Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsThis isn't Asimov's three rules of robotics
Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2017
Vaughn Heppner has a back pocket full of bad guys. He's got to. He must write eight hours a day. There are the standard schmucks, the devious dirt bags and the formidable hyper intelligent, driven genocidal maniacs. And it's the latter where "A.I. Destroyer," the first in the A.I. series, gets its antagonist. And Heppner, for those who have read his past works, has created an especially vile monster in his computer-driven adversaries. The artificial intelligence faced by protagonist Jon Hawkins, a not especially high-brow mercenary, is nothing like Isaac Asimov's robots, which adhere to the three laws of robotics and basically mean never harming a human. This one has one directive, to clean out biological infestations from solar systems throughout the galaxy. Human beings are just the latest life form it's targeted. Hawkins has no idea what's going on. His circumstances are classic Heppner. He's no slouch but nothing overly special. He has no high breeding, no classic training. Just a tough upbringing. He's a product of his environment. A low level criminal. Earth and its solar system has been settled. Humans have created civilizations on the moons of Saturn and Jupiter. But the political situation has deteriorated. A government that espouses equality but is really an excuse for a basic dictatorship rules and wants to eliminate the independence of the outer solar system. Hawkins and his crew fought for the wrong side. Earth's collective had them in its control. But things change. A signal from an alien invading force is sent clandestinely to all computer equipment in the outer planets. Those computers, if they are able, become self aware and have no qualms about throwing off the yoke of the oppressor. In fact, the first thing they realize is that anything human must die. And this is what Hawkins wakes up from cryosleep to discover. Heppner launches an impressive battle of wits as Hawkins first tries to figure out what he's up against and try to fight it. He has a band of warriors, but he's no leader. Still, with a killer robot army after mankind and so technologically advanced that the chance of winning is minute, Hawkins goes for it. He's just different enough that the probabilities thought up by the A.I. mastermind can't keep up. And he's got one thing going for him. Faith. Truly a darker than normal turn for Heppner. But nobody does this better. I read the rest without a rest.
