Customer Reviews

The Eyes of the Killer Robot

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

John Bellairs is one of my favorite authors and his books are never disappointing. This is a particular favorite of mine by this late great writer. The weaving of myth and witchcraft into that intriguing time period in America when the Atomic bomb was a new thing is just fantastic. The greatest thing about Mr. Bellairs is that his books can evoke a kind of "happy fear" in the young readers that will pick up his books and that his style and stories stick with you forever. I just can't imagine growing up without reading his books. Delightfully scary with great characters. And Illustrations by Edward Gorey! You gotta love the way Bellairs writes and what he writes about. An awesome introduction into horror fiction. No matter how old you are you will love any book by Mr. Bellairs, especially this one about an evil robot! 1

This book is a great mystery featuring Johnny Dixon, Byron Fergeson, and the Proffesor. It is about a killer robot, and a new one in the making by the evil/insane Evaristun Sloane. A MUST READ

Evaristus Sloane invented a robot that was like a pitching machine a long time ago. But Johnny's grandpa didn't want it because he didn't like the way it's eyes look. Now, crazy Sloane is going to get back at him and he is going to use Johnny to do it!!!!

A librarian recommended this to me when I was a little girl. Buy it. You'll like it. The ending and plot were superb. If
you are debating buying this book I would have to say buy it. It's a children's book.

I started with this one and read the rest. This was still my favorite. What a title!

John Bellairs books are quite intresting. But this book was not his best from what i've heard. There just wasn't enough action or mystery. I kept predicting what would happen and that isn't very mysterious to me. I would definitely like to read more of his books just not this one.

I read this when I was in elementary school. (I'm 23 now.) I didn't enjoy reading at all until college. But of the few books I bothered with I remember loving this one. It was just so bizarre and sinister to a kid. Edward Gorey's illustrations creeped me out. (check out his own books.) If you want a book that will enthrall your child with its eerieness, choose this one.

I grew up to love books like The Third Policeman, movies like Eyes Wide Shut, TV shows like Twin Peaks, composers like Berlioz, and painters like Magritte. Do your kids a favor and weird 'em out!

With a title like "Eyes of the Killer Robot," who could resist? While cheesy idiocy is implied in the title, the actual plot couldn't be further from it. This is an example of how Bellairs triumphs with his horror-fantasy stories, which so easily could descend into such ghastly cheese, but don't.

A stock-market plunge and a baseball game set off this book. Professor Childermass loses thousands of dollars in a sudden company collapse, shortly after it is announced that a star baseball player will offer ten thousand to anyone who can strike him out. It brings to Childermass's mind (he informs both us and the timid Johnny Dixon) an old memory: Of how a brilliant but insane inventor once offered a baseball team (which had Johnny's grandfather on it) a pitching robot. He strikes on the scheme of finding the robot and using it to strike out the baseball player (and cover his losses).

Unsurprisingly, this is not a Good Idea. They find the robot, but then Johnny sees a strange specter: An eyeless man who wanders around moaning, "They took my eyes." The robot itself remains lifeless until a pair of strange glass eyes are put in its face. As it rampages through the town, the heroic trio make two other discoveries: Its inventor is not dead, and he's coming after Johnny with evil intent...

Bellairs is in top form here. Magic is mixed with the real world, and various occultic workings that wuill make your skin crawl. He does an especially good job with the villains: one is insane, and the other is frightening sane but absolutely amoral. As ever, his dialogue is snappy and his descriptive sense is either funny or just spinechilling; the settings are those of nice small towns with essentially pleasant people -- both of which can turn horrifying at any moment. His ghosts are simply unparalleled. And I agree with "Hallie" -- it takes a writer with guts and skill who can believably put his preteen hero in such realistic danger without outraging the reader.

Johnny is, as is usual with Mr. Bellairs, a meek but willing Charlie Brown type; I have yet to meet a reader of these books who doesn't like him or his counterparts. Fergie is a little more outgoing, the sort of dead-loyal friend that everyone wants. And the professor is... well, the professor.

Bad points? None that I can think of, except that the wonderfully crabby priest Father Higgins appears for only two pages. (Though the idea of him wearing an umpire's vest and a clerical collar is too funny for words) I would have liked more Higgy, and this teaser leads to nothing. Additionally, Professor Childermass seems to be acting a little too impulsively at the beginning. (Find a rampaging robot and put it back together -- what a surprise that it all blows up in their faces).

This is, overall, a delightfully creepy mystery/fantasy/horror story that any good kid reader will enjoy, and a few reminiscing adults might as well.

I was in the first grade. Nosing around in the back of the library while all of the other kids browsed the books with happy endings and pretty illustrations, I chanced upon a copy of "The Eyes of the Killer Robot." The cover illustration, in all of it's Goth-Gorey grandeur, fascinated me, so I became the first kid in my class to check out a chapter book.
Every night, I sat down with my Dad and devoured a few pages. It all started innocently enough; pale, shy Johnny Dixon and his friend the Professor decide to rebuild a baseball pitching robot once owned by a mad-man. Thinking it's nothing more than a machine, they ignore a few eerie harbingers, pop in a pair of glass eyes, and set an evil, possessed hunk of metal on a rampage. Not content to sit idle while the robot slaughters the townsfolk, Johhny and co. go on a journey to destroy it and it's creator, who is determined to use black magic and Johnny's eyes to bring life to another sinister being...
While reading this for the first time, I could barely sleep at night, fearing that lumbering robot might decide to make me it's next victim. Nonetheless, I finished the book and began to read every other Bellairs title I could get my hands on. The man is a master, and this book is a prime example of his ability to craft a scary, sinister story. I can't think of another author willing to have some seriously freaky stuff (kidnappings, druggings) happen to a character who is only 12 years old. None of that Goosebumps/Fear Street cheese with Bellairs or Killer Robot. Just some good old fashion terror wrapped in an engrossing story.

This is a great book for people that like horror. It is not one of those stories that you could just tell anyone though. Oh no, I wouldn't recomend this book for anyone under the age of seven. It is one of those books that will give you a scare. This is the story of Joney Dixon. he is just your average twelve year old chubby boy that attends a catholic school. One day while visiting and abandoned baseball park finds a small box with pair of eyes inside. Jonny soon comes to learn of a crazy mad man by the name of Evaristas Sloan who makes robots that can only be powered by human eyes. Jonny also finds that if he doesn't do something fast he just maght be the next victim. As Jonny's grandfather and his best friend recieve a staff concealling a magical dagger which is unfortunatly their only hope left of defeating the evil robot, Jonny is kidnapped. And who else did it other that Evaristis Sloan. Will Jonny's Grandpa and his bestfriend make it in time to save poor Jonny from the evill terrors of having his eyes ripped out of their sockets!!!! Read this book and find out.