved the lead character. I am always a fan of a female protagonist and this girl was fierce!
What I Struggled With:
The Character Names: this is so minor but it really bothered me. All the robots are named ridiculously. I guess they are robots, but still!
If you are a fan of dystopian fiction or a solid sci-fi thriller, you will enjoy having this one in your arsenal!
September 11, 2017
This was the first Patterson book I've ever read. It was not a bad read. Had great elements of sci-fi. It had an enjoyable story with a good mix of sci-fi and story that kept you going. This., as opposed to so much sci-fi that the story is just flooded by scientific lingo. Good characters and some good plot twists to boot.
June 28, 2017
Although labeled by the library as adult fiction, feel it could almost be YA. But regardless, a good read. About what makes us human or not. Would like to see what happens next.
March 27, 2017
This is definitely not a typical James Patterson writing. In fact, it is hard for me to find James Patterson's work in this book. Regardless, it was interesting, I am curious about how this all turns out in the next book, but I am not curious enough to buy the book and spend the time reading it. Sixie and Kitty were fun to ride with as they formed their friendship, but it is pretty predictable what happens in the next book.
June 13, 2017
It took quite a few chapters for me to get into this story, mainly because at first, I didn't really like the characters. They did start to grow on my however, and once that happened, I started to enjoy the book.
I agree with some other reviewers that the book does read more like a YA, dystopian story, as the main characters are young.
There seemed to be an opening for a sequel at the end of this book, and if there was then I would probably read it.
I agree with some other reviewers that the book does read more like a YA, dystopian story, as the main characters are young.
There seemed to be an opening for a sequel at the end of this book, and if there was then I would probably read it.
March 6, 2018
0 Stars for Story
0 Stars for Scientific Accuracy
Humans, Bow Down is about a near future dystopia where humanoid robots have taken over the world from the dirty, less intelligent, and certainly less attractive humans. Actually it should be titled Humans, Run Away. As in: Run away and flee books like this one.
Humans, Bow Down is a New York Times bestseller (Yes, it?s really on the list- it?s why I bought the book) by James Patterson and YA author Emily Raymond. James Patterson is the thriller writer who wrote the book that became the really good movie Along Came a Spider with Morgan Freeman and the Alex Cross series. He also writes award winning children's and YA novels. He is a famous, successful writer and one would expect an interesting book even if he knew nothing about robots.
I am grateful that as a child or as a young adult, I never encountered a book like this. I think it takes being a mature adult to be able to handle material this dreadful, plots so thin, and writing so full of contradictions. An adult can handle that they have just wasted $16. A young adult having spent their allowance money might become bitter. Or they may think that if this is what qualifies as a print best seller, then they should just watch YouTube.
The book starts off with a mouthy teenage girl called Six fending for herself and making poor life choices in a post-apocalyptic Denver suburb run by humanoid robots call Hubots (Human robots, get it?). The Hubots took over the world in The Great War, and are based in Denver conveniently located with in driving distance to the hidden sophisticated laboratory leading the rebellion.
Think of Six as Katniss Everdeen, only smoking weed and sniffing glue- though in this book, the point of getting high is to reinforce that she is Oppressed because, as we all know, oppressed people do drugs, and that you the reader should not do drugs because you aren't oppressed by robots but you should not look down upon poor people who do drugs. Six or Sixie is her nickname, as humans are now referred to by their slightly longer social security numbers and humans with their pitiful cognitive capabilities cope by calling each other by some clever variant on the first couple of numbers. Apparently being called "Sarah," which is her name, is way too hard to handle.
Kat-Sixie has only her best friend, a boy named Dubs, who we know immediately will either a) die saving her, b) realize that the two of them belong together, or c) both. Star Trek red shirt character? Peeta from The Hunger Games? Reece from The Terminator? That's some dramatic tension! It's good to be in the hands of a famous professional writer.
The book evolves over its nearly 100 exceptionally short, comic book style chapters to a "human girl says, robot girl says" format. We get Six?' view of the world, then MikkyBo?s view (yes, that a "Bo" for "bot" at the end of her name, you just want to bitch slap the writers for that alone).
