Book review:
The Eyes of the Killer Robot
John Bellairs had an adult fantasy published by Ace several years ago
(
The Face in the Frost) but all the
other books I have found by him have been juveniles. Most of those, like this
one, are about Johnny Dixon and his friends Professor Childermass and Fergie.
They are all science fictional or fantastic with ghosts and strange experiments.
One thing I like about these books is that the evil characters are evil (with
dripping fangs and nasty natures), and the good characters can be very wishy
washy in their goodness. In
The Eyes of the Killer Robot, the lead
characters tell several lies at various times and feel uncomfortable/guilty
about them. The story is about an old robot designed to win baseball pitching
contests. For reasons of envy, Professor Childermass wants to reconstruct the
robot and defeat a minor enemy of his at pitching. Meanwhile the original
creator of the robot, who believes Johnny's grandfather did him wrong, wants to
use Johnny's eyes to fuel the robot in the same contest. Most of the story is
taken up in finding the robot and his creator. The art, as in the other books,
is by Edward Gorey and appropriate. Pleasant reading.
Joyce Scrivner
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