Humans, Bow Down

by James Patterson

Jill Dembowski (Secondary Author) and Alexander Ovchinnikov (Illustrator)

The Great War is over. The Robots have won. The humans who survived have two choices--they can submit and serve the vicious rulers they created or be banished to the Reserve, a desolate, unforgiving landscape where it's a crime to be human. And the robots aren't content--following the orders of their soulless leader, they're planning to conquer humanity's last refuge. With nothing left to lose, Six, a feisty, determined young woman whose family was killed with the first shots of the war, is a rebel with a cause. On the run for her life after an attempted massacre, Six is determined to save humanity before the robots finish what the Great War started and wipe humans off the face of the earth, once and for all.

• ISBN10: 1455568589
• ISBN13: 9781455568581
• Publish Date: 15 August 2017 (first published 1 January 1999)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Time Warner Trade Publishing
• Imprint: FaithWords
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

Humans, Bow Down is the brain child of James Patterson and Emily Raymond. It’s a dystopian novel about the struggle between the human race and a race of robots. Irony is liberally strewn throughout, as the Hu-bots (as they call themselves) don’t seem to see the paradox of them slaughtering humans while claiming to be the more evolved and compassionate race.



So I really wanted to like Humans, Bow Down, but the truth of the matter is that I found it to be pretty lackluster on the whole. I have loved some of James Patterson’s previous works (my favorite being the Maximum Ride series) so I had high hopes for this one as well. Perhaps that’s why I was so disappointed? This novel read without any real emotion or depth – nothing like the James Patterson I’m used to.
There are a couple of main characters, Six being the primary perspective. She’s a human that’s desperate to do anything to feel alive again. That includes taking insane risks with her friend Dubs (whose goals and wishes aren’t terribly clear). The other main character is a Hu-bot named Mikki-bo. While I didn’t mind the naming structure for the humans, the hu-bot one simply drove me nuts - they’re all basically a name followed by –bo. I would hope an intelligent race like the hu-bots could come up with better names.
Admittedly it is a pretty quick read – the font is on the larger size with heavy spacing. Oh and there’s lots of images in the book too. An odd choice, in my opinion, as the images weren’t very high quality.
The images weren’t the only odd choice, the beginning and ending points for this novel were odd as well. We start off after the war between the humans and the hu-bots, where humanity has basically already lost. I appreciate the attempt at something more unique here, but a bit more back-story would have been appreciated; though we do receive some additional information through flashbacks and conversations.
The ending was equally abrupt – a sudden conclusion despite all the buildup (a couple of skirmishes and apparently the war is won? Despite the massive imbalance between the two sides?). What’s more – a romantic subplot was apparently in the works the whole time? I’m not sure if I’m just oblivious or if it was poor writing, but I didn’t see it coming, so the confession kind of hit me on the head.
I think there was a lot of potential in Humans, Bow Down. Not only are both authors very talented, but the core of the plot is pretty interesting (if not terribly original). There were so many options and opportunities for something new and different here. I appreciate the risks that were taken; I just wish more time had been spent on them. I think this novel would have worked better as a series – with more time spent fleshing out the world and characters in it.


For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[violetpeanut]

So much potential. So much disappointment. There were some exciting scenes but overall, there were so many holes in this plot and so much that didn't make sense to me that I just cannot recommend this book. The characters just weren't very likeable. Some characters did not develop at all and others developed too much in too short a period of time. Certain circumstances seemed like they were thrown in just to advance the plot, and not in a realistic way. This just was not for me. Thankfully, it was a very quick read.