Wasn't in my wheelhouse but I could see this being a n enjoyable read for teenage boys. For me I wasn't necessarily captivated but there was enough story to pull me in and curious enough to want to finish the book.

What a cute book! I really loved this quick read about two robots navigating high school life as teen boys. It uses the sometimes silly sounding set up as a real way to tackle "otherness." I also loved the 198s setting. Definitely would recommend for younger readers!

A quaint coming of age novel about 2...robots trying to live life on the AI Downlow. Interesting premise that delivers an age-old story with fresh, new twist

Thank you netgalley and publisher for the early copy.

I did not connect with the plot or writing style and ended up putting this one down.

Published by Skybound Books/Atria Books on May 14, 2019

Darryl and Kanga Livery are robot kids. Kanga sort of believes he is a real kid, having been raised that way by his robot parents. Their robot father was programmed to answer their questions with “Ask your mother” and their robot mother seemed to be depressed. The parents have disappeared, victims of obsolescence. Darryl is happy to see them gone but Kanga, who thought of them as real, misses them.

Parental absence leaves Darryl in the self-appointed role of mother, spending most of his time coaching Kanga not to do anything that would cause others to learn that he’s a robot. Anonymity is the key to robot survival. There are places in America where robots are accepted, other places where they are tolerated. In the Midwest, they are feared or viewed with anger because they take jobs away from humans. Are robots the story’s version of immigrants? You bet.

Darryl fears that Kanga’s skill at basketball will be the end of their anonymity. Darryl stops fretting about the loss of anonymity when he realizes that attending Kanga’s practices brings him into contact with Brooke Noon. Desire is apparently part of Darryl’s programming.

Being a sullen teen, on the other hand, is part of Kanga’s programming. Some of the story’s humor comes from Darryl’s efforts to keep his rebellious brother in check. And some of the humor derives from what initially seems to a competition between Darryl and Kanga for Brooke’s affection. Should Darryl’s loyalty be to his brother or to his robotic heart’s desire?

The story’s point lies in the realization that a young robot’s fears are pretty much the same as young human’s fears (apart from leaking oil): fear of rejection, fear of embarrassment, fear of growing up to be like your parents. And for nerdy boys, fear of girls. Coming to terms with those fears, developing an identity, deciding what’s important to you, is the same coming-of-age experience for every kid, even if the kid is a robot.

The Obsoletes pokes fun at American “values” (consisting chiefly of being American and winning international basketball competitions), parenting (“Few thrills in parenting compare with presenting a hypothetical consequence that immediately changes a kid’s behavior”), teachers, student athletes, prejudice, and hero worship. The basketball coach, who isn’t much of a coach and is an even worse teacher, is hilarious. His assistant, whose emotional development ended when he was a freshman basketball player, is almost as funny.

Maybe the story teaches obvious lessons, but it does so with an offbeat and entertaining plot. The story might not cut it as a coming-of-age story involving two human kids, but it adds a fresh take on a thoroughly explored theme by substituting robots. There are times (particularly when Kanga is on the basketball court) when the story goes too far over the top, and times (particularly when Darryl and Kanga interact with their creator) when the story loses its focus, but for the most part, The Obsoletes offers a view of growing up that emphasizes the familiar by contrasting it with the unconventional.

RECOMMENDED

Skybound Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Obsoletes. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Darryl and Kanga Livery are teenage fraternal twins that are hiding in plain sight. They are robots and, if the truth is discerned, the boys will be deemed obsolete like their parents before them. When Kanga's basketball talents thrust them both into the limelight, will Darryl be able to rein in his brother before it is too late?

The concept was definitely unique, but the execution of the ideas fell short for me. I felt no connection to any of the characters in the story, despite the fact that the struggles between the brothers should have been enough to evoke some emotion. Not only was the idea so far fetched, but the addition of too many characters with their own issues and problems interrupted the flow of the novel. For these reasons, I would not recommend The Obsoletes to other readers.

Darryl and Kanga are high schoolers who are also robots. There is severe hatred and racism against robots, so they must keep their identity secret or they will be destroyed. This becomes difficult as Kanga becomes more like a "real boy" and ignoring his brother as to the dangers of becoming too main stream.

I got about 1/3 of the way through this one and just could not finish it. The characters didn't grab me and I just didn't care about the plot. It had nothing to do with the writing style; I just don't think this one was for me. It is going on my did not finish shelf, unfortunately.

THE OBSOLETES by Simeon Mills is a new YA novel about 2 brothers, Kanga and Darryl who are really robots. They are trying to successfully blend into a high school setting and, initially, are pretty successful. Then, Kanga discovers his great prowess at basketball, much to (older brother and star wanna be) Darryl's consternation. I was initially hoping that this exploration of "the other" would intrigue students and be worth investigating as a possible all class reading assignment. Unfortunately, it seems that Mills is targeting the immature and bathroom humor of late middle schoolers: "[my English teacher] had stepped with one foot onto a chair and wriggled a finger down the instep of her shoe, then absently mindedly dragged that same finger across her upper lift to sniff it ..." Hilarious for some perhaps (Publishers Weekly gave this title a starred review), but in my view there are so many other books to consider instead. 2.5 stars

The Obsoletes by Simeon Mills is a young adult read that is a science fiction urban fantasy that takes place in the 1980s. In this story there are tons of references to events taking place in that decade to bring readers back to that time frame but in this version robots are advanced enough to blend in and live as humans but certainly not embraced as equals.

