Customer Reviews

IIsaac Asimov's Robot City : Odyssey ( Book One ) (Bk.1)

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"Odyssey" is Book #1 in the "Isaac Asimov's Robot City" series. Written in the 1980's, this was apparently the first novel to take place in Asimov's robot universe that was not written by Asimov himself.

I read Asimov's robot novels many years ago, and remember enjoying them very much. When "Odyssey" first began, I found myself thinking, "Uh oh." The premise was interesting enough, if a bit standard (the amnesiac plot has been done to death). But the pacing was very stilted, and there was an overuse of having the main character, Derec, fall unconscious as a device to move the plot forward in both time and space. It would be fair to say that the story bordered on "boring."

BUT, after the first few chapters, I found myself becoming more involved in Derec's plight. On top of having to solve who HE is, he also has external mysteries which demand his attention. I became swept along with him, and started really caring about the story's resolution (for those of you who might feel the same, I should warn you that the book has a cliff hanger ending, so be prepared to follow at least Book #2!).

One complaint, after I finally got interested, was how easily Derec allowed some people to hold back information about his past when they clearly had it. If I were in HIS shoes, I would have grabbed Kate and SHAKEN it out of her!

Overall, a decent read, so long as you stick with it. For myself, I will PROBABLY end up buying Book #2, and HOPE that Derec's secret history is revealed therein.

Marooned on a frozen asteroid, Derec suffers amnesia, having no recall of who he is or where he is from. He stumbles upon a community of mining robots sifting through the asteroid as if searching for something. The asteroid is attacked by raider ships and destroyed, but not before Derec discovered what the robots were looking for. He escapes the asteroid with the artifact only to be captured by the raiders and ends up working as a mechanic and has to build a robot for the ship's leader. While on the raider ship he meets another human and allies himself with one of the aliens who will help him escape.

An explosion occurs and these three end up in a hospital on a spacer station deep in the universe. After recovering the artifact from the robot guards, it is from here that Derec learns the truth of the Key to Perihelion that he saved from the raiders and finds himself in a city like none that he has ever seen before. A strange and unimaginable city inhabited completely by robots where he and the other human, Katherine, become the two primary suspects of a serious crime that has occurred.

This story brings to life two scientific concepts: artificial intelligence and instantaneous space travel. This story depicts a future where robots are as numerous as humans and can "think" on their own. This science fiction novel generates suspense and interest, as every time Derec falls asleep or is knocked unconscious he seems to wake up in a completely different place. For all of you sci-fi nuts (myself included) this novel, along with the rest of the books in the series, is a must have. And for those who may not be into science fiction as much this novel still has an incredible story that you will not want to put down.