Gregg Rosenblum
Author of Revolution 19
Works by Gregg Rosenblum
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BookNook — Young Adult book reviews
Revolution 19 is so far my biggest disappointment of winter 2013 releases. I thought it was going to be AMAZING! With a great cover and a great blurb, I envisioned a crazy world thrown into war and chaos, with Terminator Transformers whooping ass left and right and a group of brave teens standing up for FREEDOM and THE FREE WORLD and THE RIGHT TO LIVE! What did I get? A book that reads very much like a lame cartoon with 12-year-old "save the world!" kids show more as the main characters.
Let's start with the world building: that's easy because there was none. I read the blurb about how robots were designed to fight human wars and then turned their weapons against the humans. I thought OMG THIS IS AWESOME! I'll get to learn all about this war, why and how humans created robots, what went wrong, maybe they got too intelligent or there was a glitch in the software, and how the robots decided to take over the world, and what steps they took, and what their end-game was..... nope. None of that. The ONLY piece of world building information we get is in one tiny paragraph in the beginning that basically reiterates the synopsis.
That was the end of the world building. After that, we just know the robots are there and accept it. No more questions answered. No more world developed. That's it.
If you're going to write a scary robots-take-over-the-world sci-fi book—the kind that people love to imagine might happen—why would you make the robots lame? This is the stuff people love to fantasize about! They love imagining extremely high-tech humanoid robots with fierce intelligence and crazy weaponry. So please explain to me why you would choose to load up your book with robots that just sound... lame?
Robots that are boxlike? They have WHEELS? Their faces are flat and featureless? Are we talking about WALL-E? Is that what we're so afraid of? When I imagine robots—especially ones that take over the world—I imagine looking into their HUMAN-LIKE eyes and seeing fierce, scary intelligence. I imagine them being scary and metallic, but also molded in the human image—not boxlike. The more similar they are to humans, the scarier the story. But instead of going that route, Revolution 19 loaded up its book with robots that are essentially big boxes on wheels.
Okay, onto the characters. I didn't care about any single character in the book. First, apparently they're teenagers:
But ALL of them act like 12-year-olds. They're all immature, make stupid decisions, and bicker over ridiculous things. Oh and Lexi "flirts" the way a girl might flirt in 6th grade.
The character development was non-existent. Each character is given a very specific personality at the beginning of the book, and they maintain it from start to finish. They don't grow, they don't change, they don't get better. Kevin is the tech geek who is miraculously some kind of computer/tech genius, despite living in the forest all his life. Anytime he seems a comm or a TV or any piece of technology he goes "OMG I HAVE TO LEARN EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS!" Cass is the sporty girl. That's about it. She's athletic, she runs fast, and any time there's any kind of sports or movement-related thing, she just dominates at it. And then there's Nick. Since Nick is the oldest, he's the "brave" one who's all self-sacrificing and has to leap into all danger (stupidly) in order to "protect his family." This results in him making loads of stupid decisions that oftentimes compromise their goal. One example:
Lexi takes Nick & Co. to the re-education center, where they think maybe their parents are being held. Lexi gives them one simple instruction: don't get too close. The area is surrounded with CPs and if they get too close, the robots will spot them and apprehend them immediately.
So Lexi says "Don't go closer, you'll get caught" about 8 times, Nick doesn't listen all 8 times, Nick gets caught and almost captured, Lexi (smartly) runs away, then when Nick sees her next, he thinks to himself:
Yeah, she abandoned you because YOU didn't listen to her and YOU got yourself caught. Did you seriously expect her to stick around and risk her life for your stupidity? [/rage] Kevin made countless stupid decisions like this that ultimately didn't help anyone. It was extremely frustrating for me to see him make bad move after bad move, and it's not like they were stupid decisions that happened to have a good outcome.. most of them were just really pointless and if anything, they jeopardized their goal.
Finally, the plot. The reason I compared Revolution 19 to a cartoon, is because it has that "kids have all the power" vibe. Robots take over the world, the poor helpless parents get captured, and only the kids can SAVE THE WORLD! Sounds like a cartoon, does it not?
