Twisted Metal (Penrose 1) [Hardcover]

Tony Ballantyne (Author)

Book Description

Series: Penrose 1 | Publication Date: August 27, 2009

On a world of intelligent robots who seem to have forgotten their own distant past, it is a time of war as the soldiers of Artemis City set out to conquer everything within range on the continent of Shull, killing or converting every robot they capture to their philosophy, while viewing their own wire-based minds as nothing but metal to be used or recycled for the cause. Elsewhere, the more individualistic robots of Turing City believe they are something more than metal, but when the Artemisian robot Kavan sets out on a determined crusade to prove himself, even Turing City can't stand against him. Increasingly tied up with Kavan's destiny is Karel, a Turing robot with elements of Artemis's philosophy already woven into his mind as well as Karel's wife Susan, and their recently created child. Following the inevitable violence and destruction, Artemisian ambition focuses elsewhere and a journey begins towards the frozen kingdoms of the north and towards the truth about the legendary 'Book of Robots', a text which may finally explain the real history of this strange world In a completely alien but brilliantly realized landscape, here is a powerful story of superb action, barbaric cruelty and intense emotional impact.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Written in a deceptively simple style, Twisted Metal is not only highly readable, but surprisingly thoughtful."  —Times

"An original work with a distinctive voice. It works not only as a thrilling action adventure, but as a thought experiment exploring free will, independence and totalitarianism."  —Guardian

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Tony Ballantyne, who lives in the Manchester area, regularly contributed to magazines before embarking on his first novel, Recursion. With this, his fourth, he embarks on a whole new scale and dimension of exciting adventure.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan (August 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0230738605
• ISBN-13: 978-0230738607
• Product Dimensions: 1 x 6.2 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,961,560 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great introduction to a new series!, July 6, 2009

By 

Glenn R. Bell (Virginia Beach, VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Twisted Metal (Penrose 1) (Hardcover)

I have been very impressed with the character development and the storyline to date. It's a quick read and I'm looking forward to hopefully any future installments. Very well done!

4.0 out of 5 stars A creative first of three, June 19, 2011

By 

W. Lancaster - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Twisted Metal (Penrose series) (Paperback)

Twisted Metal is a tough book to review because it's so subjective. Your either going to really like this book, or your going to find it boring as dirt so I wasn't sure whether to give it four stars or two stars. In the end I went with four stars because of it's unique premise and themes.

Like the older Science Fiction this novel is an idea book rather then a story book. It's strength is that it looks at technology and another culture and then quietly reflects on the human condition. Consequently, the world building in this book is extreme and detailed. There is a lot of emphasis on how the robots think and how that reflects on their society. To it's credit it never becomes an encyclopedia though and stays away from simply telling the reader rather then showing the reader through action and dialogue.

The downside is that the characters and the plot are just vehicles (In one case Literally) for the worldbuilding. All of the characters are observers rather then actors and at no point do they really get a choice on how to effect their fates. It's hard to emphasis with characters who don't make choices and grow as characters. To be fair, this is also part of the world building in that we find out that all the robots are programed at birth, they really CAN'T make choices but it does make it harder to emphasis with them.

The plot relatively fragmented. This is not a whole story, this is the first third of a story. Now this is a trilogy but I am of the philosophy that each book in a trilogy should have a beginning, middle, and conclusion irrespective of the greater story line. This book just a beginning.

I'm not going to comment much on the philosophy but readers should be warned that it comes across as a little bit pro-fascism and pro-fanaticism though that could be because the first book is setting up the conflict. I'll have to read the entire trilogy to form a better opinion.

So, if you like creative world building and thoughtful stories this is a book you'll like.

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly deep and thought provoking fable, June 6, 2011

By 

Kavity Killer (denver, colorado United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Twisted Metal (Penrose series) (Paperback)

I read this based on the blurb from Neal Asher, but this isn't Asher-ish. Not "hard" sci fi, or space opera, or over the top action. This is more like the great classic science fiction...technology and action are there, but they take a back seat to profound sociological, political commentary and analogy. Profound because they are complex, not just bad robot, good robot. Very worth a read for sci fi fans, totally overlooked and underappreciated based on the fact that I'm just the second reviewer.