Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

This is a huge collection of short stories with robot themes. The stories go back to what many consider the beginning of modern science fiction, the late Victorian era. We start with H.G. Wells and move forward from there. This is literally hundreds of hours of reading in one convenient book.

A mix of some great, and not so great, short sci-fi stories. I found some authors I'm going to look into more. Overall this is a good anthology.

This book had an interesting selection for a book of short tales. A decent enough anthology for any Sci-Fi reader. However, some of the stories are dull, but that goes for any short stories, you really have to stick with and decide which ones appeal to you, there were some that were great and stood out to me and naturally, there are some that made me feel bored to tears, but charged on, I did.

I can say though that each story in this book was clearly chosen well and will appeal to many others as the ones I enjoyed may not, the best bit about short stories, there is something for everyone and with that brings diversity in the difference of writing styles.

This was a bit of a mixed bag for me, but I feel that it's worth a read all the same. It wasn't my fave and it wasn't the worst by far.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and Head of Zeus for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

With 100 stories, it's unlikely all of them will be good, which is true here. However, there is some value in seeing how the ideas and thinking about AI and robots evolved or changed over time. And many of the stories are quite good, which makes it worth a go, along with the variety of styles, ideas, and approaches. A lot of sci-fi fans will enjoy this.

I really appreciate the review copy!!

Brace yourself for one hundred of the most tedious tales about robots and artificial intelligence. Honestly, I had to poke myself with a sharp stick to keep going. They are themed, but the sections are introduced in the most turgid manner, I couldn't decide whether I was reading an introduction, a biography of the contributor or yet another tedious tale.

There are a few real gems which stand out like stars in the nebula, but my, you have to work for them (hence 2 stars and not the one I was originally awarding). Some of the tales date back in history, so feel incredibly dated. Others are obviously included to shoe-horn some reputable authors onto the list - such as HG Wells, who's tale is not about robots but concerns the first appearance of tanks on the battlefield of the First World War.

I began to have doubts about the book when I read in the introduction that Isaac Asimov, who wrote the seminal work 'I, Robot' in the 1950s, was to be ignored, along with Philip K Dick, 'because you've read them many times already'. Although the compiler clearly had no compunctions in plagiarising Asimov's work for this book's title. The only other Asimov appearance is a predictive text story which takes an excerpt from Asimov's 'The Liar' as its starting point, and sadly it does not finish there.

Overall a dull and turgid collection; if the compiler had chosen the 20 best stories about robots he might have had a good book, but sadly this falls way short.

Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for a (very) honest review.

💀👹Book Review Time!!👹💀

We, Robots was a fun ride. I’m becoming a sucker for a short story collection and I’m a sucker for scifi so this just sounded like a dream come true. However, it was much more than that.
Mixing retellings, unique takes on old themes and original stories We, Robots is an anthology any scifi reader will need in their shelves.

Brilliance incarnate.

4/5 ghouls 👻

An interesting collection of short stories spanning a wide range of topics. The collection of various authors was great and there a story for everyone.

Thank you to net galley for the ARC in return for my honest review.

01100010 01100101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01100010 01101111 01101111 01101011 00100000 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010

That's binary code for best book ever (according to the binary converter), which is presumably what robots would have to say about this thoroughly excellent and excellently thorough collection. Who knew robots stories even went that far back. The line up of authors is most impressive. and the selection simply can't be beat.
Terrific reading. recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

All hail our robot overlords. It's not a question of 'if' they take over, but 'when'. This collection of short fiction, chosen by author Simon Ings, will help to prepare you for the revolution.

There's a quirky and opinionated introduction to the book, plus introductions for the thematic sections and mini author biographies for each story. I like how the stories are grouped into themes, rather than ordered by chronology. It was very useful to have the original year of publication at the end of each story. Artificial intelligence is represented in the broadest sense. We're not just talking about clunky humanoid-shaped metal robots. Of course, these are included, but there are many other forms of artificial intelligence which writers have dreamed up. Some of the stories are clearly science fiction, while others are very subtle.

My favourite stories in this collection are 'Beachcomber' by Mike Resnick, 'Adam Robot' by Adam Roberts, 'Solar Plexus' by James Blish, 'Supertoys Last All Summer Long' by Brian Aldiss (which was the basis for the Spielberg film 'AI: Artificial Intelligence'), 'Lex' by W T Haggert, 'Dolly Sodom' by John Kaiine, 'The Robot Who Looked Like Me' by Robert Sheckley and 'Miss Bokko' by Shinichi Hoshi. I had read three of the stories in this collection before: 'The Land Ironclads' by H G Wells, 'The Veldt' by Ray Bradbury and 'The Machine Stops' by E M Forster. Isaac Asimov is not included, on the assumption that if you're interested in robots, you're probably familiar with his work. I suppose he would be too obvious an inclusion but I still would have liked one of his stories in there.

I didn't love all 100 stories in this collection but I appreciated why each was chosen. There's a satisfying diversity of writing styles, authors and eras, which ensures you'll find at least some of the stories to your taste. Even the ones that are difficult or unlikeable still hold some interest.

First published in 2020. Thank you to Head of Zeus for the advance copy via NetGalley.

[Review published on my blog - 22nd December 2020]

The root of the word Robot is Robota from the Slavic, meaning “drudgery”, the unpaid labour a vassal is obliged to do under the feudal system for their Lord. Such is our perennial conception of the usefulness of robots – they could possibly free humankind from the toils of work. Yet such a reality is not conceivable, not without drastic repercussions on the economy and maybe even the value of life itself. So where might the value of the robot be best placed? And what does that relationship look like?

Such far-reaching questions underpin this vast collection of short stories edited by Simon Ings. It’s an anthology of robots in all their multifarious meanings and manifestations, spanning a broad range of writing styles from 1837 to the present day. It is not a collection of the best prose ever written in the science fiction genre. Although it is, without doubt, a treasure chest of various literary AI experiments in which any reader should find a story to suit. Saviour it when you do. Then learn from it. And ponder. Because, evidently, the direction of the future is deafeningly a robotic one.

It’s not all pessimism. Yes, many writers a hundred years ago predicted chaos in the 21st century, and they were right, most of our lives are now run by technology, and the planet is in desperate environmental decay. But Ings picks up on six big themes, separating the collection thus, and from the blurring definitions of machine consciousness to how robots might plot to outsmart us, I like to think, along with a few of the authors featured, that there is yet benevolence to be found in the “drudgery” of machines.

WE, ROBOTS is Ings’ pun on the first person plural – We homo sapiens acting like Robots – is an absolute must-dissect anthology for serious short story readers. There’s a nice short introduction to each writer before their featured story. On the whole, an exciting addition to the sci-fi canon.

I flew through reading this fantastic collection of short stories. The tales in "We, Robots" cover a huge range of time in terms of when they were written, and it was fascinating to see how changing technology has changed (or not!) authors' thinking with regard to robots, androids, AI. There is a broad range of writing styles, which I especially enjoyed. Each story is a miniature treasure.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.