The Science Fiction Review Books,Robot and Foundation,Robots and Aliens Isaac Asimov’s Robots and Aliens Book 4: Alliance by Jerry Oltion

Isaac Asimov’s Robots and Aliens Book 4: Alliance by Jerry Oltion

Robots and Aliens Volume 2 book cover

This review will most likely contain spoilers for any previous books in the series, read at your own risk.

Fairly early in Intruder we saw that there was a third Silverside that had taken over Robot City. After an intense search Derec finally reclaimed control with the help of his friends. Now, Derec is faced with three robots without solid definitions of “human”. I think that this novel is quite a bit more philosophical in the search for what makes someone human. Not too much happens plot-wise, most of the bulk is focused on defining what is human. We do get a slightly better glimpse at the origins of the Silversides and a hint at where the series might end up toward the end.

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Isaac Asimov’s Robots and Aliens Book 1: Changeling by Stephen LeighIsaac Asimov’s Robots and Aliens Book 1: Changeling by Stephen Leigh

Robots and Aliens Volume 1 book cover

One thing I like about this book is there is a nice eight page synopsis of the whole Robot City series. Even after just reading the series, it was a nice refresher for the events leading up to Robots and Aliens. This new series involves Asimov’s challenge to the authors to describe what might happen if robots encountered an alien species. How would they treat them? How would the Three Laws apply?

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In Changeling, Stephen Leigh describes a robot model that is given a very simple definition of “intelligent life form” as an equivalent. This idea seems to work very well in this book and after several chapters we see how this experiment intersects with the Robot City plotlines. Also, we get to see Derec use the powers he was given to control Robot City. One thing that did bug me a little bit was how little of the main plotlines was advanced.