Subject: "Robots in Time" series by William F. Wu

From: [email-masked] ()
Date: 10 Mar 94 01:18:43 GMT

ISAAC ASIMOV'S ROBOTS IN TIME: PREDATOR by William F. Wu
          AvoNova, ISBN 0-380-76510-1, April 1993, 244pp, US$4.99
          ISAAC ASIMOV'S ROBOTS IN TIME: MARAUDER by William F. Wu
           AvoNova, ISBN 0-380-76511-X, July 1993, 243pp, US$4.99
          ISAAC ASIMOV'S ROBOTS IN TIME: WARRIOR by William F. Wu
             AvoNova, ISBN 0-380-76512-8, 1993, 243pp, US$4.99
          ISAAC ASIMOV'S ROBOTS IN TIME: DICTATOR by William F. Wu
           AvoNova, ISBN 0-380-76514-4, Feb 1994, 230pp, US$4.99
                     A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		      Copyright 1994 Evelyn C. Leeper

     These are the first four of a (probably) six-book series.  The basic
premise (revealed in detail in the first book and recapped in a briefing to
the main characters at the beginning of each of the subsequent volumes) is
that a scientist has created a "gestalt robot" made up of six component
robots which somehow merge to form one "super-robot."  This robot starts
having problems related to the interaction of its gestalt parts.  After
several of these robots fail, one decides it must shut itself down to
prevent harm from coming to humans because of its problems.  It gets a
scientist to split it into its six component parts (each a completely
functional robot) and sends these parts back in time, miniaturizing them as
part of the process.  (How?  Well, there is some attempt at explaining this
in the first volume, but let's just say it's technobabble.)  The first part
went to the Cretaceous; the team sent back to recover it to try to solve the
malfunction doesn't find out until the end of the book that the other parts
went to different times and places.  (This is not exactly a spoiler, since
the reader knows there are more volumes to come.)  The second went to 1600's
Jamaica during the time of Sir Henry Morgan, the third went to Roman Germany
during the First or Second Century, and the fourth went to Moscow in 1941.
After a while, though, the miniaturization wears off and the component
robots regain their full size.  Then their programming forces them to act in
accordance with Asimov's Three Laws, trying to protect humans from harm and
therefore changing history.  What's more, if they survive back to the time
of their departure, they explode "with nuclear force" (more technobabble).

     In DICTATOR, for example, our team hears of a nuclear explosion in
Moscow (why haven't all the explosions already happened, and why is
everything unchanged?) and goes back to retrieve number four from World War
II Moscow.  They have adventures, accomplish their mission (this is a
surprise?), give a moralizing little speech about learning from history, and
are told to go to Kublai Khan's China for number five.  Definitely a popcorn
book, requiring no intellectual investment or offering much beyond "time
travelers coping with another age."  (The questions I mentioned a couple of
sentences ago are not dealt with at all.)  If you like this sort of thing,
this is the sort of thing you will like.

     Oh, this book also "features a database of fantastic illustrations by
award-winning computer artist Matt Elson."  I assume that "fantastic" hears
means "containing fantasy elements" rather than "extraordinary," since I
found them fairly uninspired computer art.  The whole thing is packaged by
Byron Preiss Publications, which explains why the books seem more "product"
than "book"--a share-cropped world in a series.

%T      Predator
%A      William F. Wu
%C      New York
%D      April 1993
%I      AvoNova
%O      paperback, US$4.99
%G      ISBN 0-380-76510-1
%P      244pp
%S      Isaac Asimov's Robots in Time
%V      1
%T      Marauder
%A      William F. Wu
%C      New York
%D      July 1993
%I      AvoNova
%O      paperback, US$4.99
%G      ISBN 0-380-76511-X
%P      243pp
%S      Isaac Asimov's Robots in Time
%V      2
%T      Warrior
%A      William F. Wu
%C      New York
%D      1993
%I      AvoNova
%O      paperback, US$4.99
%G      ISBN 0-380-76512-8
%P      243pp
%S      Isaac Asimov's Robots in Time
%V      3
%T      Dictator
%A      William F. Wu
%C      New York
%D      February 1994
%I      AvoNova
%O      paperback, US$4.99
%G      ISBN 0-380-76510-1
%P      230pp
%S      Isaac Asimov's Robots in Time
%V      4

-- 
Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | [email-masked] / [email-masked]

"Remember, high-tech means breaks down next week, while cutting edge means
breaks down this afternoon.  -Bruce Sterling