(New) Cover Unveiled for Amped by Daniel H. Wilson

Last year a different cover was released for Wilson's next novel Amped, which focused more on the neuron's firing aspect from the story as a design element. I'm guessing that version didn't standout as well as some people would have liked so we've got this bold number mimicking the power button on computers. I like it but this is overly derivative of the design for Mira Grant's Newflesh trilogy. This doesn't change the fact that I'm still looking forward to Amped and this is in addition to the overly sales-y copy:

Technology makes them superhuman. But mere mortals want them kept in their place. The New York Times bestselling author of Robopocalypse creates a stunning, near-future world where technology and humanity clash in surprising ways. The result? The perfect summer blockbuster.

As he did in Robopocalypse, Daniel Wilson masterfully envisions a frightening near-future world. In Amped, people are implanted with a device that makes them capable of superhuman feats. The powerful technology has profound consequences for society, and soon a set of laws is passed that restricts the abilities—and rights—of "amplified" humans. On the day that the Supreme Court passes the first of these laws, twenty-nine-year-old Owen Gray joins the ranks of a new persecuted underclass known as "amps." Owen is forced to go on the run, desperate to reach an outpost in Oklahoma where, it is rumored, a group of the most enhanced amps may be about to change the world—or destroy it.

Once again, Daniel H. Wilson's background as a scientist serves him well in this technologically savvy thriller that delivers first-rate entertainment, as Wilson takes the "what if" question in entirely unexpected directions. Fans of Robopocalypse are sure to be delighted, and legions of new fans will want to get "amped" this summer.

Wilson doing super-powered humans just has to be a good fit. Doesn't it? Come June we'll all get a chance to find out.

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Cover Unveiled for Daniel H. Wilson's AMPED

After the huge success of Daniel H. Wilson's Robopocalypse (review here) this year many are eager for his next offering and we don't have too long to wait. Wilson's follow-up is Amped, which will be out in June. The cover above may not be final, but it is certainly intriguing if a little subdued compared to Robopocalypse. Amped isn't related to Robopocalypse, but it still treads into areas Wilson is very knowledgeable about. Amped is a techno-thriller that like Max Barry's recent Machine Man (review here) explores the idea of what it means to be human. Here is a bit more detail from an NPR interview with Wilson earlier this year:

WILSON: Yeah. In fact, that question was really appropriate, because my follow-up is called "Amped," and it's about this near future. There's no robots in "Amped," by the way, which is sort of, I know, a departure. But it's about this near future in which people are starting to integrate technology into their bodies a lot, and we're starting to realize that people who we thought were disabled are becoming super-abled. And it's really a mind, you know, it's total shift in thinking. And some people are interested in, you know, not having to implant their children in order to have them be competitive in school.
And, you know, I think that adopting new technology is always a change and it's always scary. But the moment that it starts going into our bodies is going to be a pretty scary moment for civilization, and I think it's coming.

Also of note is that Wilson's middle-grade reader A Boy and His Bot will be released in paperback this January for those wanting more robot related fiction.

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REVIEW | Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

In the near future, at a moment no one will notice, all the dazzling technology that runs our world will unite and turn against us. Taking on the persona of a shy human boy, a childlike but massively powerful artificial intelligence known as Archos comes online and assumes control over the global network of machines that regulate everything from transportation to utilities, defense and communication. In the months leading up to this, sporadic glitches are noticed by a handful of unconnected humans who witnesses machines gone haywire – but most are unaware of the growing rebellion until it is too late.

Robopocalypse is Wilson's first novel, but I certainly hope it isn't the last. Wilson best known as a robotics expert uses his knowledge of what "could be" to the utmost in crafting a robot uprising aimed at humanity's decimation. The story starts at the end of the war and than flashes back vignette style at different points in the robot rebellion through many different eyes, but does have a cast that you grow to connect with as you see them try to thwart the robots.

At turns Robopocalypse is horrifying and at others inspiring in what humanity can overcome.  The pacing is incredibly fast and it was hard to put down given that breezy style of the story. Most chapters are only a few pages long, which does lend the story a Thriller-like feel. The story is taut, engrossing, and filled with a very believable turn of events as the very world humanity builds turns against its creators with some very cool robot creations.

At first it takes a few chapters to frame all the incidents and personages within the context of the story on a whole as there are many interconnections, but each chapter on its own acts almost like a separate short stories.

Shades of Terminator do apply greatly, but Wilson gives you all the details that were lost in that story and makes it his own.  The end is very satisfying and leaves a sense of hope for the future while also leaving that kernel of a chance at something worse.

Wilson does for robots what Max Brooks did for zombies. Sci-Fi and apocalyptic fans take note of the Summer read you've been waiting for. I give Robopocalypse 9 out of 10 hats. The story is already in development to become a movie by Steven Spielberg and it will make a hell of a action flick if it makes it to the big screen.

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