Rating: 
Summary: murderous robot?
Review: fist of all 2 who doesnt have d time or d patience 2 further reading THIS NOVEL IS A MUST for all those who like science fiction & for learning how 2 write a story which is a warning sign , cynical , humorous & most important : interesting & fluent . usually when i read a book i can spot d points where d author has been " stacked " (if u know what i'm talking about if no just go 2 another review ). in TIK-TOK i just could'nt find this. it is (my humble opinion) a perfectly fluent story
Rating:
Summary: murderous robot?
Review: fist of all 2 who doesnt have d time or d patience 2 further reading THIS NOVEL IS A MUST for all those who like science fiction & for learning how 2 write a story which is a warning sign , cynical , humorous & most important : interesting & fluent . usually when i read a book i can spot d points where d author has been " stacked " (if u know what i'm talking about if no just go 2 another review ). in TIK-TOK i just could'nt find this. it is (my humble opinion) a perfectly fluent story
Rating: 
Summary: Good fun, but no masterpiece
Review: I had heard this book was an outrageously funny masterpiece of black humor, so finally, after many years I tracked it down at the library. While I discovered is a brief satire with a one joke premise that's diverting, but ages quickly. Told in 26 chapters-each of whose first word follows the sequence of the alphabet (Chapter 1, "As"; Chapter 2 "Broaching"; Chapter 3. "Culpritwise" and so on, at least until the final letters, where Sladek's gusto for this very little joke seems have run dry)-the story tells of a sociopathic robot in future America.Tik-Tok has "asimov circuits" which are supposed to keep him from harming humans, but somehow these aren't working, or as he suggests at one point, never really existed in the first place, but are part of some massive groupthink. The result is that Tik-Tok kills sadistically over the course of the book, all while building himself a corporate empire and manipulating social and political opinion so that robots are allowed to own property and vote. This is all fairly predictable from the beginning, but what I did find unexpectedly interesting are the parallels with Bret Easton Ellis' highly controversial novel American Psycho, which was written eight years later. In both, an outwardly impeccable character engages in nasty sadism, even tells other people what's he's done, only to have them think it's a joke. Mixed in with Tik-Tok's ascension are his reminisces of past owners, which are mostly played to comic effect, with a running commentary equating robots with slaves. Traditional caretakers of the moral status quo such as priests, judges, military, and aristocracy are repeatedly revealed to be charlatans, sadists, and just plain crazy. On the other end of the spectrum, the civil rights do-gooders of the "Wages For Robots" movement come under equal unsubtle satirical attack, as does the celebrity media industry. Capitalism itself, along with the military-industrial complex is further fodder for Sladek's acid pen. Ultimately, however, none of the satire is as subtle as I would have liked, and much of the book reads like an author riffing on familiar subjects. It's a nice addition to robot literature, but hardly the masterpiece it's made out to be.
Rating:
Summary: Sladek did it again, scarier this time.
Review: I loved this book, with two reservations. First, you'll never find it, so this review can only torment you with false hope. Second, Sladek can give the impression of covering the same ground many times; this is at least his fourth book about robots, and the supporting cartoon cast of con men, college students, generals, etc., will be familiar to readers of _Roderick_ or _Mechasm_. Even _Roderick at Random_ was in some ways a remake of _Roderick_ rather than a sequel -- possibly because he knew the first book would go out of print and wanted to rescue some of the nicest bits. Having said all that, I will still be reading all of these books years from now, because Sladek is every bit as clever as he thinks he is, and there's always a careful and insightful process going on within his barrage of farce. _Tik-Tok_ is also a necessary and frightening counterpoint to _Roderick_. Roderick is an innocent lost in a world that doesn't believe in robots; Tik-Tok is a brilliant sociopath and self-appointed Satan in a world where obedient robots are everywhere. Sladek draws the obvious parallels to slavery, but more broadly the robots illustrate every possible way that people can use other people as objects; the real villain, who has set the scene for Tik-Tok's reign of terror, is the economy. (Sladek saw a few things coming in 1983: in his quest to do the greatest possible harm to humanity, Tik-Tok invents the HMO. If only the warnings of SF were taken seriously!) You can also ignore these insights and just go with the flow as the author squeezes jokes and trivia from his sponge-like mind, although this time some of the jokes are even sicker than usual (e.g., the mean letters that Tik-Tok writes to the families of his victims). His style is hard to describe but instantly recognizable; I say this although I haven't even read this book in English -- it just can't be found, but as usual the French have preserved all of our lost culture, and I read a very good translation that even saves most of the puns.
Rating:
Summary: Sladek did it again, scarier this time.
