SOJALS rating:

Awful (1/5)

I first read this in 1974 and most recently on the 20th October 2006

While the god-like alien Roiss prepare for their magnificent Second Experiment, their robot servant Tec, bored as Marvin, develops his intelligence and intransigence, and flees his masters.

He takes with him the sole remaining physically-incarnated Roissa - R'ya the pubescent female dragon. He and R'ya almost immediately fall into the evil clutches of a world-dominating intelligence that is now set on conquering the Universe.

This will pose some problems for Tec and his erstwhile masters because on the one hand, Tec believes pursuing such an ambition to be immoral, and on the other hand, it's exactly what his masters have in mind themselves.

The first section of the book is written in a simple, entertaining style that convinced me the book was intended for ten-year-olds. That's never stopped me so I put the dictionary away and swept confidently on through the book. Later on the book becomes more readable and offers more enjoyment. I've never thought of it as a particularly good book, but for some odd reason it has stuck in my memory. Part of that is that it's a Panther book, and I was a fan of both the books published under that label and the Panther look-and-feel, but I will say there was something about the novel itself that made it memorable.

I've belatedly discovered that J. O. Jeppson is the widow of Isaac Asimov, so I expect that explains some of the ingredients (robots, writing style).

There's a sequel "The Last Immortal". However, I was never inclined to buy that.