And like a cartoon, this book is also riddled with happy coincidences. Any time something goes wrong, someone shows up to save the day. The kids are lost in the forest, and a random dude stumbles out who they get directions from. The kids go into a restaurant, order their food, realize they have no money and don't know how to pay, and they meet Lexi, a girl who decides to help them because she's bored. The kids are being chased by robots and have nowhere to hide, and they run into a sympathetic storeowner who lets them hide in their basement. The kids can't go around town because they don't have identity chips, and Lexi happens to know someone who can make fake ones... etc.
And before anyone gets excited, there is no romance in Revolution 19, even though it was promised in the blurb. There is a 17-year-old boy (or a 12-year-old in a 17-year-old body), and a similarly aged girl, but that's it. They kiss ONCE, randomly. But there is no romance. There is no flirting (unless you count the girl calling Nick a "rock star" a million times), there is no sexual tension, there is no love, there is no lust; there is only one silly kiss.
At the end of the day, Revolution 19 might be a book geared towards kids.. Like 12-year-olds. It has that vibe; it has characters who feel really young, it has a somewhat ridiculous plot that may appeal to daydreaming young'uns, and maybe to a 12-year-old that boy-girl relationship might seem romantic. But for your average young adult, Revolution 19 sums up to being very sub-par on all levels. If you're looking for something dangerous, dark, intense, and full of frightening robots and mind-blowing action, don't read this book. Go read Partials by Dan Wells instead. Now THAT'S a book about creepy, intelligent robots taking over the world. And it's epic. show less
Revolution 19 is so far my biggest disappointment of winter 2013 releases. I thought it was going to be AMAZING! With a great cover and a great blurb, I envisioned a crazy world thrown into war and chaos, with Terminator Transformers whooping ass left and right and a group of brave teens standing up for FREEDOM and THE FREE WORLD and THE RIGHT TO LIVE! What did I get? A book that reads very much like a lame cartoon with 12-year-old "save the world!" kids show more as the main characters.
Let's start with the world building: that's easy because there was none. I read the blurb about how robots were designed to fight human wars and then turned their weapons against the humans. I thought OMG THIS IS AWESOME! I'll get to learn all about this war, why and how humans created robots, what went wrong, maybe they got too intelligent or there was a glitch in the software, and how the robots decided to take over the world, and what steps they took, and what their end-game was..... nope. None of that. The ONLY piece of world building information we get is in one tiny paragraph in the beginning that basically reiterates the synopsis.
At first we called it system-wide malfunctions when the robots stopped fighting at exactly 2:15 P.M. Greenwich mean time, August 17, 2051. They had been designed by humans to fight our wars, but for twenty-two hours the battlefields were silent. We called it a blessing and the beginning of a new peace. Then when the robots began killing again, now targeting their human commanders, we shook our heads and called it fatal programming errors. When, a day later, the skies over cities on six continents grew dark with warships, we began to understand. And when the bombs rained down and then legions of bot footsoldiers marched into the burning ruins, killing any humans who resisted and dragged away the rest of us, we finally called it what it was: revolution.
—Revolution 19 by Gregg Rosenblum
That was the end of the world building. After that, we just know the robots are there and accept it. No more questions answered. No more world developed. That's it.
If you're going to write a scary robots-take-over-the-world sci-fi book—the kind that people love to imagine might happen—why would you make the robots lame? This is the stuff people love to fantasize about! They love imagining extremely high-tech humanoid robots with fierce intelligence and crazy weaponry. So please explain to me why you would choose to load up your book with robots that just sound... lame?
[The robot] was roughly the shape of a man, but broader, taller, more boxlike, and rolling rather than stepping.
Their faces were the same dull metal as the rest of their bodies, flat and featureless except for two rectangular openings where eyes would be.
Robots that are boxlike? They have WHEELS? Their faces are flat and featureless? Are we talking about WALL-E? Is that what we're so afraid of? When I imagine robots—especially ones that take over the world—I imagine looking into their HUMAN-LIKE eyes and seeing fierce, scary intelligence. I imagine them being scary and metallic, but also molded in the human image—not boxlike. The more similar they are to humans, the scarier the story. But instead of going that route, Revolution 19 loaded up its book with robots that are essentially big boxes on wheels.
