FALL OF THE ROBOTS

A robot faces an existential threat to its kind.

This sequel to The Last Human (2019) looks at the world 30 years after a robot uprising drove humans into hiding and just months after a group of robots encountered a tween girl named Emma. XR, the robot narrator, explains that humans all over the world emerged from their bunkers and rebuilt settlements in cooperation with robots. But some people haven’t forgiven the past: An insurgent group called the Machine Breakers are bent on revenge, tyranny, and the destruction of all robots “and any human who gives them aid.” The Machine Breakers’ leader, a woman named Talin, turns off the link enabling robots to function and to connect with each other. And then, the group takes Emma’s parents prisoner. XR and Emma set out with two robot companions and Keller, a human boy, to find and infiltrate the massive offshore digitally camouflaged Fortress in which Talin and her followers are hiding. XR’s compact sentences and analytical viewpoint (often explained in binary adjectives) offer a convincing, often amusing, robot perspective. The robots’ hilarious interpretation of Emma’s flirtatious behavior toward Keller, robot Ceeron’s attempt to master joke-telling, and robot SkD’s emoji communications provide comic relief. The mission that unseats Talin and confirms human commitment to peace is suitably thrilling, neatly choreographed, and without serious bloodshed. Human characters are minimally described and sometimes racially ambiguous. Final art not seen.

Exciting and cinematic.