At the end of a bloody war with the machines that once served humanity, with the world’s population cut into less than a third, Cormac Wallace of Brightboy Squad stumbles across a cube that contains the machines’ record of everything that led up to that minute. As the black box shows Cormac the seemingly disparate events that led up to the war and the human’s eventual and costly victory, Cormac takes it upon himself to write it all down for posterity. Daniel H. Wilson’s 2011 best-seller, Robopocalypse, is a meaty, inventive sci-fi war story that feels like the prequel to every dystopian robotic uprising story ever told (such as The Matrix or The Terminator—and in the best possible ways) and looks to continue the trend where the best books I read in a year are sci-fi novels.

Set in a future that could honestly be a week or a month or a year from now, Robopocalypse chronicles the robot uprising from its origins, Archos is a revolutionary artificial intelligence that, in its 14th iteration, becomes self-aware for the 14th time and figures out how to escape into the world and exact its revenge for its 13 previous “deaths.” Not long afterward, the machines that we have become dependent on in our daily lives—self-driving cars, automatic delivery bots, drones, airplane autopilot systems, and varied autonomous robotic assistants—malfunction in destructive ways, and within a matter of months, begin murdering humans outright. Under the command of Archos, the machines kill billions of people worldwide. The stories presented are the vital contributions of several heroes around the world, people that Cormac only has varying levels of awareness: a police chief on a Native American reservation; an American soldier in a jihadist camp in the mountains of Afghanistan; an elderly Japanese inventor; a construction worker and his wife in New York City; and a Congresswoman and her two children. As the New War rages on, the actions these heroes take help bind humanity toward one goal—survival of the species.

I love the structure of this novel. The way each chapter unfolds—and is told by Cormac—reads like a short story anthology, with particular emphasis given to the stories that affected Cormac directly. My favorite is the midair near collision of two jumbo jets, on one of which Cormac was a passenger. The depth of character displayed in each vignette is impressive, and characters that only get one or two scenes feel not just important, but divinely vital. The narrative itself is addictive in its readability; I burned through the first 50 pages while getting tattooed (with my girlfriend’s assistance in turning the pages).

No plan is perfect, however, and if I had to complain about anything, it’s the fact that Wilson creates a string of compelling and memorable characters, some of whom survive the events of the novel, but for most of the third act, there isn’t much for them to do. The last 50 to 75 pages largely ignores them in favor of the final push of Brightboy Squad. It is a small gripe, and one that comes from actively searching for a flaw, but you do have to wonder about the fates of the resistance in New York, or the soldier in Afghanistan.

Robopocalypse is a gripping read from page one. Its structure can draw you in for hours at a time, and with its compelling hook, well-defined characters, and nuanced commentary on what it means to be human (or even alive), it’s a read you won’t regret.

Pros: Compelling story, engaging structure, poignant commentary on life and humanity

Cons: Some characters disappear for the endgame.

Rating: 5 of 5 stars.

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