Okay, onto the characters. I didn't care about any single character in the book. First, apparently they're teenagers:
"How old are you?" asked Mrs. Tanner.
"I'm seventeen," said Nick. "My sister is fifteen, and my brother is thirteen."
—Revolution 19 by Gregg Rosenblum
But ALL of them act like 12-year-olds. They're all immature, make stupid decisions, and bicker over ridiculous things. Oh and Lexi "flirts" the way a girl might flirt in 6th grade.
"[Kevin] hated when Nick called him 'Kid.' Like Nick was so grown up and Kevin was just a useless little child."
—Revolution 19 by Gregg Rosenblum
The character development was non-existent. Each character is given a very specific personality at the beginning of the book, and they maintain it from start to finish. They don't grow, they don't change, they don't get better. Kevin is the tech geek who is miraculously some kind of computer/tech genius, despite living in the forest all his life. Anytime he seems a comm or a TV or any piece of technology he goes "OMG I HAVE TO LEARN EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS!" Cass is the sporty girl. That's about it. She's athletic, she runs fast, and any time there's any kind of sports or movement-related thing, she just dominates at it. And then there's Nick. Since Nick is the oldest, he's the "brave" one who's all self-sacrificing and has to leap into all danger (stupidly) in order to "protect his family." This results in him making loads of stupid decisions that oftentimes compromise their goal. One example:
Lexi takes Nick & Co. to the re-education center, where they think maybe their parents are being held. Lexi gives them one simple instruction: don't get too close. The area is surrounded with CPs and if they get too close, the robots will spot them and apprehend them immediately.
"Can we get closer?" says Nick. [..]
"No," said Amanda[..]. "Come on, let's go back."
"Amanda's right," said Lexi. "Not safe."
"Come on, just a few blocks closer," said Nick. He knew it wasn't smart, that he was pressing his luck, but they were here now, and he had to get a closer look.
[..]
"I need to get closer." [Nick] took a step toward the checkpoint.
Lexi grabbed his arm. "No, you idiot!" she hissed.
"I need to look!" Nick said, too loudly, yanking his arm away.
[..]
The robot, with a graceful burst of speed, glided over the kids' heads and then hovered in front of them on the sidewalk. "YOU WILL HALT AND RECEIVE YOUR INFRACTION, OR YOU WILL BE DETAI—" The robot cut itself off mid-word and began pulsing a bright red. "YOU ARE LACKING IDENTIFICATION IMPLANTS. REMAIN HERE AND YOU WILL BE PEACEFULLY DETAINED."
—Revolution 19 by Gregg Rosenblum
So Lexi says "Don't go closer, you'll get caught" about 8 times, Nick doesn't listen all 8 times, Nick gets caught and almost captured, Lexi (smartly) runs away, then when Nick sees her next, he thinks to himself:
He grinned back at her, feeling his cheeks flush, but then reminded himself, as he broke into a jog toward the door, that Lexi and Amanda had abandoned them back at the re-education center.
—Revolution 19 by Gregg Rosenblum
Yeah, she abandoned you because YOU didn't listen to her and YOU got yourself caught. Did you seriously expect her to stick around and risk her life for your stupidity? [/rage] Kevin made countless stupid decisions like this that ultimately didn't help anyone. It was extremely frustrating for me to see him make bad move after bad move, and it's not like they were stupid decisions that happened to have a good outcome.. most of them were just really pointless and if anything, they jeopardized their goal.
Finally, the plot. The reason I compared Revolution 19 to a cartoon, is because it has that "kids have all the power" vibe. Robots take over the world, the poor helpless parents get captured, and only the kids can SAVE THE WORLD! Sounds like a cartoon, does it not?
