Bot Wars by J. V. Kade (review)

Twelve-year-old Trout St. Kroix doesn’t care about the politics that caused the Robot Wars or the delicate truce between the United Districts and the Robot Territories that ended them. He only cares that his father never came home from the wars and that no sign of his implant signal has ever been found. When Trout takes matters into his own hands and posts a video to the net, begging for any information, it sets off a series of events that Trout never could have imagined. Now his brother has been taken hostage by his own government, his father has been revealed as the leader of a revolutionary movement for robot rights, and Trout is running for his life. Appealing just for its imaginative world-building and fantastic robots, this novel goes farther, offering a thrilling sci-fi adventure with added heart and smarts. The exciting kid-hero narrative combines with an equally compelling family story and a thought-provoking look at basic civil rights and who deserves to have them. Trout is a wonderfully relatable narrator on the verge of adolescence, frustrated by the fact that adults treat him like a child and desperate to prove himself worthy of trust and responsibility. He is backed up by a memorable cast of secondary characters that include a robot bodyguard-turned-best friend, a hilarious robot inventor, and two capable girl compatriots. Loose threads suggest the possibility of sequels, which is likely to please readers as they find Trout and company staying with them long after they finish reading.