The Scary Reviews

Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 688 Pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Release date: June 19, 2018
Synopsis: A thrilling adventure in a world one step away from total subjugation by machines

After long years of war, the United States has sued for peace, yielding to a brutal coalition of nations ruled by fascist machines. One quarter of the country is under foreign occupation. Manhattan has been annexed by a weird robot monarchy, and in Tennessee, a permanent peace is being delicately negotiated between the battered remnants of the U.S. government and an envoy of implacable machines.
Canadian businessman Barry Simcoe arrives in occupied Chicago days before his hotel is attacked by a rogue war machine. In the aftermath, he meets a dedicated Russian medic with the occupying army, and 19 Black Winter, a badly damaged robot. Together they stumble on a machine conspiracy to unleash a horrific plague—and learn that the fabled American resistance is not as extinct as everyone believes. Simcoe races against time to prevent the extermination of all life on the continent . . . and uncover a secret that America’s machine conquerors are desperate to keep hidden.

Review copy provided in exchange for an honest review

Months ago, when I first became aware of The Robots of Gotham I knew I had to read this book. Firstly, the cover caught my eye, so props to Chrissy Kurpeski for an excellent job with the cover art. Secondly, the synopsis grabbed my attention in a big way, I knew this was going to be one hell of an adventure. The Robots of Gotham was a bold, and disturbing glimpse into a future where machines had become self-aware. Imagine if the world of The Terminator and I Robot came true. What if Skynet wasn’t just a fun idea from a movie and machines ran our country?

Governments all over the world are now under robot rule, and only a few counties still have humans running the show. The Robots of Gotham will make your head spin. The robots were everywhere and not all of them were friendly. These robots came in a wide range of forms with an even greater range of intelligence. Many were created for the sole purpose of becoming a military war machine, while others had less sinister roles.

From the first chapter, The Robots of Gotham was action packed and the thrill ride never stopped. There were shady characters. There were alliances with characters you don’t know if you could trust. There were many sides working against each other, not just human vs. machine, and figuring out who was working with whom was tricky at best. When the main character Barry and his robot counterpart Black Winter teamed up, it made me wonder if this was the future, and when it would arrive.

There were multiple side stories in addition to the main storyline. If you love science fiction filled with robots, artificial intelligence, suspense, and excellent characters then this book will be right up your alley. Todd McAulty did a kick ass job with the details and his writing style was excellent. I was very impressed that this is his debut novel. This is the kind of book that reminds me why I love science fiction, and is now in my top 10 list for the year, and sitting high on that list. I highly recommend this book, and don’t let the 688 pages deter you, it is worth your time.

Link to purchase The Robots of Gotham

Praise For The Robots of Gotham

“The Robots of Gotham is a thrilling ride through a nuanced, post-singularity world populated by a frightening and fascinating array of smart machines. Read this and you’ll come to the same conclusion I did: The world belongs to robots, we’re just living in it.”
—Daniel H. Wilson, bestselling author of Robopocalypse and The Clockwork Dynasty

Todd McAulty, Biography-

TODD MCAULTY earned a a Ph.D. using supercomputers to solve problems involving massive amounts of data. He was a manager at the start-up that created Internet Explorer, and currently is a Director at a machine learning company. This is his first novel.