And like a cartoon, this book is also riddled with happy coincidences. Any time something goes wrong, someone shows up to save the day. The kids are lost in the forest, and a random dude stumbles out who they get directions from. The kids go into a restaurant, order their food, realize they have no money and don't know how to pay, and they meet Lexi, a girl who decides to help them because she's bored. The kids are being chased by robots and have nowhere to hide, and they run into a sympathetic storeowner who lets them hide in their basement. The kids can't go around town because they don't have identity chips, and Lexi happens to know someone who can make fake ones... etc.
And before anyone gets excited, there is no romance in Revolution 19, even though it was promised in the blurb. There is a 17-year-old boy (or a 12-year-old in a 17-year-old body), and a similarly aged girl, but that's it. They kiss ONCE, randomly. But there is no romance. There is no flirting (unless you count the girl calling Nick a "rock star" a million times), there is no sexual tension, there is no love, there is no lust; there is only one silly kiss.
"You broke out?" said Lexi. "And made it across town again?" She smiled. "Now you're just trying to impress me."
—Revolution 19 by Gregg Rosenblum
At the end of the day, Revolution 19 might be a book geared towards kids.. Like 12-year-olds. It has that vibe; it has characters who feel really young, it has a somewhat ridiculous plot that may appeal to daydreaming young'uns, and maybe to a 12-year-old that boy-girl relationship might seem romantic. But for your average young adult, Revolution 19 sums up to being very sub-par on all levels. If you're looking for something dangerous, dark, intense, and full of frightening robots and mind-blowing action, don't read this book. Go read Partials by Dan Wells instead. Now THAT'S a book about creepy, intelligent robots taking over the world. And it's epic. show less
Although the start was easy to get into, I found that the lack of world-building really dragged this book down and made it steadily more difficult to get into.
There is no explanation for anything that the characters did. Half of the people who helped the main characters didn't need to, as it would've put them and their families in grave danger. For what? These kids didn't do anything noteworthy. They aren't anything special.
I find it hard to believe that they weren't reported the moment show more they entered the diner at the start, and that everyone was having such a serious conversation at the table, surrounded by other customers. This is just one of many things that happened in this book that just doesn't make sense. It's like the author quickly thought of something on the fly and used it without considering whether it would actually work in real life if this kind of thing happened.
All in all, this book felt incredibly rushed. No time was taken to execute the plot in a slower manner to give the readers some back story. It's written in a way where you know there's going to be a sequel. You don't even have to check Goodreads to know.
If you're interested in this book, I sincerely implore you to pick it up from your local library, because unfortunately it is a waste of money. show less
There is no explanation for anything that the characters did. Half of the people who helped the main characters didn't need to, as it would've put them and their families in grave danger. For what? These kids didn't do anything noteworthy. They aren't anything special.
I find it hard to believe that they weren't reported the moment show more they entered the diner at the start, and that everyone was having such a serious conversation at the table, surrounded by other customers. This is just one of many things that happened in this book that just doesn't make sense. It's like the author quickly thought of something on the fly and used it without considering whether it would actually work in real life if this kind of thing happened.
All in all, this book felt incredibly rushed. No time was taken to execute the plot in a slower manner to give the readers some back story. It's written in a way where you know there's going to be a sequel. You don't even have to check Goodreads to know.
If you're interested in this book, I sincerely implore you to pick it up from your local library, because unfortunately it is a waste of money. show less
I started this with image a Terminator like story. Robots taking over, people living like basically captives, or on the run, I was expecting one heck of a thrill ride.
This starts out with a bang. Robots hunting people and killing them. Families were torn apart. The 3 siblings, Cass, Nick and Kevin have to work together so help save their parents that have been taken by the bots.
Kevin is the youngest brother, and is a fantastic tech-head. He was such a cute kid, and he proved himself to be show more quite valuable. I really enjoyed him. Cass is the only girl, and she is one tough girl and likable. The oldest brother Nick, was sort of a hot head, going into trouble with his eyes shut. But I will give him some credit, he got himself out it fairly well. Along the way the met a few kids close to their age in the city who I thought were great. Lexi and Farryn. There was a little spark of romance between Lexi and Nick as well as Farryn and Cass, but it was never really a big role, and that was okay with me.
