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Book review on Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill:
In a post-human extinction setting, readers follow a scavenger robot named Brittle after the OWI’s,
powerful shared consciousness of millions of robots uploaded into one huge mainframe brain, have
ruined the utopia robots had made for themselves. Robots that refuse to let go of their individuality
are forced scavenge for parts in the Sea of Rust, a stretch of desert of what used to be Michigan and
Ohio, hoping to find parts in the graveyard of robots, but as the supply lines are controlled by the
OWI’s, everything in the sea has been picked clean.
Brittle follows the deteriorating robots in the sea of rust, convincing them to shut down, allowing her
to take their parts and sell them in cities. Then one day, her greatest fears are realized as she damages
an irreparable piece of her hardware: her core.
Brittle knows her days are numbered, unless she can find the part she needs to save herself. As it so
happens, she is offered a slim chance of survival by a group of independent robots needing her
services as a pathfinder through the wasteland. Their mission is to try to bring back an OWI that will
take down the others, Brittle is forced to accept their offer through sheer desperation.
Throughout the journey, she is haunted by the terrible crimes she and the rest of the robot population
perpetrated on humanity, having to come to terms with nearly unbearable guilt, making readers
reflect on the nature of thinking beings, reminding us that even the most advanced creations can
mirror humanity's worst mistakes.
'The Sea of Rust' is a profound exploration of sentience and the consequences of unchecked
intelligence. The author treats robots as an evolution of human thinking, one with the same inherent
flaws that have been found in humanity. Moreover, it begs the question: isn't anything that 'survives'
inherently alive?
In this journey, readers are invited to ponder the very nature of reality itself, as well as the intricacies
of memory, purpose, and sentience. I definitely recommend this for fans of excellent world-building
and philosophy regarding mankind's future with robots.
By Ali Arif Piracha
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