Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Boy Robot by Simon Curtis
Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-4814-5929-7 $17.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-4814-5931-0 $10.99
Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 8-10
Curtis, a well-known singer, actor, and leukemia survivor, tries his hand at writing in this compelling first novel. The core concept seems drawn from Curtis’ own song lyrics, “There once was a boy/Who was made, not created.” In this novel, Isaak is that boy, who is struggling to process the information that he is a Robot, created to pass as human and to be one of many soldiers who are raised among humans. Now his creators think they should kill off all Robots, and they seek to do so on the Robots’ eighteenth birthdays, when they become aware of what they are. Isaak and those he meets along the way are not sure what their full capabilities or options are, but they know that the Underground, a secret network of humans and Robots, is their best hope. On occasion, Isaak is an overdramatic narrator, lessening the impact of moments of real excitement; however, this is largely a zippy, exciting story that explores notions of good and evil (the Robots are battling with this in themselves, and in association with the larger society), and what it means to be human (and [End Page 118] who gets to define the parameters of humanity), topics that will certainly keep teens, even those who don’t know Curtis’ celebrity status, engaged.
