Book Log 2021 #46: Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill

As feared, robots have risen up and wiped out humanity. Earth is now ruled by competing collections of AI called One World Intelligences, which are trying to bring all robots under their sway while they compete with one another to become the actual one OWI.

Not all robots are buying into this, which is how we meet Brittle, a caretaker robot who wants to maintain their independence. Brittle is living in the Sea of Rust - a large wasteland in the American midwest - where there are other robots who aren't part of the OWI. Some, like Brittle, want to remain independent, others are broken beyond control or repair.

Brittle herself is in danger of breaking down, and has to enter into an alliance with other rogue robots in order to find new parts and fend off a scavenger robot who would like to break her up for parts. As the group travels through the sea, Brittle remembers life with humans and her part in the revolution. While Brittle can't experience emotions, she does seem to experience regret at what she's done.

A robot revolution isn't exactly a new topic for science fiction, but I did like how this book took the typical story - humans fighting for survival against the machines - and created an intra-robot conflict out of it.  The robots often seem human, though there are regular reminders throughout that they are, in fact, machines.

I liked this quite a bit, and will have to check out the sequel at some point.