The Wild Robot and The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 279

Publisher: Bonnier Zaffre 

Released: 2nd of January 2018 

When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is alone on a remote, wild island. Why is she there? Where did she come from? And, most important, how will she survive in her harsh surroundings? Roz's only hope is to learn from the island's hostile animal inhabitants. When she tries to care for an orphaned gosling, the other animals finally decide to help, and the island starts to feel like home. Until one day, the robot's mysterious past comes back to haunt her....

Pages: 288
Publisher: Bonnier Zaffre
Released: 9th of August 2018

Shipwrecked on a remote, wild island, Robot Roz learned from the unwelcoming animal inhabitants and adapted to her surroundings--but can she survive the challenges of the civilized world and find her way home to Brightbill and the island?

What I Have to Say 

(slight spoilers for The Wild Robot in the first two paragraphs, spoilers for both in the third)

So this has got to be both the weirdest book I have ever read and the most fun I have had in a long time. It starts with a robot massacre with otters playing with a severed robot head complete with pictures. It goes on to see Roz adopt a gosling (after accidentally killing it's family) a fact that is never addressed even after he finds out he's adopted. Roz talks to animals, climbs up and down cliffs and builds a house for her and her adopted baby goose to live in. I thought this would a kind of cute story about a robot learning to adapt to an environment with no humans but instead it 

was this strange, quite disturbing story of inter-species adoption and mass death. 

I'm being way too harsh. It's really fun to joke about this book, but actually I think it would be great for a kid. I think they would love Roz and Brightbill and really engage with their adventures. I did wonder while reading it whether the death, both of the robots at the start and of various animals and robots throughout the book might be a bit much, so maybe read it before giving it to your kid. But really, it would be fun for a kid to read on their own or with an adult. Plus it's great fun for adults to read and laugh at, sorry, but I gave my friends and running commentary as I read it and enjoyed it immensely. 

It was also very philosophical. It really looked deeply into what it would be like for a robot to learn how to live away from civilisation, how the AI would develop for self-preservation. The second book goes even deeper into the issue, showing Roz missing her family on her island and trying to get back there. Though it was a lot slower than the first book. It seemed really strange to me that Roz was being so slow at planning her escape. I definitely preferred the first book. 

As I said, a great book for early readers or reading aloud with a child, fun to laugh about if you're an adult.

My thanks go to Netgalley and Bonnier Zaffre for providing me with this copy for review. 

Defy The Stars by Claudia Gray

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 480

Publisher: Hot Key Books
Released: 1st of April 2017 

Noemi is a young and fearless soldier of Genesis, a colony planet of a dying Earth. But the citizens of Genesis are rising up - they know that Earth's settlers will only destroy this planet the way they destroyed their own. And so a terrible war has begun.

When Noemi meets Abel, one of Earth's robotic mech warriors, she realizes that Abel himself may provide the key to Genesis' salvation. Abel is bound by his programming to obey her - even though her plan could result in his destruction. But Abel is no ordinary mech. He's a unique prototype, one with greater intelligence, skill and strength than any other. More than that, he has begun to develop emotions, a personality and even dreams. Noemi begins to realise that if Abel is less than human, he is more than a machine. If she destroys him, is it murder? And can a cold-blooded murder be redeemed by the protection of a world?

Stranded together in space, they go on a whirlwind adventure through Earth's various colony worlds, alongside the countless Vagabonds who have given up planetary life altogether and sail forever between the stars. Each step brings them closer - both to each other and to the terrible decision Noemi will have to make about her world's fate, and Abel's. 

What I Have to Say 

I've really liked Claudia Gray's writing before, but this book just fell short for me. I haven't really been in the mood to read Sci-fi lately, so that could account for some what I found boring about this book, but I don't think that's all. I found the romance to be basically non-existent to be honest. Or at least one sided. I could kind of see it happening with Abel, in his own way of not knowing why he does the things he does, but I just didn't see anything on Noemi's side until the very end. 

The look at immigration was something that was interesting about this book Noemi comes from Genesis, a world that is fighting for it's independence from Earth in order to keep their planet from being destroyed and used up in the same way that Earth and the planets under it's control are being. But as Noemi sees more of the universe and what is happening in and around the other planets, she has to rethink her opinions. 

It was a really good look at the ramifications of immigration as well as the reasons why we should be sensitive to the plight of refuges. 

Even though I didn't get on well with this book, for those reasons, I do think this is a good one to read. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Hot Key Books for providing me with this copy for review.