| Robota |  | Author: Orson Scott Card
Creator: Doug Chiang
Publisher: Diane Pub Co
Category: Book
Buy New: $35.00
New (4) Used (4) from $28.50
Rating:  30 reviews
Sales Rank: 893752
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 176
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.4
Dimensions (in): 11.1 x 8.6 x 1
ISBN: 0756787726
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780756787721
ASIN: 0756787726
Publication Date: January 30, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 2 to 3 weeks
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Product Description
Academy Award-winning artist Doug Chiang & best-selling science fiction author Orson Scott Card join forces in this extraordinary illustrated adventure. ''Robota'' follows the fortunes of our hero, Caps, as he navigates an ancient, decaying world in which a dwindling human population battles a society of merciless robot warriors. Aided by sentient animals & stalked by terrifying hunter robots, Caps fights to unravel his past & to create a future for himself & his planet, slowly rising to fulfill an awesome destiny. A riveting tale of love, betrayal, & revenge, Chiang's vividly imagined story & meticulously rendered paintings, in conjunction with Card's masterful prose, bring to life an electric alter-universe & a battle nothing short of epic.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 25 more reviews...
cool story and awesome photos October 18, 2008
The Jasonator (Seattle, WA United States)
More of a portfolio from Star Wars concept artist Doug Chaing but an awesome story to group his amazing art with storytelling! A must have for any future artist or sci-fi fan! A rare book!
First Foray June 1, 2008
themarsman (Georgetown, TX)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Caps awakens inside an unknown machine. In fact, he cannot remember very much about who even is; despite this amnesia, Caps seems to know an awful lot about the world around him -- and, its history as well. On his journey of self-discovery, Caps befriends several people and creatures that ultimately end up helping him explain who he is, and why he seemingly has so much information about a world where sentient robots are carrying out a plan of mass-extermination of anything and everything biological. And when the robots find out that Caps is out there, seeking answers to who he is, their plan of mass-extermination suddenly takes a very directed and determined focus...all on him.
Robota was my first foray into the world of graphic novels. While the concept does not seem to be flawless (for instance, some of the images seemed to have nothing to do with the plot of the moment on the individual pages), overall, I certainly enjoyed this story. Though, to be perfectly honest, I am a big fan of Card...and his character-centered writing style was all over this tale. This being the case, it was easy to forgive some of the almost nonexistent description of individual settings, Card seemingly relied on Chiang's graphic depiction of these settings, instead of describing them with his prose. While many of the images are, indeed, beautifully rendered, I still would have liked a bit more description in the writing. None of this, however, takes away from a story that easily sucks you in until the very last page and is certainly worth picking up.
Chiangs Sci Fi Story November 25, 2007
C. Juliet (San Diego, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I really enjoyed reading this ....i guess you'd call it a graphic novel? The art by Chiang is awesome, you deffinately see his style in the art for the first two star wars movies. Lucas sure gave him a lot of artistic freedom, the robots are almost identicle in style and buildings had some similarities as well. Not sure how much Orson Scott Card contributed compared to Chiang for the story. It was a simple but good sci fi story. Chiang does discuss he had had this idea for a story at a very young age in the "Foreward" section as far as background setting, and finally realized characters during a trip he was taking in Northern Cal so i guess OSC polished it up. Different way of reading a book. Read a little, look and ponder the art, read a little more etc etc. Neither a positive or negative, ...it is a short read.
 Mixed thoughts about book August 14, 2007
Elmer Jimenez (Long Beach, CA)
For years I have followed with great anticipation the creative contributions that Mr. Chiang made to the Star Wars second trilogy. As a conceptual artist, he is one of the best out there. As a book illustrator he has a ways to go. I tend to agree with some of the other reviews in that the illustrations in this book look too much like Star Wars characters, especially the robots (and this book is all about robots!). I was hoping to see some fresh ideas, some new worlds, new characters, but unfortunately the illustrations for this book lack the imagination that Mr Chiang displayed while working for George Lucas. While the imagery is well executed, some of illustrations themselves seemed out of place with the story and some seem unfinished--As if Mr Chiang simply ran out of time or motivation....
As far as the writing of the book is concerned, I am not familiar with Mr. Card's other writings, but I found his writing style to be often abrupt, almost as if trying to rush to tell the story. Some key aspects of the story were not given enough time to develop, sometimes spending little more than a paragraph to transition important parts of the story. Lastly, the end of the story is, well, very disappointing in my opinion (I forced myself to read the whole book).
If you are a fan of conceptual art in general or of Mr. Chiang's artwork, you might find some of the imagery appealing, but beyond that the book is not worth the list price of $35. If you are curious about the book, buy a used copy.
 A new Great SciFi February 23, 2006
Ike Slack (Huntsville, Alabama United States)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I cannot over state how good this book is. The art and story weave a great tale, in the class of Asimov, Anderson and so many other both past and present. The characters are real, the place not so far away. Highly recomended!!!!
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