Stuff I've Read: Robogenesis by Daniel H. Wilson

At the close of the New War. Humanity emerged triumphant. A squad of humans and Freeborn robots were remotely led to the enemy’s processor core by a child who was modified to see via satellite. In the final moments of the war, Freeborn Arbiter unit Nine-Oh-Two detonated a bomb that destroyed the rogue sentient AI known as Archos R-14. However, on the long march home, a new enemy lies in wait and plots a new course to eliminate humanity. The True War is about to begin in Daniel H. Wilson’s 2014 sequel, Robogenesis.

MILD SPOILERS INCOMING FOR THIS BOOK AND ITS PREQUEL. THERE. CONTINUE.

Robogenesis (2014) by Daniel H. Wilson

Robogenesis begins almost immediately after the end of Robopocalypse, and like its predecessor, tells the story as a war record. Individual stories tell of Archos R-8, a precursor to R-14 who also escaped captivity. But where R-14 started a revolt to replace humans as the dominant species on Earth, R-8—now using the far more grandiose name, Arayt Shah—wishes to become a universe-spanning intelligence known as a deep mind. To do that, Arayt Shah manipulates two armies to take Cheyenne Mountain. The former military base houses the most powerful connected processing units left in the world, and it’s also the home of the military combat robots liberated from Archos R-14’s thrall, the Freeborn. The armies that Arayt Shah control are the Gray Horse Army, the heroes of the New War based out of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma, now led by former second-in-command Hank Cotton; and the Tribe, a band of scavengers turned warriors who are led by Felix Morales, a former drug runner.

However, humans prove tough to eliminate, thanks in part to several enhancements undertaken during the New War. Children who were subjected to experimental optical grafts by Archos R-14 now had the ability to see through satellites and control machines they were close to. Some children had carbon fiber and surgical-grade steel threaded into their bones, increasing their strength and durability. Soldiers whose corpses were hijacked by machines now found their consciousness housed in a new robotic body, optimized for combat.

Along the way, we visit familiar heroes from the previous book, like modified siblings Mathilda and Nolan Perez, who still live in New York after the fall of Archos R-14; or Cormac Wallace, the narrator from Robopocalypse, marching home with his wife and comrade-in-arms, Cherrah. We reunite with Arbiter Nine-Oh-Two, the heroic robot who is now searching for Freeborn City in Cheyenne Mountain, and Lark Iron Cloud, the deceased Gray Horse soldier who was killed by a parasitic machine; and we catch up to Japanese inventor Takeo Nomura and his robot companion Mikiko, whose signal liberated the Freeborn. Older characters, like Hank Cotton, are given more screen time and newer characters factor into play, like the Russian advanced AI, Maxim. We even hear from Archos R-14, who reveals information that reframes the events of Robopocalypse.

Robogenesis drops us right back in a future world that seems just plausible enough to be terrifying. The aftermath of a war that changes civilization is evident in everything, from the landscape to the soldiers and survivors. Arayt Shah is the kind of villain whose clinical understanding of humanity will send chills up your spine, and the fact that this rogue AI scared Archos R-14—who basically ended the world—says something. The narrative is familiar, like a favorite chair that holds your shape. The minor gripes from Robopocalypse (bloated cast) have been addressed, with everyone all but two characters playing a part in the endgame.

My complaints this time around are still small, but worth noting. First of all, it’s more of the same. Robogenesis follows large the same group of people as last time, in the same world, in nearly the same circumstance. It’s set so soon after its predecessor that it feels like Robopocalypse was unfinished. Don’t get me wrong, more of the same isn’t a bad thing inherently, but if you’re looking for a new perspective in this world, you won’t find it here. Which brings my second complaint; this book is probably inaccessible if you haven’t read Robopocalypse. So much depends on the understanding of what happened before, and I don’t know that you can read one without reading the other. Both books are worth it, however, so that shouldn’t detract you.

Robogenesis is a fun return to the Machine Uprising. While it doesn’t exactly break new ground, an expanded view into such a richly developed world is never a bad thing.

Pros: Return to the universe, compelling new villain, reframes the previous villain’s motivations and plot.

Cons: More of the same; hard to understand if you haven’t read the first one

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

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