The story is told from the point of view of Darryl, the oldest of two brothers who are actually robots living in hiding while growing up and going to school. Darryl takes us back a bit in the opening chapters of the story to elementary years and having parents before heading into the “now” part with Darryl and Kanga as teens in high school and their parents gone from their lives.

The biggest portion of the book is simply about Darryl being determined to keep anyone from finding out about them and Kanga being young, daring and careless. The story actually felt quite strong and compelling in the beginning but got to be a bit monotonous to me.

A part of me wondered if it was just Darryl’s “robot” voice narrating which could get a bit to telling instead of showing or maybe it just seemed like chances at bigger events got dropped along the way. But regardless in the end this one was just OK to me and I would have liked a bit more to it.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This is not really the book I expected. Despite the robot theme, no much seems to happen. Furthermore, I struggle to understand the setup and plausibility for this alternate reality. I had trouble connecting to the main characters and the writing style and inclusion of certain details felt immature.

Maybe this was too weird?

Darryl and Kanga are robots living in a world where robots do exist but aren't accepted as equals to human beings. Darryl knows it and does his best not to be found out, even sending his robot parents back to their maker after becoming obsoletes. Kanga was raised to think he's human and has recently ascended in status at school where he's the new talent of their basketball team. Having to take care of them both, Darryl also must deal with the jealousy toward his brother.

This narrated from Darryl's point of view so it was fitting that he sounds hard to relate to most of the time. The writer also did amazing research—or he's creative as hell—to build their way of living. I won't call it worldbuilding because for this part it's really a world mostly like ours and that's probably his point, showing how we tend to hold prejudice against anything unfamiliar.

At the same time... the story gets boring. It starts amazing, what a different sort of YA, how creative! But then the story never starts until almost the end... It wasn't really the sort of book I had in mind when I picked it up. I needed more events.

Also, I feel parts of it never got closure. I don't want to spoil anything but a couple of characters were accused of being robots and while I believe they weren't, I didn't see any confirmation or even consequence to them being mentioned. You can say I should just reread it and the answers will be there, but it's neither the sort of story I'd want to read again. I would read a second novel in this universe. In fact, I'd love it! But this book was too much like one of these super heroes live actions—an introductory arc, when we see it should get good along the way but it's still early to say.

And because it feels like we had so many plotholes, the ending while "yeah, it's okay", it had had to be much more to make up for the slow pace. I confess when I noticed the middle wouldn't take us anywhere, I started thinking the writer had some shocking truths in store. But it was just an okay ending.

This is a good story that needed some more work while in the making, because the potential was unbelievable. It's a pity to see all the work building the reality, building how the robots work go to waste. So here's hoping for other volumes.



Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

What's really great about this book is how well Simeon Mills captures the voice of adolescent struggle while also speaking to deeper systemic issues. The world-building is really fantastic here as well.

I thought this was an excellent novel. The idea that robots are hiding in plain sight among humans is so interesting and is approached by the author in such a unique way. I really loved the humor as well. The way the author dealt with the topic of brotherhood and the feeling that one must take care of one’s family really hit home for me. It was done with such a mastery that, at times, it made me ridiculously emotional. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more by the author.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the opportunity to go out of my comfort zone and into a world of robots living silently among humans. This book takes place in 1980s and 90s America specifically Michigan where twin brothers Kanga and Darryl are living as adolescents. Their parents become obsolete and they are on their own. Kanga becomes the “parent” and takes a mission to care for his brother.

This is pretty much the entire story mixed with a LOT of basketball. I felt it had a lot of metaphors and hidden meanings and really appreciated the book for that.

I gave the book 3 stars because it interested me and is not typically a book I would like. The story will stay with me although I did find it a little boring. Robots and basketball just aren’t my thing!

I feel like this would be great for a high school class read or a student to do a project on as well as an entertaining read for a science fiction lover.

The Obsoletes follows two brothers who happen to be robots. One brother dreams of becoming a star basketball player, but also must become parent when their parents are deemed obsolete and thrown into the scrap pile.

Mills' debut novel is full of humor and heart. The struggle of being a teenager is hard enough, but when you have to hide your true self from the world that struggle gets even harder.

The book is not without flaws. I found myself questioning the premise a lot in the first quarter of the book. At one point a suspected robot is tossed from a school bus and nobody bats an eye. However, once you get invested in the characters you give the book the benefit of the doubt. Mills does an excellant job of world building. Side characters are lively and add a lot.

I would recommend this to fans of sci-fi, YA, and humor. 

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The Obsoletes is a robot-meets-coming-of-age tale, balancing the angst of a teenage boy with the complexities of operating as a robot in an unaccepting human world. The protagonist is a deeply complex character who spends every waking moment trying to get by in the world. He acts as father, mother, and brother in the household, presenting an experience that is both humorous and heartbreaking at times. With smart writing and a glimpse of 90's everyday life, Mills has created a compelling story that shows the struggles of a boy forced to grow up too soon.

Full review to be published on 5/14 at: https://reviewsandrobots.com/2019/05/14/the-obsoletes-book-review

This just didn't hold my attention. It might work as a book very really young readers, but otherwise the writing was too trite.