MikkyBo is the classic Enemy Mine antagonist. She's very likeable, despite initially being so pro-robot, anti-human that I expected her to break out into "Tomorrow belongs to me" like the young Nazi brown shirt did in Cabaret. Of course, she is going to undergo an awakening.
Given that she works as a new detective in the Denver police, her awakening is triggered by the standard detective thriller plot- she uncovers systematic police abuse of humans orchestrated by higher powers. Her highly decorated father was a detective who retired suddenly years ago. MikkyBo has forgotten to ask why he retired so suddenly until things get dicey for her and then dad decides to ?fess up that he had protested the literally inhumane treatment of humans.
If twitter and cell phones still existed, MikkyBo would have started the #humanLivesMatter hashtag.
MikkyBo is assigned to retrieve the last pocket-sized quantum computer that just happens to belong to Kat-Six. The quantum computer has enough computer power or information or something that could allow the humans to rise up. (Surprisingly, we won?t see that McGuffin in the final denouement.) Kat-Six uses it to revisit the memories of her beloved parents, killed in the robot uprising, never suspecting that there is more to it. Despite knowing that Kat-Six has the quantum computer, that they know her name and number, that she has stolen a car which has a computer in it that connects to the Cloud and thus should be trackable even by 2010 standards, and that Kat-Six connects to the Cloud when she uses the quantum computer and could be tracked, none of the robot police have thought to locate her or even go to her tiny room in the apartment building next to the garbage dump on the human reservation (nice shout out for Native Americans, that could be us on rez so have some sympathy!). MikkyBo, being elite, is able to overcome this plot incongruity and seeks Kat-Sixty through old-fashioned shoe leather.
As you might guess, Kat-Sixty and MikkyBo will fight to near death but eventually become best friends and MikkyBo will be replacement family to Kat-Sixie. They will eventually declare their love for each other as they save each other?s lives over and over again, but fortunately for us, that love is platonic. That the only trope that the book avoids-- the increasingly frequent out of place, gratuitous lesbian scene that is popping up in movies and TV shows.
Together Kat-Sixie and MikkyBo will-- repeatedly-- sneak out undetected from the secret laboratory home of the genius scientist who built the robots. The genius scientist is, wait for it, Kat-Sixie's grandfather who hates her over a misunderstanding. Once the misunderstanding is cleared up, all is fine in the very next paragraph and she now gets to drive her grandfather's jeep to liberate her sister and brother, whom the grandfather loved dearly but was allowing them to rot in a dark dungeon. Love expresses itself in many forms, the book may be saying. Who are we to judge?
In terms of robotics, there?s nothing that even vaguely qualifies as real robotics or real science or even real wireless technology and Cloud computing. The Hubots are perfect human replicants who have families with little children robots (do they physically grow? If so, how?). The Hubots are beautiful and talented, like the genetically engineered humans in Gattaca. They are engineered but have some combination of better-than-skin skin to be shredded while climbing mountains or the sides of buildings and then miraculously heals in time to look perfect and beautiful, then be shredded again a few minutes later. They have better-than-blood blood that can be splattered as MikkyBo is being betrayed by her Joseph Goebbels boss. Indeed, Hubots sound like a bio-med project to repair humans gone wrong, but the book never gives us a reason why the grumpy grandfather created them with massive infusions of government funding. It doesn't appear to be a deep state project, just a science-gone-wrong non-explanation. Or why none of these brilliant, beautiful robots have tracked down his hidden lab. Probably because the Hubots are too busy eating steak and driving Corvettes.
The only conceptual difference between biological humans and Hubots is that robots don?t have emotions. Well, except love of their family. And love of the Hubot race. And pride. And jealousy. And they get discouraged by negative reinforcement from their bosses and have to meditate on how good ice cream tastes to cheer up. But if we ignore any psychological definition of emotion, sure, the robots don?t have emotions.
Indeed, a hallmark of Humans, Bow Down is the deep commitment to the Old School robots-want-to-take-over-the-world-in-order-to-become-human-themselves theme. While top rated science fiction books like Ancilliary Justice and Ian Banks' Culture Universe posit that peer-level intelligent robots don't want to be human, they just want to be themselves, Humans, Bow Down bravely doubles down on the Pinocchio theme from the 1940?s.
