Resilience and his twin Journey are Mars rovers, built to be the best robots ever to explore the Mars surface. They have a mission, and Res is determined to complete that mission no matter what. However, as Res and Journey go through testing in the lab at NASA and learn more about what their mission is to be, Res develops something like feelings, human emotions like affection, worry, happiness, determination. Journey says that these human feelings are not useful and might very well impede the mission. But Res is determined and resilient.
I had a hard time, for some reason, believing in rovers in our own time period that had emotions and communicated among themselves. Res not only talks to Journey, he also talks to his little drone helicopter, Fly and to the large satellite in orbit over Mars, named Guardian. Each of these robots or machines has a distinct personality. Fly is flighty. Guardian is businesslike and rather grumpy. Journey is a bit conceited. And Res is persistent and lovable. And there never was any explanation for how the various robotic entities got their ability to communicate using human terms and to feel human emotions. In the world of the novel it’s odd, but it just happens. Still, when I was able to turn off the part of my brain that kept asking the same questions (did the programmers somehow program emotions into Res? how can a rover know what non-concrete words in English even mean?), I enjoyed the story.
The funny thing is I have no problem at all with books like The Runaway Robot by Lester Del Rey–because it’s set in the future? Do I think that robots in the future will be able to take on human characteristics, but not now? And the ending, although it’s happy, sort of reminds me of Klara and the Sun by Kashuo Ishiguro. What is to be done with a robot that’s completed its mission successfully? I know this is a children’s book about the exploration of Mars by a resilient rover, and I’m overthinking it.
About a third of the book is taken up with a series of letters from the daughter of one of the scientists who works on code for Res. This daughter grows and matures over the years that it takes Res to reach Mars and complete his mission, and she writes letters to Res that he never receives. It’s a bit odd as a device, but I suppose it’s meant to tie Res and his Mars mission into the world of children and humanity in general. The letters were OK, but they could have been left out, and the story would not have suffered.
I did enjoy this novel despite my questions and misgivings. If you are interested in robotics or space exploration or NASA or Mars, this one might be just the thing. Christina Soontornvat is quoted on the front of my copy of the novel, “Res taught me what it means to be fully alive.” So, there’s that.