Made to Order: Robots and Revolution, by Jonathan Straham (editor).

(I know there could be some mistakes in this review. I’m trying to improve my English, thanks)

I received this book from Negalley in exchange for an honest review, so here we go:

Robots. A fascinating issue, but I must note in advance that half the stories - more or less- are about IA or artificial persons (by biologic, industrial and unknown procedures); that is, not as we understand the term, as a machine that operates with humanlike skills.

Briefly I review each of the stories:

A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. The author repeats the style shown in the great Fandom for Robots, that is, a robot cyber-conversation. A curious mix with cybernetic IA logic and human imitation. For me it was difficult to understand all the argot. 

Test 4 Echo, by Peter Watts. In this tale he deals with a robot IA in the search for subaquatic life in Enceladus and about moral dilemmas. Typical of Mr. Watts, a story of disappointments that does not disappoint.

The Endless, by Saad Z. Hossain. An AI vengeance. The development is a bit tricky but it was a funny read:

Mi name is Suva. Like the airport, Suvarnabhumi. An odd name, you say? Because I am the airport, motherfucker.

Brother Rifle, by Daryl Gregory. A story about how an AI can help a marine do his work and then how the doctors with the aid of another one tries to redeem him. 

The Hurt Pattern, by Tony Onyebuchi. A police robot shot a thirteen year old black boy. Why? It is more complicated that it could seem. 

Idols, by Ken Liu. Idols wonders about the possibility that someone can construct a simulation of a persona based on all the feeds shared in the cloud (that is, social networks, media, works, etc.). This can be useful, for example, to interact with the deceased loved ones. A good story. Note: I read before about this captivating idea in a catalan written novel, El somriure d’un Eco by Jordi Gimeno.

Bigger Fish by Sarah Pinsker. The author of the excellent And Then There Were (N-One), shows here an asimovian crime story. Very good, one of the best in the book.

Sonnie's Union, by Peter F. Hamilton. A kind of chimera organic beings created for clandestine fighting.

Dancing with Death by John Chu. Planned obsolescence, but robots want to work, love… and ice-skating. Good. 

An Elephant Never Forgets, by Rich Larson. Bioengineered humans, Nexus 5 style. A person who does not remember anything wakes up in a kind of asylum...

The Translator, by Annalee Newitz. A future job: to translate IA messages to an understandable human language. By the author of Autonomous.

Sin Eater, by Ian McLeod. One of the best stories in the book. The last Pope and a robot. Amazing.

Fairy Tales for Robots, by Sofia Samatar. If you wanted to give humanity to a robot that is about to be born, how would you do it? Reading they fairy tales. A very well thought out story. 

Chiaroscuro in Red, by Suzanne Palmer. Very good! In a future, the rich do not own workers or slaves, they own robots. More robots, more wealth. Stewart is a short on money student who receives a second-hand robot as a birthday gift from his parents. What can the robot do for Stewart?. What can he do for the robot?

A glossary of Radicalization by Brooke Bolander. Artificial persons, cyberpunk & radical thinking. 

Overall it is a good anthology, although half of the stories are not strictly about robots, and neither strictly about revolution as indicated on the cover. However, in one way or another, the two issues are sufficiently addressed. For me, it was a good way to read about this fascinating topics and discover unknown authors (at least for me), and also to meet some of those I already know.

Thanks to Solaris and Netgalley for this book. It will be published on March 17.