In Humans, Bow Down, robots want to be human so completely that they modify themselves to be able eat steak in fancy restaurants in front of ragged, starving humans. If you're a robot, human suffering is apparently better than A-1 sauce.
Humans, Bow Down has the dubious distinction of being the first book where I've encountered a transgender robot. MikkyBo's brother, ChrisBo (really, enough with the "Bo" suffix already), is nominally male but gender identifies as female. He makes a fantastic drag queen at the cabaret, because robots should follow convenient stereotypes. And fortunately for him all the oppressed humans appear to have enough time, money, and space to host cabarets- after all, isn't this how the Apollo in Harlem got started?
But whoa, let's get back to one of The Big Life Lessons the book is imparting to Young Adults. It should be no surprise that robot society sees this as a criminal glitch/software bug and so ChrisBo is persecuted. Bad robot society! The take-away lesson is that we humans in the real world should get out there and support all those bathroom laws that allow a person to pick whatever dirty public toilet they feel is the least life threatening.
For me, the book poses fundamental questions about the purpose of robots. I think the authors see robots as economic drivers. While many of us might think of robots in manufacturing or in nuclear power plants as helpful to the economy and the planet, the authors seem to see the economic benefits of robots in terms of creating a cash-cow YA series like Harry Potter or The Hunger Games. Except, wait, those series had plots and were set in a world that made sense and was consistent. Or is the ultimate destiny of robots to be a mechanism for trying to cash in on all the discussions of weaponized drones in the media? Or maybe tap into the graphic novel/manga craze? Or is the best use of robots as a way to overcome envy over the success of Westworld?
In the meantime, I?m not afraid of a robot uprising but I am afraid of the next installment in the Humans, Bow Down series
0 Stars for Scientific Accuracy
Humans, Bow Down is about a near future dystopia where humanoid robots have taken over the world from the dirty, less intelligent, and certainly less attractive humans. Actually it should be titled Humans, Run Away. As in: Run away and flee books like this one.
Humans, Bow Down is a New York Times bestseller (Yes, it?s really on the list- it?s why I bought the book) by James Patterson and YA author Emily Raymond. James Patterson is the thriller writer who wrote the book that became the really good movie Along Came a Spider with Morgan Freeman and the Alex Cross series. He also writes award winning children's and YA novels. He is a famous, successful writer and one would expect an interesting book even if he knew nothing about robots.
I am grateful that as a child or as a young adult, I never encountered a book like this. I think it takes being a mature adult to be able to handle material this dreadful, plots so thin, and writing so full of contradictions. An adult can handle that they have just wasted $16. A young adult having spent their allowance money might become bitter. Or they may think that if this is what qualifies as a print best seller, then they should just watch YouTube.
The book starts off with a mouthy teenage girl called Six fending for herself and making poor life choices in a post-apocalyptic Denver suburb run by humanoid robots call Hubots (Human robots, get it?). The Hubots took over the world in The Great War, and are based in Denver conveniently located with in driving distance to the hidden sophisticated laboratory leading the rebellion.
Think of Six as Katniss Everdeen, only smoking weed and sniffing glue- though in this book, the point of getting high is to reinforce that she is Oppressed because, as we all know, oppressed people do drugs, and that you the reader should not do drugs because you aren't oppressed by robots but you should not look down upon poor people who do drugs. Six or Sixie is her nickname, as humans are now referred to by their slightly longer social security numbers and humans with their pitiful cognitive capabilities cope by calling each other by some clever variant on the first couple of numbers. Apparently being called "Sarah," which is her name, is way too hard to handle.
Kat-Sixie has only her best friend, a boy named Dubs, who we know immediately will either a) die saving her, b) realize that the two of them belong together, or c) both. Star Trek red shirt character? Peeta from The Hunger Games? Reece from The Terminator? That's some dramatic tension! It's good to be in the hands of a famous professional writer.
The book evolves over its nearly 100 exceptionally short, comic book style chapters to a "human girl says, robot girl says" format. We get Six?' view of the world, then MikkyBo?s view (yes, that a "Bo" for "bot" at the end of her name, you just want to bitch slap the writers for that alone).