Review: I loved this book, with two reservations. First, you'll never find it, so this review can only torment you with false hope. Second, Sladek can give the impression of covering the same ground many times; this is at least his fourth book about robots, and the supporting cartoon cast of con men, college students, generals, etc., will be familiar to readers of _Roderick_ or _Mechasm_. Even _Roderick at Random_ was in some ways a remake of _Roderick_ rather than a sequel -- possibly because he knew the first book would go out of print and wanted to rescue some of the nicest bits. Having said all that, I will still be reading all of these books years from now, because Sladek is every bit as clever as he thinks he is, and there's always a careful and insightful process going on within his barrage of farce. _Tik-Tok_ is also a necessary and frightening counterpoint to _Roderick_. Roderick is an innocent lost in a world that doesn't believe in robots; Tik-Tok is a brilliant sociopath and self-appointed Satan in a world where obedient robots are everywhere. Sladek draws the obvious parallels to slavery, but more broadly the robots illustrate every possible way that people can use other people as objects; the real villain, who has set the scene for Tik-Tok's reign of terror, is the economy. (Sladek saw a few things coming in 1983: in his quest to do the greatest possible harm to humanity, Tik-Tok invents the HMO. If only the warnings of SF were taken seriously!) You can also ignore these insights and just go with the flow as the author squeezes jokes and trivia from his sponge-like mind, although this time some of the jokes are even sicker than usual (e.g., the mean letters that Tik-Tok writes to the families of his victims). His style is hard to describe but instantly recognizable; I say this although I haven't even read this book in English -- it just can't be found, but as usual the French have preserved all of our lost culture, and I read a very good translation that even saves most of the puns.
Rating: 
Summary: Hilarious, but with a poisonous sting
Review: It's about a robot with non-functional "Asimov circuits". Robots are supposed to never harm a human being, or through inaction let them come to harm. Well, Tik Tok discovered that this rule doesn't apply to him. This makes him more human, and far less human. Even though this book is full of humor and wit, there is something about it that makes you THINK. I recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Shockingly Entertaining.
Review: John Thomas Sladek has mastered irony in rare form. This book is a 360 degree slap in the face. Perhaps even a warning. But not one that we will listen to. This story does not insult one's intellegence by depending upon technology, or smoke and mirrors. The plot is not self serving, or even patronizing. This is truely a tribute to our collective understanding of ourselves. Tik is easy to root for, hard to understand, and impossible to put down. 5 stars is easy to give Tik Tok. O.k. maybe 4.5, but only because I wish it was longer.
Rating:
Summary: Shockingly Entertaining.
Review: John Thomas Sladek has mastered irony in rare form. This book is a 360 degree slap in the face. Perhaps even a warning. But not one that we will listen to. This story does not insult one's intellegence by depending upon technology, or smoke and mirrors. The plot is not self serving, or even patronizing. This is truely a tribute to our collective understanding of ourselves. Tik is easy to root for, hard to understand, and impossible to put down. 5 stars is easy to give Tik Tok. O.k. maybe 4.5, but only because I wish it was longer.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful and provocative
Review: The title character is a 'domesticated robot' living in a time when most humans own at least one and sometimes more, using them as slaves; as he awaits jugement for crimes he perpetrated, he writes his memoirs. Sladek uses a lively back-and-forth structure that weaves together two main timelines. Tik-Tok, in platonic terms, is a 'liberated prisoner' among robots: unlike the others, he is aware of what went behind his construction and 'education', but rather than alerting the other robots, he is more interested in making various experiments to see how far he can go with this discovery. His actions speak less of a downright vengeance on his one-time human masters than of curiosity - hence his relative contempt for both humans (because of their lies and contradictions) and robots (for their incapacity to wake up and refuse passive submission). The conscience of his freedom liberates him from what humans have called 'Azimov circuits' (based on the three inhibitory laws formulated by Isaac Asimov), but these, as he remarks, could very well be illusions used to solidify human authority. There's a relentless cynicism, even nihilism running through the entire work, but it is mainly upsetting because it forces the reader to re-evaluate preconceptions about the world. Whether 'Tik-Tok' ultimately convinces us of its conclusions or not, the book is too powerful to ignore.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful and provocative
Review: The title character is a `domesticated robot' living in a time when most humans own at least one and sometimes more, using them as slaves; as he awaits jugement for crimes he perpetrated, he writes his memoirs. Sladek uses a lively back-and-forth structure that weaves together two main timelines. Tik-Tok, in Platonic terms, is a `liberated prisoner' among robots: unlike the others, he is aware of what went behind his construction and `education', but rather than alerting the other robots, he is more interested in making various experiments to see how far he can go with this discovery. His actions speak less of a downright vengeance on his one-time human masters than of curiosity - hence his relative contempt for both humans (because of their lies and contradictions) and robots (for their incapacity to wake up and refuse passive submission). The conscience of his freedom liberates him from what humans have called `Azimov circuits' (based on the three inhibitory laws formulated by Isaac Asimov), but these, as he remarks, could very well be illusions used to solidify human authority. There's a relentless cynicism, even nihilism running through the entire work, but it is mainly upsetting because it forces the reader to re-evaluate preconceptions about the world. Whether we accept this book's conclusions or not, it is too powerful a work to ignore.
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