Revolution 19 by Gregg Rosenblum

The robots were built as weapons, meant to fight in place of human soldiers as part of the War of 2023. But something went very wrong. The machines became self-aware and turned on their human creators. They call it the Great Intervention but to the humans who were lucky enough to survive it was a nightmare. Now civilization is under their control and the few remaining outposts eking out an existence in hopes of avoiding capture are dwindling everyday. Nick, Cass, and Kevin grew up in one of those outposts, free from the bots but ever watchful in case of being discovered. And then one day the worst happens: their home is ransacked and they are separated from their parents. Their only hope is to infiltrate one of the nearby Cities in hopes they might find and free their parents. But the Cities are ruled by the machines and Nick, Cass, and Kevin are just kids.

Revolution 19 was a blast! I started off the weekend reading a much heavier book that started to really wear me down. And so I turned to Gregg Rosenblum's debut looking for a break and some fun. The book really delivered.

First you should know that I'm kind of a sucker for tech gone wrong plots. I'm a big Terminator fan and threaten to join the Resistance any time my computer starts to piss me off. So it was kind of a given that I would enjoy this one. Apparently Rosenblum paired with Howard Gordon and James Wong to put this together (the minds behind Homeland and Final Destination, respectively). As such, Revolution 19 does kind of have the pacing and plotting more suited to those mediums.

There is very little in the way of actual world building - it is somewhat left to the reader's imagination. But seeing as how this is the first in a series I do expect we'll get more of that in the next release Fugitive X. And honestly, any flaws were fairly minor in my personal opinion. I felt the momentum of the plot and the development that were there was enough to support the story; at no time while reading did I really feel there was anything missing. It's only upon reflecting on the book at this point that it comes to mind.

So yes, Revolution 19 is a fun and quick read that's highly entertaining though not particularly deep. I'm very much looking forward to the next book and would recommend this first outing to folks like me (robot revolution fans) in a heartbeat.

Rating: 4/5