Robopocalypse

A slight departure from my usual reading path, although I have been a fan of other sci fi with heavy robot presence (e.g., Asimov) in my youth. This one was recommended on the Powell's Daily Dose blog so I made the leap. Humankind's attempts to create artificial intelligence succeed so well that the creation, which calls itself Archos, outsmarts and escapes its makers and takes over all "smart" technology--from cars to guided missiles to talking dolls--in a concerted effort to get the upper hand. Humans, trusting blindly in their technology, are exterminated by the billions and millions more are placed in "forced labor" camps where they help to build ever-evolving weapons against humanity or are experimented upon in order to find the ideal combination of human and machine.
The book starts at the end, so we know at least some of the humans survive. From various people's viewpoints we read about the early incidents--pre "zero hour"--that alert some to the potential problems, followed by accounts of the time when all the machines turn again humans, and then the "New War," when pockets of resistance fight back. Some of Archos' enemies will turn out to be the hybrid beings he has created--still partly human but with "enhanced" functionality. Others are the original humanoid robots that become "self-aware" and don't want to be controlled by a master robot anymore than they want to be controlled by humans. Other "heroes" are scientists, soldiers, or just those who figure out how to survive and help others survive. An engrossing tale by Daniel H. Wilson, who has a PhD in robotics from Carnegie Mellon and, therefore, delivers a believable alternative future.