What a captivating Sci-Fi book with some amazing illustrations. I found this book just this year but I never found the time to read until now. I loved the world which has the same classic vibes as the Planet of Apes but with Robots. When you see what we have been exposed to these last few years, I think that Robota could be a great movie to watch. Anyway, it's really worth reading.

Beautiful illustrations, but the story was not good. It reminded me of a lot of those really bad self-published stories.

'Robota' by artist Doug Chiang with text by Orson Scott Card is a book of beautiful illustrations that kind of feels like a movie pitch.

In a weird world ruled by robots, a man named Caps keeps waking up in a regeneration chamber. He forgets what happened before and keeps reliving things. He decides to overthrow the robots and assembles a motley crew of beings, including Juomes, a kind of ape/yeti creature, and a small monkey-like creature named Rend. There are others, and Caps will need them because the head robot Kaantur-Set has a secret about Caps.

Included are some additional art for the film pitch with some of the characters looking like familiar actors. There are also some pages from a proposed comic book.

It's kind of a space epic in the style of Burroughs. I liked the first 2/3 of it, then I felt like the story fell apart a bit. Regardless, the story is only here to show off the art, and the full color paintings are really nice. This gets a 3 for story and a 4 for art.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Dover Publications and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

This was decent, not great. I was surprised to find out it was put out in 2003 because it really had a kind of early 90's feel to it (and not in a good way). I liked the art better than the writing. The story seemed "abridged", like it wanted to be something between a graphic novel and a regular novel.

This is the kind of book I wish I had as a child. I'm a sucker for robots. It's written in an easy to understand way with small chapters while still feeling complex enough as to not be patronizing. The artwork in it is beautiful, very reminiscent of the designs from the Star Wars prequels. The whole idea of the world as explained in the prologue is intriguing. The general feel reminded me of Dinotopia, with a lost world inhabited by humans coexisting with another species.

Quick Preface, The title credits for this work are as follows:
• Story & Art = Doug Chiang
• Text = Orson Scott Card

Now, it's been quite some time since I read anything that Card wrote, but I remember his prose being better?

The art, on the other hand, is 5*, A++ work. Simply beautiful. And the story overall isn't bad (if kind of cliche).

The way it's all put together, though? Eh... not great, to say the least. The second star is given almost entirely on the merits of the art alone.

If you want to see some really cool sci-fi art? Go for it. But be advised that the prose is forced in tone and rushed in pacing.

I went to the library to return a book and nearly ran smack into a book called Robota. It looked so intriguing that I picked it up on the spot and ran out into the rain with it. The illustrations are absolutely magnificent, full of sailing ships and spaceships and robots and dinosaurs and giant monkeys. Really, I didn’t see how one could possibly go wrong with that combination. The plot was a little shaky, particularly at the end, but I can’t say too much against the book, with such illustrations.

Full review to come!