MikkyBo is the classic Enemy Mine antagonist. She's very likeable, despite initially being so pro-robot, anti-human that I expected her to break out into "Tomorrow belongs to me" like the young Nazi brown shirt did in Cabaret. Of course, she is going to undergo an awakening.
Given that she works as a new detective in the Denver police, her awakening is triggered by the standard detective thriller plot- she uncovers systematic police abuse of humans orchestrated by higher powers. Her highly decorated father was a detective who retired suddenly years ago. MikkyBo has forgotten to ask why he retired so suddenly until things get dicey for her and then dad decides to ?fess up that he had protested the literally inhumane treatment of humans.
If twitter and cell phones still existed, MikkyBo would have started the #humanLivesMatter hashtag.
MikkyBo is assigned to retrieve the last pocket-sized quantum computer that just happens to belong to Kat-Six. The quantum computer has enough computer power or information or something that could allow the humans to rise up. (Surprisingly, we won?t see that McGuffin in the final denouement.) Kat-Six uses it to revisit the memories of her beloved parents, killed in the robot uprising, never suspecting that there is more to it. Despite knowing that Kat-Six has the quantum computer, that they know her name and number, that she has stolen a car which has a computer in it that connects to the Cloud and thus should be trackable even by 2010 standards, and that Kat-Six connects to the Cloud when she uses the quantum computer and could be tracked, none of the robot police have thought to locate her or even go to her tiny room in the apartment building next to the garbage dump on the human reservation (nice shout out for Native Americans, that could be us on rez so have some sympathy!). MikkyBo, being elite, is able to overcome this plot incongruity and seeks Kat-Sixty through old-fashioned shoe leather.
As you might guess, Kat-Sixty and MikkyBo will fight to near death but eventually become best friends and MikkyBo will be replacement family to Kat-Sixie. They will eventually declare their love for each other as they save each other?s lives over and over again, but fortunately for us, that love is platonic. That the only trope that the book avoids-- the increasingly frequent out of place, gratuitous lesbian scene that is popping up in movies and TV shows.
Together Kat-Sixie and MikkyBo will-- repeatedly-- sneak out undetected from the secret laboratory home of the genius scientist who built the robots. The genius scientist is, wait for it, Kat-Sixie's grandfather who hates her over a misunderstanding. Once the misunderstanding is cleared up, all is fine in the very next paragraph and she now gets to drive her grandfather's jeep to liberate her sister and brother, whom the grandfather loved dearly but was allowing them to rot in a dark dungeon. Love expresses itself in many forms, the book may be saying. Who are we to judge?
In terms of robotics, there?s nothing that even vaguely qualifies as real robotics or real science or even real wireless technology and Cloud computing. The Hubots are perfect human replicants who have families with little children robots (do they physically grow? If so, how?). The Hubots are beautiful and talented, like the genetically engineered humans in Gattaca. They are engineered but have some combination of better-than-skin skin to be shredded while climbing mountains or the sides of buildings and then miraculously heals in time to look perfect and beautiful, then be shredded again a few minutes later. They have better-than-blood blood that can be splattered as MikkyBo is being betrayed by her Joseph Goebbels boss. Indeed, Hubots sound like a bio-med project to repair humans gone wrong, but the book never gives us a reason why the grumpy grandfather created them with massive infusions of government funding. It doesn't appear to be a deep state project, just a science-gone-wrong non-explanation. Or why none of these brilliant, beautiful robots have tracked down his hidden lab. Probably because the Hubots are too busy eating steak and driving Corvettes.
The only conceptual difference between biological humans and Hubots is that robots don?t have emotions. Well, except love of their family. And love of the Hubot race. And pride. And jealousy. And they get discouraged by negative reinforcement from their bosses and have to meditate on how good ice cream tastes to cheer up. But if we ignore any psychological definition of emotion, sure, the robots don?t have emotions.
Indeed, a hallmark of Humans, Bow Down is the deep commitment to the Old School robots-want-to-take-over-the-world-in-order-to-become-human-themselves theme. While top rated science fiction books like Ancilliary Justice and Ian Banks' Culture Universe posit that peer-level intelligent robots don't want to be human, they just want to be themselves, Humans, Bow Down bravely doubles down on the Pinocchio theme from the 1940?s.
