BATTLE OF THE BOTS

Since George Gearing uncovered Dr. Micron’s sinister plan to turn robots into killers and control the minds of the unsuspecting citizens of Terabyte Heights (Lots of Bots, 2015), an “anti-robot movement” has taken over the town.

While personal bots are being abandoned by the hundreds at Uncle Otto’s junkyard, George remains holed up in the Secret Mercury Lab, working furiously to bring his trapped parents back from the digital world. Unfortunately, George is stumped. When an irresistible offer for help comes from a criminal mastermind—the one man on Earth George knows can’t be trusted—he finds himself caught up in another techno-battle that may very well cost him the one thing he wants most in the world. Fans of the Robots Rule series will enjoy their reunions with a familiar cast of characters, human and android alike. Jackbot, George’s personal robot, and his lady love bot, Cookie, continue to provide comic relief. Early on in the novel, readers will empathize with an exhausted 11-year-old forgoing sleep and the company of his best friend in an effort to put his family back together. Unfortunately, the parents that George so desperately longs to rescue again remain disappointingly one-dimensional, and their plotline gets lost as the action shifts to Dr. Micron’s latest quest for world domination.

A reliable-enough helping for Robots Rule readers.