Skip to main content

Bot Wars

Bot Wars
by J. V. Kade
Dial, 2003.  356 pgs. Science Fiction.

     The very cool cover of this book (as you can see), makes one think that the book is about a war between people and robots. Actually, the war between the Bots and the people of the United Districts (formerly, the United States) is already over. As people programmed robots to do much of their manufacturing and drudge jobs, they also programmed them to be more like human beings.  Eventually the robots wanted human rights and the people kicked them out.  Into this setting comes twelve-year-old Trout (Aidan) St. Croix. He lives with his older brother Po because his father went missing during the Bot Wars. When Trout sends out a vid feed asking for help to find his dad, the wild rumpus starts. Po is arrested and Trout makes a run for the border where, with a little help from a bot named LT, he finds his father and a thriving community of people and Bots--and some who are part one, part the other. But how to save Po? Trout and his friends must do something if he wants to have any family left in the world. Bot Wars has thrills aplenty, and some hope for a sequel. It also has a whole new futuristic set of slang terms young readers may want to appropriate:  "wrenched" instead of "cool"; "geared out" instead of "freaked out"; and "split" instead of "sweet" or "rad."  Lots of fun.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Fowl Play

  Fowl Play By Kristin O'Donnell Tubb New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2024. Fiction 277 pages. Still reeling from her beloved uncle's death, Chloe Alvarez is comforted and confused when at his last will and testament reading, Uncle Will gifts her his African Grey parrot, Charlie. Charlie has a robust vocabulary and loves to make Alexa requests for her favorite songs, but when she starts saying things like, "homicide," and "cyanide," Chloe becomes convinced that Uncle Will may have met his demise by murder instead of a genetic disease, as was previously thought. Ultimately, bringing in her brother, Grammy, and Uncle Frank (and of course Charlie,) Chloe's ragtag and adoring family support her search for answers ---going on stakeouts, engaging in fast pursuits, and searching for clues. But as the suspects stack up and the mystery grows, Chole will learn that the process of death and grieving is complicated, and in the end her Uncle Will's words that, ...

If You Like...KPop Demon Hunters

KPop Demon Hunters has been one of the most talked-about movies of the summer. If you loved this movie as much as I did, you don't want the magic (or the music) to stop. Try reading these books that touch on some of the same topics and themes as the animated hit! Brick Dust and Bones By M. R. Fournet New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2023. Fiction. 247 pages. Orphaned Marius works in the family business--as their cemetery's ghost caretaker. However, Marius also moonlights as a monster hunter in order to earn the costly Mystic currency he needs to bring his mother back from the dead. As the window to bring his mother back begins to close, Marius's exploits get more and more dangerous, and he may have set his sights on a monster too big to handle on his own. Like Mira, Marius longs for familial connection, and his work as a monster hunter will satisfy the thrill of demon hunting for fans the movie. Where's Halmoni? By Julie J. Kim Seattle, WA: Little Bigfoot, 2017. Comics. W...

Review: Kareem Between

  Kareem Between By Shifa Saltagi Safadi New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2024. Fiction. 324 pages.  Kareem loves football and as he gets ready to start seventh grade he dreams of someday becoming the first Syrian American NFL player. Seventh grade is not off to a great start for Kareem, after football tryouts don't go as he had planned, his best friend moves away, and his mom returns to Syria to help bring his sick grandfather to the US for treatment. So when Austin, the quarterback and coach's son, offers to talk to his dad and get Kareem on the football team in the spring, if he will cheat and do his homework for him, Kareem agrees. Kareem really wants to fit in at school and he is desperate to find a friend, but deep down he knows that doing Austin's homework isn't the right thing to do. And to make things harder, Kareem's mom asks him to be a friend to Fadi, a Syrian Christian refugee. He knows he should stand up for Fadi and help him adjust to the new school,...