Grade 5-8 Twelve-year-old Toby and her precocious friend Thaddeus attend school on a future Earth that is sparsely inhabited and largely reverting to wilderness, while the families that have dumped them there pursue their own self-centered concerns among the space colonies. While struggling to maintain control of her own future, Toby becomes involved with an obsolete robot, Orvis, destined for the junkyard. An act of bold rebellion results in her being lost with Thaddeus in ``the empty,'' a wilderness area filled with dangerous animals and human renegades, where Orvis is their only hope of survival. The open ended conclusion may disappoint some readers because Toby's determination to fight harder for her rights is neither witnessed by readers nor solidly confirmed. However this is still a fine science fiction novel with an appealing heroine, a strong plot tied to an exploration of future technologies and their impact on humanity, and the probing of such pertinent questions as the function of purpose in meaningful existence. One of the book's charms is the way in which the human and mechanical characters gradually affect each other's way of thinking, resulting in growth for both. Orvis is a successful depiction of an artificial intelligence that is humorous, likable, and believable. Lyle Blake Smythers, Lib . of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.