The world building was interesting enough and the take on the robots was the one thing that kept me reading. The city where the people lived with the robots seemed like any other, people working, shopping and going about their business, just under the scrutiny of the robots. There were some things I expected to happen and they did, but there were also some things that took place that I didn’t see coming.
Overall this was a pretty good book even though it wasn’t the thrill ride that I was looking for. The ending definitely got my attention, especially the last few pages. With the new “person” that came into play, I will be picking up the second book to see where it leads. I say give this one a try, and if you are a fan of science fiction you will probably devour this. show less
This starts out with a bang. Robots hunting people and killing them. Families were torn apart. The 3 siblings, Cass, Nick and Kevin have to work together so help save their parents that have been taken by the bots.
Kevin is the youngest brother, and is a fantastic tech-head. He was such a cute kid, and he proved himself to be show more quite valuable. I really enjoyed him. Cass is the only girl, and she is one tough girl and likable. The oldest brother Nick, was sort of a hot head, going into trouble with his eyes shut. But I will give him some credit, he got himself out it fairly well. Along the way the met a few kids close to their age in the city who I thought were great. Lexi and Farryn. There was a little spark of romance between Lexi and Nick as well as Farryn and Cass, but it was never really a big role, and that was okay with me.
The world building was interesting enough and the take on the robots was the one thing that kept me reading. The city where the people lived with the robots seemed like any other, people working, shopping and going about their business, just under the scrutiny of the robots. There were some things I expected to happen and they did, but there were also some things that took place that I didn’t see coming.
Overall this was a pretty good book even though it wasn’t the thrill ride that I was looking for. The ending definitely got my attention, especially the last few pages. With the new “person” that came into play, I will be picking up the second book to see where it leads. I say give this one a try, and if you are a fan of science fiction you will probably devour this. show less
One reason I had to read this book is because it reminded me of Terminator and my husband is a MAJOR fanatic of Terminator. I told my husband about it and of course he was interested in it so he told me to read it and then let him what it was about. I am glad about that fact that it is not at all exactly like Terminator. It's certainly has it own appeal that I think anyone can enjoy.
Once again, the human race is enslaved by robots. The robots are not killing humans (well technically there show more are, but I will go into that later) instead, they are forcing the humans to become perfect. No cussing, no fighting, everyone works, all kids go to school the humans are forced to watch the wars they created and to learn not to make those mistakes again. I really liked that yes the robots had a good idea for peace. The minute a human went out of control they were sent to a detention center where they taught the rules. If they don't comply then, bye-bye human.
The love interest is one that I expected yet went further than what I thought. Even those these barely had time for each other, I loved the loyalty they created. She risked everything for an outsider barely knowing him. And he in returned help all that he can. I liked that they both fought for what they believe in. They even had the parents help. Great friendship bonds are form that can last a lifetime.
Revolution 19 is an great story of a perfect city controlled by machines. Machines forcing and mandating every single rule without leniency. Scenes that the author created gave me goosebumps with the way the machines controlled humans. It's just creepy!! If you want a great read sure to raise the hairs on your neck, read Revolution 19. show less
Once again, the human race is enslaved by robots. The robots are not killing humans (well technically there show more are, but I will go into that later) instead, they are forcing the humans to become perfect. No cussing, no fighting, everyone works, all kids go to school the humans are forced to watch the wars they created and to learn not to make those mistakes again. I really liked that yes the robots had a good idea for peace. The minute a human went out of control they were sent to a detention center where they taught the rules. If they don't comply then, bye-bye human.
The love interest is one that I expected yet went further than what I thought. Even those these barely had time for each other, I loved the loyalty they created. She risked everything for an outsider barely knowing him. And he in returned help all that he can. I liked that they both fought for what they believe in. They even had the parents help. Great friendship bonds are form that can last a lifetime.
Revolution 19 is an great story of a perfect city controlled by machines. Machines forcing and mandating every single rule without leniency. Scenes that the author created gave me goosebumps with the way the machines controlled humans. It's just creepy!! If you want a great read sure to raise the hairs on your neck, read Revolution 19. show less
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