In Humans, Bow Down, robots want to be human so completely that they modify themselves to be able eat steak in fancy restaurants in front of ragged, starving humans. If you're a robot, human suffering is apparently better than A-1 sauce.
Humans, Bow Down has the dubious distinction of being the first book where I've encountered a transgender robot. MikkyBo's brother, ChrisBo (really, enough with the "Bo" suffix already), is nominally male but gender identifies as female. He makes a fantastic drag queen at the cabaret, because robots should follow convenient stereotypes. And fortunately for him all the oppressed humans appear to have enough time, money, and space to host cabarets- after all, isn't this how the Apollo in Harlem got started?
But whoa, let's get back to one of The Big Life Lessons the book is imparting to Young Adults. It should be no surprise that robot society sees this as a criminal glitch/software bug and so ChrisBo is persecuted. Bad robot society! The take-away lesson is that we humans in the real world should get out there and support all those bathroom laws that allow a person to pick whatever dirty public toilet they feel is the least life threatening.
For me, the book poses fundamental questions about the purpose of robots. I think the authors see robots as economic drivers. While many of us might think of robots in manufacturing or in nuclear power plants as helpful to the economy and the planet, the authors seem to see the economic benefits of robots in terms of creating a cash-cow YA series like Harry Potter or The Hunger Games. Except, wait, those series had plots and were set in a world that made sense and was consistent. Or is the ultimate destiny of robots to be a mechanism for trying to cash in on all the discussions of weaponized drones in the media? Or maybe tap into the graphic novel/manga craze? Or is the best use of robots as a way to overcome envy over the success of Westworld?
In the meantime, I?m not afraid of a robot uprising but I am afraid of the next installment in the Humans, Bow Down series
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 28, 2017
This was my first James Patterson book. Of course, we all know that James Patterson doesn't actually write his own books, so take that for what it's worth. Unless I read one of his Alex Cross novels, I doubt I'll ever know how *he* actually writes. I was curious about this book because I like a good dystopia novel, and I thought it would be nice to read one that wasn't explicitly teen-oriented.
To be honest, I don't know what I just read. The book is over 370 pages long, and yet it has a bunch of pictures, nearly one on every page, depicting the characters and actions going on. I feel like I'm reading a kid's book. The font is quite large. The main characters, Six and Dubs, act like teenagers, but at one point, they're described as "not yet having reached their third decade" which makes me believe they're adults. At the same time, Six, our kick-ass female heroine, remembers events occurring not yet a decade ago, back when she was just a six year old kid. So, color me confused.
The story involves human-made robot hybrids that nearly succeeded in wiping out humanity in a three day war a decade before. Most remaining humans are "reformed" and live as servants to their Hu-Bot overlords, but many live in refugee camps outside of Denver, in squalor, with little food to eat or other resources. We never hear of what is going on in the rest of the country, or the world, with the story really only taking place in Denver and the mountains around it. When Six and her friend, Dubs, steal a sports car from a Hu-Bot in the city, they bring down the terror of the Hu-Bots upon themselves and the rest of their human friends. Meanwhile, one Hu-Bot, MikkyBo (I am not making that name up), finds herself starting to feel empathy towards the humans. Furthermore, Mikky's brother (yes, Hu-Bots have families) is dealing with some sort of "glitch" which gives him gender dysphoria. An LGBTR relationship that emerges in the last few pages feels really forced too. And yes, I meant to tack on an "R" at the end of LGBT. If you make it to the end of the book, you'll see why.
I can see this becoming a series by the way it ended, but I honestly don't plan on reading any more if there are sequels.
To be honest, I don't know what I just read. The book is over 370 pages long, and yet it has a bunch of pictures, nearly one on every page, depicting the characters and actions going on. I feel like I'm reading a kid's book. The font is quite large. The main characters, Six and Dubs, act like teenagers, but at one point, they're described as "not yet having reached their third decade" which makes me believe they're adults. At the same time, Six, our kick-ass female heroine, remembers events occurring not yet a decade ago, back when she was just a six year old kid. So, color me confused.
