Official Review: Re-Wired by Greg Dragon

[ALynnPowers]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Re-Wired" by Greg Dragon.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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How do you turn down a book written by an author with a name as awesome as Greg Dragon? Add on the fact that the book is a relatively short, fast-paced, futuristic science fiction novel about robots, and you've already got the potential for a great story.

Re-Wired tells the story of Brad, a college student with an interest in robotics, despite his parents' desires for him to follow in his father's footsteps and become a doctor. When he is given an assignment in his robotics class to design and program his own android, Brad sees this as his big chance to show everyone his skills for innovative technology. This assignment becomes his obsession, especially after a failed opportunity at a romantic relationship. Brad devotes his life and his finances to building the most advanced, unrestrained, free-thinking, independent android, mostly so that he can have someone to love and support him unconditionally.

His creation is almost complete; all he needs is skin. But only the best skin in the world is good enough for Tricia, his near-perfect android. In exchange for top-grade skin imported from Japan, Brad becomes a test subject for a new drug. Finally able to complete his robot, Brad's life begins to take off as the drugs give him a major confidence boost. However, there are other side effects as well. Tricia can see the changes in Brad, and now it's her turn to help him.

As I read this book, my opinions went up and down. Oftentimes, I wanted to reach into the story and slap Brad around for a while. He was almost always childish and just simply infuriating. Other times I felt bad for him and sympathized with the rough hand in life that he had been dealt. Tricia, the android, was probably my favorite character due to her innocence and curiosity about the world; it was much easier to sympathize with her than with Brad. Although half of the characters in this book were not even human, I still found them all to be well-portrayed and believable.

Without giving anything away, I will only say that there was a surprise twist in the story. However, I found this twist to be rather predictable, and I was more surprised that the characters within the story didn't figure it out sooner. In spite of the predictability, I still thought that the ending (excluding the very last chapter, which was a short epilogue about the fictitious history and moral studies of robotics; I found this information rather unnecessary when lumped together at the end of the book) was very strong and well-presented. The few typos and punctuation errors in the book didn't bother me or interrupt the flow of the story.

I give Re-Wired a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. This book contains themes of drug use and addiction as well as marital restrictions, moral/religious values, and social norms, and I think a lot of discussion can stem from the events of this story. This book definitely gave me a lot to think about, and I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in science fiction that focuses on robots and artificial intelligence.

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Re-Wired
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[Gravy]

Sounds very interesting.

[bluemel4]

Great review. I am adding this to my to-read list.

[bookowlie]

Great review! I wonder if his romantic relationship failed because he ruined the girl's dream of marrying a doctor - ha ha ha. If the book was loosely based on the author's life, he could have become a doctor. Then he would have been called Dr. Dragon.

[TrishaAnn92]

Sounds like a really good book! Great review!

[debo9967]

Sounds like an interesting book. Nice review.

[ALynnPowers]

Thanks for the comments everyone!

[PashaRu]

This sounds like a really cool story. I like how the title works with the story. And the robot on the cover looks pretty good, haha!

Great review, as usual!

[ALynnPowers]

Oh no! Pasha is checking out the artificial life again!

[PashaRu]

Oh no! Pasha is checking out the artificial life again!

Which begs the question: Is it cheating if he/she is a robot?

There's one for the ethicists!

[angelaS1971]

Thanks sounds like I would enjoy it.

[ALynnPowers]

Oh no! Pasha is checking out the artificial life again!

Which begs the question: Is it cheating if he/she is a robot?

There's one for the ethicists!

Indeed. But I think I will leave that to them.

[zeldas_lullaby]

Great review! I wonder if his romantic relationship failed because he ruined the girl's dream of marrying a doctor - ha ha ha. If the book was loosely based on the author's life, he could have become a doctor. Then he would have been called Dr. Dragon.

HA HA!

Oh no! Pasha is checking out the artificial life again!

Which begs the question: Is it cheating if he/she is a robot?

There's one for the ethicists!

Indeed. But I think I will leave that to them.

OK, I'd like to tackle this, because robots have feelings too. Yes, if you are in a committed relationship with a robot, then you should not be involved with anyone else romantically.

Robot Rights!!

-- 20 May 2015, 23:39 --

Anyways, I enjoyed this review, and I kind of understand how you were going back and forth with this weird plot. It does indeed seem thought provoking, and just weird (in a good way).

One of my best friends in college was named Brad. Yep, he and I worked at the print shop together (for work-study), and we used to sneak off to play paperball together in the paper room. (And yes, that means exactly what it sounds like--batting wadded up paper balls with cardboard tubes.)

[ALynnPowers]

Good point! Although the robot could be programmed not to care. Or to think it was normal. Or his/her job.
Whoa, the potential ethics questions here are enormous!

[zeldas_lullaby]

I never considered that. I just assumed that robots have feelings. You're right!! Enormous ethical issues here!

Has anyone out there dated a robot, and can share their story?