Rob Dircks

Despite the fact that this is a post-apocalyptic story in which the few remaining humans are kept in captivity, this is a feel-good Science Fiction novel.

The lightness in tone comes mainly from the innocence and empathy of the main character, Heyou, a Servile Unit (an A.I. in a humanish body) whose purpose is the care and feeding of humans in their compound.

Heyou, the Wrong Unit of the title, is picked up by mistake and thrust into an epic quest to save humanity.

This involves a very long show more walk with a very small child. As Heyou trudges across the planet his empathy for humans and his own sense of identity grows with each challenge that he overcomes. Eventually, he has to face the biggest challenge of all, freeing humanity by bringing down Core, the A.I. who made him.

Rob Dircks is both author and narrator of this novel and he does both jobs with a deft touch and a nuanced understanding of dialogue and interior monologues.

This book is packed with clever ideas and finds new twists on the A.I. – menace-to-humanity trope but its strength comes from the gradual growth of Heyou into a fully rounded person.

Pick this one up if you want a light, fast, upbeat read. show less

This book was a pure joy to listen to. I enjoyed every minute of it. Paper Forest was the perfect character to lead me through this near future scifi tale. She’s blessed with caring family & friends even as she grows up in one of the poorest areas, working in a giant landfill. She and her sisters (Rock and Scissors, and yes, they are triplets) each have different talents and Paper’s is her fascination with rockets and Mars. This causes several model rocket mishaps, much to Duggie’s show more amusement (Paper’s best friend). Everyone in the Fill watches the game show You’re Going To Mars, the entertainment child of trillionaire Zach Larson.

Then a magical thing happens. People have conspired to get Paper on that show because they believe in her, love her, and want a champion of the Fill. The Gitanos, a ruthless family that owns and runs the Fills around the world, have near-slavery multi-generational contracts with the inhabitants of the Fills. The horrible living and working conditions are unknown to outsiders.

There is so much well placed humor in this story. Sometimes it’s used to lighten a moment, sometimes just to give some snark, and then sometimes to make a serious point. Paper is great with her snark. It’s just the right amount and I never got tired of hearing her thoughts on everything.

The other contestants on the show were fun too. Aurora stands out because of all her sass but also because she’s both needy and distrusting all at the same time. She’s one of those celebrity stars known for her music and not her math or engineering skills. The real astronauts that have been training for years for this Mars trip aren’t too thrilled about taking along some bratty contestant winner, whoever that turns out to be. Astronaut Dan Daniels sure isn’t happy and he lets everyone know it.

The suspense winds up and one contestant after another is dropped from the competition. I loved that it wasn’t a bad thing for everyone (in fact someone wins a pet store! Ha! What a consolation prize!). There’s also more humor as the would be astronauts learn about astronaut life, like all those close living arrangements…. when you are doing everything. I mean everything!

Paper has some scary moments but I love how Jane does her best again and again to keep Paper in the game. The Gitanos are just one hurdle. There are others that don’t want a private organization successfully setting down on Mars. Perhaps there is something there we don’t expect after all.

This story gave me one fist-bump moment after another. I was verbally cheering Paper on at times, much to the amusement of people around me. You go Paper! The ending has a few sad moments and some great want to the hug everyone moments. Honestly, this has been one my favorite books for the year. 5/5 stars.

The Narration: Khristine Hvam did an amazing job. She is Paper Forest. I also applaud her ability to make all three sisters sound closely related but to also give each a distinct voice, mostly through attitude. Her male voices are spot on too. She had the perfect older male voice for Zach Larson. Her sass for Aurora was just as I pictured it. The recording quality was top notch. Excellent all around. 5/5 stars. show less

A charming and funny post-apocalypse story of a robot transported across the world with a newborn in order to save the human race.

Humanity lives in a single large geographic area, walled in and provided for by the all-seeing CORE. They've been gathered there for their own "safety", and towards that end CORE makes all their decisions, such as occupation, marriage partner, and childbearing times. Humans yearn to escape, but from birth they are implanted with permanent location beacons. They show more are served by various types of robots, who do most of the work. Hey-oo (not his proper name, but what he's called by the humans he serves) likes his humans and finds them amusing. He's a good-natured sort, tends to think a lot and has deeper and deeper feelings as the years go by. The one sense he doesn't have is taste, which he covets. One day he is sent to CORE for a minor repair and comes back online to find in the room with him an identical unit: the one which has been smuggled in by rebels to be transported somewhere else on earth with a pre-implant child in order to find the mysterious ICEMAN, who will free humanity. In the confusion, Hey-oo is sent instead. Hey-oo is nothing if not philosophical, although terrified at this point, and he does he best to follow the half map thrust at him in the transporter chamber. And so years go by, as the child grows and the two walk into the unknown, determined to free humananity.

Charming, funny, and hopeful, as the two find a long-wrecked world and despair of fulfilling their mission. Told mostly in first person by Hey-oo, a synthetic being more human than many of us, and his unique insights and his upbringing of Wah (this is the child's name, since he cried so much as an infant) is delightful. Probably not for young YAs because of some fairly explicit answers to Wah's questions of where he came from. But older teens and certainly adults will enjoy this immensely. show less

Heyoo, an autonomous servile unit housed in a bipedal chassis, was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Now he’s in the middle of nowhere with a most cumbersome, demanding package, one that could save humanity. Heyoo rewrites his mission to include getting the package to the indicated place, even if it takes a very long time. What Heyoo finds there is unexpected…. and rather foul-mouthed.

This was a very fun piece of science fiction! Don’t be fooled by the rather bland cover art, this show more story is full of humor, adventure, and a quest to save humanity. Heyoo is an interesting character, being a mobile AI unit that is now on his own. He likes humans, but he doesn’t really understand them. Now out in the middle of nowhere with a rather needy package, he has a lot of time to rewrite some of his programs to make him adaptable to the demands of this new adventure.

While Heyoo is certainly the star of the book, there’s plenty of other interesting characters. Of course Wa is central to the storyline. He’s proof that humans can get rather attached to their AI units as well. Brick was a great addition. She provides the much needed human history and also the link to the future of humanity. As more humans and at least one other AI servile unit (Arch, Sarah, Oscar, Tener) are brought into the storyline, the plan to free humanity becomes clear.

There’s plenty of humor mixed in, keeping the story light and fun. It also moves along at a good clip, so I never got bored even when there was lengthy travel going on. The storyline takes place over many years. As such, our hero Heyoo gets a little beat up. I found the story especially endearing in how Heyoo’s friends came to care for him. All together, it’s a fun, humorous story with a touch sentimentality.

I received a free copy of this audiobook.

Narration: Rob Dircks did a really good job. I’m always a bit concerned when I see that an author has narrated their own work, because not every writer can narrate well. However, that was not something I had to worry about with Dircks. His performance was great, having distinct character voices and a few effects that enhanced the audiobook experience. I especially liked his accent for Brick and her wonderful endearments for people. show less