The story involves human-made robot hybrids that nearly succeeded in wiping out humanity in a three day war a decade before. Most remaining humans are "reformed" and live as servants to their Hu-Bot overlords, but many live in refugee camps outside of Denver, in squalor, with little food to eat or other resources. We never hear of what is going on in the rest of the country, or the world, with the story really only taking place in Denver and the mountains around it. When Six and her friend, Dubs, steal a sports car from a Hu-Bot in the city, they bring down the terror of the Hu-Bots upon themselves and the rest of their human friends. Meanwhile, one Hu-Bot, MikkyBo (I am not making that name up), finds herself starting to feel empathy towards the humans. Furthermore, Mikky's brother (yes, Hu-Bots have families) is dealing with some sort of "glitch" which gives him gender dysphoria. An LGBTR relationship that emerges in the last few pages feels really forced too. And yes, I meant to tack on an "R" at the end of LGBT. If you make it to the end of the book, you'll see why.
I can see this becoming a series by the way it ended, but I honestly don't plan on reading any more if there are sequels.
June 18, 2017
It took just three days for the robots (hu-bots) to seize power and slaughter most of humanity. The remaining humans either serve as “reformed� slaves in The City or live as “savages� (mostly drug and alcohol addled delinquents) on The Reservation. Our story follows one such delinquent (first person narration) and one hu-bot detective (third person limited omniscient narration) tasked with finding her after she and her thuggish meathead friend steal a car (or is there another ill-explained reason?! Dun-dun-DUN!).
Whether this whole robots slaughtering/enslaving/ghetto-ing humans is a somewhat localized situation or global is unclear. The author seems to want to convey the impression that it is global, but all the action centers on a very small geographic area and there is little or no reference to what might be going on anywhere else in the world (Other cities and reservations? Mad Max style anarchy? Uninhabitable wasteland? Isolationism to contain the robot threat within North America? Who knows!). A similar lack of precision prevails throughout the book � characters suddenly know a crucial piece of information, survive an unsurvivable situation, have a radical changes of heart, or suddenly become central to the story with very little explanation or reason for doing so (other than it is needed to advance the story). Shoehorn in a transgender hu-bot and a hint of lesbian romance (to get the proper token diversity, I suppose), sprinkle on some glaring errors (e.g. referring to a speedometer as an Odometer, having a character call her best friend by the wrong name, etc.), narrate the entire thing in the present tense (which I personally find grating), and you have this very disappointing book.
Whether this whole robots slaughtering/enslaving/ghetto-ing humans is a somewhat localized situation or global is unclear. The author seems to want to convey the impression that it is global, but all the action centers on a very small geographic area and there is little or no reference to what might be going on anywhere else in the world (Other cities and reservations? Mad Max style anarchy? Uninhabitable wasteland? Isolationism to contain the robot threat within North America? Who knows!). A similar lack of precision prevails throughout the book � characters suddenly know a crucial piece of information, survive an unsurvivable situation, have a radical changes of heart, or suddenly become central to the story with very little explanation or reason for doing so (other than it is needed to advance the story). Shoehorn in a transgender hu-bot and a hint of lesbian romance (to get the proper token diversity, I suppose), sprinkle on some glaring errors (e.g. referring to a speedometer as an Odometer, having a character call her best friend by the wrong name, etc.), narrate the entire thing in the present tense (which I personally find grating), and you have this very disappointing book.
August 9, 2019
In the future, robots take over the world. Humans are either servants to the robots, or they are banished to a depressing, desolate place called the Reserve.
A sci-fi, YA dystopian novel by James Patterson. This was one of my least favorite Patterson books. I loved the idea, but it was not executed well. It was a quick read with the usual fast-paced story and short chapters, but I was not really interested in the characters or the story. The ending was vague, so there may be a sequel.
A sci-fi, YA dystopian novel by James Patterson. This was one of my least favorite Patterson books. I loved the idea, but it was not executed well. It was a quick read with the usual fast-paced story and short chapters, but I was not really interested in the characters or the story. The ending was vague, so there may be a sequel.
March 23, 2017
Pitiful excuse for a book.
December 6, 2017
Really did not like this book-writing was very childish.
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