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A review by lilyevangeline
Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill
3.0
Lots of points for creativity, and a fast-paced, compelling plot, but lacked depth at times and seemed too neatly tied and sentimental in its ending.
Pounce is an anthropomorphic robot tiger (I imagined Hobbes from Calvin and Hobbes the whole time) who serves as a nanny to an 8 year old boy. When robots take over the world, Pounce decides not to sign up for the evil robot army, and he instead attempts to shepherd his young charge across a wartorn suburbia to safety.
On the one hand, it felt like standard dystopian fare with a lot of shoot outs and reflections on mortality, alternating with savaging and building trust with secondary characters (who subsequently die).
On the other hand, there's an element of absurdism in the fact that the hero is, in fact, essentially a plush toy (). I really enjoyed that the horror of the apocalypse was continually balanced by my own imagination placing a plus toy and an 8 year old with a plasma gun in the middle of it. In the vein of truth is stranger than fiction, it felt, somehow, more realistic, while also keeping the world from becoming too dark.
Despite this incongruous set up, our characters manage to shoulder a surprising amount of emotional weight. Ezra has to struggle to come to terms with the death of his parents and what it means to be a "good guy" in the midst of death and gore. Pounce, meanwhile, has to struggle with freewill and what it means to make his own choices.
Ultimately, however, I don't think this ever quite reached the place of truly poignant reflections. The conclusions our heroes come to are the "right" ones, so to speak, but I also never felt they were truly in danger of becoming bad people. There weren't high enough stakes for this book to carry weight. The reflections on freewill were nothing I haven't heard and despite them coming from the perspective of a robot, I didn't feel he really added anything truly interesting to the conversation of what it means to be human or good or free.
Apparently, this book was written as a prequel to another book about the robot apocalypse by Cargill, which vibes because when I finished the book, I couldn't help thinking that it was ending just as things were getting interesting. This is a fine story, but not really the one I'm most interested in hearing. For better or worse, it simply felt like your basic apocalyptic action movie.
Pounce is an anthropomorphic robot tiger (I imagined Hobbes from Calvin and Hobbes the whole time) who serves as a nanny to an 8 year old boy. When robots take over the world, Pounce decides not to sign up for the evil robot army, and he instead attempts to shepherd his young charge across a wartorn suburbia to safety.
On the one hand, it felt like standard dystopian fare with a lot of shoot outs and reflections on mortality, alternating with savaging and building trust with secondary characters (who subsequently die).
On the other hand, there's an element of absurdism in the fact that the hero is, in fact, essentially a plush toy (
Spoiler
of course, we eventually learn that he's much more than this, but even once he joins up with the other Mama Bears I kept being struck by the even more absurd picture struck by now an army of military grade plush toys saving the worldDespite this incongruous set up, our characters manage to shoulder a surprising amount of emotional weight. Ezra has to struggle to come to terms with the death of his parents and what it means to be a "good guy" in the midst of death and gore. Pounce, meanwhile, has to struggle with freewill and what it means to make his own choices.
Ultimately, however, I don't think this ever quite reached the place of truly poignant reflections. The conclusions our heroes come to are the "right" ones, so to speak, but I also never felt they were truly in danger of becoming bad people. There weren't high enough stakes for this book to carry weight. The reflections on freewill were nothing I haven't heard and despite them coming from the perspective of a robot, I didn't feel he really added anything truly interesting to the conversation of what it means to be human or good or free.
Apparently, this book was written as a prequel to another book about the robot apocalypse by Cargill, which vibes because when I finished the book, I couldn't help thinking that it was ending just as things were getting interesting. This is a fine story, but not really the one I'm most interested in hearing. For better or worse, it simply felt like your basic apocalyptic action movie.