Looking for books with a robot main character. Something that doesn’t immediately pop up when you search up “books with robot main characters” please. No preference about what the story is about, either. Can be metaphorically this character is a robot, physically is a robot, feels like a robot, an allegory, etc. Drama, action, romance, whatever.
I super super adore robots and the concept of humanity within them but I’m tired of hearing “I, Robot” as suggestions so if anyone has anything let me know!!!
by summerharmony64
17 Comments
Supertoys last all summer long by brian aldwiss
The Runaway Robot by Lester Del Ray
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick is one but it’s not obscure. It was made into the Blade Runner movie.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy also has a robot main character.
Logan’s Run has a chapter or two where a robot (Box) is a main character
The Bobiverse books have to do with sentient AI and von Neumann probles.
The Earth Song Cycle Series has an AI that becomes a main character but not until several books in.
Not a book (sorry), but the Battlestar Galactica mini series and then TV show had main characters that were robots (and several who didn’t know they were robots).
Here is a list from Goodreads called “Robot Protagonist Books”. However, when I look through the titles, most I don’t recognize but maybe you can find something interesting.
[https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/robot-protagonist](https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/robot-protagonist)
A psalm for the wild built.
There are two main characters though,one being a tea monk and the other a robot.
It’s a short book with a philosophical element.
I really liked the Frankenstein series by dean koontz
It’s a modern take on Frankenstein and I think it comes very close to a “robotic” feel. The character has to grapple with the fact that he was created and not born, and trying to understand the world around him.
It’s also a good story!
[Passages in the Void, by Roger Williams](https://www.goodreads.com/series/306263-mortal-passage)
[deleted]
Klara and the Sun
A robot main character (one of the narrating/protagonist characters but not solely—bigger role in sequel):
Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers Series (I assume her Monk and Robot series would come up with a search)
Android (human synthetic hybrid) main characters (two of which are main narrators in the story) and a two more main role wholly synthetic/robot characters:
Megan O’Keefe’s Protectorate Series
YA Robot protagonist:
Robin Wasserman’s Cold Awakening Series (assuming this won’t come up due to age)
YA Cyborg protagonist:
Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles
We are Legion (We are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor, the first book in the Bobiverse. Not technically a robot, the protagonist narrator was a human whose brain was uploaded to a computer after his death.
Tons of Asimov books, Caves of Steel, Robot and Empire and so on.
Sea of Rust by Robert Cargill. It’s set post robot apocalypse but the robots won.
Genesis by Bernard Beckett has a robot as the main plot of the story if you give it a change. It a really short book but really good
[Eager](https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/e00bb031-aa01-4b6c-b805-994075db9339) by Helen Fox is one I remember from my childhood
Does cyborg count?
Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz
All Systems Red/Murderbot Diaries(not exactly obscure but defo fun!)