Book Review:Isaac Asimov’s Caliban, by Roger MacBride Allen

Isaac Asimov’s Caliban by Roger MacBride Allen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I haven’t read a really good sci-fiction book for a long time and this one is definitely top of the line! Having grown up on the early I-Robot and other novels of the 50’s and followed Asimov’s work as a fan for years, I was glad to read a book that could still bring back the intrigue and interest of complex humanoid robotics of that earlier era. The real question within the book is still very appropriate for our own times: What will happen when one day we create a robot with a brain complex enough to think on the same levels that we do and we then let that robot do whatever it wants without the restrictions of Asimov’s three Laws of Robotics. With Caliban we get to explore that idea both from the perspective of humans as well as from the brain of the super thinking robot, Caliban. We also get to think about what happens to human societies when they either become completely dependent or independent of robot servants and slaves. The clash of the two human cultures, the threat of a planetary ecological collapse and the hunt for a murderous rogue robot all play out well in this fast moving, very thoughtful novel. I am hopeful of reading more of author MacBride Allen’s works. Enjoy a fast well written read!

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