The story of Jasperodus, an advanced robot struggling to determine whether or not he is "conscious" serves as a springboard for philosophical conjecture, political theory, psychological observation, and social experiment. But as his journey comes full circle the ultimate solution to the central question---can a machine be aware?---is a bit of a stretch. Good storytelling however, especially in this age of ChatGPT, and a fine companion piece to Asimov's Robot series. I look forward to reading the sequel. ( )

Soul of a Robot has several of my favourite things in science fiction:

1. It has one of my favourite titles
2. It has probably my favourite SF character in Jasperodus the robot
3. It has my favourite opening chapter of any book
4. It's also one of my favourite SF books of all time

I might just leave this review at that. ( )

Barrington Bayley is perhaps the truest science fiction writer I have ever come across. His stories are filled with all the swashbuckling action and adventure SF is supposed to have while taking the ideas raised by imagined science very seriously indeed. Bayely does this by blending history, philosophy, and classic fiction with a dash of mysticism.

http://fireandsword.blogspot.com/2007/11/soul-of-robot-by-barrington-j.html