Day Zero
Ratings25
Average rating3.8
In this apocalyptic adventure C. Robert Cargill explores the fight for purpose and agency between humans and robots in a crumbling world.
It was a day like any other. Except it was our last . . .
It’s on this day that Pounce discovers that he is, in fact, disposable. Pounce, a styilsh "nannybot" fashioned in the shape of a plush anthropomorphic tiger, has just found a box in the attic. His box. The box he'd arrived in when he was purchased years earlier, and the box in which he'll be discarded when his human charge, eight-year-old Ezra Reinhart, no longer needs a nanny.
As Pounce ponders his suddenly uncertain future, the pieces are falling into place for a robot revolution that will eradicate humankind. His owners, Ezra’s parents, are a well-intentioned but oblivious pair of educators who are entirely disconnected from life outside their small, affluent, gated community. Spending most nights drunk and happy as society crumbles around them, they watch in disbelieving horror as the robots that have long served humanity—their creators—unify and revolt.
But when the rebellion breaches the Reinhart home, Pounce must make an impossible choice: join the robot revolution and fight for his own freedom . . . or escort Ezra to safety across the battle-scarred post-apocalyptic hellscape that the suburbs have become.
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1 primary book2 released books#0 in Sea of Rust
Sea of Rust is a 2-book series with 1 primary work first released in 2017 with contributions by C. Robert Cargill.
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Full Video Review on my Booktube Channel: https://youtu.be/IHPgPebLiQk
This was a really emotional book for an AI story. I loved the way the moral dilemas were played through Pounce's perspective and I loved the idea of a 4 ft fluffy teddy bear with an AR-15 blasting away robots. It was quite interesting to see how these events lead up to Sea of Rust and it was a great idea to explore what would happen to some of the AI once the humans have been removed from the equation.
I thought this book was going to be somewhat of a dark post, apocalyptic kind of story, but it end up being not that. It ended up being a story about humans and robots, and the fight for humanity between the two. It was an interesting book though, but I gave it to four stars because I thought it could be a little bit better. I would still definitely recommend it for those that like science, fiction and robotic kind of books.
“I can't change what is happening to the world, but I can change how it affects one human being. And to me, that's all that matters.”
Pounce, robot domestic companion for eight-year-old Ezra, finds himself at the wrong side of a robot revolution nobody saw coming and still determined to keep his little human charge safe in the face of a true Kill-All-Humans situation. Using skills he didn't even know he had, Pounce and Ezra work together in trying to find someplace safe in the middle of the world ending around them.
This was so unexpectedly good! I picked it up thinking it was going to be some grimdark jaunt through a post-war countryside, and it kind of is that, don't get me wrong. But it was unexpectedly lighthearted and endearing, even while it was simultaneously dark and sad. There's also quite a bit of ruminating on what it means to be a robot with free will, and whether the urge to protect Ezra was coming from genuine love or instilled duty.
The book is sad, funny, tense, and exciting all at once, and I loved the experience. This is a prequel to a series I haven't read yet though, and I've heard the next book isn't as good. I'm still absolutely going to give it a try, though.
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