Steel Siege
Cameron Coral
Self-published January 3rd, 2023
265 pages
🤖🤖🤖🤖
This is the fourth book in the wonderful Rusted Wasteland post-apocalyptic sci-fi series about a determined robot on a mission to save a young human child from the evil AI who has taken over the world. I do recommend reading these in order, although there is a helpful summary of the previous books at the start if you are determined to begin here – I found it a useful reminder of who was who, and wish more authors would do this for book series.
Continuing straight on from the events of Steel Protector, this has brave loyal CleanerBot Block and his robot friends arriving in New York to find two year old Wally, who was abducted by Mach X’s forces and taken to his lab, where she and other toddlers are being subjected to experimentation to create a new hybrid AI-human superspecies. New character Emery is a young medical researcher who was rescued as a child by Mach X, and raised by him to lead his scientific program. She regards him as a father and trusts his agenda, but is disturbed by his apparent disregard for the welfare of the babies in his programme, and the humans living in squalor right outside his headquarters. To find Wally, Block must infiltrate the Manhattan tower, and win over the medical team – but standing in his way is a sinister new enemy, vicious NanDroid Jexa Era.
While this is definitely not my usual genre, and I’m not the target audience, I’ve very much enjoyed all the books in this series, which blends elements of The Mandalorian, The Terminator and WALL-E into a unique light-sci story. Block is a great character because he never gives up, and I love the friendships he has made with the other bots & droids. I would’ve liked more scenes featuring these other characters, and to see what they were getting up to while Block is impersonating a NannyBot in the tower. Emery is a major new character, and I did like her, but also would’ve liked to catch up with Nova. We finally get to meet the All-Powerful Mach X, and I liked the way he’s portrayed as having a softer side – and human traits – even though ultimately he’s very much still the baddie: the callous way he orders human babies to be disposed of as an inconvenience or distraction when their implants fail was particularly horrifying. For this reason I wouldn’t recommend this book/series to younger children.
This was another exciting instalment in Block’s story, but it’s clear there’s more to come and I look forward to finding out what happens next. Thanks to Cameron Coral for the ARC; I am posting this honest review voluntarily. Steel Siege is available on Amazon now.
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